A Twisted Forgiveness

“This bottle— ”

Kaelan held up a murky, dark-hued potion.

“I brewed it myself. Its main ingredients are bristles from a pus-spider’s leg and spinal fluid from a Shadow-Bound Demon.”

“Ugh…”

Seeing the tiny hairs swirling in the viscous liquid, Saranya clutched her mouth, her face contorted in distaste.

“You’re familiar with Shadow-Bound Demons, aren’t you?”

Saranya nodded.

When she and her mistress had fallen into Mejga’s ambush in the sanctuary, her mistress had cast a Shadow-Bound Demon’s strengthening spell on her. The side effects she experienced at the time had been truly terrifying.

“This potion can strengthen… or rather, corrupt your body, granting you a physique akin to a Shadow-Bound Demon’s.”

“Will I turn into a demon…?”

“No, it’s not the same as turning you into a demon. It merely allows you to ‘cross the line’ a little, seizing a sliver of their power.”

Kaelan set down the flask and picked up a second bottle, letting the translucent liquid slosh inside with a crisp, tinkling sound.

“Only by enhancing your physique in that manner can you withstand the side effects of the second potion… This one is destructive; it will place a great burden on your body. But precisely because of that, it can remove all curses from you.”

“Thereby eliminating Lenix’s influence over me…”

“Exactly.”

Saranya pressed her lips together, hesitating for a moment, torn.

To gain demonic power felt rather ironic for a former witch hunter like her.

Yet, at this point, taking the potion was her only choice.

After all, no matter how bad the situation, it was surely better than becoming a schizophrenic lunatic, wasn’t it?

Saranya swallowed, slowly lifting her linen shirt.

“I… I have one more question…”

As her clothes peeled away, her pristine abdomen was exposed to the air, rising and falling gently with her breaths. She released more demonic energy, causing the purple markings on her skin to glow faintly.

“This thing… My mistress, you’ve never explained it to me, but I’m guessing… whatever its specific purpose, it must also be considered a ‘curse,’ right? Will it, like Lenix’s curse, be… removed by the potion?”

If she took the potion now, wouldn’t it wash away the demonic markings Kaelan had imprinted on her? Kaelan had gone to such lengths to make her a demonic s*ave; would she so easily relinquish her control?

“Hmph hmph~”

Kaelan’s lips curled into a faint smile, letting out a soft chuckle, seemingly quite pleased with Saranya’s hesitant reaction.

“My little Anya is so good. Even without my reminder, she actively thinks for her mistress…”

The young witch stared at Saranya’s belly, raising a hand. Her cool hand hovered above Saranya’s lower abdomen, her fingertips tracing the heart-shaped, dark purple markings from a distance. Responding to Saranya’s electric jolt of excitement, Kaelan’s slender fingers continued to glide along Saranya’s ‘mermaid line,’ drawing an exquisite path.

“I’m curious, do you not desire freedom, Saranya?”

Under her mistress’s gentle caress, Saranya arched her back slightly, her voice a mere whisper, like the buzzing of a fly.

“I… mm… freedom…”

“I committed unforgivable sins against you. You said you hated me, that you wanted to kill me. This is a good start, isn’t it? Your prestige in Vero has soared, and the Redwater Gang’s assets are all in your hands. You have the chance to escape my control, to bide your time to exact revenge on me, to make me repent, wail, and bleed… to wash away all the humiliation you’ve suffered…”

“Mis… Mistress… please stop testing me…”

“Answer me, don’t you want to do this?”

“……”

Kaelan frowned slightly, seemingly displeased with Saranya’s silence, stubbornly insisting on an answer.

“Answer me.”

“Haaah… ah…!”

Saranya felt a sudden chill spread through her lower body, realizing her mistress had torn off her undergarments. In a panic, she scrambled backward, her head banging against the headboard with a thud.

“Ugh…”

Under Saranya’s mortified gaze, Kaelan tossed aside the damp triangular cloth, then climbed onto the bed. Her ankles crossed behind her knees, and her leather boots slipped off with a soft thud, revealing her bare, smooth feet.

“Mistress, I don’t want to…”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t want to take revenge on you…”

As the words left her lips, Saranya saw Kaelan staring at her, lost in thought, her red eyes brimming with tears.

“So you… forgive me…?”

“No… Kaelan, it’s impossible. I will never forgive you… I just… can’t do it anymore…”

Perhaps the former righteous Commander Saranya would have unhesitatingly drunk the potion, stormed out the door, rallied all her followers in Vero, and even allied with the Assembly of Truth to confront this dark witch, determined to exact her blood debt.

But the Saranya of now was merely a wretched s*ave, immersed in indulging in pleasure with her mistress, enjoying the scars and torment, and even fantasizing that one day she could conquer her mistress in turn.

