Chapter 3

〈 Episode 3 〉Quest 1 – Escape [Submission]

About two hours later, Egret came back into the room.

“So, have you decided to get an education?”

“Fuck off.”

Despite Asha’s cold response, she wasn’t surprised and remained calm.

“I figured. Bye, see you later.”

Egret left again without saying much. Asha, who had braced herself for a beating, felt a little empty when Egret just left her alone. It wasn’t until the next day that Asha realized her scheme.

“I’m hungry…”

Egret didn’t impose any restrictions on her, but she didn’t give her any food either. Asha was starving, having only eaten a piece of bread here the day before. The sudden and unexpected hunger quickly exhausted Asha. Moreover, she hadn’t had a proper meal much while being held by the bandits. Asha realized that Egret was trying to tame her with food.

“Damn it! I’m not a dog! If you think you can control me with food, you’re wrong…”

Asha muttered in the empty room, as if making a vow to herself. She hadn’t eaten anything and hadn’t even had water, so she felt her throat burning, but she tried to bear it. Asha endured, clutching her empty stomach until evening.

Knock knock–

“Hello, is anyone there!”

Asha, who had no strength left in her body, knocked on the door with all her might, but no one answered her. She felt hoarse just from a brief shout. Asha knocked on the door a few more times before giving up in exhaustion.

‘It hurts…’

After starving for more than a day without water, her stomach ached beyond just feeling tight. Asha began to regret her actions little by little. Why did she eat all the bread she had yesterday? If she had acted a little more politely to her, she wouldn’t be starving… She fell into countless thoughts in regret. Lying on the bed, lost in faint thoughts, Asha soon fell into a death-like sleep.

“Wa, water…”

What woke Asha from her deep sleep was a burning thirst. Her skin, which had initially been smooth, was now dull and rough, as if it had never been smooth to begin with, after not drinking water for almost three days.

Clutching her empty stomach, Asha curled up in a ball, but the hunger came equally, no matter what position she took. What drove her further to the edge was the urge to urinate. There was no proper toilet in the solitary cell where she was locked up. Asha felt like she was going crazy when she had to pee despite her terrible thirst.

“Ugh…”

Eventually, unable to hold back her urine, she began to pee in the corner of the room. As yellow liquid flowed between her squatting legs, Asha was overcome with self-loathing.

‘Damn it, damn it…’

After urinating, the urge to pee was resolved, but the thirst became even more intense, tormenting her. Sensitive from thirst and hunger, she could hear footsteps approaching the room. Asha met Egret for the first time in two days as she opened the door and came in. Looking at her, Asha pleaded desperately.

“Water… please, water…”

“Oh, so you can ask for things. But what did you learn about how to ask an adult?”

“Please give me water… I think I’m going to die…”

“Hehe, okay. Here you go.”

What Egret took out was a dirty wooden bowl. Egret took out the wooden bowl and saw that Asha had relieved herself in the corner of the room, but she ignored it and went behind the exhausted Asha, tied her wrists with a rope, and knocked her over. Pushed by Egret, Asha’s head was slammed into the floor with her arms tied.

“Ugh! What the hell…?”

Egret placed the wooden bowl on the floor and poured water from a leather pouch. Asha’s pupils shook and her vision was blurred at the sight of water for the first time in days.

“Now, drink. Do you know how to drink?”

Asha looked up at Egret. Egret’s eyes flickered with an sadistic light. Asha hesitated and lowered her head, then crawled on her body, approached the bowl, and licked the water like a dog.

“Ugh…”

At first, she ate reluctantly, but as the water flowed down her mouth and moistened her throat, she buried her face in the bowl and drank greedily. Egret suddenly stomped on Asha’s head as she was drinking water. Asha, whose nose was submerged in the water bowl, struggled weakly.

“Huff…”

“You were eating so deliciously just now, why? Why don’t you drink more?”

Asha, who was already close to exhaustion, could barely resist and twitched, her nose and mouth submerged in the dishwater, suffocating. After a while, Egret grabbed her hair and lifted her up, and she was finally able to breathe.

“Haa, hee, huuh…”

Asha, who almost died with her nose buried in the dishwater, had her face covered in water and tears. Looking at her, Egret mocked her.

“Licking like a dog, wriggling like a worm… Your true nature comes out in just two days. You are such a miserable and insignificant being. No different from the women here.”

“Ugh, ugh…”

Asha shed tears, feeling miserable that she had succumbed to food after three days.

“So, have you decided to get an education?”

“Yes…”

“Oh dear… you’re not very enthusiastic yet. It’s hard to get an education with that attitude. See you tomorrow.”

Asha’s face turned pale as Egret turned around without hesitation.

“Ah, no. Please! I’m sorry! Please give me something to eat!”

Leaving behind Asha’s desperate cry, Egret locked the door again. Asha, still with her wrists tied, couldn’t even approach Egret and lay prostrate on the floor. As the sound of footsteps disappeared, Asha felt something inside her snap.

“Huu.. huuk. Huuu… Waaaaah!!”

She didn’t even have the strength to cry properly due to hunger, so she sobbed sadly and shed tears on the floor. Asha felt that her pride was so insignificant. She cursed herself for not being able to eat anything again because of her pointless stubbornness.

After that, Egret didn’t come. Asha, who had licked up not only the water in the bowl but also the water she had spilled on the floor while being buried in the bowl, along with all the dust on the floor, lay on her side, staring at the wall with empty eyes.

“…”

It had only been two more days since Egret gave her water, but Asha had long lost her sense of time. She could no longer tell if it had been a week or a month. As time passed and the surrounding reality became blurred, only the fear and pain of starving to death lingered around her.

