The cold sensation of the stone floor woke Arisa. The room was far too bare to call a cell. The walls were exposed stonework, soaked through with the morning chill. In the musty air, the smell of her own sweat mingled with the lingering scent of last night's bodily fluids. She pushed herself upright. A sharp pain throbbed in her lower abdomen. (*This pain again.*) The Brand of Ecstasy. A form of flesh magic used by Patricia's rulers to control their slaves. She could feel the black pattern etched into her lower abdomen pulsing slowly, as if it were alive. If only she didn't have this brand, she could escape. *Clack. Clack.* Footsteps approached from the corridor. Two sets of shoes. One heavy, one light. The door opened. The first to enter was the mistress of the Moonset Pavilion, Cassandra Yurinska. Her silver-gray hair was swept up high, and her black dress dragged across the stone floor. Her narrow gray eyes looked down at Arisa, appraising her. [cold] "Did you sleep well?" Arisa didn't answer. She simply looked up at those cold eyes in silence. Cassandra's lips twisted into a thin smile. [cold] "Good eyes. Proof you haven't broken yet. —But that ends today." She stepped half a pace to the side. From behind her, another woman appeared. Long silver hair cascaded down her back like waves. Pale violet eyes. Those eyes were utterly exhausted, as if gazing at something far away. A faint scar remained on her slender forehead. Lilia Valmars. A senior courtesan of the Moonset Pavilion. [gentle] "...Good morning." A small voice. Soft, yet trembling somewhere within it. Cassandra leaned against the wall and folded her arms. [cold] "Lilia, today you are the trainer. Drill the fundamentals of being a courtesan into this newcomer. —You understand?" [whispers] "...Yes, Lady Cassandra." Lilia bowed deeply. The gesture was mechanical, clearly one she had repeated countless times. Cassandra snorted and left the room. Her footsteps faded away. Silence. The moment they were alone, Lilia's expression changed. The mask of obedience she had worn until now peeled away. Her brows lowered, her lips trembled faintly. The face of an exhausted woman, one who looked her age, was there. [sad] "I'm sorry... truly, I'm so sorry." Arisa felt a small surprise. Yesterday, at the auction, Lilia had just been a woman standing expressionless beside Cassandra. But now, the person before her was a human being, imprisoned just like herself. [whispers] "It's been years now... this kind of life. Every day, every single day, touched by men I don't know, forcing myself to smile..." Lilia placed a hand against the wall. Her fingers gripped the stone so hard they turned white. [crying] "I'm tired. But I can't escape. As long as we have this brand, we—" Her words broke off. Arisa said nothing. But deep in her chest, she felt a tight, clenching sensation. She wasn't alone. In this world, there was someone who carried the same suffering. (*Lilia... you too, huh.*) Lilia took a deep breath. She wiped her tears, then, with trembling hands, touched Arisa's shoulder. [gentle] "Let's begin. —Relax your body." Her fingers undid the buttons of Arisa's blouse. Each time the fabric pulled away from her skin, the cold air bit into her. Lilia's hand touched the brand on Arisa's lower abdomen. —In that instant. "—Aahh!" A shock, like lightning, surged from deep in her belly through her entire body. The brand pulsed as if it were searing iron. Every time Lilia's fingers traced it, a pleasure she couldn't control pierced through her very core. [gentle] "Sorry... I'm so sorry..." Lilia repeated the words in a tearful voice. Yet her fingers didn't stop. Because Cassandra had ordered it. If she refused, Lilia herself would be punished. Arisa understood that. Lilia gently laid Arisa down on the floor. Her bare back was pressed against the cold stone. The brand throbbed and ached. As if waiting for the next stimulus. Lilia's fingers traced Arisa's thighs. Gently, yet surely, as if drawing out the brand's reaction. "—Hn, ah." Arisa tried to stifle her voice. But because of the brand, her body couldn't be controlled. The moment Lilia's fingers touched her secret place, a sweet numbness shot through her, piercing to the top of her head. (*No good... my body is... moving on its own...*) Lilia spread Arisa's legs and brought her face closer. Warm breath fell upon her sensitized skin. Her tongue softly licked Arisa's slit. "—Aaaahh!" Arisa's hips bucked. The brand forcibly induced pleasure, and a hot sensation spread deep, deep inside her, to places no one had yet touched. Every time Lilia's tongue traced her clitoris, lights flickered before her eyes. (*This is wrong... it's wrong, but...*) In her heart, she resisted, yet her body drowned deeper and deeper in pleasure. As Lilia's tongue entered her vagina and moved with wet, squelching sounds, the depths of her belly contracted tightly. [sad] "...Are you about to come?" Lilia raised her face. Her lips glistened slickly with Arisa's love juices. Arisa couldn't answer. She didn't have the composure to answer. The brand was trying to force an orgasm out of her, against her will. "—I'm coming... I'm going to come...!!" Those words flew from her own mouth. Her hips jerked and spasmed, her vagina convulsing violently. Arisa felt her mind go completely blank as tears streamed down her face. Humiliating. It was her own body, yet she couldn't control it. Dominated by the brand, forced to feel pleasure she didn't want to feel. This humiliation gouged her heart deeper than anything else. (*Someday, I swear... I will destroy this brand.