By the time he had regained consciousness, he was back in the cottage with a bandage around his shoulder. Below the bandage was nothing, an empty void of where his left arm had been
'She cut it off...' Arthur looked at his arm with a daze. A void in his chest resonated with the void his arm left, making him feel breathless. 'That crazy bitch caught it off that easily.'
He had considered the possibility that this might end up badly for him, but he had valued himself as a Loved By Stars. Larza herself valued him. That was the reason she tried to keep him leashed by inducing fear into his heart.
Arthur tried to sit up but his body was tired, he failed. He only had one hand for him to lean on, making everything seem like an impossible task.
'No.' Arthur's eyes focused, his golden irises shining brightly. 'This is only temporary. Until I regain my powers.' He tried again to sit and found that his clothing had been neatly arranged beside him. 'How considerate.' He smiled in mockery.
Suddenly, he felt a pain that shouldn't be there from his left arm. Arthur gnashed his teeth as he waited for the pain to pass.
[Realignment of the soul has failed. Restructuring shall now begin. Proceed?]
[Yes | No]
'Restructure?' Arthur furrowed his brows as he panted. 'Does that have any adverse effects?'
[Unimaginable pain and the inability to regenerate your left arm in the future.]
'Hah,' Arthur was baffled. 'Why would I proceed then?'
[The recovery will be instant. Otherwise, your body will need twice the amount of time to recover on its own.]
'You're asking me to give up on my arm to recover instantly?' Arthur gritted his teeth. 'Is there no way to regenerate my arm after the soul restructuring?'
[A Rune to restructure the soul would be needed. However, multiple restructuring on a single soul would result in Spiritual Breakdown, also known as, death.]
What bugged Arthur the most was how simply death was written. It was so easy, as if life should be just as easy, but refused to be. He pulled his clothes as he made his decision. Well, there was no decision to make.
'No.' The Legacy's message disappeared and Arthur's recovery resumed its snail pace. As he wore his clothes, with difficulty, he checked how much he had recovered.
[Recovery percentage: 5%.]
'Dammit. Dammit. Dammit all!' Arthur smashed one of the shelves with his right hand clenched into a fist and the tools fell on the ground around him. 'Everything just keeps going wrong, time and time again.' He clenched his head. 'I'm so tired.' He breathed out.
However, the world wouldn't allow him to rest so easily. The cottage door opened and Bao entered. He looked around with his sharp eyes at the tools scattered around.
Arthur's head turned as a loud slapping sound echoed. The pain came in moments afterward as he turned to look at Bao, who had slapped him with the back of his hand.
"Filthy animal." Bao spat as he cleaned his glove with a handkerchief. "You think these things belong to you?" He glared at Arthur.
Arthur looked at him silently, rage blinding his vision. He hadn't been humiliated like this before. How badly he wanted to rip this goat to pieces right here and then.
"Keep looking at me like that and you'll lose more than just an arm. You've been treated kindly because Lady Larza asked for it in the beginning. Now, she told us to treat you like the animal you are."
Arthur kept glaring at him and Bao raised his arm again and slapped him. Bao kept slapping him but Arthur didn't submit even as his lips bled and his face turned purple.
"That's enough." Larza's command came from behind Bao and the goat-man stopped despite his fury. He looked at Arthur with detest for going against him. "Leave." Larza commanded and Bao left to leave Arthur and her alone in the cottage.
She closed the door as she walked in. Looking around the tools, she began to pick them up and placing them on the shelves. After the tools were all neatly arranged, she looked at Arthur silently.
"I know I've hurt you." She walked closer to him, her hand resting on his cheek. "But you need to understand that I did everything for your safety. The world is cruel to humans, yet you tried to run away. Do you know that a worse fate awaited you if I hadn't found you?"
'The carrot and the stick, great tactic.' Arthur regained his calm and he breathed in and out. He knelt on one knee as he grabbed her hand and kissed it.
"I'm sorry, my lady." Arthur said with regret. "I didn't know the world was this dangerous. If not for you, I would have been a slave for a worse master. An arm is too little of a punishment, betraying you demands more. Whatever you do to me, I'll accept gratefully."
"That's a good start." Larza's eyes turned into crescents. "Your punishment is to serve me for the rest of your life."
"That," Arthur looked at her with a grateful smile. "Is more of a reward than a punishment." He kissed her hand again and felt her body tremble.
She pulled him up and kissed him on the lips. Arthur allowed her tongue into his mouth as a single thought repeated itself in his mind.
'I'll give you the most painful death one day.'
***
He had been unconscious for a day and was given a potion. After Larza left him to his work, Arthur had to tend to the garden with only one hand. As he did so, worry about Rae was on his mind.
'How long would I have to wait over there?'
If she rationed her food properly, she should last a week. Her high metabolism was a result of her ability. Since she couldn't use her ability nor mana with the curse on her body, she should eat less than usual.
Arthur tried to think of why would she be infected with this curse, but he knew too little about this world. After he was done with the garden, Arthur returned to his book in his cottage. Larza had asked him to go to her study right after.
The book in his subspace kept providing him with information about the history of the Freda kingdom. It hasn't been long since Solomon was crowned king, only ten years. The Freda kingdom's last king was uprooted by Solomon and his army of golems. There were even some depictions about the golems, slender and human-like.
Arthur closed the book when he saw that it was almost night. He grabbed the side of his body which was now empty and breathed in and out. He calmed down before going into Larza's study.
Unlike two nights before, there was no lesson anymore. There was only her using him in any way she liked. Lust and blood, that's what she demanded. Sometimes, Arthur had to humiliate himself further to prove his loyalty.
However, he didn't need to rush things. The man had told him to follow the light when the time comes. All Arthur had to do was to wait for that signal.
A week later, one Arthur spent learning about this world and recovering, Larza asked him to go out with Fen again. Surprisingly, Fen didn't treat him any differently as if his escape last time was expected.
'Maybe it was expected.' Arthur realized. 'Larza must have sent me out right after sleeping with her so that I would try escaping. She wanted to punish me, to control me.'
This time, it must be another test. However, Arthur didn't have much choice regarding this. As soon as Fen left him with the reptiles, he tied them to a fence and ran toward the abandoned building.
As soon as he was inside, he found Rae sitting in the corner. All the food has been consumed and she looked starved.
"What happened to your arm?" Rae asked, scared. Arthur shook his head and took out food that he had in his subspace. There were the meals he had prepared from Earth and some of the food he stole from the mansion's kitchen.
"It's nothing. Listen carefully, okay? I need to leave again. If I don't, I'll probably lose my other arm." Arthur grabbed her wrist to make sure she understands. "You can't trust anyone here." He was desperate. "Everyone is an enemy." He could see fear in her eyes, and his eyes probably had some too. "Wait for me."
These were his last words before Arthur stood up and left. He heard Rae call out to him, but he couldn't risk it again. Larza would do more than just cutting away his arm if she knew he escaped.
He could see Fen by the carriage looking around. There was an amulet in his hand, probably to communicate with Larza. Before he could activate it, Arthur ran toward him.
"Where were you?" Fen asked with suspicion.
"A leak." Arthur shrugged before grabbed the reins. "Are you done?"
Fen looked at him with doubt before nodding. Arthur tried to help in loading the cart but there was very little he could do with a single arm. Fen called him a Sakal, useless, a nickname he hadn't heard in a long time.