Asha’s whole body ached dully from lying on the floor all the time, but the pain of hunger had long surpassed its limits to the point that such pain was trivial. Gaunt ribs were visible through Asha’s loose clothes as she lay there. The pain of her stomach shrinking and being stabbed with needles was gradually driving Asha crazy. Even the dust piled up in the room was starting to look delicious, so Asha simply closed her eyes and curled up.

“Ugh…”

Now she couldn’t even sleep properly and kept falling asleep and waking up with abdominal pain. In her faint consciousness, she heard footsteps, her eyes trembled, and she struggled to open them. Soon the door opened and Egret entered the room.

“Oh my, you’ve been lying down like that… I guess I forgot to untie the rope.”

Asha, her throat parched, stammered meaningless words.

“Ah… uh…”

“Huh?”

“I’m… sorry… I did wrong…”

Asha begged Egret for forgiveness in a hoarse voice. Egret smiled and asked.

“What did you do wrong?”

“I didn’t listen and didn’t get education, I’m sorry…”

“You’ve become so kind! Good job, Asha. Let’s go, outside.”

“Thank you… Thank you…”

As Egret released Asha’s restraints and hugged her, Asha shed tears again. If the previous tears were tears of misery, these tears were tears of gratitude. Asha was just grateful to Egret for saving her from starvation.

Egret, who was holding Asha, went out of the room and gave Asha thin porridge. When Asha couldn’t even hold the spoon properly because her arms were trembling, Egret personally spooned the porridge and fed it to Asha.

“Ugh, ugh…”

Asha continued to shed tears as she received the porridge. In that way, she completely submitted to Egret. Once someone has experienced the fear of death from starvation, they could never be the same again. Asha, who had been on the verge of life and death for five days without even drinking water properly, now felt the fear of starvation to the bone.

Asha, who had recovered to some extent for two days, began to receive education from Egret in earnest. Asha, who was correcting her posture while holding a large glass bottle, made a mistake again.

“When are you ever going to get a proper education?”

“Yes, yes…”

As if the warm porridge she had been fed before was just an illusion, Egret coldly drove Asha. However, Asha had already submitted to Egret from the bottom of her heart, so she could no longer resist. As if it were a lie that she had shown a rebellious attitude to Egret at first, Asha’s attitude was extremely servile.

“Ugh, ugh…”

Whenever her cold eyes stared directly at her, Asha was reminded of her starving past and her body stiffened. Seeing her body stiffen again with fear, Egret’s eyes sharpened.

Slap!

“Focus!”

“Ugh!”

Asha, who was slapped, dropped the glass bottle she was holding, making matters worse.

Clang!

The bottle fell to the floor and shattered. Asha was more afraid of facing the angry Egret than the shards of glass that had splashed and stung her legs.

“You can’t do anything right!”

Slap, smack!

“Ah, ugh…”

Every time the whip that Egret held struck Asha’s body, she trembled and cowered. Only after several red marks were engraved on her back did Egret stop whipping and said in a tone that had not cooled down.

“Do I have to starve you again to come to your senses?”

“Ah, no!”

Asha, in a panic, forgot that there were shards of glass on the floor and knelt down and clung to Egret.

“I’m sorry! I was wrong… I’ll, I’ll do better, so…”

“Okay. I’ll see. Make sure to treat your wounds. It’ll be a problem if you get scars.”

Egret left Asha and left the room. The blood flowing from her legs as she bowed her head stained the floor red.

Asha was lying on her side in her room, unable to lie down on her back because the wounds on her back were stinging.

“How did I talk…”

It had only been a month since she started receiving education, but Asha already couldn’t remember what her original way of speaking was like. Asha no longer knew what kind of speech was masculine, even though Egret pointed out her speech was masculine every time.

“What is masculine speech…”

She was sad that she was being educated as a prostitute, and she was also sad that she couldn’t act as she pleased like before.

“Sniff…”

Rather, when she was being raped by bandits all day long, she didn’t have time to think about anything else, but when she was alone here, she automatically thought of her home. Only after being dropped off in an unknown place did Asha desperately miss the home she had lived in.

“M, Mom…”

Asha, who hadn’t cried when she went to the army, shed tears at the thought of her parents. Once the tears started, they didn’t stop and continued to flow, wetting her face. However, with no way to return home and no way to escape from here, she had no choice but to continue receiving education here. It had only been a month since she started receiving education, but Asha was afraid of herself, who would change so much that she wouldn’t even know who she was at the end of this road.

‘If I keep getting education like this, will I be able to remain myself? If I flirt with men and suck their dicks, can that be called me?’

If she had heard such a thing when she was a man, she would have raised her voice and said that she would rather bite her tongue and die. But now she knew that it was just nonsense that couldn’t be done. Hunger and violence, death came to Asha as a cold reality, and she, who had no superhuman will or talent to solve the situation, had no choice but to submit and choose to live as a prostitute.

When it was mealtime, Asha received her meal from Egret and ate her share greedily.

“Oop, hup!”

“Asha, don’t eat so ugly.”

Asha, startled by Egret’s remark, looked at her and began to eat the potatoes slowly. She was now eating a normal meal, but the five days of starvation were engraved on her mind as a complete scar. Asha, who trembled whenever she made eye contact with Egret, received education desperately, and the naturally ingrained timid and servile posture made her conscious of the people around her.

Asha, who corrected her hunched posture and masculine speech and learned the posture she needed to have as a prostitute, finished two months of education and began to sell her body as a slave prostitute belonging to a brothel.