Dog

Mary, having cleaned the entire room, carefully closed the door and left.

With me alone in the room, only the sound of firewood burning in the fireplace filled the silence.

I slowly walked toward the bed.

‘First, I’ve secured an ally. I’ve taken one more step toward escape. I’ll definitely get my revenge.’

Suddenly, a dull pressure surged from my lower abdomen.

I realized that I hadn’t gone to the bathroom even once since coming to this estate.

But on the battlefield, I had often held in this much.

It was uncomfortable, but I could endure it easily enough.

Ignoring the pressure, I looked at the paper knife on the table.

A sharp blade.

The unlocked window beyond it.

Important elements for my escape.

As I looked over them once more, I heard footsteps from the other end of the hallway.

As the regular footsteps drew closer, my heart began pounding madly.

‘Calm down. Act as though nothing happened. Hide your expression.’

The footsteps stopped in front of the door.

After a brief silence, the door opened.

“Ella, I missed you.”

His gentle voice filled the room, which had previously been filled only with the sound of firewood burning.

I felt nauseated by those words from the man who had left an indelible brand on me with a branding iron before leaving.

His gentle attitude, as though he were speaking to a lover, was utterly disgusting.

It felt as though he was treating me exactly like a dog that wagged its tail at its owner no matter how badly it was abused.

Kaelan’s gaze swept over me as he entered the room.

From my toes, up my thighs and abdomen, to my face.

“…Hmm. Do you like the pure look?”

He was observing me as though appraising a statue.

“A statue of a woman wearing nothing. And a brand as the sole adornment on that body.”

“What does that…. Ah.”

Only then did I remember that I had put off putting my dress back on so I could obtain as much information as possible from Mary while I had no idea when Kaelan would return.

The embarrassment I had forgotten while speaking with Mary rose at Kaelan’s gaze.

“It’s even beautiful how that appearance emphasizes the creator’s signature.”

My cheeks grew hot.

The heat spread all the way to my earlobes.

“As expected, I also like those flustered eyes.”

Kaelan approached me and began circling around me.

My back, buttocks, and breasts.

As though he were admiring a masterpiece.

I couldn’t remain like this.

I had to put on my clothes.

I hurriedly looked around and found my dress lying on the table.

Ignoring Kaelan, who was watching me ardently, I picked up the dress from the table.

When I lifted the dress over my head, the fabric blocked my vision.

I pushed my head through and pulled the dress down.

The fabric passed over my face, my neck, and my collarbone.

“Ngh!”

At that moment, the world flashed white.

It felt as though the brand on my collarbone had caught fire again.

The fabric rubbed against the newly grown flesh.

A tearing agony welcomed me, as though my wound were being rubbed with sand heated in a fire.

“Hngh… ugh…”

The pain was weaker than being burned with the branding iron, but my mental strength had already reached its limit.

Every muscle in my body stiffened.

My brain, pushed to its limit, screamed.

A strange sensation in my lower abdomen.

Something pushed up from deep within my belly.

A loss of control.

‘N-no way. No. No. No!’

But my body had already lost control.

Soon, warm liquid ran down my thighs.

The strange sensation of it splitting into several streams along my thighs filled every nerve in my body.

A small puddle had formed on the floor.

As the streams merged one by one around my ankles to form a yellow puddle beneath my feet, the despair of having wet myself in front of someone else descended upon me.

In front of Kaelan, of all people.

It felt as though my heart had stopped, but the puddle continued to grow.

On the battlefield, I had never collapsed no matter what formidable enemy I faced.

I had fought back to the very end with a blade in my hand.

Even after starving for days, in the cold that froze my toes, and on the verge of death.

I had never broken.

Yet all of that crumbled before the yellow puddle gathered on the floor.

My body, having lost the ability to control itself, slowly sank downward, like my pride.

Warm liquid seeped beneath my buttocks.

My body, mind, and pride had all been dirtied.

A groan escaped me.

Tears flowed from shame and frustration.

I couldn’t raise my eyes to look at myself sitting on the floor like a dog, atop a puddle of urine.

Silence.

Kaelan said nothing for a long time.

I could feel his gaze looking down at me.

“To create an unexpected variation in such a conventional ending.”

