Chapter Thirty: Captured

Elise opened her eyes.

The first thing that entered her vision was the cold, dim stone wall. Under the flickering glow of firelight, eerie shadows danced across the dry stone surface. The familiar sight made Elise lose herself for a moment, as if she had returned to her room in the Bloodstained Monastery of Onyx City. She almost expected, as always, to proceed with prayers, lessons, and then head to the library to read...

But when the girl sat up and saw the black iron bars so different from her memories, clarity returned to her at last.

“That’s right... I...”

Lost memories surged back like a tide, sweeping away the shroud of illusion. Screams, death, blood, corpses, battle—everything replayed chaotically in her mind, like a feverish incantation.

Exhaling slowly, Elise closed her eyes, forcing herself not to dwell on the battle. She had failed—of that there was no doubt. Yet, she felt little regret; if her defeat had been due to some mistake or cunning plot, she might have felt remorse. But Elise knew well that the enemy she had faced was never one she could truly hope to overcome. All she had done was struggle for a sliver of survival—victory would have been the Queen’s blessing, defeat was only natural.

As for the deaths of her comrades, Elise had learned to accept them. She was no greenhorn; this was not her first battle in Onyx City. She had long become accustomed to death and parting, and had learned to endure. The dead were gone, but the living must continue on, bravely.

It was for this reason that, after a brief moment of silent mourning for her companions, Elise rose and began to survey her surroundings.

This was undoubtedly a prison cell.

Yet compared to what Elise might have imagined, this cell was far better equipped. Not only was there a stone bed, but there was even a desk and chair. Were it not for the other side of the room being entirely sealed off with black iron bars, it would have looked more like a bedroom than a cell. That was why, upon waking, she had almost mistaken this place for her own room at the Bloodstained Monastery.

First, she needed to understand her situation...

She approached the bars, peering around and listening intently. But there was not a soul in sight. Apart from the occasional drip of water and the crackling of torches, all was still. It seemed there were no guards or sentries nearby.

With that thought, Elise reached out and grasped the bars. Murmuring a low incantation, magical flames burst from her fair palm, surging toward the iron.

But at the instant Elise summoned her fire, two enormous, blood-red magic circles suddenly appeared on the ceiling and floor, enveloping her in their light. As the crimson glow washed over her, she felt the magic boiling within her body abruptly strangled, like a chick’s throat clamped shut. Her energy faded instantly, and the flames dancing in her hand vanished without a trace.

“As expected...”

Elise looked at her hand and gave a wry smile. There was no way her captors would be so careless. Having locked her up, of course they wouldn’t let her find any means of escape... But now that she stopped to think about it, this cell was rather cold... Wait—

It was only then that Elise spared a thought for her own condition. Looking down at herself, she froze.

“This, this is—”

Her mage’s robes had been removed—not that it mattered compared to what she now wore. The true shock was that the clothes she now found herself in were utterly humiliating! No, this went beyond humiliation. By the standards of a girl raised under the strict discipline of a monastery, this outfit was nothing short of shameless!

She was clad in only a short top that barely reached halfway down her body. Most importantly, Elise was horrified to discover that beneath these two garments, she wore nothing at all. She was completely exposed!

“What... What is this?!”

With a scream, Elise leapt back onto the bed, curling into herself as much as possible, her face a mask of terror. It was no surprise—for a noblewoman, a girl raised in a monastery, Elise had always received a traditional education. Such a revealing outfit was something she had never even imagined in dreams, let alone actually worn.

The thought made her shrink further into the corner, trembling like a squirrel trapped by a predator at the door.

A burst of laughter echoed from beyond a crystal orb as Zane watched the scene unfold with glee.

“Do you see, Enoa? Fascinating, isn’t it? A high-ranking mage who can face the deaths of her comrades with composure and regard her own peril with calm, but at the sight of her clothing, all that poise vanishes into thin air. That’s why I say, women... heh heh heh... this is where the fun begins.”

“I didn’t expect that outfit to have such an effect,” Enoa replied, a hint of surprise in her eyes as she stood behind Zane. Honestly, when he’d asked her to prepare those clothes, she had thought he just wanted to tease his captive. Now, it seemed these scandalous garments were more effective than any legendary spell—at least, unlike with the anti-magic circle, Enoa had actually seen a reaction from Elise.

“By the way, Master, why did you insist she wear that? And how did you know...”

“Because I enjoy uniforms, and besides, it’s simply more entertaining this way. In this world, nothing is more important than pleasure. Listen well, Enoa. Whether for fleeting indulgence or lasting satisfaction, all living things are driven by the pursuit of pleasure. If life cannot savor delight, then it has no meaning.”

Zane’s lips curled into a faint smile as he adjusted his glasses, the reflected light concealing the cold, greedy glimmer in his eyes. This was his passion—from the beginning, he had relished breaking through others’ defenses, toying with and reshaping their minds. It was one of the reasons he had chosen to become a hacker: to him, breaching firewalls and rampaging through servers, altering data at will, was not so different from breaking through mental barriers and turning someone into his obedient puppet.

As for the other matter, it was even simpler. When he captured Elise and “searched” her, Zane had conducted a thorough investigation. He discovered that not only did she wear a loose mage’s robe on the outside, but her underclothes were equally plain and strict. That was precisely why he had thought of this method. As for the reason...

“Lingerie reveals a woman’s true character. No matter how deceptive a woman’s outward appearance, she is always honest with herself in private. Elise is a high-ranking mage, and according to Velna, she holds a high position in Onyx City, so poverty isn’t the issue. Yet she still wears such modest, joyless things—clearly, her personality is conservative and closed off. So I decided to do the opposite. Seems the results are promising.”

Enoa could only sigh helplessly as she watched her master’s satisfied expression. Her loyalty to Zane was unquestioned, but even she sometimes found his peculiar ideas difficult to accept. More troubling still, as absurd as his logic sounded, it somehow made a twisted kind of sense.

Noticing his subordinate’s gaze, Zane paused and once again adjusted his glasses.

“Since our guest is awake, it’s about time to begin the experiment. I have a feeling this time we’ll see real results.”

Enoa started, then nodded in understanding.

“You mean the ‘indoctrination,’ Master?”

“Exactly. I had planned to test it on Velna first, but that dark elf turned out to be so obedient that it was impossible to gauge any effect. This mage, however, will certainly provide plenty of useful data for my research.”

Murmuring to himself, Zane reached out, gently stroking the image of Elise’s frightened, lovely face captured in the crystal orb.

“Are you ready, Miss Elise? This is only the beginning.”