Shane looked into his eyes and said, "Not even a lifetime would be too long."
Nielle laughed with pleasure and said, "I'm very glad to see that you're not as sick as it looked in the morning. At least you can keep me company, since you arranged two days for me here with your own hands," he stated, "it gets boring here, we'll have fun."
As Shane was aware that he had brought it on himself at the moment, he remained silent. Since they were in the torture chamber, he knew what the term "fun" meant, and since he was going to be here for two days, he wasn't in the mood for talking too much. Especially when he had something in his inner pocket that he would like to keep.
"But I'll give you a chance," Nielle said, "since I told all the executioners that you were going to be their new colleague, everyone was looking forward to you. It would be awkward to spoil your first impression by making a toy out of you, wouldn't it?" he smiled,
"Since I'm in a good mood and the papers about your life amused me," he nodded to the table, "you'll get a chance to change your type of punishment," Nielle smiled, "apologize and you won't spend two days here. Convenient, right?" He suggested.
Shane looked at him confused for a moment, "You want me to apologize? Me?" He blinked and fell silent again, "Me to you?" he didn't believe, "After what you did?" he laughed, "I should apologize to you?" he found it really comical that Nielle would even suggest something like that.
"Should I apologize to you, Lacrisan?" Nielle laughed.
Shane stared at him in disbelief. After a while, he took a deep breath and calmed down, "Among all the princes I've ever met, you really are the most disgusting bastard," he said.
Nielle laughed, "Thanks, I'm trying," he said, "So, what do you choose? A nice apology or do we start with the nails?"
"I have nothing to apologize for, I didn't do it on purpose, and even if I did, it's nothing compared to what you did," Shane was angry.
"Really?" Nielle walked up to him and lightly touched his hair, "Alright, your choice." he stroked them gently and ran a few times through them before Shane pulled away irritated and shook his hand off.
Nielle chuckled softly and after a moment lightly touched the black ring on his hand, which immediately made Shane hesitate. He automatically raised his hands to his neck, subconsciously took a step back on his knees and slig parted his lips in a breath, as he had the feeling of lack of air.
"They used it on you a lot, didn't they?" Nielle laughed, gently moving some of his bad luck into the stone on his finger, "And yet not enough to make you lear to obey." he increased the intensity, making Shane gasp for air as he panicked.
"W-wait," he blurted out before the collar around his neck was triggered, filling him with a sense of lack of luck, the memories of which scared him more than a little pain and humiliation
"Why should I?" Nielle joked and continued.
"Ágh!" Shane's eyelids snapped shut as he felt the invisible thing tighten around his neck, as he felt his body flood with pitch, as he felt himself grow weak again, as he felt that soon he wouldn't be able to let out from behind his lips even a tiny voice and end up in agony on the ground as always,
"Fine, I w-will," he blurted out, "I-I'm sorry." he said before the feelings escalated to unbearable limits like he knew Nielle wanted.
He might even feel embarrassed if he didn't know that he has done many more humiliating things in his life to avoid this disgusting practice or to achieve other goals. In the end, a little pride didn't matter if he gained something by lowering it. Shane knew that if he was to be tortured here for two days, he would feel even worse than he felt today, he knew that he wouldn't be able to complete the missions he had.
And besides, Nielle would definitely find the necklace he stole from Brelle...he couldn't allow that.
So he took a deep breath of relief as the tightness around his neck loosened and the pain that had begun to fill him subsided. He gently closed his eyelids and held his neck for a moment before regaining his composure and looking at Nielle. He really couldn't wait for revenge, for their situations to change and for Nielle to be kneeling in front of him...he would like to skip everything between now and the future, but he knew he couldn't.
"You see, just like that...you're really cute when you're scared," Nielle leaned over and patted his cheek gently.
Shane glared at him in exasperation, trying to calm his inner anger. He slowly clenched his fists and when Nielle removed his hand from his face, he slowly released them in an attempt to regain some of his lost composure.
He couldn't get over the fact that Nielle had given him back the disgusting collar, that he had bound him with it again...even if he thought he would be able to do it, he wasn't and every single reminder of how his freedom had disappeared again drove him insane.
"Since you obey, you deserve a reward...we won't be here together for two days," Nielle said, "we'll go on a trip, what do you say?" he laughed.
Shane blinked in confusion, but the guy behind him pulled him to his feet and pushed him after Nielle. Shane walked slowly behind him, through the corridor to the other cells underground. Nielle didn't explain anything to him, and since Shane didn't feel like talking to him, he kept quiet. He had no idea what he meant by the term trip, but basically he didn't care, since it was better than spending two days in the dungeons unnecessarily.
