The wound on my foot closed up, and my stint of complete bed rest ended. Then, just as Craig had said, I was moved to a tower next to the palace. Leaning on Craig’s shoulder for support, I just barely managed to climb to the top of the long, long spiral staircase. In my current condition, I wouldn’t be able to make it down on my own.
Well, if I fell down, it’d be over in a flash...
I was just muttering to myself, reflecting on past experience, but Craig overheard me and absolutely lost his shit. So now, my room was locked from the outside—I wasn’t even allowed to go out into the hall. Since I hadn’t been planning on escaping, it didn’t really matter either way, but it left me with plenty of time to reflect on my unwise remark.
All in all, my world had gotten a lot smaller. This tower had originally been built for confining nobles who’d committed crimes. It had all the essentials for everyday life, but there were cuffs and chains casually placed here and there, and the windows were barred—it was unmistakably a prison.
In fact, before I’d recovered my memories of my past life—in other words, back when I’d been a complete villain—I’d been locked in here once before. Though that didn’t really matter at this point, I felt a strange sort of nostalgia, and I heard a faint mutter from my villainous memories: Back again, eh?
Locked away in here, I was also subject to tight restrictions on who I could interact with. A member of the palace staff would come up periodically to interrogate me about the real Heinreid’s whereabouts and my own identity, but Craig had told me exactly how I needed to answer, or else. Every time they came, I just repeated the information he’d drilled into me, and neither I nor my interrogator ever pressed any further. Though it was all a formality—a total farce, really—Craig said proper documentation was always important.
And then, there was Karl—he’d somehow ended up as one of my caretakers while I was in custody. My situation was a huge mess in all sorts of ways, so it was easier if all the people interacting with me already had a handle on the whole thing—something along those lines. But Craig had other work to do, so he couldn’t be here around the clock. Someone needed to pick up the slack, and the role had fallen to everyone’s favorite butler. Karl would be here when Craig was away, and vice versa. They’d come up a few times a day to bring me meals and take care of various other everyday tasks.
Now that I think about it, the top three guys from Heinreid’s camp all made it through alive, and we’ve ended up in pretty much the same arrangement as before... Is this really okay?
Aside from those two, there was a doctor who came to check up on my foot, but today was his final visit. Unless I caught a cold or something, he wouldn’t be coming back again. I watched him leave the room, then let out a relieved sigh.
“It’s left a scar,” Craig said, stroking along my foot.
“I’m just counting my blessings that it’s still attached,” I replied. “It’s not like I’ll be doing much moving around anyway.”
According to the doctor, it wasn’t just the scar—there’d be a little long-term damage as well. I hadn’t totally lost the ability to walk, but I wouldn’t be able to run or lift heavy objects anymore. In my life as an evil nobleman, I hadn’t been doing those things much anyway, though, so that was probably fine.
“I find it infuriating, personally. It upsets me that I was unable to protect something that belongs to me.”
Uh, I don’t think I belonged to you at that point...
Saying that out loud would definitely cause more trouble than it was worth, though. I could hear the possessiveness bleeding into Craig’s voice, and provoking him unnecessarily was a bad plan. Let sleeping dogs lie... Was that the right phrase here?
“Craig.”
“What’s the matter?”
Don’t “What’s the matter” me, dammit.
He definitely wasn’t examining my injury anymore. As his hand slid up my leg toward my thigh, I grabbed it to hold him back and gave him an overly polite smile.
It’s barely past noon. What the hell, man?
“Where are you touching me, exactly? I don’t have any injuries up there.”
“Indeed, it appears not.”
“Quit acting so casua— Waugh!”
He brushed my hand off his and gave my shoulders a hard shove. My back thudded softly down onto the sheets. My eyes briefly closed from the shock of the impact, and in that instant, Craig climbed on top of me. The bed here was much smaller than the one in my old manor; it creaked sharply, but Craig ignored the noise as he straddled me.
“H-Hey—” I started.
“The rest of you is perfectly clean and spotless... So clean that I can’t help but want to soil it.”
The sinister sultriness in those words sent a shudder down my spine.
Uh-oh. I think I know where this is heading...
Alarm bells were ringing in my head.
“J-Just calm down a sec, okay? Really, cool off a little—you’ll be the one who gets soiled if you’re not careful!”
