'Why are you doing this, Leopold?' She tried to speak but could only end with a thought, unable to release her voice. Her conflicting feelings were going further into disarray after seeing his gentle actions.
After drying her up, he brought her to the other side of the room again and sat on the bed while putting her in front of him. She was feeling extremely weak and could only try to raise her arms to fruitlessly push him away. She could only passively accept his gentle actions. He put some healing salve on his fingers and started massaging her labia, testing his hormone manipulation to try and enhance the pleasurable effects of his touch.
She squirmed under his touch, feeling like he could do whatever he wanted with her. She had no way to resist and nothing could stop him from doing whatever he wanted to her.
After a while, he moved to all the bloody spots on her body and applied salve on them. His actions were an unbearable turn-on for her. Not just because he was touching her on her most sensitive spots, but also because of his own actions of using hormone manipulation to mess with her.
Sadly for Ingrid, One climax for the day was all she would get, and she'd already gotten that during the shower. After applying the salve to her body, he left her on the bed before moving to a storage compartment. He pulled something out that Ingrid couldn't see and shoved it into his back pocket.
He let Ingrid stew in her thoughts as he went to the shower area to bring the cross back out and fixed it back in its original place. It had already dried up by now.
After everything was in order, he went back to Ingrid, "I have something for you." He said with a gentle smile and pulled out a leash from his back pocket before attaching it to her collar. It was enchanted and was made with the collar, instantly attaching to it. He then attached that leash to the headboard of the bed before leaving her there.
She was trying to say something to him but no voice was coming out. And he wasn't interested in listening to anything she was going to say anyway.
"Have fun. I'll be coming back later tonight to check up on you." He told her and covered up the few glow stones that were lighting up the room before closing the door. Leaving Ingrid in complete darkness, still unable to speak or make any noise, stuck in her place on the bed with nothing in reach.
'He's just manipulating you…' She was telling herself. She kept repeating to herself that she would soon be dying a very painful death if she gave in to him and had to resist. But her body was honest. She remembered both his rough and gentle touches, she could still imagine the feeling of his fingers caressing her body.
She was going through countless emotions. And in the dark, without being able to distract herself, she was left to stew in her thoughts endlessly as she slowly brought her fingers to her core.
Sadly for her, she was in for a frustrating surprise if she thought that she could pass her time like that.
…
Leopold walked out of the playroom and into his own room and flopped on the bed. He was glad that his playroom was attached to his bedroom right now.
'That was fucking tiring…' He thought. He was thinking about his use of Lust Magic to manipulate Ingrid's hormones.
'I clearly don't know anything about this stuff and am practically stumbling in the dark… I need some sort of guidance…' He thought as he looked up at the ceiling, "She's pretty satisfying though, for a toy…" He said as he felt a momentary pang of regret over not having done anything with Ingrid sooner.
'I hope I can awaken a Mana core at some point… 'Till then, my use of Lust Magic will consume my stamina and I'd rather not get exhausted early on when I'm fucking a woman…' He hoped. He knew that just as aura combatants had their aura cores, Mages had their own mana cores. He just hoped that it wouldn't be an issue with him having an aura core already.
'The information I have on magic is too little…' He thought and decided to work something out to get the necessary information. He spent some time resting and recovering his spent stamina, thinking of ways to mitigate this problem.
After a couple of hours, there was a knock on the door, "Enter," He said, not moving from his bed.
"Young master, the Duke is calling you to the dining area." A maid entered and told him.
"Oh… I'll be there in a bit." He got up from the bed and fixed his clothes that he'd just put on randomly after coming out of his playroom.
Giving the door to the playroom one last look, he left his bedroom and walked back to the dining area. He entered the room and was met by his father holding onto a letter as he was seated on the huge table that could easily accommodate 50 guests.
"What's up, Dad?" He asked as he took his seat at the side of his father who was sitting at the head of the table. "You need to go to the Northern province. I've prepared something for you, a treasure. The kind that can improve the talent of an aura combatant. It's formed within the Vineta dungeon. It should be the perfect tempering exercise for you. I'll send Richard with you to keep you safe." Henry told Leopold.
