Chapter 3

Chapter 3: I Only Need a “Plaything,” You See?

“Damn it…”

Lilinai’s face darkened.

“So it was because of this that you bought me without a moment’s hesitation?”

“Of course.”

“But aren’t I your enemy? Sharing a room alone with your enemy… does an esteemed Witch like you not mind?”

Her pride as the orphaned survivor of the Kaoenxier family meant that even in this situation, she refused to show weakness before Airiya.

So, though her body was pinned down completely, she still looked at Airiya provocatively, trying not to lose ground psychologically.

Only, she had clearly underestimated the current Airiya.

“Pfft…”

Airiya let out a soft laugh, as though she had heard a very funny joke.

“My dear young master—ah, no. Now, I ought to call you Miss Lilinai~”

She lowered her body a little further.

Lilinai could feel the other’s scorching breath blowing across her face.

“Don’t you understand your situation yet, Miss Lilinai?

“Do you still remember what I said I wanted when I went to the slave trading house?

“You see, I need neither a servant nor an attendant—I only need a ‘plaything,’ you see?”

Having said that.

Airiya extended a finger and lightly tapped Lilinai’s collar.

“Nnnyah—!”

Lilinai’s eyes flew open.

From the moment she was bought, the permissions of her Obedience Collar had transferred into Airiya’s hands. And as a magical implement meant to help a master better control their slave, aside from ordinary functions like forced obedience, it also supported highly flexible customization—in other words, if the master understood magic, they could use this collar to easily impose all manner of controlling commands.

Not merely physical control, but including mental… and even emotional inducement.

“Kuh…”

Lilinai thrashed and shook, but her body simply wouldn’t obey her.

A warm current of magic power slowly swept from within her through her entire body.

In an instant, the girl was drenched in sweat.

“I can’t move…!”

“How is it, Miss Lilinai?”

Airiya, brimming with smiles, tilted her head slightly.

“Calling your former underling ‘Master,’ being dominated by the one you cast aside… how does it feel?”

“Nngh, haah…”

Lilinai clenched her teeth.

The unknown magic power was like an electric current, stimulating her nerves, numbing her senses, dulling her thoughts.

She understood Airiya’s intentions now.

The reunion of the two was an accident, but Airiya had no intention of letting this accident go to waste.

Without a doubt, the girl before her had bought her with revenge in mind.

She would dominate her, humiliate her, until her dignity was worn away entirely.

“Liya, you…”

“Ah, ah. That won’t do. You have to address me as ‘Master.'”

Lilinai’s act of using her old name seemed to displease Airiya.

She raised a hand and released another spell, undoing the girl’s necktie.

“We should both bid farewell to our former selves, Miss Lilinai.”

Airiya Moerdisike declared coldly.

“I like your hair, so it must be worn down as I please, like a real girl, my adorable Lilinai—by the same token, you’re forbidden from wearing this boyish clothing again. From now on, you may only wear the clothes I tell you to wear… understood?”

“—”

Sunlight passed through the white gauze curtains, laying down a layer of holy brightness.

Airiya knelt onto the cushion, looking down from above at the purple-haired girl resisting in vain.

“I seem to recall that Miss Lilinai just told me she would serve me well, correct?”

The girls’ eyelashes trembled.

Lilinai’s breathing grew hotter and hotter.

Watching the girl’s expression gradually turn to despair, the Witch licked her lips and smiled in satisfaction.

“Keeping one’s word is a virtue, after all. Wouldn’t you agree? Miss Lilinai~”

“W-wait a moment!”

Sensing Airiya’s aim, Lilinai hurried to stop her.

“Not there, you can’t—nngh—!!”

…

——————————

“Please, young master! Listen to my explanation…”

“Ever since you came to this house, our information has been leaking out in an endless stream… what is there for you to explain?”

“The intelligence leaks have nothing to do with me! I swear to you, I am absolutely loyal to the Kaoenxier family…”

“Oh, is that so? Then tell me, on the day father was arrested, why were you together with someone from a rival family?”

“I-I only wanted to help… I didn’t know that person was…”

“If there weren’t a lack of conclusive evidence, do you think I would simply drive you out and leave it at that? Go now, before I raise my hand against you!”

“No… I beg you, young master! Please don’t drive me away… don’t, don’t abandon me again…”

“My mind is made up! Someone, come!”

“No!”

…

——————————

“—!”

Lilinai’s eyes snapped open.

It was early morning, the sky just beginning to brighten, a light breeze brushing the window gauze and carrying in the chirping of sparrows.

On the comfortable bed, Lilinai wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and let out a breath.

She had dreamed of the past with Liya—or rather, with Airiya.

Lilinai draped an arm over her face.

At this point, it had become very difficult for her to make an objective judgment about the choice she had made back then.

As for driving the girl away, what had she truly been feeling at the time? Was it regret over expelling someone she had spent every day with, or anger at what seemed to be a dagger hidden behind a smile… or was it simply the mercy of wanting her far from the whirlpool, so she wouldn’t be dragged in?

A full 5 years had passed, and after so much confusion, sorrow, and hatred, after accumulating so many dark emotions, Lilinai could no longer tell them apart.

“Haah…”

The girl sighed and sat up, looking down at herself.

Whether it was this girl’s body or the collar around her neck, both reminded her that those years had long since drifted away on the wind.

But, wait a moment.

Whose bed was she in right now? And whose clothes was she wearing?

“I remember…”

Lilinai strained to recall.

She remembered that she had been bought by Airiya.

Then, once taken into the carriage, the other party had exposed her identity.

And then, that Witch had pressed her down onto the seat cushion and restrained her so she couldn’t resist.

And then after that…

“…”

Lilinai’s face slowly turned red.

Perhaps because this body’s first experience had been too intense, she had lost consciousness afterward.

“I really didn’t expect…”

That Airiya was such a pervert!

Lilinai sighed and groaned for a while before she finally accepted the fact that she had been you-know-what’d into unconsciousness by Airiya. Then she looked down and examined her body, discovering that she had been changed into a black gauze nightdress—by the looks of it, she had slept unconscious for an entire day, and right now she was probably in the “Witch’s lair.”

“Damn it.”

Lilinai reached up and touched her collar.

As long as this thing remained on her, there was no way she could escape Airiya’s clutches.

Though she was confident she could deceive any noble, she had made no mental preparations for facing a Witch head-on.

“Why did it have to be such a coincidence…!”

Why, of all the rotten luck, did the one who bought her have to be the very maid she had once driven away?

This was completely different from what she’d planned!

Lilinai was thoroughly vexed.

If she were merely an enemy, that would be one thing.

The crux of it was that this person now… she was a Witch!