I couldn’t breathe. A hand had merely rested on my shoulder, yet the surrounding air felt like it was crushing my throat. The touch of a man, encountered after so long, was so intimidating it made my flesh tremble.

“I…”

“You don’t need to go in too.”

“…”

I had absolutely no words to argue back. But I had to say something. I parted my lips, desperately trying to formulate a response.

In the meantime, the hand resting on my shoulder slowly crept up my neck. An unpleasant warmth seeped into my skin as those fingers gently stroked my nape.

“W-wait a minute, Duke.”

It was then that Baron spoke up for the first time on my behalf. Mustering what seemed like fragile courage, he mumbled a warning that sounded more like an excuse.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t touch her. She came with us, so…”

“What did you say?”

“I mean… please don’t touch her…”

“What?”

“Uh…”

Every time Duke raised his pitch at the end of his sentence, Baron’s voice grew progressively smaller. I hadn’t expected much to begin with, but he tucked his tail between his legs far faster than I had anticipated.

“Never mind. We’ll… go help Roselia.”

“Do whatever you want.”

“Yeah…”

“…”

I cast a resentful glare at the guys brushing past me. Of course, it changed absolutely nothing. The door on the opposite side slammed shut once more, and a chilling draft swirled around my feet. All that remained beside me now was the vulgar slapping noise pressing against my skin.

“Hmm…”

“…”

Meanwhile, Duke’s hand had crawled up to my cheek. I lowered my head, desperately wanting to avoid his gaze, but he brushed the hair from the side of my face as if finding my reaction endearing. His oily touch dripped with lust.

His demeanor was like a man caressing the body of a shy bride on their wedding night. Unable to even bring myself to gag, I merely flinched every time his skin brushed mine. Finding this amusing, Duke let out a soft chuckle and posed a question.

“Lena, was it?”

“…”

“You’re not bad looking, you know.”

“…”

“But your figure is a bit lacking.”

His gaze. His tongue. His vulgar tone. They all crawled stickily over my body. Being subjected to physical appraisal in the midst of an orgy made me feel, quite literally, like a whore.

Of course, it wasn’t going to end with just a feeling. His hand was now sliding downward. It seemed he would soon grab my plump breasts beneath my clothes.

“Wonder if it feels different from how it looks…”

“…”

“Usually, girls like this are hiding something.”

Snickering echoed around me. I stole a glance up and saw men leaning against the corners, grinning at me as if eyeing a new toy.

There wasn’t a single familiar face among them. They were guys I had never even seen back when the Academy functioned normally. To put it bluntly, they were pathetic losers who wouldn’t have even dared to make eye contact with me back then.

Right. Just like Lope.

At that moment, something surged up inside me. Every single bastard in this room was a pathetic loser and an insect. They were fools who lacked even the basic intelligence of someone like Heiter, destined to live their entire lives being pushed around by others. But the world had gone to hell, and by a sheer stroke of overlapping luck, they had stumbled their way into this position.

While someone had tried their absolute hardest to live with dignity. While someone had earned the respect and praise of everyone through nothing but her own effort and talent. To think that these thugs were lording over me with nothing but their natural bulk, forcing me into this degrading situation.

“…Stop it.”

“What did you say?”

“…”

I couldn’t accept it. I absolutely couldn’t just sit here and take it. I wanted to teach them the manners the world had forgotten.

“What the hell are you saying, you…”

“I said stop, you worthless piece of shit.”

“What…”

Duke couldn’t finish his sentence. The next moment, I spun around and slapped him across the cheek with all my might.

“…!”

“Uh…”

“…”

“You piece of trash.”

I spat out the curse again, pouring every ounce of my contempt into it. The palm that struck him stung and flushed bright red. And Duke, his head turned from the impact, kept his mouth shut.

Seeing him up close, his frame was far larger than I had imagined. A full head taller than me. No, perhaps even more than that. Because of that, I had aimed for his cheek but couldn’t reach, so I had struck his jaw instead. I had put all my strength into it, so that part was also glowing red.

Soon, Duke slowly turned his head back toward me. Just as I thought, it was a face I had never seen before. If not for a ridiculous stroke of luck, this bastard would have been another pathetic loser who couldn’t even look me in the eye. Looking at that idiotic face, I couldn’t help but add one more thing.

“Did you think I’d just meekly follow your orders like those other bitches? I will absolutely never…”

“Ptooey.”

But before I could finish, Duke spat right in my face. The viscous liquid instantly stuck to my lips.

