Chapter 96: What is this Engraving

[Mother, I really, really love you.]

A bright smile blooms toward her.

[Oh, are you sick? No, you can’t… Mother, you can’t be sick…]

The two most adorable blue jewels in the world look up at her, full of worry.

[I’ll take care of you….! Don’t worry, Mother!]

Tiny trembling hands, but the earnestness behind that playful gesture melts her heart.

She gently placed her hand on the beautiful girl’s cheek. The world’s most lovable girl grabbed her hand on her cheek tightly, then opened her lips, resembling a chick.

[Disgusting bitch.]

Huh?

[You knew it wasn’t me. In the end, just like you abandoned Father, you’re turning your back on me too. Go die. I never once thought of you as a mother.]

In an instant, the blue eyes became cold.

And at the same time, the world began to flip upside down.

[You’re the murderer who killed my father.]

“Ugh…!”

The moment she woke up from the dream, she was confronted with the gray, gloomy air and the unbearably familiar ceiling of her bedroom.

“Ugh! Cough..!”

The coughing that erupted as her stomach turned brought a burning pain to her throat. With trembling hands, she covered her mouth and looked down, seeing dark red blood staining her fingertips.

“Baron, it’s here.”

Viviana, who had been fidgeting beside her, carefully handed her a handkerchief.

Although she had clearly refused the nursing, she thought she should at least acknowledge the stubbornness of the woman who still hadn’t left the mansion.

“Thank you, Lady Viviana.”

“Please, just speak comfortably, Baron.”

“…How could I address you like that, Lady?”

She carefully wiped the blood from her mouth with the handkerchief she received from her. The dark red stain on the white cloth clearly revealed how bad her condition was.

A whole week had already passed.

Ever since that day when Tina, or rather, that girl had cruelly spoken the truth to her, her world had completely crumbled.

She had known from the start.

That the girl had a completely different personality from Tina.

Ever since the death of her father, Bonny Blanc, the former head of the Blanc family, Tina had never once called her ‘mother.’

She had always treated her with cold disregard, and her gaze was always as if she were looking at a murderer.

At some point, she had realized.

No matter how much she tried, the resentment deeply embedded in her heart would never be relieved.

Even if she repaid the family’s debts and revived the family name, Tina would still despise her.

When she had realized that, how much despair and pain she had endured.

That was why.

Even though she knew her daughter had suddenly changed, she had tried to turn away from that truth.

Her daughter’s affection, now turned around, was like a drug—addictive, and she didn’t want to let go of that sweetness.

Her true desire to not return to the empty, grim gray life before made her flee from the truth she could never turn away from.

“I am a sinner, too.”

“…”

She forced her heavy body up and tried to get out of bed. She almost collapsed as her legs gave way, but thanks to Lady Viviana quickly supporting her, she avoided injury.

“What happened to the girl?”

Viviana hesitated for a moment but then answered with a serious gaze.

“She is still in the Saint’s mansion. We decided to keep her there until we purify the demon.”

“…Is that so.”

Once she realized that the child was not her own daughter, there was no longer any need to focus her attention on her.

That child was the one who had taken her real daughter away and had committed countless evil deeds.

The Saint would take care of it, no doubt.

Now, there was only one thing left for her to do.

After the Saint dealt with that demon, she would ask where her real daughter was. She would search for her daughter’s whereabouts.

If, in the worst-case scenario, her daughter could not return to this place…

What should she do then?

“Cough…”

Once again, bile surged up, and dark blood splattered from her mouth. The princess quickly offered water, which she drank, but the burning in her throat and the heaviness in her chest remained.

Her heart felt heavy.

What tortured her endlessly from within was a mixture of resentment and sorrow over losing her daughter.

But why? It wasn’t just that. There was another, unexplainable emotion tangled in her chest.

Clutching her trembling heart, she lifted her head and saw the bright flower crown hanging in the middle of the desk.

As if possessed by something, she slowly approached the crown.

[Mother! I made this in the garden, hee hee, what do you think…?]

It was the gift from that child.

