Neko Princess Submits to the Dragon of Dragons

Chapter 10: How Long Has It Been?

T/W: Violence and graphic content, strong language

Every day, this man- no, this monster whose name she still did not know, came in and whipped her to vent out his anger. Fed off her and when she would pass out, he would smack her and kick her. A few times, he's even given her false hope by letting her go outside into the forest to try and escape. But every time she runs and runs until her lungs burn, regardless of how long she'd run for or how far, he always finds her quickly and drags her by her hair back to her cell. She is rarely given any food or water and when she does get food, it's stale bread or mouldy food but she is so hungry she tries to eat around the mouldy parts. The water is never fresh and tastes as if it was taken from a puddle after it rained. She had no idea how long she had been there but she knew the king must be looking for her. If only I could somehow send a message to someone. To let them know where I am, that I'm still alive, she thought to herself. She has tried to see if she could feel her cat spirit on multiple occasions but she was so weak and exhausted from malnourishment that she eventually gave up. With all the beatings she has taken, she would not be surprised if she had a broken bone or two.

As she sat there with her thoughts, fear rushed through her spine as the door creaked open and footsteps were heard and then seen coming down the stairs towards her cell. Her body instinctively tensed up as she kept her head down and waited for the first blow to come. She waited for what felt like twenty minutes but was only two and when no pain struck, she plucked up the courage to look up only to be met with a smack as she was knocked to the floor.

"You really thought you could look me in the eyes you stupid bitch" the stranger growled out as he began once again to let out his anger on her. "I told you time and again that NO. KICK ONE. SMACK IS COMING. SMACK FOR YOU!" Her clothes had long since been transformed into rags from all the beatings and whippings. There were holes and tears everywhere and it did not keep her warm against the cold stone of the cell or the dampness that came when it rained outside. She had no energy left to fight and slowly lost hope that anyone was even looking for her anymore. "I should probably tell you this since you are not going to last much longer anyways, but your blood tastes delicious when you are frightened" her captor whispered in her ear before he plunged his fangs into her neck once more and began drinking until she passed out.

Once she regained consciousness, she noticed there was her usual ration of food and water which is always there after he drank from her. Instead of forcing herself to eat the mouldy bread and muddy water, she kicked the tray away and crawled into the corner of her cell and tried to warm herself up as she knew her captor was not going to be coming to torture her that day. Wearily, she closed her eyes and thought about King Issei and how she missed him and hoped he was looking for her. Just as she had that thought, the mark on her chest began to glow ever so slightly. What is happening? Why is my mark glowing like this? It's never done this before! She was confused but just as quickly as it began glowing, it stopped. And with it, her hope began fading once more.