The Damned Demon

"Your Highness…" Merina timidly mumbled as she came in and closed the door behind her.

"I have been expecting you, though you came a bit late," Asher said while leaning against the window, his gaze still on the skies.

Merina's breath froze as she fell to her knees and said, "Forgive me, Your Highness! I-I…I had some trouble getting it."

"But you did get it, right?" Asher asked without shifting his gaze.

"Yes…I did. Here it is…" Merina said as she raised both of her hands while her head was bent, facing the floor.

Asher turned around and walked towards her. He subtly smiled upon seeing a bronze feather quill on her hands, "Good…" Asher knew this feather pen was actually a rune quill used to draw runes that weren't simple or common.

As someone with decent knowledge about runes, he knew how to at least draw some, especially one that could make people not betray him.

"Now get up. You know what to do, right?" Asher asked as Merina timidly raised her head and saw his dark yellow eyes glinting in the dark. For some reason, she was feeling more and more uneasy the more she interacted with him. She had lived long enough to know that those eyes belonged to someone whose anger could burn the world.

She nodded silently and walked towards the wall, facing it. Her hands were taut as she removed her upper garments one by one. And finally, she removed her bra with shaky hands, revealing her shapely naked back and more of her supple red skin.

Asher had to say, despite being older and a maid, she looked quite fine and voluptuous for her age, enough to tickle his primal instincts. He had never paid attention to her before, but after knowing how much Ceti cared about her and how she could be useful to him, he could no longer ignore her.

Even with her maid clothes on, her breasts looked quite big and perky. And now even by standing behind her, he could see her tempting back breasts.

However, right now he wasn't in the mood and had bigger things to focus upon.

Merina's lips were visibly shaking as her face became red, feeling mortified by what was about to happen. What he was about to do to her was something that was usually done to criminals or Hunters.

Still, she gathered the courage as she asked, "M-My family will be safe if I do this, right, Your Highness?" Merina was even tenser and worried after hearing about the bloodshed that happened during the celebration.

If news of what she did gets out, then not only she but Ceti and Kookus would die along with her. The royal consort's mercy was the only thing she could depend upon.

Asher's face darkened as he stepped forward and clutched her face, twisting her neck towards him, "I don't like repeating myself twice. You are in no position to demand anything from me. Save your crocodile tears for a fool. It doesn't change the fact that for 15 years, you watched…you watched and saw me getting tortured like a dog, and yet you never even let out a whisper to anyone about it."

Merina grimaced as she closed her eyes with a trembling chin, "I…I wanted to b-but…I couldn't…" Merina wanted to say more, but no words were coming out of her throat.

Asher's gaze hardened, "Say no more. You are a refugee whose duty was to take care of me. There is no excuse for that. You are no different than the others. All of you only care about saving your own skin and interests, and since that is how everybody is, then as long as my matters are taken care of, I wouldn't even give a fuck if the world was to burn, let alone your family…" Asher momentarily remembered how he died in his previous life. He died like a fool since he was too busy living for others to realize how blind he was to their true intentions. Never again would he let that happen.

Merina gasped hearing his words, wondering if he was really going to—

"But I will be nice this one time and say…As long as you don't disappoint me, then I have no reason to punish you. Do I?" Asher asked as he let go of her face, making Merina readily nod as she wiped her eyes, "This servant w-wouldn't dare…" Even though her heart was tense as ever, she was at least relieved the fate of her family was still in her hands. All she had to do was keep him satisfied no matter what, even if it meant bearing the humiliation of becoming a slave.

"Good. Now stay still. I don't want to make any mistakes while I draw this," Asher said as he parted away her silky black hair that reached till her buttocks.

He then held her shoulder and positioned the quill on the middle of her back.

Merina still was filled with confusion as she knew that to use a rune quill, one would need to have the knowledge to draw runes and, most importantly, possess mana.

When he told her this morning to get a rune quill to make her his slave, she thought he was doing it to scare her. But now, in this situation, he seemed quite serious, and this didn't seem like an attempt to scare her.

How could he possibly plant a slave crest on her by himself? It just didn't—

"Aah!~" Her thoughts were disrupted when Merina suddenly let out a moan that seemed to be mixed with pain and some strange sensation as well.

But what made her eyes widen in shock was the feeling of runes getting inscribed on her skin, each of them making her feel like they were burning into her body.

Her lips were parted in sudden realization of one thing…the royal consort wasn't a cripple but somehow was using mana!

She could see eerie dark green light reflecting off the metal surfaces around her, which was nothing but the color of his mana. She could even feel the heat from the aura of his mana seeping into her body. She was so shocked by this realization that it dampened some of the pain she was feeling from having the slave crest inscribed on her skin.

This was news that could definitely cause a stir in this kingdom, including this House. Did the late demon king bestow him with power before his death? Merina couldn't think of any other way. But she found it confusing when she wondered why she couldn't sense any mana in his body even after he got his soul.

She realized he must have some hidden power to hide his aura, though she couldn't understand why he won't let the queen know. Surely she wouldn't feel bad to know this.

She wondered what the late demon king saw in the royal consort to help him so much. But she could feel that this kingdom won't be the same now that the royal consort was different and reborn.

Merina was surprised that the pain of inscribing a slave crest wasn't as painful as she thought. She had seen how slaves howl in pain upon getting the slave rest inscribed on their skin and had always felt horrified seeing it. She had spent almost the entire day preparing to bear such pain in case he employed the help of someone else. Though, in the end, it wasn't as bad as she thought.

However, she had no idea that Asher was an expert at channeling his mana while inscribing the runes in a way to not cause unwanted stress on the slave's body. It was natural to feel pain when a slave crest was placed since the slave's body would get shackled by the mana of the Master from within, though the pain would be excruciating if done by an amateur.

Merina grimaced as she felt as if her heart and mind were getting chained with the other end of the chain being held by the royal consort.

She could feel her entire body surrendering to him but didn't resist.

As Asher was almost done inscribing the crest, he said, "I am sure you know this but let me warn you…You can't betray me or divulge our interactions to anybody else. Otherwise…all that awaits you would be a miserable death. And...we are done," Asher took a step back as the slave crest shone with a dark green light as it burned into her skin.

"Hnnnn!" Merina clenched her jaws as she endured the pain of the slave crest etching itself onto her skin, though that pain disappeared after a few seconds. And in the next few moments, the crest faded away as if it had never existed.

Asher subtly curved his lips as he saw a few messages popping up before his vision,

[ New Slave Acquired ]