At the time, she had placed it proudly in the middle of the desk, filled with joy, keeping the memory close to her heart.

[Is it, well… not good? Ah, the cut on my hand..? It’s fine! If Mother is happy…!]

That small, delicate hand, the hand that had been pricked by thorns, now covered in cuts, had carefully picked flowers and woven them together to make the crown.

Is it really… all just an act…?

Artaasha carefully gripped the flower crown with trembling hands. As she gazed at the flowers, the emotions that had been suppressed within her began to crumble.

“Child…”

She muttered softly, staring at the crown in her hands.

“Did you… really think nothing of me?”

The remnants of the memories she had wanted to forget once again tore at her heart.

***

The sound of heavy iron chains clanging echoed, as her arms and legs were bound tightly.

“Ugh…!”

Her hot breath filled the dark, cold space.

“Ugh, heek…? Ha… please, don’t…”

“Just hold on a little longer, Tina. We’re almost done.”

Crunch-

“Ha…?! Ugh…! This, this feels strange…!”

Crunch-crunch-

“Ah… heek… ugh…”

The prison-like space created by Lillian. Her arms were shackled to the ceiling, and her feet were firmly bound to the floor with heavy chains.

Her arms and legs were spread wide, immobilizing her, and her shirt had ridden up, exposing her shameful belly button, leaving her in a vulnerable, fixed position.

The person who bound me in this strange and shameful position was none other than that damned Saintess right in front of me.

And while I was tied up like this, Lillian was doing something utterly incomprehensible.

Squish, squish!

“Ugh?!”

Lillian spread her palms wide and, while gripping my waist, carefully pressed her thumbs into my lower abdomen.

As if handling clay, every time Lillian’s mischievous fingers pressed deeply into my lower belly, a strange current flowed throughout my body.

Squish, squish!

“Eek!?! S-Stop…!”

“Just a little more, it’s almost done.”

My body trembled as if having a seizure, but thanks to the iron chains that tightly held my arms and legs, it only ended with my body shuddering.

How did this happen?

I just woke up, and my body was tied up like this.

When I asked Lillian what she was doing to me, she gave me an unnecessarily bright smile and said:

[Today, we decided to do some bladder training, didn’t we? I’ve prepared something special for it.]

With those words, Lillian continued to do as she pleased with my lower abdomen.

She pressed, touched, pinched, and tickled it—tormenting me with all sorts of perverse motions.

Unable to move my arms and legs, I could only tightly shut my eyes, biting my lips and suppressing my shame.

How much time had passed while Lillian continued to knead my lower abdomen?

Finally, Lillian removed her hands from my waist and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“Heh…Hick…Hah…”

“Phew, all done.”

“You sick bastard…sick…sick bastard…”

Panting, I cursed at Lillian, but she didn’t care at all. Instead, she held out a hand mirror in front of me.

“Would you like to see it, Tina? It turned out beautifully.”

With a seductive smile, Lillian held the mirror against my belly and tilted it so that I could see the reflection.

I stared at the small mirror, looking at my abdomen. On my white skin, Lillian’s fingerprints were imprinted in red in various places.

In between them, there was a small belly button.

And below that, for the first time ever, a strange pattern had been etched onto my belly.

“…Huh?”

I muttered helplessly, staring blankly at it.

The strange pattern engraved just below my belly button.

It was drawn in platinum-colored lines, faintly glowing, and depicted a small cross with angel wings spread out on either side.

“W-What is this…?”

“Hehe, isn’t it beautiful? It’s a mark I engraved just for you, Tina.”

“A mark…?”

“It suits your white skin so well. You look like an angel.”

I knew a few things about markings.

There were the marks of obedience, often engraved by slave traders, that would cause one’s heart to burst if they disobeyed their master.

Or the marks used in brothels to amplify a person’s sexual desire and sensations while preventing them from ever conceiving a child. Those were often carved by tavern owners.

There were a couple of others I knew about, but I had never seen a marking like this anywhere.

That’s why an unknown fear crept over me even more intensely.

“W-What have you done to my body…?”