Chapter 1 - Night Walk of Madness
Chapter 1 – Night Walk of Madness
A cool night. The chirping of insects in the serene courtyard made it one of my favorite places.
The colorfully spread flower garden, and of course, my father’s statue positioned in the center of the courtyard, proudly displaying its aristocratic space. The columns of the corridor surrounding the courtyard made this place feel sacred.
What am I doing in this antique courtyard that has been carefully managed by generations of ancestors since our distant forefather built this mansion? Most honorably, I was walking an elf slave.
“Ma… Masteeer… Please forgive me…”
The elf, not wearing a single thread, was crawling on the ground with a leather collar around its neck. The leash of the collar was, naturally, in my hand.
‘Shit…’
To be honest, I felt no pleasure whatsoever from this act.
Am I not feeling a sense of blasphemy? I am. If feeling that I’m defiling the courtyard maintained by my ancestors with an elf slave counts as blasphemy, then yes, it’s blasphemy.
But that sense of blasphemy doesn’t give me any pleasure. I just felt guilty. Somehow, my father’s statue seemed to be glaring at me, making my shoulders droop.
“My palms and knees hurt so much… Please forgive me…”
Even so, once I had uttered the words ‘naked walk,’ I had no choice but to follow through.
Having realized that this elf, who was volunteering to be a slave, was a monster who could crush hundreds of men in the blink of an eye, I had to cater to its preferences as much as possible for my own safety.
‘Father in the afterlife, I’m sorry. I think I’m about to ruin our family…’
I always thought that someday a bastard would come along and ruin our family, but I never imagined it would be me. Tears welled up in my eyes.
I regretted choosing the courtyard, as I had no other option since meeting someone I knew while walking in the nearby forest would have ruined my image.
“Heck… It hurts so much!”
Meanwhile, this damn elf was whining about pain that it wasn’t even feeling.
I knew it was protecting its body with mana, yet its pretense was as good as a courtesan’s.
Still, I couldn’t keep ignoring the elf. If I didn’t show the appropriate reaction, tonight might become the day of my funeral.
“You trash. Stop whining.”
I yanked the leash hard. Keck! The elf, its neck pulled, stood on its knees. Its back arched like a bow, and its hands naturally struggled to remove the collar that bound it. Of course, that too was all an act.
“Kehek, keck…! Sorry… I’m sorryyyy…!”
“I’m sure I told you? While we’re walking, forget that you’re a sentient being. Or what? Did you suddenly remember that you’re a noble elf from the Great Forest?”
“No, nooo…!”
“You worm. Did you think I’d let you off just because you said no?”
Kwak. While pulling the leash, I lifted my foot and pushed the elf’s waist forward. The leash tightened, strongly constricting the elf’s neck.
“Kii… iik…!”
The elf, looking as if it would faint soon, half-opened its eyes and drooled. Watching this, I felt sweat rather than sadism. How long do I have to keep doing this? Does it really enjoy this?
Let’s not show my true feelings for now.
“Remember this. An arrogant bitch like you is nothing more than a toy for me to play with. Your fate is to be a consumable that I can replace if broken. By the way, I’ve driven enough slaves to death to fill this courtyard. Understand?”
That’s a lie. There are some slaves in this mansion besides the elf, but most work in the workshop. This elf is the only one I brought in as a genuine slave.
But my lie seemed to work on the elf to some extent. The elf nodded vigorously while exhaling intermittent breaths.
“Hmph. Be careful with your behavior next time.”
As I loosened the leash, the elf collapsed onto the grass.
“Hue, heck……”
Watching it breathe heavily with its cheek against the grass, I felt guilty. Does it really enjoy this? Why would anyone enjoy violence inflicted upon themselves?
I couldn’t understand, but I had to try. After all, this is a crazy woman who ran away from a comfortable life in the Great Forest to volunteer as a slave. Treating her with normal thinking would only disadvantage me.
Still, after doing this much, even this mentally deranged woman should be satisfied….
“Heh, heck……”
What’s with you? Why are you glaring at me? What more do you want me to do here? I’ve done enough!
“Hiyuk, hmph…”
Even while breathing heavily, she looks up at me with sharp eyes.
Usually… slaves who fear their masters don’t even try to make eye contact. This elf, on the contrary, was boldly meeting my gaze. As if there was something more she needed.
‘Did I forget something?’
Naked walks, choking her with a dog leash while degrading her along the way. Despite doing the worst things I could possibly do, the elf didn’t look satisfied at all.
Come to think of it, this elf has occasionally shown this ‘bored’ expression during the past ten days since she arrived as a slave.
Back then, I thought it was childish anger from not accepting her situation, but maybe she just didn’t like my degradation?
“…”
The elf catches her breath. At the same time, I felt my own breath catching in my throat.
It seemed clear that I was making some mistake, but I couldn’t tell exactly what it was. But if I didn’t do anything here…
— He can’t even play his role properly. Arrogant bastard. Should I kill him?
