Oh, what a pain. Olivia had been missing for some days, so at that ball, I had hoped to find someone from the Heltor family to inquire about my missing friend. It seemed as though there had been some trouble, though, as nobody related to the Heltors was present. I wasn’t fond of the idea of speaking with Angelique, but ought I speak to her directly? While I was considering the issue, there came an abrupt tapping at the window.
“That must be a carrier familiar. I do say, servants?”
My father clapped his hands, prompting a servant to open the window. A familiar wearing the appearance of a raven dropped its letter through the window and flew off. Rather thoughtless of it, in my opinion, but bird familiars were often used to deliver urgent messages. It would not do to burn an important message in a fit of pique.
Normally, when dispatching messages via carrier familiar, it was considered prudent to send four or five, with a delay between each, largely due to the threat posed by winged monsters. That said, only the most superior of mages could be relied on to send them successfully at all, and such service came at a high price. As a result, many would often send only one or two, out of frugality.
The servant retrieved the letter and checked the contents, confirming that it was signed with Olivia’s handwriting. I rushed to read it, then showed it to my father. Once he finished reading, he grinned from ear to ear.
“Diane, breaking things off with that boor was a stroke of luck. Why, considering the events of yesterday together with this letter, I sense nothing less than the hand of fate at work!”
Though he had a shifty look to his eyes, my father had a flair for the dramatic. Perhaps even more surprising, he was the kind of man to believe, with all his heart, in fate. Perhaps relatedly, and yet perhaps most shockingly
of all, he was deeply religious.
“You must hasten to the Rarogne Region and seek out your friend Olivia.
I shall send your personal effects after you arrive.”
“I must? Well, yes, I would rather like to see Olivia, but I see no reason to hurry. Quite the opposite, in fact. According to her letter, her husband is taking proper care of her.”
What a relief it was to know my friend had found safety. Now, whatever could have my father in such a state? Surely he knew that a newlywed couple would want their privacy.
“We are the only ones in the capital who know that a new hero has been anointed. We must act on this advantage! You must marry this hero.”
★ Heltor ★
I was looking over a report of my dukedom’s territory when it happened.
At the time I had no way of knowing, but this was at the precise moment when the goddess lifted the curse upon my daughter.
I caught sight of a portrait of my wife holding our girl in her arms, and suddenly I remembered the atrocities to which I had subjected Olivia—my own daughter, whom I should have loved and cherished—for all her life, up to even a scant few days ago.
Remembered how I had committed senseless violence against her.
How I had ordered her around, as if our household were not rife with servants.
How I had forced her to eat food fit for animals, and doused her in cold water and bade her sleep outside, and placed her sister on a pedestal while I threw her down into hell. And worst of all…
How I… sold my daughter… into slavery?
My legs trembled, and I could stand no longer. My stomach revolted, and I regurgitated its contents as my vision went black.
“Hurk, rrgh!”
It was as though my brain had turned to mush. I had no idea, no idea, NO
IDEA what to do! I felt a piercing pain in my hand—at some point, I had stabbed my fountain pen into it. What have you done to your own daughter, your own flesh and blood, you madman? I rushed over to a marble pillar and bashed my head against it repeatedly until all went black once more.
I awoke in my bed. Apparently someone had discovered me, blood
gushing from my head and hand, vomit spattered upon my chest. The moment my eyes snapped open, I ordered my servants to find Olivia and bring her home to me. I absolved them of all other tasks. Their only duty was to search for her.
“What’s that? It will delay government affairs? I know that full well.
Olivia is more important!”
Wishing I could have vomited up the cinders of regret still burning within me, I summoned the head butler, a man who had been in my service since my youth. However, it seemed that, in the middle of work, he had suddenly been taken by an urgent desire to take his own life and was now unconscious. He had no doubt experienced the same pain as I.
Many of my servants, who had served us since before Olivia was even born, were suffering likewise in varying degrees. They were unlikely to be of much use for some time.
My sons and the younger servants had oppressed Olivia since she was born, seeing her as only a foil to make Angelique look better. They were confused at our panic and agitation, and when commanded to search for her, they clearly felt no desire to do so.
But our longer-term maids, who had been aghast at our abuses all this time and sympathized with Olivia, played truant instead of heeding my orders. I couldn’t find it in me to harangue the women who had once been her only allies in the world. What right had I?
Thus it fell to me. Our doctor tried to stop me, but I threatened him with my sword and silenced his complaints. You will not impede the search for my daughter!
First, I journeyed to the slaver to whom I had sold her. I asked of her whereabouts, but he asserted he was sworn to secrecy in all transactions, which proved to be a nuisance. What he truly meant, of course, was that he expected a bribe. But time was of the essence, and he proved quick to talk when I removed one of his fingers.
I then scoured the city for the man who bought her, but despite using every connection available to me as the duke, I learned only that the man had taken her outside of the capital.
I continued the search, but it only wasted time with no results. My wife and mother, shocked by my sudden change, asked what had happened. It was then that I remembered my lie to them a few days hence: that I had given
Olivia a cottage and ordered her to stay there in my rage.
Thus, I resolved to tell them the honest truth. In exchange, I was subjected to a vicious slapping from my wife and whipping with a riding crop from my mother.
Forgive me! It’s all my fault! I care not what happens to me, as long as I know where poor Olivia is! My anguish went on unabated for several days, until I received a letter from the frontier.
★ Angelique ★
A single dim candle was the only source of light in the wide, luxurious room, and the stench of sex completed the dissipated atmosphere. The room had been specially built for this express purpose, located at a distance from the royal palace. Pretty boys with names I could never keep straight lined up along the wall, wearing only loincloths to hide their manhoods. Of course, with their penises so swollen with lust, the loincloths weren’t terribly effective.
“Mm! Ooohohoho! Come now, there’s no need to be stingy. This is your reward, after all.”
Shhlp, shlrrrp, slrrrp.
Ohohohoho! This man, who had left his fiancée and kicked her out of his ball, was now lapping at my slit like a hungry dog. What would she think if she saw him like this? Just imagining her crestfallen face was thrill enough to to bring me almost to climax.
The man accompanying me on my massive bed, his face buried in my genitalia, was Charlot Lafond. He had only just broken off his engagement, and this opportunity was his reward. A treat for the man who had abandoned his former fiancée and offered his undying love to me. A tidbit for the dog who ached for the collar of my love.
Slrrrp, mmmchlll, shhhlp.
“Aaahn! You’ve quite a knack for cunnilingus. Tell me, did you do the same for her?”
“I never! I’ve saved up all my love for you, Angelique, the better to please you!”