They walked for quite some time before they came to a locked door. Nielle opened them, letting daylight flood the dark corridor. Shane followed him out into the smaller shack.
"Where are we?" he couldn't understand looking out the window at the forest.
However, Nielle didn't answer and went out of the shack. It looked really devastated, as if no one lived here, which was true. The hut was fenced with only dilapidated pieces of wood and didn't at all resemble a place where anyone would stay. Two horses were tied right next to it with two men standing by them.
"Did you bring what I ordered?" Nielle asked.
A member of his Black Guard nodded at the man next to him, "Like you said, sir, he didn't want to give it to me so I brought him to you."
Nielle looked at the bank employee who bowed slightly and handed him a golden seal, "The laws say I can't give it to anyone but you personally, please accept my apology." He handed it to Nielle who took it.
"It doesn't matter, especially if you brought it," he declared and hid the seal in his pocket.
Shane, meanwhile, was staring blankly at the man from the bank, whom he knew very well. He couldn't believe that he had just met him here, especially when it was the person he wanted to see the most of all. He slowly walked over to Nielle and locked eyes with his ally. He gently adjusted his robe and waited. The banker only glanced at him and shifted his gaze to Nielle again.
"If that's all, Your Highness."
"It is, in case someone finds out where I am or about this place," Nielle didn't even have to finish.
"I don't want to end up in dungeons, I know how to keep quiet," he said.
Nielle knew he wasn't lying and that he had no reason to tell anyone where he was going or to even mention seeing him, so he let him go. The banker took off with the guard, walked past Shane and slammed into him from the side.
,,NGh! What do you think you're doing?! Can't you get out of the way?" the banker raised his voice and brushed himself off irritated, causing Shane to glare at him as well.
"Every Rinselan is a moron," Shane declared and looked at Nielle, "where are we anyway? Where are we going?" he didn't understand.
Nielle looked at them for a moment, and when the banker and the guard walked away, he said, "You don't have to know."
Shane's eyes widened, but since he didn't have the energy to argue with this idiot, he got on his horse. Nielle nudged his step and said, "Don't lag behind, I'll find you when you get lost, but I'll add one more to your punishments."
Shane went after him and asked: "What are you talking about again?" he didn't understand.
"I hope you didn't think I'd forget everything, I said we wouldn't be in the torture chamber for two days if you apologize, not that I won't repay you the trouble you made," Nielle laughed, "if you're good, we'll leave it to the city, if you decide to piss me off, I will punish you in the next few days," he spurred the horse into a gallop.
Shane stared blankly at him. After a while he sighed deeply and followed him on his horse. He felt as if luck couldn't decide whether or not to be on his side. Firstly, it led him to Brelle, from whom he was able to get at least one royal black stone, then it threw him back to Nielle. Subsequently, it brought his banker's ally into his path, to whom he was able to give the stone, and then it threw him one again back to Niello for fun. Shane didn't like this game, but he had no chance to change it.
At least not yet and until then, he had no choice but to hope that he wouldn't lose his self-control and kill Nielle in his sleep...because the way this prince was screwing him was beyond all limits.
***
They walked slowly through the forest, enjoying the journey. They chatted for a while before Rue became interested in the surrounding scenery again, leaving Ylre to watch him calmly. For a while he walked by the trees, for a while he bent down to the grass, for a while he caressed the flowers and for a while he just sang. Like now.
His voice was really beautiful, Ylre knew it very well and while looking at Rue's satisfied expression as it seemed to fit perfectly into the picture of nature, he only smiled softly.
His voice resonated softly with the birdsong, and the longer they walked, the calmer Ylre felt. He was walking behind him in silence when he found some raspberries along the way, picked a few and brought them to Rue, which only made him more pleased. Rue seemed excited about everything he would do, every time thanked Ylre, smiled lightly and continued his fun. He looked full of happiness...and after a long time, he probably really was.
It didn't take long before they arrived at another village, but this time it wasn't guarded by anyone so Ylre figured that whoever was after them hadn't followed them here. It was a really small village, and Ylre wondered if it had always been here, since he couldn't remember if they had ever stopped here on the way to Alycante. However, since people at this time used to build chapels and villages everywhere, he decided not to deal with it and entered the village.
However, they were able to see the end of it practically after several streets, so they only stopped at one establishment and had drinks brought to them.
"Where are we?" Rue asked Ylre, as he had once told him that the nearest would be Alycante where they didn't intend to go because of the church, but there shouldn't be anything else on the way.
"I don't know, I didn't hear about this willage," he said.
