The Taste of Power

…

“Eh? You don’t quite believe me?” Seeing Seraphina offered no reply, Claire’s smile faltered slightly. “Perhaps you’d like to try it yourself?”

“Come, Ailur, kowtow to the master.”

At Claire’s command, Ailur’s limbs suddenly moved beyond her control, initiating a mechanical crawl.

“Ailur, kowtow to the master.”

Repeating her mistress’s command, Ailur, like a soulless automaton, crawled to Seraphina’s feet.

“Ailur… kowtow to the master!”

Thud!

Though the sound carried a distinct tremor, Ailur’s kowtow was undeniably genuine. The slightly muffled impact alone was enough to convey its brutal force.

“Come, Seraphina, lift your foot~”

Just as Seraphina was engrossed in observing the kneeling figure’s abject humiliation, Claire subtly approached, gently lifting her thigh.

“Just like this,” Claire purred, “you can place it on them however you wish…”

Following Claire’s guiding hand, Seraphina’s small black leather shoe slowly descended.

The instant it pressed onto Ailur’s head, the s*ave groveling at her feet was seized by a sudden tremor. This vibration, emanating from below, traveled through the leather shoe, up to Seraphina’s toes, arch, ankle, calf—and even into her very mind—a continuous assault on her soul.

‘Wow…’

“How does it feel?” Noticing Seraphina’s momentary trance, Claire offered a wicked, knowing smile. “To transform a person into a mere doll you can toy with at will, to make them grovel at your feet, forcing them to accept your every whim… This sensation, it’s quite addictive, isn’t it?”

‘Addictive.’

‘Of course it’s addictive.’

Seraphina’s mind reeled, her pupils swirling into dizzying spirals. Almost instinctively, she lifted her leg, bent at the waist, and seized Ailur’s chin, forcibly lifting her head.

“Wuwu…”

Ailur’s eyes were bloodshot and brimming with tears, her face ashen and contorted like a bitter gourd. Her expression was not merely miserable; every one of her features seemed to wrinkle together in anguish.

“Ailur.”

Seraphina’s voice was barely a whisper, yet she knew Ailur would hear every word with perfect clarity.

“You… don’t you pride yourself on being a noble of high birth?”

“So how is it now that you find yourself trampled underfoot by a mere country bumpkin like me? Hmm?”

“Wuwu…”

“Why are you so silent?” Seeing Ailur persist in her whimpers, Seraphina felt a wave of boredom wash over her. “Aren’t you usually quite eloquent and quick-witted? Why aren’t you deploying your usual noble ‘combo attacks’ to insult me now? Hmm?”

“Ah, I know,” Seraphina continued, a cruel smile playing on her lips, “you must be feeling utterly humiliated…”

Seraphina stared directly into Ailur’s eyes, a faint crimson glint, hidden within the depths of black, subtly visible.

“You must be thinking: ‘Oh, Shulk, just you wait, I’ll tear you to shreds…’ something along those lines, right?”

Ailur’s gaze darted frantically, desperately trying to evade Seraphina’s relentless stare.

But alas, Seraphina now held the very throat of Ailur’s destiny, completely in command of her fate.

“I’ll give you a chance.”

Seraphina’s lips curled into a malicious smile.

“Do you see it? My neck… my utterly defenseless neck, the very neck you once pierced with a blade, is now laid bare before you.”

As she spoke, Seraphina tilted her head back, exposing the delicate, snow-white skin of her throat.

“This distance is less than a yard. With your speed and strength as a scout, you could easily seize my neck and snap it in an instant.”

“Come on, I won’t dodge. This might be the only chance you’ll ever have in your life to avenge this humiliation. Seize it well.”

Gazing down at Ailur’s face, Seraphina had initially expected that, faced with such blatant provocation, Ailur would, as always, explode in fury and exact her revenge.

To her profound disappointment, however, the face of this noble—who once so readily scorned her as a country bumpkin—now showed only raw panic, gnawing anxiety, profound unease, and paralyzing terror. She was like a lamb awaiting slaughter, utterly devoid of any hint of defiance.

‘How utterly displeasing.’

“Hurry up!” Only when facing this particular person did Seraphina’s patience completely fray.

Without a shred of warning, she suddenly seized Ailur’s hand, which was still pressed to the ground, and forcefully placed it on her own neck.

“Now! Immediately! Snap my neck!”

“No…”

As if Seraphina’s throat were a venomous snake, Ailur’s hand continuously recoiled, her fingers twisting helplessly in the air.