I’m going to die! I will definitely die at this elf’s hands!
All the household members who came to stop the elf would surely be reduced to bloody lumps rolling on the floor. The pure mana I had seen blooming in the elf’s hands through the monitoring object clearly possessed that kind of power.
The fate of my family and the lives of my household members now depend on me. I need to stay calm. Calm.
“You b-bitch…”
I mustn’t let my voice tremble. Calming my inner trembling, I loosened the brooch at my neck and said:
“Turn around.”
“W-what…?”
“I’m telling you to expose your belly like a dog.”
“D-don’t…”
“I hate repeating myself.”
The elf turned her head and clenched her fists. For some reason, her shoulders were trembling slightly.
‘Is she trying not to laugh?’
Before knowing the truth, I would have thought she was holding back tears, but now it clearly looked like she was rejoicing. I had saved my life, at least.
‘Thank goodness.’
As I let out a sigh of relief, the elf, who had been secretly laughing, turned her body and raised both hands like a puppy.
Her face was flushed, and she couldn’t meet my gaze. It was absurd how she pretended to feel shame, but I decided to go along with it for now.
‘I hope no one is watching?’
It would be disastrous if there were household members watching from behind the corridor pillars. The problem wasn’t my image plummeting, but that if strange rumors spread, the family’s reputation would collapse.
‘For now… it seems like no one’s around.’
The household members all seemed to be asleep, as the surroundings were quiet. If that was the case, all I had to do was immerse myself in the role of the evil nobleman tormenting his elf slave.
“For a bitch, you have quite a nice body.”
I scanned the elf’s body while feigning a vile smile. Though I desperately wanted to throw this deranged elf out of the mansion, my comment about her having a nice body was sincere.
Breasts just the right size to fit in one hand, hips forming an attractive curve, thighs so smooth I wanted to bury my face in them, nipples tinged with a light pink, and her womanhood tightly closed in a straight line—all made my heart race.
The silver hair flowing transparently in the moonlight and the red eyes that scattered a faint glow in the darkness felt not just bewitching but otherworldly beautiful.
She looked exactly as she had in the slave market’s iron cage. I had been so enchanted by this appearance that I handed over a large sum to the slave trader… thinking about it now, it was no different from being bewitched by a demon.
“Son of a bitch.”
Was my anger too great? The words I had meant for the slave trader slipped out. I was momentarily flustered but soon regained my composure.
“Seeing your unsightly appearance, I think you should have been born not as an elf but as a vulgar dog. Am I wrong?”
“Y-yes, that’s right…”
“Impudent. A dog bastard dares to speak human language?”
“Eh? Th-that…”
“Tsk. It seems you still don’t understand your position. This is punishment.”
I placed my foot on the elf’s chest. I didn’t press down hard. It seemed like it would hurt…
“Lick it.”
The elf looked up at me in confusion. It wasn’t an act. This time, he seemed genuinely confused.
‘Shit. Did I cross the line?’
Even a masochistic elf would have his own boundaries. I felt a chill run down my spine thinking I might have crossed them.
“I-it was just a joke—”
Thud. The elf grabbed my foot as I was about to pull it away.
“N-no, I don’t want to…”
Then he stuck out his tongue while whimpering.
Crazy bastard…
*
— Lick it.
In a secluded corner of the corridor, Revera, a servant of the mansion, swallowed hard in shock.
It was because Theorad, the owner of the mansion and the head of a noble viscount family, was treating an elf slave like a dog in the courtyard.
‘Why…?’
As Revera remembered, Theorad was a kind person.
He was always friendly to the mansion’s servants and never used violence against slaves who weren’t even treated as humans.
That elf slave did receive some punishment on his first day at the mansion for breaking Theorad’s prized vase, but despite breaking a vase worth enough to buy a decent house, the punishment given to the elf was relatively light.
At most, it was just making him maintain a submissive posture and feeding him food scraps. Even that was just a show put on to save face.
In other households, they would have cut off the slave’s limbs and whipped them in broad daylight until they died, but ending it with just food torture was truly a merciful act.
‘But…’
Revera had no idea that the elf was suffering such humiliation without their knowledge.
Not only making him serve every night but also making him feel shame and lick shoes. Even though slaves could be treated like objects, this wasn’t the Theorad that Revera knew.
‘…The master has changed.’
Revera had heard about it before. How a person who acts polite and well-mannered can transform into a tyrant once they become the head of the family.
Perhaps Theorad was that kind of person too.
‘Could it be that the previous master’s sudden illness and death was…?’
As that thought crossed Revera’s mind, it felt like goosebumps were spreading all over. Revera, who had been slowly backing away, hurriedly left the corridor and headed to their room.
Would they be able to permanently keep silent about the terrible reality they had witnessed?
Revera was not at all confident about that.