1-0.

The interior was dim. The narrow and long corridor was haphazardly paved with stones that didn’t fit together properly.

Step, step, step… The sound of a man’s footsteps echoed through the space. The walls he glanced at were all barred. Every five steps or so, a brick pillar that divided the space appeared. Torches were attached to each pillar, making shadows shorten and then lengthen with each step taken. The sullen gaze of those trapped behind each bar brushed against him before retreating. Drip, drip… Proving it was a space located underground, the sound of water dropping irregularly occurred from time to time. The faint sound of scattering insects was the echo of footsteps.

It was a damp, dark, quiet, and eerie place.

It had been quite a long journey, but he wasn’t tired in the least. The man made an effort not to appear hurried, moving his feet neatly.

Eventually, the end of the corridor appeared. It was blocked by bars. The interior was much wider than the cells he had passed by so far, and two special knights guarding it indicated that surveillance was stricter here than elsewhere.

“I greet Your Eminence, the Cardinal.”

As the man approached, the knights saluted in unison with precision. At that moment, when the man’s red pupils caught their gaze in return, the knights moved without complaint, unlocking and removing chains and locks before turning to leave the way they came.

Step, step, step, step… The orderly sound of the two knights’ footsteps sank into the darkness.

Soon, only the man and a prisoner inside the bars were left in the space. As the man waved his hand broadly, surprised by the unprecedented situation of the guards leaving their posts, those clinging to the bars lost interest and their gaze faded away.

There was a silence that no longer attracted anyone’s attention on this side.

Creak, as he put his hand on the barred door and pushed gently, the hinges let out a chilling sound. Step, step, step… The man stepped inside without hesitation.

The space created by blocking off the entire corridor was wide not only in width but also in depth. As his footsteps repeated and his shadow lengthened, it eventually blended into the darkness inside.
In the deepest part of the cell, the owner of this place was hung on the restraints installed on a wall that utilized the natural bedrock of the underground.

There was no need to wait for his eyes to adjust to the darkness; he knew well who was inside because it was he himself who had exerted the power to bring them here.

Drip, drip…, drip.

In a space made even more humid by water droplets flowing through cracks in the bedrock and pooling in places, at that moment, the man finally stopped walking.

“……”

Even though she must have seen his polished shoes, the prisoner with her arms raised high and bound on either side did not move an inch, head bowed low. The roughly cut hair fell forward, covering the torn front of what had become a ragged dress. Once it would have been layered over with a high-quality silk dress, but that had long since been torn. The dirty and tattered underdress barely served its minimum function of covering the body after enduring many days.

Roughly cut and tangled hair. Dirty and worn clothes. Arms and legs bound so tightly that one couldn’t properly lie down.

There was nothing that wasn’t distressing…

Tsk, he clicked his tongue shortly.

“Look at this.”

Tap tap, his toe touched a knee that was bent any which way on the floor. The muscles and flesh of the leg had wasted away, revealing bruises and cuts on the bony knee that had never been exposed in public before as she always wore silk stockings.

Perhaps even that smug-faced person…

Suddenly feeling disgusted at the face that came to mind, he voiced his feelings with a bite.

“Will you pretend not to know again?”

“……”

“You are a sinner.”

A twitch. A slight movement occurred in the head that had been deeply bowed.

“And I am the inquisitor.”

The man knelt down on one knee right in front of her. The hem of his neat pants, which were off-white like his top, touched the damp stone floor and became soaked with muck.

“Look at me, Lionella Parma. No…”

His gloved fingertips lifted the bowed head of the sinner.

“Since Parma is no more. Perhaps just Miss Lionella would be more appropriate.”

Her face, now forced to look up by his touch, was full of contempt. Her dull hair parted to reveal her peridot-colored eyes shining intensely.

Looking at her, as though he was enjoying this greatly, Cardinal Mishael curled one corner of his mouth up. The face of a priest praised by all of Lycius as a beautiful and just apostle of God was tinged with cruelty.

“Or maybe Miss Lily… would that be better?”

Lionella’s eyes twisted as she looked at his smile. Snap, a dry sound echoed from her clenched jaw to his fingertips. Anger was all that was evident in her greenish eyes staring back at him.

“You’ve seen me since you came here, yet your gaze hasn’t changed.”

“……”

“I haven’t erased your memory, so you should know that this is already my sixth visit here.”

Looking down at her from above his nose, Mishael slowly let each word drip out as if pouring them into her ears.

Lionella seemed about to say something as her lips quivered, but what came out sounded like a dry rasp. She hadn’t had proper water to drink, let alone speak. That’s right, this was his sixth visit yet he had never heard her voice.

Today again without any reply, and today again those contemptuous eyes that did not show even a hint of resignation.

Since confining her here, as it had always been until today, he could have left just like this again.

But his patience had reached its limit.

Enduring has been his lifelong endeavor, but if there comes a time when he can no longer bear it… then it wouldn’t be so bad if that day were today.

Why.

Why do you make me miserable to the very end?

Why do I become more miserable at the moment you are so wretched?

Gazing indifferently at Lionella, he then bent down to touch the ground. It was a spot where water had pooled through cracks in the rock. He dipped his fingers into the water, then forced it into her mouth by pressing on both cheeks to open it.

“Cough…!”

The amount of water that had been stagnant there was forcefully expelled. Pressing down on the base of her tongue, Lionella coughed and nearly retched. Her eyes turned bright red, and tears streamed down. Reflexively, saliva poured out from her salivary glands.

