It didn’t take long to realize that the carriage had unwittingly fallen into a trap. Despite screaming in despair and struggling wildly, all she got for her efforts was a brutal beating that left her unconscious.

When Ruby regained consciousness, she found herself in a dark underground prison. She was horrified to see her two hands bound and chained above her head. 

The chains hanging from the ceiling tightly secured her slender, white hands. She tried to pull them free, but it was impossible.

“No, what is this…?”

Looking around, she realized with mounting terror that she was completely alone.

The approaching wave of fear shook Ruby helplessly. As she struggled and whimpered, she heard movement not far away. With a trembling heart, she turned her gaze toward the sound. A figure slowly walking toward her chuckled in the darkness.

“Ah, you look terrible. All covered in tears.”

“W-who are you? Please let me out. Please…!”

“Hmm? You’re asking who I am?”

Hiss.

A flame sparked in the darkness. Fire caught on a candle, illuminating the previously dark surroundings.

“Gasp!”

Ruby’s heart sank the moment she recognized the man standing before her. Her entire body went limp as she despaired at the realization of what had happened.

“Ah, I liked that expression just now. Ruby, or should I say, my Empress now? No, our Empress.”

“Isn’t she too frightened? When they freeze up like that, I lose interest, William.”

Ruby belatedly realized that the man before her was Emperor William. William and Lucas had established their own rule to easily distinguish between them. 

William preferred to wear predominantly red clothes, while Lucas favored blue. Though the two men before her had identical faces, telling them apart wasn’t difficult. Lucas walked deliberately behind William, scrutinizing Ruby.

“Hmm, as expected, she’s skinny. I prefer more voluptuous women.”

“Don’t worry, Lucas. We can fatten her up later, and I’ll melt that rigid body of hers.”

Ruby nearly fainted at the conversation between the two men. She wasn’t innocent enough to misunderstand what they were talking about.

“Sob, Your Majesty… Please, please have mercy and let me go.”

“Oh, don’t cry, Ruby. We’re not such bad guys.”

William moved suddenly close to her, wiping away the tears streaming down her cheeks with his slender, cold fingers.

“Huh! Y-Your Majesty…!”

“We were so excited to make Ruby’s coming-of-age ceremony a grand event.”

“Sniff…”

“If only you hadn’t run away, you wouldn’t have had to endure such a miserable place for your ceremony.”

“Ha, liar. You were more excited about it than I was. People think I’m the one with perverted tastes, but honestly, William’s much worse. Don’t be fooled—he’s far more sadistic and loves the most perverse things.”

Ruby wanted to cover her ears. She didn’t want to hear any of this.

“Ah, Lucas, if you say things like that, how could our dear Empress not be terrified of me?”

Despite his soft tone, William’s hand was already trailing along Ruby’s neckline and playing with her hair, sending shivers of fear through her.

When their eyes met, Ruby’s tears spilled over as she sobbed. William clumsily gathered her long hair and tied it up, asking,

“In Kant, don’t they say a woman’s coming-of-age ceremony involves an elegant hairstyle and a kiss from the man she loves?”

“Please… Please stop…!”

Even as she begged, William didn’t stop.

“William, stop dragging this out and get started already.”

“Ah, Lucas, you’re so impatient. Women taste best when you pluck them at their most beautiful moment.”

At Lucas’s urging, William shook his head with a smirk and snapped his fingers. Martin, the chancellor who had been waiting outside the cell, entered with an exquisite tiara in hand.

“This was specially prepared for our Empress. Do you like it?”

“Sob… Your Majesty….”

William placed it on her head.

“Ah, it suits you well.”

After placing it on her disheveled hair, the two men exchanged satisfied expressions.

“It goes perfectly with the white dress.”

Only then did Ruby realize she had been changed from her maid’s outfit into a pure white dress.

“Now, shall we begin our Empress’s coming-of-age ceremony?”

“Certainly.”

“In Kant, the tradition is to wear a tiara and kiss your beloved, but in our Zahar, the tradition is to wear a white dress and make wine. Men begin to feel s*xual attraction toward a girl when they see her skirt and feet stained with red wine.”

Martin followed by preparing wine and presenting it to the emperors.

William gently swirled the wine in his glass and smiled at Ruby.

“Making wine is too much work, so we decided to enjoy a simple party… But since Ruby missed that opportunity anyway, we thought it would be better to prepare something special for Ruby to have a more interesting and ecstatic coming-of-age ceremony.”

“W-what is that…?”

Ruby asked nervously.

William took a white pill from his pocket and dropped it into the wine.

“I do hope Ruby will enjoy this.”

“Let me help.”

