Keyaru opened his eyes to find himself in a spacious and clean room. By the look of it, that had to be a hospital room. And by the sun's placement, the young man realized that he'd spent about three hours lying down unconscious. This time, the hero of healing was prepared for what awaited him in Kureha Cryleth's mind, but experiencing eighteen years of her traumas in a single moment was more than enough to take the boy. Just as Flare was about to leave him at the mercy of her lap magician, speaking of, that old man had been there all along, scribing his notes on a sheet of paper. Presumably, after the initial physical examination, he stayed to see if the boy's magic streams weren't damaged.
"Uh..." — Keyaru groaned as he assessed his condition.
"Oh, the Hero of Healing, you are awake! How do you feel?" — asked Torlun, looking at the lad with his eyes, full of maniacal curiosity. And, to tell the truth, the healer was all right. He'd been preparing for this moment for more than three weeks, but saying so now could change his fate. He couldn't just say: "I'm fine, bring me more men to heal." Not when his "beloved" Flare stood in the shadows, waiting for an answer. He wanted revenge — a sweet, sweet vengeance. And assisting three psychos of heroes, led by an inhuman king and who's aided by an even more suspicious bishop? No...
"NO!!!" Keyaru tossed a pillow at the magician. Well, it's not like he felt like it, he just did so in the previous world.
"Calm down, please!"
"No, don't come any closer! I don't want to heal anymore! I'm scared, and it hurts! I don't want to see it or feel it! Please, it… it'll break me!" — Keyaru cried, ready to crumble and get desperate. Or, at least, his watchers had to believe he would. In particular, Flare. Keyaru played this role for her. And speaking of a hypocritical princess, she came closer and put her hand on the lad's shoulder.
"I understand. I will not force you, just have some rest." — the princess lied, and she lied big. This has happened before. But then Keyaru just fled instantly. He needed some time for himself before he would try to overcome the pain, but got imprisoned instead. The boy thought Flare was a good person, but now he wouldn't be fooled.
A day had passed since, and Mira, his first maid, brought Keyaru a drink. It smelled nice, but the young hero didn't even need his jade eye to comprehend what they poured in.
"What is it?"
"It's tea, a gift from the princess. I'm sure it will help calm your nerves. " Yes, sleeping potions work wonders for people and their nerves. But not when you wake up in a cold dungeon, beaten to a pulp and drugged. It took some bravery to drink it; bravery and madness, to be precise. And Keyaru got them both. One sip, and everything went dark.
…
He woke up in a damp prison cell, bound to a chair. Welcome to hell!
"Hey! Where am I?! What is happening?!" Is that how a normal person should behave in this case? Either way, the bar door creaked and a large blonde man entered a small place of confinement. Leonard, a captain of the knight guard, was accompanied by Torlun. Although the old man never stopped him from... brutally striking Keyaru in the belly.
"YOU FUCKING MORON!!! You should've done as Her Highness told you! " As Leonard screamed, Keyaru gathered the pieces together. Flare got tired of playing nice and revealed her true nature. And this butcher was her true emissary. The magician went away, and nothing would stop the sadist.
The first blow fell on the ribs; the second hit the face. With the third kick, the cruel knight almost broke Keyaru's shin with his massive sabaton. The fourth punch left two broken ribs, and the fifth almost ripped the boy's diaphragm. After the sixth, the boy's lip started bleeding, and the seventh almost dislocated the jaw. The eighth traumatized the spleen, the ninth almost did the same with the liver. The tenth blow tumbled both Keyaru and his chair to the floor, where Leonard would kick his victim ten more times. And then the smug knight raised the young man. Not out of goodness, he just wanted to feel the last six strikes with his bare knuckles. And... it was over. At least for a little while.
"Hah… Hah…" Keyaru could finally breathe. The pain was awful, yet not as much as Kureha's. Or what he came through before the redo. And, after all, the captain knew exactly how to not kill his victim. "What did I… ever do… to you?.."
"What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO!!! FUCKING NOTHING, YOU PIECE OF DOG SHIT!!!" — Leonard snarled, once again knocking down the poor boy. "Maybe now you will understand a tiny hundredth of the pain you caused our dear princess!" And then he spat on him. Oh yes, she was his dear. The knight loved Flare, as only a mad rapist could.
"Twenty… eight. Twenty-eight strikes. I will… remember this…"
"What a freak. Time to mess you up real good. "
"Enough! Do you want to kill my test object? " Fortunately (or not), Torlun stopped the craving lunatic.
"Pff, whatever. I don't give a fuck anymore" — shrugged the man. It was the mage's turn now. He removed it and poured a phial of the purple-colored drug from his robe onto the bloodied lips. Keyaru could heal it out of him, but decided not to.
