Weren't all beastmen rough, forceful, and promiscuous?
All they ever thought about was how to get laid—how to use a woman like some breeding machine to increase their numbers.
Growing up, that's what Asha believed. She'd carried that grudge for as long as she could remember. After all, they were the reason she had never known what it meant to live freely.
So why... why had that man just let her go?
Asha couldn't understand it. What made him different?
And yet, instead of relief, a crushing weight settled in her chest as she watched his dejected figure slowly disappear into the darkness. Her heart trembled, pierced by guilt.
Yes, he was rough, and yes, he always yelled—but he never actually hurt her.
Asha was hesitant. The man was her first real acquaintance. Her future mate.
Maybe it was because she wanted a friend. That hope won't entirely fizzle from her system. Or maybe—just maybe—if they grew closer, he could help her learn what it truly meant to be free.
Asha decided to take the gamble.
"Should I... go and apologize?"
***
"You filthy, ungrateful whore!"
The words lashed out like a whip as the woman, draped in opulent silk and glittering jewels, stormed forward and delivered a brutal slap that cracked across Asha's cheek.
The sheer force of it sent her stumbling backward, crashing to the floor like a broken doll. Her face contorted in pain, her hand trembling as it clutched her burning cheek while tears fell aggrievedly like a raging storm.
'Argghh!'
Asha swallowed her scream. She didn't even dare to breathe. Not in front of the woman who was eyeing her like she would skin her alive if she ever utter a protest.
What... was happening?
Her bewildered mind reeled with confusion and fear.
The girl became too stunned, wronged, and terrified that not a single tear would fall because of sheer fright.
Before she'd even opened her eyes that morning, she had been dragged out like livestock and thrown at the feet of the thunderous woman.
Claire Velnos.
The name alone chilled her bones.
Claire was the former spirit beast maiden before she was born. A respected woman, feared, and revered. She had clawed her way up to become a Madame, two ranks above the lowest beast Maiden like Asha, and now looked down on her like she was nothing more than trash sullying her polished world.
Asha could barely lift her head, feeling the intensity of her eyes drilling a hole on her.
What had she done to earn this woman's seething fury?
She didn't get the chance to ask.
Without a warning, a heavy metal goblet came flying through the air with a hateful scream behind it, striking her forehead with a sickening thud. Crimson blood spilled down her face, hot and metallic. Causing her vision to blur as the pain cracked through her skull like a huge hammer pummelled her down.
She gasped, chest heaving at the sight of the gruesome sap. Her blood-slicked fingers reached out instinctively—for help, for something—but the guards stood like statues. Unmoved. Uncaring.
No one even blinked.
She could barely stay upright. Kneeling, shaking, soaked in blood—her body screamed in protest and every nerve inside her lit with pain.
Asha could only cry in secret. So, this was how her first outing into the real world began. Not with wonder, but with horror.
Suddenly, she felt rueful. Is this trully the place she had longed for?
'The world outside is just too terrifying. I... I wanna go back in that dark room.'
At least there no one hurts her. Asha thought and sobbed soundlessly, afraid to be hit once more.
Claire sneered at her from above.
"Stop pretending like you're dying from a mere tap," she hissed, yanking Asha's hair so violently it felt like her scalp would tear. "You want to know what real pain is? Keep testing me!"
"I... I'm sorry..." Asha's voice cracked like shattered glass, barely audible. That was all she could manage. She didn't even know what she was apologizing for.
To her, the room felt like a silent battlefield and every gaze seemed as though warning her to submit—or perish.
Claire's eyes burned with loathing.
"Asha Hale, you useless, crawling bitch." She twisted Asha's hair until her scream nearly escaped. The poor girl bit her lips until she could taste blood in it.
But more than anything, this terrible treatment opened Asha's eyes. No one will save her.
The world is cruel to the weak. No sided with her because just like her, they too were weak and afraid.
Right now, if she doesn't endure this treatment, she will be due to a more painful torture.
"What the hell are you good for besides spreading your legs like a common alley stray? I let you stay under my roof, I fed you, and this is how you repay me? Sneaking off to meet another Enigma behind my back? Spitting on my son's face like I don't exist?"
Asha wanted to vanish, to melt into the floor. The venom in Claire's voice could have killed a beast. If looks could kill, having multiple lives wouldn't even save her.
"You think you're clever, don't you?" Claire growled, her voice thick with menace. "Let me remind you: if I hadn't taken you in, you'd have been torn apart by every rotten bastard in Genos within your first week here. You family sold you off to this hellish world and the one you can depend on right now is me."
"Put this carefully in that stupid head of yours, I saved your sorry life once. I can always give you a taste of hell whenever I want. Don't test my patience, Asha Hale."
She leaned closer, eyes blazing full of disdain.
"If I find out that you let that wretched dog Creus touch you—before my son Lustus officially becomes your mate—I'll break every bone in your legs and toss you to the ferals myself. You'll beg to die before they're through with you."
Claire let go, shoving her head down like garbage while taking off her silk gloves and throwing it together on her bloody face with so much disdain.
"I hope I made myself very clear, Asha Hale. Don't ever test my patience."
Thereafter, the woman huffed and left without even glancing at the girl's writhing, bloody figure.