Obsession... What's That? I Just Wish Someone Would Help Me Escape - Chapter 6
“Didn’t you see me vomiting blood?”
“It’s just a part of building muscles, overcome it with strong willpower! Get up!”
Sergei, this merciless guard…
The good news is, bones don’t break easily.
“You won’t last much longer. I’ve heard that Beatrice’s daughter is weak for a daughter of a demon family.”
Enrique’s voice floated down from above.
Looking up, I saw Johann and Enrique, each shouldering several rebar rods.
Underneath the rolled-up sleeves of their prison uniforms, their forearms were visibly hardened from labor.
And I wondered, if they wanted, couldn’t they just escape this place? Why are they still here?
Maybe they got captured on purpose for a sort of intense training, like students entering deep mountain monasteries to study for exams.
“Anyway, I envy them.”
“Truly healthy, aren’t they? I wish I could be them for just one day.
Maybe I should cause a commotion and return to the punishment cell?
It’s really tough. Being abandoned in this sh*tty prison.
I’ll die of overwork before I even start my feast of revenge on the traitors and the adulterous couple.
***
One upside to forced labor is that the meals are hearty.
The taste of the food was utterly irrelevant.
I had to fill my stomach to survive.
I saw prisoners in blue uniforms frantically devouring slop and black bread from their bowls.
Long gone were the days when prisoners retained any semblance of nobility, culture, or dignity. I was no exception.
“Please, give me more. I’ll make it worth your while when I get out of here.”
I appealed earnestly, but didn’t receive any extra.
As I weakly carried my meal back, I was startled to recognize someone.
“Clara?”
Baroness Clara Hilstein, a friend of mine, caught my eye.
“Clara! It’s me!”
To encounter a familiar face in such a hellish place, it’s somewhat of a relief.
Her eyes shifted from the watery soup to me, a look of recognition breaking through.
Seeing her in a worn prisoner uniform and her eyes hardened, I was shocked again.
She looked like a bandit.
Her trapezius and arms were noticeably more robust, perhaps from working longer here.
Would I end up like that too?
Another prisoner sitting next to her slammed the wooden table.
“How dare you!”
“The lowest ranking bum has no business speaking to her!”
The bandit-like group, too, had been ladies of society I mingled with in the past.
Clara, with a dispassionate expression, waved them off.
“Leave her be. She’s just a fool who doesn’t understand the ways here.”
Ouch, that’s harsh. And why has her manner of speaking changed so much?
Certainly, she was once a delicate noble lady with a gentle and kind demeanor, using phrases like, “Oh my, Lady. Shopping yesterday was ever so delightful.”
And why has she torn her sleeves into a tank top?
She brings to mind a street racer speeding through the night.
Had she hit puberty late?
“Clara, why have you changed so much? What happened to you?”
At my concerned question, Clara slowly rose and looked down at me with a despondent gaze.
“I’ve forgotten about my past life. Dignity, cultivation, refinement, I’ve long since discarded them.”
After finishing her sentence, Clara smirked bitterly.
Bang—
Suddenly, my view tipped forward and I felt a huge impact on my forehead.
The bowl had been flipped right in front of me.
Clara had grabbed my head and slammed it onto the table.
“Don’t delude yourself into thinking that being from a great noble family will earn you any respect here.”
It was a brutal warning from Clara, who held my head down with one hand.
What’s going on? We used to be quite close, didn’t we?
I was too bewildered to even feel the pain.
As I shifted my eyes slightly, I noticed the number on her blue prison uniform.
Prisoner number 7.
Meaning the seventh in the prison hierarchy.
Clara’s eyes, filled with contempt, narrowed slightly.
“Here, it’s not honor or titles that matter, but the power you wield. Vermin like you are just meant to be trampled underfoot.”
When did I become so estranged from her? I was flustered.