"Someday… I will return, and when…" Then Keyaru felt silent.
Leonard wouldn't come anymore. Presumably, fearful of his murdering intentions, or, at least, of him risking damaging Keyaru's brain for good, he was forbidden to visit the young man. Physically, nothing endangered him anymore, but mentally...
"DRUUUUGS!!! WANT DRUUUGS!!!" Let's just say he was at his lowest. The boy suffered from withdrawal, and for a few hours he screamed one word, time after time, in a mindless hope for deliverance. Previously, he even ripped his nails, and now the addict violently pulled his hair. Despite everything, though, his body was in adequate condition, if one could call it such. The guardsmen were strictly ordered to keep him alive, and the maids cleaned and fed him, and also changed his copper bedpans. And when evening came, many of those who wanted to raise their level would come to his cell. One night it was one of the maids, drenching her breasts with drugs. Another — a deranged man with his friends, who just wanted to stick their dicks in someone's anus. Or a couple — a man and a woman. He went from the back, while she sucked Keyaru off. In the end, they even fought for the precious semen in a long kiss. He won, by the way. One after another, men, women, and everybody wanted a part of a mindless doll to get stronger and fulfill their selfish desires. But neither of them noticed — even in this sorry state, the healer never failed to use his powers on them.
Another day in paradise, and this time his guest was Flare herself and her lap magician. The princess wouldn't even hide her revolt anymore.
"DRUUUGS-S-S!!!" Keyaru reached out to her, but the collar wouldn't let him. He fell, and the witch wished her victim had broken his neck for good. Alas, he lived, stretching his arms in hope of another dose. Only to get stomped by the royal heel.
"What a nasty dog! Why do I have to look after you after what you've done to my father?" She extended her arm, waiting for Torlun to put a potion in her hand. And the old man would obey.
"You shouldn't swear like this, Your Highness." Good try, but the sorceress ignored his sermon.
"You want this? Then bed, you mutt!" — she snarled at him, despite knowing too well that she would need to give him narcotics anyway. He just wouldn't heal anyone without it. Still, she could have a little fun. Nobody would deny Flare that right.
"Auf, auf!" The addict sat like a dog and started barking, only to get a spectacular kick straight in the crotch. The lad writhed in shocking pain, but his whine was still of a dog. With no pride nor dignity, this was the only way to get what he wanted so much.
"Good boy. Here's your reward. " Flare has now simply poured the poison on the floor. With no other option, Keyaru licked the drug, rubbing his tongue against the cold and dirty stones. And if this wasn't enough, the pink-haired monster stomped on his head.
"Now go to work, heal a man, or you'll get nothing! Follow me, scum."
And there they were, in the inner garden. Keyaru, much more obedient now, was spared the massive collar, albeit not for long. Warriors, mages, and moneybags — everyone who was deemed worthy or could purchase the right was presented to the Hero of Healing. This time it was an alchemist, Walchida. The man's failed experiment left him with no arms, and what was left charred. Alchemy, by the way, wasn't only an applied science, it was also a school of magic, much like Keyaru's healing, it could change the nature of things, just not the flesh in a major way. Either way, this one would definitely help in his escape. Even though all he could do was just remember it before collapsing from pain.
Keyaru's life, if it could be called that way, was quite consistent. Agonizing sleep, a doze, someone's pain, solitude, and raising someone's level in the night. Every time the martyr took beatings, torture, withdrawal, and rape. One month had passed, and finally, the day when the veil of addiction would dissipate had come to be.
Once again, Flare poured the drug on the floor, but only a couple of drops.
"D… drugs… DRUGS!!!" It was not enough to quench his thirst. And instead of going peacefully to the garden, the young man rushed to Flare, much like a rabid hound. She jumped back just in time, and the collar nearly crushed Keyaru's Adam's apple.
"I FUCKING HATE YOU!!!" The princess threw the phial right in Keyaru's face. The glass cut his forehead, and the shards fell off, covered with his blood. A moment when the lad saw his reflection became the moment of clarity. And when these two were gone…
"I… am me. My name… is Keyaru." Flare and Torlun were already on the stairs. The princess wouldn't bother, she could wait till tomorrow. But… "And I will have my revenge." She turned her head back in fear. His sheer hate called upon her, but when the sorceress dashed back, she only found a broken doll, staring into nothingness. Keyaru was everything but stupid enough to let his main enemy realize he had awakened.
"Did something happen, Your Highness?"
"N-no, just... Let's go. It stinks here so much, I want to take a bath." Foolish girl, her arrogance would be her undoing, and when it happened, she would never again be able to clean his smell off of her.