So Michael started f*cking her rear hole more often too.

When his c*ck pushed inside, her anus stretched to the point of nearly tearing. But it no longer hurt as much as it did before he made her drink the medicine.

Instead, the psychological torment weighed far heavier. That place was originally meant only for expelling waste. Taking his c*ck into a hole like that made her feel like she fell below the status of a human being.

Every time pleasure hit her while he took her from behind, Rowen wept uncontrollably. Even so, she clamped her mouth shut so as not to upset Michael.

On the day he first discovered her secret, Michael found her crying rather unwelcome. But at some point, whenever Rowen covered her mouth to muffle her sobs, he started pulling her hand away and pinning it to the bed instead.

Now he seemed to take pleasure in her suffering whenever she cried. Rowen was certain he was a f*cking lunatic. He seemed to see her not as a person, but as little more than a tool for his s*xual gratification.

She obeyed him only because she didn’t want to die, and yet for several days straight, the thought crossed her mind that she would rather just die.

Rowen used to overcome hardship by writing letters to Erin. Even while Jun and Kyle tormented her, she comforted herself by writing letters every day.

But what about now? Unable to leave the bed, she couldn’t even write a letter. That was probably why things felt more wretched now than during the time Tehern violated her.

Still, Rowen didn’t dare ask Michael for permission to write letters. On the surface, he seemed fairly composed, but he was actually a volatile, unpredictable being. Even his habit of walking around with a smile while poisoning his enemies behind their backs proved that much.

Asking him for anything at all was, quite literally, practically an act of madness.

So Rowen had no choice but to grit her teeth and endure once more, just as she had while enduring Tehern before. If she kept behaving like an obedient dog, perhaps he would show her some small mercy eventually.

And his mercy arrived sooner than Rowen expected.

“You haven’t been writing letters lately?”

“What…?”

“I said you haven’t been writing letters lately. You used to write to your mom every day.”

At his words, Rowen stared blankly at the desk. Since the room was small, the desk sat only a step away from the bed, but for Rowen, unable to leave the bed, even that step felt impossibly far.

Michael caught the meaning behind her gaze and burst out laughing.

“Right, how would you write a letter chained to the bed?”

Michael reached toward the collar around Rowen’s neck, and the sturdy iron ring split in half and opened easily. The collar that never budged no matter how hard Rowen struggled against it, opened just like that.

“Write if you want. I’ll deliver it for you.”

Michael carried Rowen to the desk, speaking as if he were bestowing some tremendous mercy on her. But she could only feel grateful, even for such a small kindness.

Michael sat down in the chair first, then set Rowen on his lap. Startled, she looked up at him, but his expression only asked what the problem was.

What could she do when the great and honorable prince told her to write her letter in this position? She gave up and, still held in Michael’s arms, pulled writing paper from the drawer. It was expensive, high quality paper supplied by the imperial palace.

Rowen spread the paper on the desk and glanced at Michael before picking up a pen. Michael couldn’t read the Atletan script, but even so, it seemed wise not to write anything unnecessary.

Rowen thought for a moment about what to write, then decided to lie and say she was doing well.

Telling Erin about her situation wouldn’t help anything anyway. Erin wasn’t a duke’s daughter or a princess or anything of the sort, just a powerless former dancer. Knowing that her daughter spread her legs for princes because of her would only eat away at Erin’s own mind.

Rowen slowly began writing the letter. Watching her while poking at her waist, Michael asked a question.

“Atletan?”

Focused on writing, Rowen jumped and turned to look at him. How did he know what she was writing was Atletan? Could he possibly read the script?

“Why are you so surprised? You got scolded by a servant last time, remember? For writing a letter in Atletan.”

“Oh…”

“Did you actually think I could read Atletan? You’re really an idiot. You couldn’t even talk back to that servant spouting nonsense back then.”

She had simply forgotten about that incident for a moment. Michael, having found something to hold over her, tore into Rowen without mercy. His sharp words left her cowed.

Watching her shrink, Michael chuckled and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. Contrary to the sharp words that just left his mouth, his manner turned as sweet as a man treating a beloved lover.

“It’s fine. You’re never going to become emperor of this country anyway, so it doesn’t matter if you’re a little stupid. As long as you understand when I tell you to spread your legs, that’s enough.”

As long as she understood when told to spread her legs, that’s enough. Michael might have thought he was comforting her, but hearing that only made Rowen feel more miserable.

“Done? What did you write?”

Seemingly indifferent to Rowen’s feelings, Michael snatched the letter and asked. He stared at it for a moment, then frowned at the string of unfamiliar characters he couldn’t understand. He handed the letter back and said,

“Read it to me.”

He made an outrageous demand. Of all things, asking her to read aloud a letter meant for her mother.

“But it’s a letter for my mother…”

Rowen hesitated and offered a timid protest. Michael said nothing, only watched her and blinked slowly. Each time he blinked, his long golden lashes fluttered up and down.

“Rowen, read it.”

He repeated the same words once more. The moment she heard it, Rowen instinctively understood something. She should never make him say those words a third time.

Without any further resistance, Rowen picked the letter back up. She translated the Atletan script into the imperial language and read it aloud.

“…And I’m doing well, so please don’t worry. Everyone here in the Crystal Palace treats me kindly…”

“Everyone treats you kindly? Well, I suppose I do treat you kindly.”

The letter was filled with lies meant to put Erin at ease. Michael mocked her for it while kneading her br*asts from behind. Under his relentless teasing, Rowen read the letter with her face burning bright red.

“…So take care of yourself. I’ll write again soon.”

“Quite the touching mother and daughter bond.”

Once the letter finished, Michael offered his critique with an expressionless face. At some point, he stopped groping her and started paying close attention to the letter’s contents instead. He studied every one of Rowen’s round, careful characters.

“Rowen, write me a letter too.”

Just as she began wondering what on earth he was thinking, Michael made another strange demand. This time, the request was even more absurd than asking her to read her mother’s letter aloud.

“A letter for you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why would you need something like that…”

“No reason. Just thought it’d be fun.”

“…”

“You’ll write it for me, right?”

The man in front of her was Michael Louisa Hydra. He asked if she would write it for him as though he respected her right to choose, but Rowen had no way to refuse.

What on earth was she supposed to write in a letter to him? Her head already throbbed just thinking about it.

But this new obligation to write letters wasn’t entirely bad. Writing a letter required sitting at the desk. Because of that, Michael stopped putting the collar back on her, and Rowen finally found herself freed from that small prison on the bed.

“Rowen, stay right here until I get back.”

Michael left the room with Rowen’s letter in hand.

He said he would deliver the letter to the servant on Rowen’s behalf. Rowen told him he didn’t need to bother, but Michael simply ignored her completely. Aside from no longer being chained, little else had really changed.

But being confined to the room didn’t mean Rowen did nothing while Michael was gone. The moment he left, she immediately dug through her wardrobe. She pulled out some clothes and started putting them on.

While chained to the bed, her existence resembled nothing more than an animal’s. To Michael, who wanted to have her whenever the mood struck, dressing her seemed entirely unnecessary. So over the past several days, he never once let her put on clothes.

But while spending the entire day undressed suited Michael just fine, it was a source of deep misery for Rowen. He might tell her to strip again the moment he returned, but even so, Rowen wanted to wear clothes, even if only for a little while.