"Really? You're sending Richard?" Leopold confirmed. Richard was one of Henry's strongest knights. He was a peak Expert who could take care of anyone within the Expert realm with relative ease. The enemies would have to send a Master, or at least 5 to 10 high-level Experts to take care of him this time.
"Yes. This could be a very good opportunity for you." Henry said to him, but Leopold wasn't convinced, "You have some plans." He looked at his father with narrowed eyes.
"Yes, I do. But that plan requires you to be at least a Journeyman within the year. Otherwise, it'll all be meaningless." Henry told him.
"I understand." Leo nodded and agreed to the mission.
"Gather up your party, you leave at dawn," Henry stated before they both focused on eating dinner.
…
"Well, this is a surprise… I was planning on having some fun with Ingrid for a while longer." Leopold had some idea about his father's plans but it was all speculation. He had no concrete answers when it came to the Duke. The man kept his plans as close to his chest as possible, not even letting his son in on most of them.
He walked back to his room and decided to spend some more time with Ingrid. He hadn't made the decision of whether he was going to bring her with him, but he was inclined to bring her. After all, an Adept archer would be a very useful asset in a dungeon.
He went into the dark room where he'd abandoned her and walked in, uncovering the glow stones and lighting up the room.
Immediately, he saw her teary face she was looking at him with a desperate expression and a glaring need for him. It was as if she'd just seen her savior. She tried to speak but no voice came out, courtesy of the collar that was still blocking her voice. Leo decided to allow her to speak and moved closer to her before pressing his thumb on the gem of the choker. It instantly stopped suppressing her speech with his thought.
"Leo!" She said to him with a desperate voice and looked at him with pleading eyes. She was burning with unfulfilled arousal and was extremely desperate for any stimulation.
"Hi, Ingrid." Leo smiled and caressed her head. He distinctly understood her situation. She'd been subjected to a room of utter silence, trapped in complete darkness, and unable to even move freely. Unable to even freely climax as the effects of the collar included that function. She could only try to rub herself unsuccessfully.
Leo's other hand made its way to her waist and he trailed down her side. Ingrid felt goosebumps rise on the spots that Leo's finger trailed and she squirmed a little, deciding to stay quiet since she didn't want him to use the literal mute button on her again.
"I was planning on letting you stay here for a while before freeing you, but my plans ended up changing a little." He said and Ingrid's eyes widened in horror. She didn't think that she could even endure a single day more in this room. Let alone more. She was sure that she would go crazy if she was forced to go through his sadistic actions that left her more confused than anything.
Seeing the change in her expression, Leo chuckled and said, "Don't get your hopes up just yet. I'm not planning on freeing you any time soon. You tried to kill me. To kill the scion of a noble Duke's house. Your life is hence forfeit. You aren't someone with rights in the empire any longer. You are now my personal property. My slave. Understood?" He caressed the side of her face as he told her the reality of her situation.
She couldn't form a coherent word as she started tearing up while nodding weakly, the tears falling down her eyes made Leo feel a twisted sense of satisfaction inside.
"Before we leave, you'll be marked with my slave crest and will be branded to me for the rest of your life. I was planning on breaking this to you a bit later after you grew more… agreeable to your situation, but plans change." He said with a tone of regret as he wiped away Ingrid's tears, but they weren't stopping. She had realized the real depth of what she'd lost in her current situation. It wasn't just her freedom, it was her literal free will. She was going to be no more than an object that Leo could do anything with and no one would ever come to save her.
This was a privilege that the upper noble houses had. What were the upper noble houses? They were the Marquess and the Duke's houses. They had the authority to 'own' the citizens of the empire as long as they had a valid reason for that. Something like a crime against the scion of a Duchy is the perfect reason to get an eternal slave.
And from Leo's words, she would become his personal slave, forced to serve his every need without having any right or even the ability to resist. After being branded with the crest, she would probably voluntarily work herself to death as long as Leo commanded it.