CHap 110-Neglect Play

 

Camilla said she was okay and told Serena to leave, but she didn’t look okay to anyone.

Her shoulders were slumped, and her red eyes wandered aimlessly.

Serena hesitated for a moment before finally sighing.

It was impossible for her to be with the prisoner in that state.

She supported the weakly staggering Camilla and took her to the lounge upstairs from the torture chamber.

The light weight of her body transmitted through her arm felt all the more pitiful.

“Are you… really okay?”

Serena handed her a warm cup of tea, but Camilla couldn’t even bring herself to drink it, holding the cup in her hands.

‘She’s completely… broken…’

Serena bit her lip hard.

Her anger towards Yeon Bennet, who had ruined such a fragile girl, resurfaced from the bottom of her heart.

“Let’s… stop the visitation for now.”

“No.”

As soon as Serena finished speaking, Camilla’s head snapped up.

A spark briefly flickered in her empty red eyes, but they began to tremble precariously as if they would soon die out.

Her pale face and trembling lips showed how precarious her condition was.

“Haa… look in the mirror.”

Serena pointed to the full-length mirror on one side of the room.

“Your hands are shaking like this, and your face is completely bloodless… Is that what you call being okay?”

Camilla slowly turned her head and looked at the mirror.

And she froze.

In the mirror was herself, with dark circles under her eyes and a bloodless complexion.

She looked as if she would collapse at any moment.

But she didn’t give up her stubbornness.

“I’m… okay.”

At those words, Serena gently wrapped Camilla’s trembling hands.

Her fingertips were as cold as ice, conveying tension and fear.

“…Are you afraid?”

Serena whispered softly.

There was a time when she felt the same way.

When she lost her mother to the magical beasts.

When she lost Marie, the maid who was like family, because of Yeon Bennet.

At that time, she was weak, and she was afraid of them, so she ended up doing nothing.

‘If… if I had been a little stronger back then…’

Serena gritted her teeth.

She didn’t want a talented and promising child like Camilla to walk the same helpless path as she had.

She picked up the blood-stained whip that was lying on the floor.

Then, she forcibly placed it in Camilla’s hand, whose cold fingertips were trembling.

A playful and cruel smile appeared on Serena’s lips.

“You know what? I used this to beat Yeon all day today.”

That proud voice, that joyful expression.

“And that bitch couldn’t do anything but get beaten?”

Camilla felt a strong sense of disgust, as if her stomach was turning inside out.

It was as if what she was holding in her hand… wasn’t just a whip, but her own ugly past.

Yeon’s face, suffering while tied to the ropes.

The memory of the dagger digging into her skin.

The laughter of her followers as they trampled on Yeon at her command.

All of that was revived along with the sticky sensation in the palm of her hand.

“So don’t give in, Camilla. She’s just a criminal.”

She wanted to shake off this hand and scream right away.

But Camilla desperately swallowed the scream that had risen to her throat.

‘I have to be alone with Yeon…’

Camilla forced a faint smile and nodded.

To continue that detestable charade.

…

Camilla’s condition didn’t look good.

It was inevitable… because her mother had passed away.

And I was the one who killed her mother…

From Camilla’s point of view, it was natural that she would want to tear me apart and kill me.

‘I’m being hated by someone again.’

This damn fate that has been repeated ever since I came to this world.

The reason she came to me was obvious.

Revenge.

To trample on and abuse me, who was helplessly bound.

“Sss—”

When I thought about that, saliva flowed from my mouth without me realizing it.

Yeah.

I decided to be a little more honest from now on.

I was looking forward to it.

The revenge she would inflict on me.

The pain I would experience.

The memory of the day I was tortured by her came back to life.

The shame of being stripped naked while tied to the ropes.

The sharp sensation of the dagger digging into my flesh.

All of that was mixed together, eventually turning into ecstatic pleasure.

Surely this time, even more terrible things would be waiting for me.

Just thinking about it made my heart pound and beat like crazy.

Bang-

‘She’s here, Camilla.’

Huh?

In her hand, as she cautiously entered the solitary cell, was the whip that her sister used to use.