“Why don’t you stop now and beg for mercy?”

“……”

“I’m sorry. Please spare my life. I’ll do anything.”

However, Mishael had spent years gauging her temperament through even the slightest changes in her expression.

“Get… lost.”

Lionella’s face, full of disgust, struggled to move, but the words she finally managed were exactly as expected.

Chilling.

I knew it. You’re still not afraid of me, nor do you want anything from me.

You never beg.

Because you are the proud Lionella Parma.

Mishael’s lips twisted wryly.

“Isn’t it about time you accepted it?”

“Cough…!”

“The fact that that filthy Mishael has you on a leash…”

Holding her cheeks more tightly, his gaze upon her shimmered with a cold light.

After a moment of staring,

He abruptly let go of Lionella’s head. Because her arms were chained to the wall, she couldn’t be pushed back much and instead bowed her head deeply from the recoil.

Just as Mishael stood up from his position, just when Lionella looked up at the tip of his shoes in front of her nose with a fluttering heart,

Mishael didn’t move an inch to leave. Rather, his feet seemed nailed to the spot while he rustled with something above; judging by the sounds, he was lifting his robe and unfastening a buckle…

“Now, what…!”

By the time Lionella realized what was happening, what the Cardinal had pulled out was already an ugly and dark red flesh pillar spilling out before her eyes.

Lionella’s eyes widened in horror.

“What, what are you doing…!”

The thing firmly er*ect against his lower abdomen throbbed with veins on its surface. Whether it had grown so large just now or not, fluid had already leaked along the groove at its tip, glistening at the top of the gl*ns.

Even though Lionella had never lain with her fiancé, she understood its meaning all too well.

“Ha…! To think that the upright and noble Cardinal Mishael would get aroused by a heretic who should rightly be sent to the religious tribunal and burned at the stake!”

Who was the one who remained silent all this time at Mishael’s words? Lionella spoke out with a voice heavy with sarcasm. The words she spat out were nothing but derision.

“So the half-princess’s watchdog turns out to be a dog in heat for its former master it helped overthrow?”

“Yes.”

His easy affirmation made Lionella’s green eyes freeze momentarily. His indifferent tone seeped into her ears and chilled her spine. A shiver ran through her body, causing it to stiffen awkwardly.

At this sight, Mishael’s lips curled up in satisfaction.

“That’s right. I am a shameless staff of God who gets er*ect over someone like you.”

“You’re insane…!”

“Yes. I think so too.”

Mishael’s hand slowly rubbed his own pillar. The swollen c*ck throbbed threateningly with each stroke of his hand, matching Lionella’s line of sight and height, its heat almost touching her nose.

“If I hadn’t been mad, I wouldn’t have dreamed of violating you on the day I was beaten to a pulp in your place.”

“What, what…?”

“You should have been prepared from the moment you started beating me like a dog. Regardless of who the master is or not, a dog in heat will try to mate with any hole it can find if it’s desperate enough.”

So, Miss Lily.

My beautiful and contemptuous Miss Lily.

You’ve forced me to confront my own twisted ugliness by ultimately claiming you in this manner, cruel Miss Lily.

He lazily smiled as he stepped half a pace towards her with his c*ck in hand. The p*nis that came close enough that she couldn’t focus on it suggested through its leaking prec*m that he was already excited by imagination alone.

“Open your mouth.”

Although he commanded verbally, he did not wait for it to be executed. When he pressed the gl*ns on her lips, Lionella naturally reflexively closed her lips. As expected, he grabbed Lionella’s chin and firmly pressed her cheeks. When her mouth involuntarily opened due to the force, without missing the opportunity, he pushed the hard head straight in. In an instant, it felt like his thing reached the back of her throat, deeply inserted, filling her mouth.

“…Khk!”

Lionella was seemingly trying to spit it out reflexively, but Mishael was quick to grab the back of her head. There seemed to be a ray of light from his hand, and Lionella’s hair, which had been cut unevenly and barely touched her shoulders, rapidly grew, curling and shining with a ginger hue. Unlike its symbolism of her beauty at the time, her lengthened hair now served merely as a tool for Mishael to grasp her more easily.

Surprised by the sudden change, Lionel’s pupils froze completely. He knew he possessed great power, but experiencing it in this way was a completely different matter.

“Whether you bite or resist, do as you please. It won’t be a problem for me if I just pull it all out and make you heal instantly.”

He stared dryly at her eyes, which seemed on the verge of tearing apart with horror and astonishment, then he slowly withdrew his hips, and thrust forcefully again. With her hair wrapped around his hand, his merciless pounding began. Saliva reflexively flowed down Lionella’s mouth as his brutal penetration continued.

“Yeah. F*ck… this is what I wanted.”

“Ugh! Gah!”

“Every time you looked at me as if I were a bug and sneered, I felt like ramming my c*ck into that mouth of yours would be fitting.”

“Gah, Ugh…!”

Mishael thrust his hips erratically, as though he was intending to tear her throat apart. With only the blunt tip exposed, still encased in his unbuckled pants, he relentlessly tried to push it deeper into her mouth. Groans echoed from Lionella’s throat as if she were about to vomit, but considering it would be bile, he continued his ruthless thrusting. His gl*ns was pounding into her gurgling throat.

Squelch, squelch…! The sound of the bulbous t*sticles hitting her saliva-dripping chin reverberated in the cave.