Just as Ximo’s body trembled more and more intensely, Xiliya suddenly withdrew her hand.
“Huh?”
It was incredibly frustrating when a progress bar froze halfway through, and Ximo was feeling exactly that right now. Her face flushed unnaturally red as she looked at Xiliya with dazed and puzzled eyes.
Xiliya smiled faintly, placing her right hand on Ximo’s soft abdomen and slowly, gently kneading the skin there.
“How about it? Do you want it?”
Unlike the previous times when she had forcibly activated the mark for punishment, this time Xiliya chose to respect Ximo’s wishes about whether to trigger the mark’s effects.
Blushing, Ximo nodded. In the next second, Xiliya pinned the little maidservant down on the bed without restraint, every point of contact between their skin feeling like it was melting away.
Xiliya felt Ximo’s body heat and thought the girl in her arms was as soft as if she had no bones.
But this time, it was Ximo who took the initiative to pause their movements. The two pulled back slightly, and Ximo grabbed Xiliya’s hand, pressing those fingers—still slightly damp—against her own abdomen.
The little maidservant was still a bit shy, so she didn’t speak, but Xiliya understood her intention from the gesture.
“You want more?” Xiliya was a little surprised. “If we keep going, it’ll get pretty intense. Can you handle it?”
Unlike the previous punishments, this time the mark mainly served to heighten pleasure, so Xiliya only activated it lightly.
Though when she had been angry and punishing the little maidservant before, Xiliya had cranked the mark’s effects higher… but those punishments hadn’t been anywhere near this intense! Xiliya worried that Ximo might faint later.
Yet Ximo nodded again, urging her to continue. She still didn’t speak, merely gazing at Xiliya with those emerald-green eyes.
Xiliya was familiar with this look from Ximo—like a timid little deer, filled with a hint of fear and pitiable vulnerability. She had seen it back when she had tied Ximo up tightly and thrown her into the basement, threatening to brand her with the slave mark.
At that moment, when Xiliya had spared the life of the assassin who tried to kill her on a whim, she probably never imagined a day like this would come.
The difference now was that Ximo’s eyes held an extra trace of anticipation… and excitement. So Xiliya obliged, and the mark on the abdomen glowed faintly once more. The little maidservant’s panting grew even warmer.
As the mark’s effects strengthened, Xiliya’s movements grew bolder. The little maidservant’s breaths further ignited her desire to tease, speeding up the progress bar until it was on the verge of reaching one hundred percent.
Ximo clung tightly to Xiliya’s shoulders, desperately suppressing the sounds in her throat as she waited for the bar to fill. But at that moment, Xiliya stopped her movements again.
If a progress bar freezing halfway was frustrating, then one stalling at ninety-nine percent— so close to the end yet stuck at the critical moment—was utter torment.
That’s exactly how Ximo felt now. She bit her lower lip hard and looked at Xiliya, who merely responded with a wicked grin, waving her fingers right in front of her.
“Feels bad, doesn’t it, Ximo?”
Ximo nodded.
“Then, do you want it?”
Ximo nodded again.
Xiliya laughed, just like the smile she wore before punishing Ximo each time. She wagged her finger and said, “That’s not good enough. If you want something, say it properly yourself.”
“Mm…”
Shame made Ximo squeeze her eyes shut. After a moment of gathering her courage, she finally spoke in a trembling voice.
“I want… I want Master to bully me… Please bully me even more recklessly!”
“Good girl~”
Xiliya tugged on the collar around Ximo’s neck, pulling her close and letting the progress bar surge unimpeded to one hundred percent.
…
Afterward, the two filled the progress bar several more times until Ximo was too exhausted to continue.
In the sage time after the rush of passion, Xiliya stroked Ximo’s cheek as she leaned on her shoulder, speaking with a touch of emotion.
“You know, Ximo? There was a time when I resented my mother deep down.”
“That was right after I was kicked out of the Camberlan Family. Back then, I couldn’t control my magic and would wonder why I had to be born into the Camberlan Family, why I had to be the Camberlan eldest daughter…”
“If I weren’t the Camberlan eldest daughter, if Mother hadn’t passed away so early, maybe I wouldn’t have faced so much trouble… Though I knew full well it wasn’t Mother’s fault.”
“During my time at the Imperial Magic Academy, I desperately wanted to shed my identity as the Camberlan eldest daughter, but now I don’t feel that way anymore.” Xiliya cupped Ximo’s face. “Because I met you here, Ximo.”
The little maidservant let out a string of indistinct whimpers, rubbing her face against Xiliya’s hand in response.
“So, Master,” Ximo’s voice sounded a bit hoarse, “why didn’t you expose both Charles and Masha in front of Lady Selina earlier?”
Ximo figured that exposing Masha this time would completely strip her of any qualification to compete with Xiliya for the inheritance.
“That would let Masha off too easily,” Xiliya sneered. “What I want isn’t just taking back the inheritance rights from her.”
“Masha is the main course. I’ll save her for last and savor dealing with her slowly… But it’s almost time.”
Xiliya thought for a moment and realized the current timeline was very close to when she had been expelled from the Camberlan Family in her previous life.
In her previous life, after Masha and Charles had framed her together, Selina hadn’t said much thanks to Masha’s “kindhearted” pleading, but she was thoroughly cut off from the successor position.
Soon after, Masha formally took over the Camberlan Family and, under the pretext of training, sent Xiliya off to the Imperial Capital Magic Academy.
On the surface, Masha’s actions seemed exceedingly benevolent—not abandoning this repeatedly errant waste of an eldest daughter and even kindly sending her to the Empire’s top school. But Xiliya knew it was just a thorough expulsion from the Camberlan Family.
That had been the first time in her previous life that Xiliya openly defied Masha. Years of pent-up resentment finally erupted, and after Masha declared her inheritance of the Camberlan Family, Xiliya had a huge fight with her—of course, it changed nothing.
Not only that, but Xiliya also earned a label of disrespecting her elders and was ignominiously driven out.
But this life wouldn’t end like that. Selina hadn’t left yet, and Xiliya knew the perfect moment to take down Masha in one fell swoop was fast approaching. This time, she would destroy not just her body, but her heart as well.