And before I could even fully register the disgust, a hard palm struck my cheek with violent force.

“Aak!!!”

“…You fucking bitch.”

I collapsed to the floor before I even realized I had been hit. It was just one strike, yet my skull rang and blood gushed from my nose. The floor tiles rushed up to meet my vision, swaying violently and distorting my sight.

But it didn’t end with one hit. Duke climbed on top of me without a moment’s hesitation and raised his hand. And before I could even brace myself, he tore into my cheek again.

“How dare you…!”

“…”

It didn’t even end with that. He continued to strike my face without a shred of hesitation. Furthermore, he didn’t seem to have any intention of holding back his strength.

“Wait… just…”

“Move your hands.”

“You…!”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Uk…!”

One blow. Another. With every strike that landed, my consciousness blurred and tears streamed down my face. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell if they were tears or blood.

My body gradually lost its strength. My face was completely numb, and the lower half of my body, pinned under his hips, slowly went limp. A fear crept in that I might actually die like this.

“Hey, Duke…”

And it seemed I wasn’t the only one feeling that fear. A cautious voice drifted over from the spectators.

“Take it easy on her. You’re going to kill her at this rate.”

“She hit me first.”

“And you’re ruining her face. She seems like that’s the only thing she has going for her.”

“…That’s true.”

Only then did he stop his hand. He examined my face from various angles before pressing a finger against the swollen area.

“Hey. You alright?”

“Heok…!”

When I instinctively flinched, he let out a snort of derision. Even I had to admit the situation was laughable. A haughty bitch silenced in a single punch—of course it was funny.

But I had no room to care about such things. Besides, the situation wasn’t over yet.

“I’m telling you, her face is really pretty. If only her body was good, she’d be perfect.”

“…”

“Hey. Try standing up.”

“Wait… just…!”

He grabbed my arm and forced me to my feet. Naturally, I staggered, drained of strength, but he clung to me stubbornly, dragging me along. He stood me in the center of the room, pulled up a chair, and sat down in front of me.

“Hmm…”

“…”

“She’s not bad, but…”

“Um… could you let me rest for a moment…”

“Attention.”

It was an overwhelmingly authoritative attitude, bordering on humiliating. But I had no choice but to obey. As I struggled to straighten my posture, he let out a soft chuckle and dropped a remark.

“Strip.”

“…Huh?”

“I said strip. You said you didn’t want me to strip you, right? So take them off yourself.”

“I…”

“Should I start hitting you again if you don’t want to?”

His words lacked an object, but it was perfectly clear what he was referring to. Still, as I hesitated, another voice drifted from behind.

“Hey, Duke. Are you sure about this? She seems like one of Roselia’s crew.”

“I know. So what?”

“Even… Heiter didn’t mess with Roselia. Is it really okay to do this?”

“I don’t know. It’ll probably be fine. Why aren’t you stripping?”

“…”

Ignorance. It was a statement that went beyond mere ignorance, bordering on a hostility toward intellect itself. No matter how I looked at it, there was no savior to rescue me from this situation.

In the end, I began unbuttoning my shirt with my own hands. Drops of fluid—whether tears or blood, I didn’t know—fell and soaked my fingers.

And so, the single petal covering my body fluttered to the ground. The flies swallowing their saliva around me gasped at the sight.

“Not bad, huh?”

“Right. It’s pretty decent.”

“I told you, the girls who play hard to get always end up like this.”

“Scored another one.”

The last comment came from Duke. He stood up from his chair and strode over to me.

As his massive shadow fell over me, I instinctively lowered my head. I thought he might forcefully yank it back up, but he seemed uninterested this time. He merely stared intently at the skin revealed between my clothes.

“I bet you’ll produce plenty of milk too.”

“No…”

“Let’s take a look.”

“Eut…!”

The moment he finished speaking, he shoved his hand under my bra. He then roughly kneaded my soft breasts. Before the shock of allowing another person to touch me for the first time could even fade, an excruciating pain set in.

“Ah… it hurts…”

“Hurts? Aren’t you enjoying this?”

“No way…”

As my eyebrows trembled, he slipped both hands inside my clothes and began to ravage my chest in earnest. Despite the hard, rough touch, my supple skin accepted him far too easily. The fingers digging into my breasts clung to me naturally, as if we had originally been one body.

Even when he rubbed my nipples, a fragile moan slipped from deep within my throat. Despite wanting to die, my body recklessly scattered evidence of pleasure.

