Ch.777If You’re Uncomfortable, You’re Bound to Have Nightmares.

“You want me to… wear this to sleep?”

I sighed in disbelief as I examined the restraints neatly arranged on the bed.

Fur-lined handcuffs and shackles with soft leather inside, presumably to prevent skin chafing.

Looking at how the chains were intertwined, I could see that if I tried to break free by pulling on the cuffs or shackles, the chain would tighten around my neck and dig in. The structure forced me to relax my strength unless I wanted to choke to death or break my neck.

Hmm… wearing this while sleeping might indeed prevent sleepwalking, but…

“Are you insane?”

What kind of person would voluntarily wear something like this to bed? I’m not some female knight captured by a perverted pig. Right?

I shook my head and dropped the handcuffs as if discarding trash. I planned to dismiss these chains as just another of Frider’s tasteless jokes and throw them in storage.

However.

“Sister… wouldn’t it be okay to at least try them…?”

Lena, who had been staring at the chains with a strange look in her eyes, grabbed my right arm and looked up at me with a pleading expression.

“…No, Lena. What are you saying…?”

Are you asking me to sleep wearing iron chains?

Like those female knights in erotic comics who start out shouting about keeping their minds pure even if their bodies are defiled, but end up with heart-shaped pupils not long after?

I didn’t raise you to be that kind of girl…

When I looked down at Lena with confused, trembling eyes, she met my gaze and spoke hesitantly with an expression like an abandoned orphan.

“Is it… not possible? I’ve always wished to sleep together like ‘real sisters’… and it’s too cold to sleep alone here…”

“Uh…”

“But if you don’t want to, I should give up… I can’t inconvenience you because of my selfish desires…”

Lena released my arm that she had been holding tightly and stepped back half a step, bowing her head with a genuinely apologetic face.

She looked like a child who had just been told “You should never have been born” as a birthday present.

“I’m sorry, I was being too childish…”

“…”

Well… that is… um…

…whatever.

“I guess… trying it once… might be okay…?”

I sighed toward the ceiling and nodded.

I really didn’t want to do this, but I also didn’t want to see Lena looking so dejected.

[Are you insane? No, I knew you were crazy before, but to this extent…! Do you have no self-respect?]

Hersella was horrified, but…

“Really, sister?! Thank you! I love you more than anyone in the world!”

Seeing Lena jumping up and down with a bright smile on her face, I couldn’t care less about Hersella’s objections.

“My goodness. You’re actually doing it because she asked…”

Of course, I would need to punish Frider later for muttering such things after preparing the chains herself.

—-

After finishing our tour of the mansion, we went to the bathroom to wash our bodies with hot water. Just the three of us—me, Lena, and Frider.

Demian? Well, he said he’d borrow the bathtub used by the servants.

Unlike Faelrun, this region didn’t have hot springs, so to bathe in warm water, one had to go through the troublesome process of drawing water from the lake and heating it with firewood, but…

“Kenaz.”

When I placed my right hand in the water and awakened the fire rune, I could easily create hot water without having to carry firewood and light a fire.

While I was away, the servants would have to help if anyone wanted a hot bath, but that’s what they were paid for, so it wasn’t a problem.

“—So, how many people in total?”

I asked Frider about the number of servants managing this mansion while enjoying the heat that loosened my muscles in the steamy bath.

“It’s warm…”

I stroked Lena’s damp pink hair as she sat on my thighs and leaned back against me.

“Six people. Four guards and two maids. Only the maids stay in the mansion.”

Frider answered without looking in my direction as she poured hot water over herself.

The guards dispatched directly from Faelrun Castle stayed at an outpost on the outskirts of the village, handling patrol and security duties, while the two maids lived in the servants’ quarters on the first floor, taking care of cooking, cleaning, laundry, and so on.

Personally, I thought the number seemed a bit small, but given that the lord’s mansion wasn’t particularly large, two maids were apparently sufficient.

“They work well here. Aren’t they scared of the interior design?”