The impatient Lucas snatched the glass from William and took a mouthful of wine. Ruby, having no idea what the pill was, simply watched Lucas. He strode over to her, grabbed her chin forcefully, and poured the wine into her small mouth, making her swallow it.

“Mmph, mmph! Cough, cough!”

Ruby struggled against Lucas’s rough kiss and forced drinking, but it was useless. She tried to turn her mouth away to avoid drinking all the wine, but she distinctly felt the undissolved pill slide down her throat.

Pale with fear, she shouted at them.

“W-what did you make me drink? Is it poison?”

They burst into laughter at her question.

“Oh, how innocent. Poison? How cute, our Empress. Don’t worry. It’s something to make you feel good. I made it specially.”

“It’s an aphrodisiac. When you take it, your body heats up and becomes so l*stful you’ll beg for a man.”

“N-no…! I-I didn’t want to take something like that…!”

Thoroughly violated by them, Ruby shed tears again and pleaded.

“Your Majesty, please let me return to Kant. I am a princess there. No matter how much we’re a vassal state, my father, Roy Lawrence, will not tolerate such treatment. So please, release me…!”

Lucas found her words ridiculous. There were differences even among vassal states. Her homeland, Kant, was a kingdom heading toward destruction.

“How foolish. You might actually be fortunate to have become Zahar’s Empress. Kant is no longer that glorious kingdom you imagine. The civil war is driving people away, the land is becoming barren, and everything is being lost.”

William gave Lucas a look suggesting he shouldn’t have mentioned such things yet. Ruby shook her head vigorously, finding his words hard to believe. Though she couldn’t get detailed news about Kant, she had never heard anything about a civil war.

“Lies! That can’t be… Haa, that can’t be true… Nngh…”

Even as she responded defiantly, Ruby felt something strange happening inside her body. Her body was getting hotter, and the area around her chest felt itchy and boiling, driving her mad.

William smirked as he watched Ruby twisting her body with flushed cheeks.

“Is the drug taking effect?”

“Hehe, I told you. It would work quickly.”

“Hnng, something’s wrong… My body feels strange… Nngh, help, help me. Haa!”

Her legs kept giving way, making her stagger. Ruby tried to stand properly, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. Then William walked behind her and slowly began untying her tightly bound corset. Even in her dazed state, Ruby noticed this and tried to resist, twisting her body.

“Ah, don’t untie it… No…”

But his hands gripped her slender waist, preventing her from moving. William just chuckled as he continued untying her corset.

“Your skin is so fair, Ruby.”

“Ahh…”

The pure white dress fell helplessly around her feet. Ruby was embarrassed at being completely n*ked, but her body was burning so intensely that she couldn’t think to curl up. Lucas sat in a prepared chair, watching William and Ruby.

“Ah, your br*asts are tiny but feel so good.”

Ruby felt dizzy at his words as he whispered while fondling her br*asts from behind.

“Hah, no… Don’t touch… Ah, ahh.”

“Wow, your n*pples are already hard. Ruby, is it because of the drug? Or are you naturally this sensitive?”

“Sob, I-I don’t know… Hnng! No… Don’t rub them…!”

When he gently rubbed her n*pples between his index finger and thumb, it felt like an intense shiver exploded throughout her body. 

Lucas continued to quietly observe her as she stood on tiptoe, fully experiencing William’s caresses. Whenever Ruby’s eyes met Lucas’s, who was sitting in front of her, she felt she would go mad from embarrassment and shame.

“Ruby, you don’t dislike it. With things like this, instead of saying no, you should say ‘more,’ that’s right.”

“No…”

William sighed at her strong resistance.

“Then how about this? For the sake of your only brother Tommy, why not try to enjoy this act?”

“Hah, T-Tommy…!”

“If you don’t play along with us properly, we can’t guarantee what might happen to your young brother, Ruby.”

“Sob! Tommy has done nothing wrong in this…!”

She absolutely couldn’t let Tommy get hurt. Ruby pleaded with them.

“Please, don’t touch Tommy. I beg you, Your Majesty!”

“Yes, yes. We don’t want to go that far either, Ruby. So don’t reject us so strongly. Understand?”

Ruby nodded with her eyes tightly shut at their words. William found her behavior cute and laughed. But having her eyes closed like this wasn’t fun. Considering Lucas sitting in front, William whispered to Ruby.

“Open your eyes, Ruby. Lucas wants to make eye contact with you.”

“Hah, no, no…”

“Can’t be helped then… I’ll have to make you open your eyes.”

“Ahah!”

Ruby screamed and opened her eyes in surprise when one of his cold hands, which had been kneading and circling her br*asts, suddenly slipped between her legs.