“No…!”

Bereft of the support of one hand, Ailur could only lie prostrate on the ground, gazing up at the fearsome figure before her—a stark deviation from her past perception.

“Shulk, I was wrong, I truly was wrong!”

“Don’t torment me anymore, please, I beg you, please let me go!”

“I’ll do anything you want, just… don’t play with me like this anymore! Don’t!”

Faced with this utterly absurd spectacle, the proud noble finally succumbed, bowing her head in complete surrender before Seraphina, the very country bumpkin she once despised.

“Tch.”

Faced with Ailur’s desperate pleas, Seraphina wrinkled her nose in disgust and harshly flung her arm away.

“I gave you a chance, but you proved utterly useless!”

Looking disdainfully at the s*ave at her feet, a creature now stripped of all dignity, Seraphina had entirely lost any interest she might have had.

“Claire.”

“Ah, well, have you made up your mind?” Claire chirped, “Or perhaps… are you satisfied with this ‘commodity’?”

“Not quite satisfied,” Seraphina sighed deeply. “This one offers no interesting reactions. In my opinion, she’s less entertaining than a stray dog by the roadside.”

“Hiss…”

Noticing Seraphina’s clear dissatisfaction with the gift, Claire offered an awkward chuckle.

“No matter, no matter. The Krieg family’s wealth is unparalleled; we are certain to find a gift that perfectly suits Seraphina’s desires.”

“As for this rude wretch…” Claire cast a dismissive glance at the s*ave still groveling at her feet, clearly having no interest in her either.

“Gus,” Claire inquired, “are there any vacant positions left in the manor?”

“Reporting, Miss,” Gus replied promptly, “all positions in the manor are fully staffed, and our personnel are at saturation. There is no room to accommodate new members at this time.”

“Hiss… then doesn’t that mean she can only be sold for meat?”

Gasp!

Hearing this chilling remark, Ailur trembled violently, her body shaking uncontrollably.

“Please, Lady Krieg, please don’t let me…” Ailur’s voice was a desperate whimper.

“Silence, beast,” Claire snapped.

With a mere flick of her hand, Ailur’s mouth and body fell into an unnatural stillness.

“Gus, please contact the stable staff,” Claire instructed, “tell them there’s no need to purchase bone meal for this year’s breeding season; we have a ready supply here…”

“Miss Claire, I apologize, but please allow me to interject.” Before Claire could finish, Seraphina abruptly cut her off.

“Ah, of course, my dearest Seraphina~”

Faced with Seraphina’s interruption, Claire showed not a trace of annoyance.

“I’ll take this s*ave after all.”

Seraphina pointed to the wretched heap of flesh at her feet, a being now reduced to nothing but fear. “I happen to know her, and I can’t bear to see her become mere nourishment for breeding stallions.”

This was her sole act of mercy towards Ailur.

“Oh, Seraphina, you know about that?” Claire remarked, a hint of surprise in her tone.

Claire didn’t explicitly respond to Seraphina’s request, yet Seraphina understood it as an implicit acquiescence.

‘Perhaps… in Claire’s eyes, Ailur was nothing more than a true roadside stray, an existence utterly unnecessary to acknowledge.’

‘Is this the third young lady of the Krieg family? Truly terrifying…’

“Thanks to my upbringing,” Seraphina replied smoothly, “I grew up around horses, became skilled in horsemanship, and was fortunate enough to learn such things.”

‘This was a lie,’ she thought. ‘Neither in her past life nor this one had she ever ridden a horse. As for this particular piece of knowledge, she had stumbled upon it accidentally while scrolling on her phone in her previous life.’

Yet Claire, it seemed, believed Seraphina’s fabrication one hundred percent.

“Hehe, I like riding horses too,” Claire giggled, fidgeting with a hint of shyness.

“There’s a riding stable right behind the manor; we can ride anytime. Why don’t we try it together? Perhaps we could even share a horse ❤”

“Ah, ah, thank you for your kind offer, but perhaps another time,” Seraphina replied, offering a helpless smile.

She spoke this way because, in some corner of her being, a place connected by blood, she faintly sensed a flood-like surge of furious anger.

Following this surge, a pouting, white-haired loli appeared in Seraphina’s mind, stomping her small leather shoes incessantly and viciously cursing her.

‘Seraphina! How much longer are you going to flirt with that woman?!’

‘Get back here right now!’

‘Oh no, I accidentally left Lady Iqiyah waiting for too long… Now I wonder how long it will take to appease her.’