“You have far too low an opinion of yourself. Very well—once we’re finished, we can compare and see which of us is filthier.”
“Finished with what— Nhaah!”
I kept trying to stall, but an electric jolt suddenly raced through my body, and I couldn’t say another word. Through the fabric of my shirt, Craig had dug his fingernails into both of my nipples.
Caught by surprise, I quickly clamped a hand over my mouth to cover up my humiliating moan, but it was too little, too late.
“There’s no need to hide it,” he said with a mocking chuckle. “You like it right here, don’t you, Your Lordship? Enough to toy with them yourself, at least.”
I felt my face flush with heat at his mean-spirited whisper.
Shit, that’s right—Eberhart told me Craig was watching that whole thing! Dammit, just when I’d finally forgotten about it!
While I tried and failed to come up with an excuse, my mouth opening and closing pointlessly, Craig’s fingers kept playing across my chest.
“You wished to know how I ended up like this, didn’t you? Well, allow me to tell you how it began. It started at that very moment, as I watched you punish yourself with those same hands that had dealt me countless humiliations. I wanted to topple you from all your pretenses of nobility. I wanted to drag you out and make you mine. That was when that impulse was born. Go ahead—mock me, laugh at me, call me a wretched disgrace.”
As he spoke, Craig was the one with a self-mocking smile on his face. But his hands didn’t stop tormenting me.
“Haah, nn...”
He scraped his nail across one of my nipples through my shirt, and while I writhed, he undid my buttons—slowly, teasingly, one by one. Finally, he spread my shirt open, and I shivered involuntarily as cool air tickled my skin. I heard an enraptured sigh from the man on top of me as he watched me squirm. His gaze licked across my body, and an unbearable humiliation flooded through me.
“Don’t look at me,” I groaned.
“You ask far too much. This is exactly what I’ve wanted to see all this time...”
“You’re such a bully— Nhh, aaah!”
He pinched both my nipples hard, as though punishing me for my backtalk. Wracked with pain and even greater pleasure, all I could do was moan helplessly.
I lay there as Craig tormented my chest—but eventually, one of his hands moved away. It slid down my abdomen and slipped inside the one piece of clothing I was still wearing: my underwear.
“Huh— Ah— No way—!”
Ignoring my words of protest, Craig took hold and tugged me free. Without even looking, I could already feel how hard I was as I pulsed in his hand. Craig smirked as he touched me—gently, soothingly—and my hips bucked and twitched.
“It’s lovely to see such an honest reaction from you,” he said. “Does it truly feel that good?”
“You’re twisted, you know that? Nn!”
“Are you anyone to talk?” Craig asked, a little sigh of irritation in his voice.
As he spoke, his hand dipped lower and cupped what dangled below. He gave a sharp squeeze, and I shuddered.
“Nhh, aagh!”
He didn’t torture me there any further, though. Instead, he returned one hand to my member and used the other to keep tormenting my nipple.
“Wait—” I gasped. “Not at the same— Hnhh!”
I frantically shook my head, but Craig was merciless. He smeared every drop that leaked out up and down, tip to base, while his other hand feverishly pinched and plucked at the most sensitive spot on my chest.
The surging waves of pleasure were more than I could take. As I shook and spasmed, he dug his fingernails into my tip, and my thoughts shattered.
“Aaaahh!!!”
I felt a jolt, like I was losing my footing on a flight of stairs. Squeezing my eyes shut, I let myself tumble over the edge of the climax he’d pulled me to. Cloudy white streaks spurted out, soiling Craig’s hand and my stomach.
While I panted and heaved, trying to catch my breath, Craig shrugged off his vest and dropped it to the floor. He impatiently tugged off all the clothes on his upper body, exposing his broad, muscular chest. I felt a twinge of guilt as I took in the countless small scars across his skin; meanwhile, he slid my half-removed underwear the rest of the way off and tossed it aside somewhere.
It was still humiliating to be exposed, but that was outweighed by nervous doubt as he stroked a hand along my hip.
“Are... Are we really doing this?”
“We are,” he replied. “I don’t want to hear any complaints after we’ve come this far.”
We’ve only come this far because you dragged me here.
“Have you ever been with a man before?” I asked.