After thinking for a moment, Rue asked the owner of the establishment who was currently serving one of the outdoor tables next to them, "Could you tell us where we are right now?" he asked.
,,How could you don't know? Between Alycante and Dycae, we are the only stop, everyone knows that," he said.
"Dycae? Dycae is in a different direction than we're coming from." Ylre pointed out.
The guy sighed deeply and pointed to the end of the village, where there was a crossroads: "Where are you headed?
I'll explain to you."
"Not to Alycante," Rue smiled after a while, since Ylre didn't react, as he wasn't going to tell anyone about their plans.
"Alycante is to the right, Dycae is straight down the road, when you go from one to the other we are the only stop between them," he explained, "you came from the direction of the capital." the guy said. Without a word he went in and left them at the table.
"How strange," Ylre commented, since he really didn't remember anything like that here, and not even that Dycae and Alycante were connected by villages somewhere along the way.
"What is Dycae?" Rue asked excitedly.
"A port city...you can get to Equil and Lacris from it, even faster than by land," he said.
"Port city," Rue was immediately intrigued, "are we going there?"
Ylre nodded, "I want to take you to that apple tree. It is located in Equil," he said.
"True...I can't wait," he was delighted.
They sat for a while before getting up. However, when they left the terrace of the establishment, a little girl stopped them. She was wearing ragged clothes, she looked like she hadn't eaten properly in a while, but a soft smile played on her lips, as if she was missing nothing. In her hands she held a wicker basket full of wild raspberries.
"Good luck with you, good sir," she looked at Rue, "buy some raspberries on your way, fresh from the forest, they will give you strength on the way...you won't have to look for any along the way, they are sweet." she said.
"Good luck with you, child," he greeted and looked at the basket, "why are you selling raspberries?"
"For money, sir...and for your pleasure," she said.
Since Rue hadn't seen such a scene for the first time, he only smiled gently and bent down to her: "How much are they
"How much you want, sir...thank you, sir" she said enthusiastically.
Ylre watched in silence as Rue took out a bag of money and handed the little girl some gold in exchange for the basket. The girl was staring at the money with her black eyes and looked around fearfully in case some villager saw it. She hid them in her dirty clothes and looked at Rue in confusion.
"E-everything is mine, sir? Thank you."
Rue smiled softly, "Thank Luck, child," he said and walked away.
Ylre looked at the girl, who still seemed unable to believe that she had sold raspberries from the forest for gold, and caught up with Rue, "I think she'll be more grateful to you than to Luck," he pointed out.
"Everything we do is the work of Luck," Rue said, stopping in surprise as another child nearly flew under his feet.
"S-sir...Good luck wity y-you, sir," the little boy looked at him, "b-buy some apples, good sir." he placed a basket of apples at his feet.
Rue blinked in surprise and looked at the boy who looked similar to the girl before. Basically, all Rinselans looked alike. Black eyes, black hair, some slightly lighter...a few white...and when they were children they really looked like one blood.
Rue bent down to him, "Child, eat them...apples are better than money," he said.
The boy shook his head, "I-I'm not hungry sir...I don't need food, sir."
"And what do you need?" he asked.
"Luck, I need luck...I need money," he blurted out, "Please, b-buy some apples, sir."
"Luck?" Rue was surprised and looked at the apples next to him.
Ylre just remarked behind him, "I told you that Rinselans can buy some yellow stones for money," he said.
"Oh," Rue sighed, as he still couldn't absorb that Luck was being traded in this age like something that could be bought, "Luck isn't for sale." he said.
The boy, startled that Rue was leaving, violently grabbed his robe and stopped him, "P-please, sir…buy some apples, sir," he blurted out scared.
Before Rue could react, Ylre kicked the child off his feet and glared at him in a way that made the boy fall to the ground in fear.
"Ylre," Rue frowned and gave him a displeased look, "what are you doing?" He sighed and bent down to the child, "Are you hurt, child?"
"S-sir...please, b-buy some apples," he raised himself from the ground and pulled the basket closer, "at least one, nice, red...look sir...how fresh it is," he pulled one out and he polished it gently, held it out to Rue and tried, "buy an apple, s-sir."
Rue bent down and took the apple: "How much is it?"
"H-how much you want, sir," his eyes sparkled with hope.
Rue reached into his pouch and pulled out some gold coins and handed them to the boy, "For the future, child, find another way to get luck...don't buy it, earn it." he said and stood up.
Ylre looked at the revealed boy and rejoined Rue, who was stopped after a while by another child.
"Good luck with you sir...please buy some strawberries."