The first-floor corridor was literally at the level of a monster’s house, and I wondered how ordinary maids could bear working there.

It wouldn’t be strange if they ran away crying, saying they couldn’t possibly work here.

“They’re northerners—who would be afraid of taxidermy when they’ve seen living Werebeasts?”

“Is that so…?”

“Besides, they’re paid nearly three times what ordinary maids get, so the eerie atmosphere probably doesn’t even register to them.”

I see. So it was too much money to refuse.

They say money can even command ghosts, so with that level of compensation, ghost-summoning interior design wouldn’t be worth worrying about.

—-

After bathing, we changed into indoor clothes and dispersed to sleep.

Demian and Frider each took a guest room on the second floor, while Lena lay down on the small bed in my bedroom.

Me?

I…

[This is humiliating, absolutely humiliating! You shameless woman, you’re dragging my face through the mud!]

As I put on the handcuffs and shackles with the feeling of drinking poison, Hersella wailed and shouted like a patriot from a fallen nation.

‘What does it matter? No one’s watching. Just bear with it.’

Whining like a child. Does she think I’m enjoying this?

[Heaven is watching, earth is watching, I am watching, even that girl is watching—how can you say no one is watching! Stop this now. This, this is madness!]

‘It’s easier if you give up. Just accept it.’

I firmly gripped control over the Karma of Murder to prevent Hersella from acting up, then lay down on the bed with the fur-lined sleeping bag.

Frider had guaranteed that these chains alone would be enough to stop my sleepwalking, but I couldn’t trust her assurance alone when Lena’s safety was at stake.

So I planned to test the chains’ effectiveness by sleeping with the sleeping bag instead of Lena.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable, sister? If you’re forcing yourself because of me…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry and get some good sleep. You must be tired after camping for so long.”

After reassuring Lena, who was hesitantly asking out of guilt at seeing me in chains, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

– Clink.

…Honestly, it was terribly uncomfortable.

—-

As expected, I had an incredibly bizarre dream that night.

“Kuh… kill me! I’d rather choose death than suffer this humiliation!”

A female warrior wearing white fur growled with a flushed face while bound in chains.

She twisted her body violently trying to shake off the chains that constricted her entire body, but each movement only tightened them further, accentuating her protruding chest.

“Hehe…”

The guard watching her with folded arms lifted her chin with his index finger, meeting her eyes and sneering.

“You may act tough… but your eyes are trembling like a frightened puppy. I wonder if you know what’s about to happen to you? How lewd…”

The female warrior shuddered and recoiled at his lecherous gaze and soft mockery.

“H-how dare you treat me like a frightened dog? Do you know who I am! I am…!”

“Hahaha… of course I know. Who wouldn’t know who you are? Isn’t that right, my queen?”

The guard burst into laughter, mocking the female warrior who was clearly terrified despite her anger.

“How dare you…! Knowing who I am, yet such humiliation…!”

The female warrior bared her fangs with a distorted face, growling with intense humiliation.

The guard who had been mocking her placed his hand on her chest that protruded due to the tightened chains, kneading it while licking his lips as if savoring the taste.

“Humiliation? Your mouth says one thing, but your body is quite honest. Already so heated up. Just like a bitch in heat.”

“Kuh…! Kill me! I said kill me!”

“I can’t do that. You’ve killed so many, so you must give birth to as many as you’ve killed. This is your karma, so just accept it.”

Black hair like ebony flowed down from under the guard’s shoulders. Blue eyes filled with contempt shone as they looked down at the female warrior.

With utmost satisfaction, the guard… no, I opened my mouth and whispered the prisoner’s name mockingly.

“Queen Rurik, Your Majesty.”

The white-furred female warrior in chains—the wolf-headed female Werebeast Rurik—struggled in anger and shame.

—-

“AAAAAAHHH!”

The next morning, I literally woke up screaming, then trembled while sweating profusely.

A dream about a female Rurik with breasts being captured and sexually tortured, and by me of all people!

In my entire life, I had never had a more horrifying nightmare.