His reaction was as though he had known I would feel pain while putting on my clothes.

His laughter-filled voice made me feel even more miserable.

Men’s shoes entered my view as I stared at the floor.

Kaelan’s hand lifted my head.

“Humans can control their bodily functions, can’t they?”

“…”

“Ella?”

“…Yes.”

His question pointedly mocked my appearance.

The laughter vanished from his voice in an instant, leaving only a chill behind, and I found it difficult to answer.

“Then what is this? You can’t even dress yourself, and you can’t control your urine.”

“…It was an accident.”

“An accident?”

“My collarbone hurt too much…”

Kaelan’s fingers, which had been holding my cheek as though he were pondering something, began slowly tapping my cheek.

“You even act according to your instincts. Should I treat this as a human being?”

He slowly knelt down.

Although his gaze was now at the same height as mine, I couldn’t meet his eyes.

“You’ll have to be punished for dirtying the stage.”

“Punished…?”

I thought of the first punishment he had inflicted on me.

He had branded my body with a branding iron because I had scratched it.

I was afraid of what words would come from his mouth and what pain he would inflict.

I wanted to see Mary, who had left the room.

“You have to clean the place you dirtied yourself. Ella, lick up that puddle and clean it.”

My breath stopped.

I couldn’t believe what he had said.

A smile returned to Kaelan’s face.

His navy-blue eyes.

‘I’ll definitely… definitely kill you too. I’ll repay this humiliation… many times over.’

But for now, I had to survive.

I had to obey him.

For revenge.

For my father and Noah.

“…I’ll lick it…”

My voice trembled.

“No, Ella. How could an animal make a human sound?”

“…Woof.”

His words crushed the last of my pride, which had already fallen to the bottom.

But I couldn’t refuse.

It was pathetic and sad to see myself sinking into the mire in a single day.

“Excellent. A wise choice.”

Kaelan’s smile deepened.

His hand, which had been holding my cheek, slowly scratched my chin.

As though he were showing affection to a dog.

He soon stepped back and folded his arms.

“Begin.”

At his command, I slowly bent my body.

The arms supporting my body trembled.

The puddle on the floor.

Yellow.

I couldn’t bring myself to stick out my tongue.

But Kaelan’s gaze watched me relentlessly.

My tongue slowly stretched toward the floor.

Yet my tongue ultimately failed to touch the puddle.

My crushed pride clung to its final thread.

The puddle gradually blurred beneath the tears spilling onto the floor.

“I can’t… I can’t do it. …I can’t.”

My voice was terribly cracked by despair.

The air in the room froze.

Even the sound of firewood burning seemed to recede into the distance.

I couldn’t meet his eyes.

I closed my eyes, steeling myself for punishment and an even greater humiliation.

But what I heard was neither abuse nor violence.

“Ah!”

An exclamation filled with ecstasy.

At his reaction, which was different from what I had expected, my head rose toward him.

My eyes were reflected in Kaelan’s eyes.

A faint but still-burning flame remained in those eyes.

His enormous shadow on the floor began approaching me.

“As expected. As expected, you’re different.”

His voice was filled with the excitement of a conductor hearing a performance he had only imagined.

Contrary to my expectation that he would force me to obey his command, my body froze.

I couldn’t say or do anything.

In a single day, my fear of him had embedded itself deep in my bones.

“Yes. Such simple submission is too cliché. Even in that miserable state, you tried to preserve the last shred of your pride as a human. Ah… I want to hear the variation you’ll show after the last of your pride as a human, rather than an animal, has been shattered.”

His pupils widened.

His breathing had grown rough, as though he had made an incredible discovery.

I couldn’t adjust to his sudden change.

Kaelan held my face as he lost himself in his own world.

The cool warmth of his touch vanished from my cheek.

I heard the sound of something heavy being lifted, but I couldn’t bring myself to look up.

I was afraid of what he would show me.

Click.

The collar was fastened around my neck again.

But the end was no longer connected to the bed.

The end of the chain was firmly wrapped around his wrist.

“You’re my pet dog from today onward. Ah, don’t bark, Ella. Animals don’t know despair. What I want to hear isn’t the sound of you becoming an animal. What I want is the melody of the moment when the human pride you’re trying so hard to protect finally crumbles.”