704: Better Days

704: Better Days

“Who’s gonna do it though?” Asuna’s soldiers discussed amongst themselves. “I don’t want to touch her.”

“I’ll do it,” Krink volunteered. “After all the times I wished to tell her to go fuck herself, this opportunity is too good to pass up.”

“You always did get stuck with the nastiest jobs,” Baldwin said and handed Krink the keys.

“At least I’ll enjoy this one,” Krink smiled as he grabbed the keys and approached the princess.

“Hey, piggy!” he called out to Asuna but got no reaction.

Krink sighed and tapped his foot for a couple of seconds while he considered his options. A boot to the side worked wonders earlier, but… Krank stepped a little closer, crouched in front of the princess and said, “You’ve been a good piggy, haven’t you?”

Asuna moved her head so slightly that Krank was the only one to notice and only because a strand wet hair strand fell from her nose.

“Yes, you have.” Krank continued. “And good piggies get rewarded. Even her royal highness, Leila, agreed to acknowledge your efforts. You’ll have to thank Baldwin later for pleading your case to her.”

“Hhha?” Asuna meekly breathed out and slowly lifted her head. Could it be true? Could her torment be at an end?

“We discussed it amongst ourselves, and everyone is in agreement. You deserve a proper reward. The thing that you’ve been so desperate for all this time. Your one wish you cried so passionately for.”

Reward… Wish… The words vaguely registered with Asuna though she could no longer remember. Her life as a human seemed a fading dream, washed away with yellow rain, snuffed out with the pungent stench, beaten out of her. Do pigs dream?

What were her dreams? Back when she used to walk upright… What was her life like? An image flashed in Asuna’s mind of her little hands extended as she happily ran to her mother and tugged on her purple gown… How she argued with her father and screamed at him when he refused her single request again and again.

Not even ten years old, she trained at night in secret to join the dwindling royal army. With only dimming torchlight and barely any air to breathe in the cold damp tunnels under the palace, sweaty, bruised and beaten, Asuna rose again and again. She picked up her heavy training sword with her bleeding fingers and charged the single knight willing to train her. She was determined to swing the tide of war or die trying to save her kingdom…

“Dead again!” a shout was quickly followed by a sharp pain in her stomach when the hilt of her sword was slammed into her stomach and pinned her to the cold floor.

The veteran knight used Asuna’s own momentum to throw her off her feet and disarm her in one lightning-fast move.

“You’re regressing,” he said, looking down at the princess with weary eyes. “If I can do that with one working arm, what chance do you have against the demons? We’re done for today.”

“Not yet!” Asuna reached for her dagger but cried in pain when the knight stepped with his heavy boot on her arm.

“Not only are you dead, but you’ve also doomed your men who now have abandoned formation and rush to your aid, even though they know it means their death.”

“I didn’t ask for that!”

“But you asked to be trained by me! You want to be treated as a princess when it suits you, as a commoner when it suits you. The world doesn’t work like that. Your position comes with responsibilities!”

“Tell that to my father!!” Asuna screamed.

“A man who runs away from his responsibilities. If you hate him that much, why do you act like him?”

“I’m nothing like him!!”

“Then stop acting like a fool when you know better!” the old man said and lifted the pressure off the girl’s beaten body.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Who was that girl? Filled with passion, hot blood running through her veins—Asuna could no longer recognize such an amazing person. Maybe if she crawled for long enough, if she was obedient enough, one day she might gain the right to stand in the vicinity of such people.

Asuna wanted them in person, bask in their light and marvel at them form a safe distance where her presence did not insult them. Maybe she’d even be able to secretly feed off their energy, steal it if she could, so that she could become at least a pale imitation of such enviable people.

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