Revenge on Kaelan? She couldn’t do it. Talking about something she couldn’t do was meaningless. She couldn’t deceive herself any longer; she needed to recognize herself, to recognize that she was a willing s*ave to darkness, beyond saving from the moment she cried out for mercy to her mistress.

“Little Anya, you don’t need those comrades and companions anymore. Don’t you have your mistress? Little Anya… don’t worry about the past. Mistress promises you, Mistress can grant your every desire, as long as you forgive—”

“Don’t bring up the past again… I only have this one request, please… don’t humiliate me with the past anymore… I don’t want to talk about this topic… Mistress…”

Kaelan pressed her lips together, clearly unhappy with Saranya’s attitude.

However, this was the greatest concession Saranya could make. Bowing and scraping under the enslavement of her enemy, her heart was already overflowing with shame.

“The real Saranya Kerfen is dead. The one here… is merely your toy. Just treat me as your toy… A toy’s thoughts are utterly irrelevant to you, aren’t they? Mm-ugh—!”

The sudden sensation of invasion from below caused Saranya to let out a soft cry of pleasure.

“!!!”

Realizing what her mistress was doing, her beautiful ice-blue eyes instantly clouded with desire. She instinctively clung to Kaelan’s arm, meeting Kaelan’s movements.

“Mistress… Mistress…”

The serene garden welcomed its first visitor. An immense wave of bliss instantly enveloped her mind, leaving her utterly blank, concerned only with enjoying the electrifying pleasure at her pubic bone.

“Forgive me… You must forgive me… Little Anya…”

“Uh-nnnngh—”

“Little Anya, do you hear me? Say it, say you’ll forgive me for killing your companions, forgive me for taking everything from you, forgive me for tormenting you… Only then can I give you freedom… Otherwise, once the curse on you is lifted, I will lose you…”

Kaelan’s voice took on a tearful note, clear tears sliding from one corner of her eye, like a petulant, unreasonable child begging an adult to buy them the moon itself.

“Mistress… no… only this I cannot… I cannot so desecrate my… com…panions… Hnn… hnnngh…!”

Saranya knew that Kaelan, who understood love as one person unilaterally seeking release from another, wanted to buy her ‘forgiveness’ by creating physical pleasure for her.

But this wouldn’t work. It defied both reason and her last remaining boundary; it was impossible.

“No, it’s not right… What do you want your mistress to do? Mistress will apologize, I’m sorry! Mistress will compensate you, make you comfortable. You… you don’t like your mistress doing this to you?”

“I… like it…”

“Then forgive me! Forgive me!!”

“Mm-mm-mm-aahhh— No… such a thing… shouldn’t be calculated this way…”

“Then what should I do?! You don’t understand! I don’t know what to do… I’m sorry… Waaahhh… Tell me what to do! Little Anya! What must I do to keep you? Aaaahhh!!!”

Kaelan’s tone grew enraged, her movements became violent, and her expression increasingly distorted. Clearly, perhaps believing the situation hopeless, or perhaps unable to resist her inner temptations, her attention had shifted to toying with Saranya’s body.

“Don’t… slow… ah… mm-mm… please… you…”

Amidst strange squelching sounds, Saranya was rocked back and forth. She gripped the bedding, arching her slender neck, first pleading in broken words, then turning into desperate screams and whimpers. Her thighs twitched repeatedly, opening and closing, kicking at Kaelan’s arms, but to little effect.

Kaelan’s eyes were red-rimmed, her face streaked with tears, as she sobbed, roared, and let out high-pitched cackles in Saranya’s ear. Kaelan’s frenzied, brutal actions no longer brought Saranya pleasure, but an unbearable agony.

“Mmm-aahhhhhhh—!”

Finally, in a tearing agony, Saranya, having lost her innocence, screamed. A streak of crimson began beneath her, bleeding onto the sheets, slowly spreading into a pool.

Laughably, her depraved body actually responded to the pain Kaelan inflicted. A twisted pleasure enveloped her like a tidal wave. She cried out Kaelan’s name, curled her long legs, and reached out to pull her tormentor closer.

Another clear stream washed the crimson stain on the sheets into a pale pink.

Only the whites of Saranya’s eyes remained, her pupils shrunk to tiny pinpricks, temporarily losing her sight.

When her vision returned, the first thing she saw was her blood-stained lower abdomen, then Kaelan, sprawled beside her, toying with a strange liquid.

The door rattled; someone was knocking frantically from outside. But a large bookshelf was pushed against the door, completely blocking the bedroom entrance.

“You… woke up so fast…”

“Mistress…”

Kaelan’s cheeks were flushed with a charming, feverish red. She leaned close to Saranya’s ear, breathing a hot gust of air against her.

“So… Little Anya… shall we continue, until you forgive me…?”