‘What… is it that again…?’

That sight shattered my expectations of waiting for a different kind of stimulation.

Just a whip… Our Camilla wasn’t such an uncreative child.

Compared to the delicate and diverse torture I had received from her in the past… this felt too monotonous.

I grumbled inwardly.

But Camilla didn’t even end up using that whip on me.

Thud-

‘What, what is it?’

Camilla suddenly pulled a chair nearby and sat right in front of me.

And then, with the whip in her hand, she just stood there quietly.

“…….”

“…….”

There was no word, no action.

She was just staring blankly at somewhere on the floor with empty eyes.

Wasn’t she here to torture me?

Didn’t she come to seek revenge?

What… why is she doing that?

In the awkward silence, my gaze involuntarily went back and forth between the whip in her hand and her empty eyes.

“…….”

As time passed, my body slowly began to heat up.

I wanted her to strike me with the whip.

I wanted the sharp leather tip to dig into my flesh.

So that she could satisfy this rising expectation.

But she didn’t even flinch.

She was just staring blankly at me.

Expectation turned into disappointment, and disappointment turned into impatience.

I felt like I was going crazy with frustration.

How long had it been?

Knock knock-

Along with the sound of knocking on the door, my sister’s voice was heard.

“Camilla. How long are you going to be?”

At those words, she got up from her seat.

And then, without leaving a word, she disappeared out the door without even looking back, as if she were running away.

“…….”

I stared blankly, alternating between the chair that was left alone and the closed door, and thought blankly.

‘This situation… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before?’

I seemed to have seen something similar in a book that I happened to read by chance.

The title of that book was…

《How to Handle a Masochist》

Of course, it’s not like I saw such a book because I was interested in strange things.

It’s just that my Unique Ability name is Masochist…

I was grasping at straws, wondering if there might be some tips on how to handle this power efficiently…

Ahem.

Anyway, according to that book, maybe what Camilla did to me was…

The act of leaving the other person tied up or subdued and neglecting them psychologically, or treating them with indifference.

The main purpose is to induce a sense of powerlessness, anxiety, and isolation to maximize psychological tension.

For me, it was the most effective, the worst torture.

‘Could this be… neglect play?’

…

It seemed like there was a slight misunderstanding.

After that day, Camilla started visiting me every day.

But unlike the first day, she didn’t neglect me.

Instead…

Clang-

As soon as the door opened, she immediately came over and released the restraints that were binding my body.

A familiar yet subtly trembling touch.

I moved my creaking body and got down on the floor.

Of course, as long as I had this dog collar-like magic item around my neck, there was nothing I could do recklessly.

And in front of me, as always, she began to put down the food one by one.

Soup with warm steam rising from it, freshly baked bread, fresh fruit, and even a soft meat stew.

“…Eat.”

I didn’t hesitate any longer.

I ravenously tore off the bread and dipped it in the soup, and filled my mouth with the soft meat.

When I was being interrogated by my sister, she would occasionally throw me some garbage-like food, which was really disgusting.

Considering that I had a headache because of this crazy ability to turn even that into pleasure…

“…….”

Anyway, thanks to her, I was glad that I was able to eat at least human-like food.

But.

I pretended to bring the food to my mouth, and glanced at Camilla out of the corner of my eye.

She was sitting in a chair, resting her chin on her hand, and looking at me with a very wistful look.

It was a cautious and affectionate gaze that I couldn’t possibly think of as the eyes of someone looking at the enemy who killed their parents.

At first, I had all sorts of thoughts.

Was she trying to fatten me up and eat me alive?

Or was she trying to give me hope and then throw me back into the gutter?

So I just silently accepted the food she gave me and waited for the sweet abyss she had prepared.

But Camilla had been repeating this for a week, not just a day or two.

She was just bringing delicious food to the prisoner who was imprisoned for killing her parents, and just looking at me with wistful eyes.

Unless I was an idiot, there was no way I wouldn’t notice.

“…Camilla.”

When I called her name, Camilla’s shoulders twitched slightly.

I put down the spoon.

And slowly, I looked her straight in the eye and asked.

“How much do you know?”