Chapter 1. Please, Show Mercy

An unpleasant sensation of throbbing in her head awakened Iella’s mind, which had been wandering beneath the surface of sleep. Along with it, her slowly opened eyes still couldn’t focus, making her vision blurry.

She blinked her eyes out of habit.

‘When did I fall asleep?’

The last thing she remembered was a small party she enjoyed with her parents and servants to celebrate her coming of age at twenty.

‘I must have dozed off….’

Iella pressed her temples and raised her upper body from where she had been lying. At that moment, something caught at her fingertips. As she looked down in confusion, a red string of unknown purpose made its presence clear to her.

‘What is this?’

Tilting her head, Iella unintentionally grabbed and pulled it.

“Ugh…….”

At that moment, a low sound of someone gritting their teeth was heard. Iella’s eyes widened in shock as she looked toward the source of the sound. There was a man, half-naked, kneeling on the floor in front of her. But what shocked her even more was something else.

The red string tied around his thick neck like a collar was connected to the string in her hand.

Iella was left speechless and frozen. Her trembling eyes showed how bewildering the situation was. Then, suddenly, she realized her posture was strange.

It was as if she had been sitting on the bed with her feet on the floor from the start, even though she hadn’t moved.

A strange sensation swept down her spine. Her heart started to beat anxiously.

Iella immediately looked around. A ceiling she had never seen before, a room more spacious than her own, unfamiliar furniture……. The more she confirmed, the colder her blood felt.

Then, when her eyes, shaking in confusion, reached the full-length mirror not far away, she froze completely, unable to even scream.

In the place where her reflection should be, there was an unfamiliar woman she had never seen before.

Platinum blonde hair mixed with bright gold, eyes slightly slanted like a haughty cat, and a charming mole under her right eye. None of it resembled her appearance.

The only similarity was their pink eyes, but even those were a deeper color in the reflection.

‘What is this…….’

Even seeing it with her own eyes, she couldn’t believe it.

Just as Iella, who had been frozen as if time had stopped for her alone, was about to get up,

“Ailexia.”

The low voice was heard again.

Startled, Iella dropped the red string from her hand. But the man, whose eyes were covered with the same colored string, couldn’t have known that.

“Ailexia…….”

When no answer came, his lips opened again. Then, for some reason, he quickly closed them, bit his lips a few times, and finally opened them again with difficulty.

“……Master.”

The reluctant word was enough to make Iella gasp. She reflexively covered her mouth to stifle the sound.

‘Ma-Master?’

“Was the punishment to Your Highness’s liking?”

But it didn’t end there. His following words and actions were even more shocking. Iella, following his nod as if to look down, instinctively lowered her gaze and almost fainted on the spot.

What on earth was he doing? The thigh part of his pants, with the buckle undone, was heavily wrinkled and creased. Around the end of the bulging shape, there was a round stain that looked like water. As if…, as if…

‘Stop, stop.’

Iella consciously cut off the terrible imagination that was about to unfold. At that moment, he let out a small sigh. In a situation unknown due to the obscured view, he seemed dissatisfied with his still-unanswered question.

“Please release me now.”

He demanded in a polite tone.

But why? Iella somehow felt that there were hidden words behind that. Quite rebellious and intense words.

Was it because of his unbroken demeanor despite being bound and restrained? Or was it because of his head, which remained upright towards her without a single movement?

Iella couldn’t know. But the strength and nobility approached her like an irresistible charm. Unconsciously, her hand reached out.

Even though she instinctively felt she should stop due to her pounding heart as she got closer, she couldn’t stop at all. Was it because it was someone else’s body, or was she entranced by the atmosphere he exuded? She didn’t even think of stepping back.

As her hand reached out to the tied knot, her body naturally leaned towards him. Because he had his head raised, their faces slowly got closer as the distance narrowed. A refreshing and fresh woody scent penetrated her nose.

“Please.”

A whisper that seemed to melt her ears came without warning.

At the sound that resonated from close by, her body trembled reflexively, and she let go of the knot she was holding at the end of her hand for a moment before grabbing it again. Feeling her breath that had stopped at some point, she took a breath and pulled hard, and the knot untied smoothly.

The loosened cloth quietly slid down like a snake and draped diagonally over his high nose. At the same time, his tightly closed eyes slowly opened.

Facing his eyes completely, Iella held her breath again.

“Considering this lowly toy as precious.”

Contrary to his words, the purple eyes that seemed indifferent at first glance were flickering with intense flames towards her.

“Mercy…”

While she was distracted by that gaze, he suddenly closed the distance until their noses almost touched.

“Please grant it.”

His gaze, persistently fixed on her, shone sharply as if to devour her whole. At that moment, a flood of memories poured into her mind.

“……!”

At the end of wandering through the waves of overflowing memories, Iella realized three facts immediately.

This place where she had lived as Iella for nearly 20 years was actually inside the novel <Twisted Salvation and the Flower of Embrace> that she had read in her previous life.

The body she was currently possessing was that of a supporting character, Ailexia.

And the man in front of her was the male protagonist who would kill Ailexia.