*) As the waves of climax subsided, Arisa remembered, desperately, that she had been observing. The sensation of magical power flowing in the moment Lilia's fingers touched the brand. Its direction. Its temperature. Its intensity. Data necessary for her research into the Counter-Brand. The training continued for nearly an hour. Lilia brought Arisa to climax again and again, apologizing with "I'm sorry" each time. Though tears flowed, Arisa refused to let go of her consciousness. She desperately tried to memorize as much of the brand's magical flow patterns as she could. Eventually, the training ended, and Lilia took out a small jar. Inside was an ointment for healing wounds. [gentle] "Don't move... I'm going to apply it." The cold ointment was spread over her chafed skin. Lilia's hands were trembling, yet they were very gentle. [sad] "I too... was branded with the same mark five years ago." It was a sudden confession. Arisa's eyes widened. [crying] "I was a virgin. A noble took that from me... I tried to run away. But the brand hurt, it hurt so much... My legs stopped moving. After that... I just gave up." Tears spilled from Lilia's eyes. [whispers] "I'm sorry. Doing this to you... I, truly..." Arisa lifted a trembling hand and grasped Lilia's. "...It's alright." Her voice was hoarse. But that was the one thing she wanted to say. [gentle] "It's not your fault. —It's all because of this brand." For just a moment, Lilia looked surprised, then her expression became something like a tearful smile. Something wordless passed between them. Not an alliance, not friendship—words like that couldn't describe it. It was simply a deep empathy shared between two people imprisoned in the same cage. It was the moment Lilia's presence became Arisa's one and only emotional support within despair. —However. That afternoon. Further hell awaited. Two assistants sent by Cassandra dragged Arisa out of her cell. She was taken to the great hall. [cold] "Open your mouth." Arisa resisted. But the assistants forced her mouth open and poured the liquid from a small vial down her throat. A sickly sweet, herbal taste. —An aphrodisiac. Within minutes, her body began to flush with heat. A more primal heat, different from the brand, welled up from deep in her belly. (*Stop... please stop...*) Two men were already waiting in the great hall. Unknown nobles. One was a fat, middle-aged man, the other young. Both looked at Arisa with sticky, clinging gazes. [cold] "Now then, let's see the results of the newcomer's training." Arisa was shoved into the center of the hall. With the synergistic effect of the brand and the aphrodisiac, her body was already at its limit. Even standing was painful. Unrelated to her own will, her hips swayed, and her hands naturally reached for her chest and lower body. "—Ah... aahh..." Arisa spread her legs of her own accord and inserted her fingers into her vagina. Before the audience, she shook her hips, trying to obtain pleasure. (*No... this isn't me...!*) Even as tears fell, the movement of her fingers didn't stop. The wet, squelching sounds echoed through the great hall. She could hear the nobles laughing. [sarcastic] "Good, good. Shaking your hips on your own—you've got quite the aptitude." In the corner of the room, Lilia stood with a pale face. Her hands were clenched, her lip bitten. But she could do nothing. If she tried to protect Arisa, both of them would be punished. And that would take an even crueler form—. (*Lilia... you don't have to watch...*) Arisa screamed inside her heart. Her own body was betraying her. Because of the brand, because of the aphrodisiac, she was made to dance lewdly before the nobles. "—I'm coming... I'm going to come...!!" With a scream, Arisa reached climax again. Her body arched like a bow, and her love juices splattered onto the floor. The applause and cheers of the nobles sounded distant. (*I won't lose... I will never lose...*) Even as she collapsed onto the floor, Arisa swore that vow in the depths of her heart. —Late night. Back in her cell, Arisa sat slumped against the wall. Her entire body ached. The brand still held heat, throbbing sharply with every small movement. (*While I have the chance...*) She reached for one of the stones in the wall. Carefully shifting it with her fingertips, a small gap appeared. What she pulled out were several tattered pieces of parchment. Fragmentary records of the forbidden art, "Counter-Brand." Relying on memories from her past life, she had scraped together what literature remained in this world. A technique to erode and destroy the brand from within. But the documents were incomplete; she didn't understand even half of the theory. (*During today's training... when the brand activated, the magical power flowed from bottom to top. And then the pleasure was amplified.*) Arisa traced letters with her finger in the margins of the parchment, organizing her thoughts. (*Conversely... if I can flow magical power from top to bottom, I might be able to suppress the brand.*) Lilia's words had also been a hint. The brand could control its subject not just with pleasure, but with pain as well. That meant the brand had multiple command systems. If she could decipher that mechanism—. But there was no time. Tomorrow, more clients would come. More training. There was almost no time to research freely. (*Even so... I have no choice but to do it.*) Arisa put the parchment away and returned the stone to its place. From somewhere distant, she could hear someone sobbing. Perhaps Lilia. Or maybe another courtesan. Only the moonlight streaming through the window illuminated the cell in a pale blue glow. Arisa closed her eyes. Within despair, she had found a small light named Lilia. But she felt the binding power of the brand growing stronger day by day. It was a race against time. Before their spirits broke completely, they had to find the key to freedom. The completion of the Counter-Brand. That was the only exit from this hell. Arisa curled up her exhausted body and fell into a brief sleep.