“What’s this? Your nipples are hard. Does it feel good?”

“No.”

“Stop playing hard to get. It’s getting annoying.”

“I…”

“Shut your trap.”

He suddenly pulled out one hand and grabbed my jaw. Then, he thrust that fucking ugly face toward me. He looked as if he were about to kiss me.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Please, I prayed, someone save me, anyone, right now.

But life wasn’t that easy. All I could do was lower my head slightly so that his lips touched my nose instead.

“Stop messing around and put your lips on mine.”

“Ah-eup… eup…”

Finally, our lips met. Another milestone in life, my first kiss, was sucked down into a filthy sewer. Every time his disgusting tongue licked my lips, the stench of humiliation grew thicker.

It was the worst. It couldn’t possibly get any worse.

After what felt like an eternity, the door on the other side finally opened. Roselia’s voice drifted in belatedly.

“…What are you doing?”

“…”

“I asked what you’re doing, Duke.”

“Can’t you tell by looking? I was just having a little fun.”

Only then did he pull his lips away and remove the hand kneading my breast. As the sweaty touch disappeared, a sudden chill washed over my body. Feeling a deep sense of shame from the sensation, I hurriedly put my clothes back on.

“Anyway, is the work done? What did you talk about?”

“I kept hearing weird noises from outside, so I had to cut it short. But I did get a firm promise that they’ll send a Supply Ship. They said we’d discuss the details tomorrow.”

“Oh, yeah? I tried messing with that thing, but it wouldn’t work at all. I thought it was broken.”

“It’s Magitech Equipment that runs on mana. It’s hard for anyone but a specialist to operate.”

“Meaning you need me, right?”

“I appreciate your understanding. Anyway, I asked what you were doing. What did you do to Lena?”

“Ah, that.”

Duke looked back at me. He shrugged and answered gruffly.

“She came onto me first.”

“No way.”

“It’s true. Ask her yourself. You said you wanted to do it first, didn’t you?”

Behind his nonchalant expression lay a clear message. I couldn’t bring myself to answer and merely lowered my head. Roselia quickly approached and grabbed my arm.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to answer. Let’s go, Lena. We’re leaving for today.”

“Yeah…”

“I’ll come back tomorrow, Duke. Don’t touch the equipment until then and leave it be. That’s the last one left in the Academy, so it’ll be a problem if it breaks.”

“Ah, I got it. I got it. Come back tomorrow.”

Duke waved his hand in annoyance. Then, he looked at me once more and spoke.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, too.”

“…”

“…Let’s go. Lena.”

Roselia led me as she walked briskly toward the door. At the end of my final glance back, my eyes met Erika’s gaze. Before I knew it, the turn had come right up to her.

What emotion was trapped in those eyes? Disappointment? Or despair? I couldn’t tell, but one of the two had also latched onto my own heart. I ultimately turned away from that gaze and slipped out the door.

Only after the door closed behind me did I let out a sigh. A tear finally fell from my eye, belatedly.

“…Heuheok.”

“…”

Only then did I realize that my lower regions were damp. It seemed I had wet myself when Duke was beating me. A hot flush suddenly rose from the cold, damp stain. I grabbed the hem of my skirt with trembling hands and clenched my teeth.

“You went through a lot, Lena.”

“…”

“What were you guys doing while this happened? You clearly said nothing was going on.”

“W-we just…”

As Roselia scolded them, the two guys mumbled and stuttered. But she couldn’t bring herself to reprimand them too harshly. In a situation like this, even such useless combat power was far too precious.

“No. I understand. There were only two of you, after all.”

“…”

“We really need more people. That bastard Lope isn’t dead, is he…”

At the mention of that name, my shoulder flinched involuntarily. An absurd fear welled up inside me, as if Lope were watching this pathetic display from somewhere.

“So?”

“Huh?”

“So, did they say anything else from the mainland?”

“Well…”

I had deliberately asked the question to erase my thoughts of Lope. Roselia looked a bit flustered before answering in an unconfident voice.

“Actually… I couldn’t speak with my father. So I couldn’t hear the details.”

“…”

“But it’s fine. I’ll be able to hear from him tomorrow.”

“Will I… have to come with you tomorrow too?”

“That’s…”

Roselia hesitated to answer my question. But this time, she couldn’t avoid it. She pondered for a long while before fabricating a precarious confidence to answer.

“There’s no need for that.”

“…”

“…Probably.”

The last word trailed off faintly. My anxiety blossomed rapidly from that faintness.