Dark Lord in Chains 20

In the morning, once again chained with the magic-suppressing chains —though not effective anymore— when I felt the alarm ward I had established at the entrance trigger. It was a bit early for Aria to visit, but still, I prepped myself. She must be anxious to talk. I looked at the door, excited to meet with Aria, curious about her reaction after the things had ended yesterday.

Which was why I was surprised when the door opened, only to reveal Isolde, already in full gear, looking at me angrily. 

“Good morning, sunshine,” I chirped, making her frown even deeper. “What brought you to my humble abode?” 

She stalked toward me in determining steps, her expression serious enough to give me a stirring of fear if I was still lacking magic. “I have a few questions, and for your sake, you better answer them quickly,” she said, and just to underline her statement, she kicked me on my ribs. 

I used my magic to drain the impact, but made a show of gasping. Still, after that, I chuckled. “You’re a bit slow, aren’t you, sunshine?” I said, meeting her fury with naked amusement. She kicked me again. “Feel free to kick me as much as you want, but how do you think your precious Lancelot would react if he knew you have put me out of commission once again. I don’t think you have any credit.” 

“Nonsense,” she answered immediately, her expression proud. “He trusts me immensely. Why would he trust me with an important mission if he didn’t trust me?” 

“He’s sending you to a mission?” I asked curiously. “He’s not actually coming with you?” 

“Of course not,” she answered proudly, pushing her chest out proudly like a raw recruit who just earned the praise of her drill sergeant. “He trusts me to handle it on my own.” 

I chuckled in good humor, like I just saw a child perform an amusing trick. “It’s cute that you think so,” I murmured lazily, like I didn’t even care if she heard me or not. Of course, that made her pay attention to it.

“What do you mean?” she asked, even as she kicked me on the ribs, her insecurity was clear. 

“Nothing,” I said dismissively, knowing that the value of my statement would have only gotten stronger with it. It was a basic manipulation tactic. Of course, since it was basic, it wouldn’t work on someone more used to intrigue. Even Emma would have noticed it —though Aria would likely fall to it as well, considering the trick that led to my victory on that area. 

She bristled insecurely. “Tell me,” she said, but this time, refrained from kicking me, which must be the equivalent of begging under the current circumstances. 

“Well,” I murmured. “I just found it interesting that he’s sending you away to a mission when both Aria and Emma are going to stay back to accompany him. Isn’t this a bit … I don’t know, convenient.” 

“Of course not, he trusts me, that’s why he’s sending me away to this important mission!” she stated loudly, a volume that was only necessary when the speaker was feeling vulnerable, and trying to conceal it with her loudness. She was daring me to disagree. 

Which was why I did the exact opposite. “If you say so,” I said, feigning disinterest. 

“It’s not true,” she repeated, looking for an argument. 

I had never paid any real attention to Isolde when I still ruled the Darklands. Yes, she was a spectacular pathfinder, able to find her way in even the most dangerous wilderness. Even worse, she had all the hallmarks of a deadly assassin, able to move silently in any environment, with an impeccable aim with her bow, enough to hit a target from miles away. Unfortunately, she was ultimately hampered by her own straightforward personality and her misplaced sense of honor, ensuring she would never rise above a foot soldier in the grand scheme of things. 

But after my surprise capture, things were a bit different, which was why I was willing to analyze her. And what I found was amusing. She was clearly feeling insecure with her role now that their days of adventure were over, and they were slowly transitioning into the palace life, where her skills were going to be completely useless, and her combative personality was a liability. It didn’t take a genius to realize her aggression came from the creeping insecurity, leaving her life in doubt. 

“It’s not true, right?” she murmured again, hoping for a response, but my uncaring yet confident smile damaged her much more than any argument could. “It’s not true!” she cried. “I can prove myself if I can finish the mission quickly,” she stated, remembering her reason to arrive. “And you’re going to tell me how to approach your hoard,” she said, cracking her knuckles. 

“And what are you going to give me in exchange,” I suddenly said. 

“What?” she gasped. 

“Well, you’re asking me to provide you information that would help you elevate your position, what are you going to give me in exchange,” I asked. 

“How about a painless day,” she said as she loomed above me, preparing for another kick, unaware that none of them worked thanks to my subtle magical shield. 

“Pass,” I said, bored. “After all those days, you can’t possibly think that you can get me to confess anything with a couple of kicks.” 

“What if I go more serious,” she said, suddenly pulling a knife, like that was supposed to be threatening. She lacked the experience to hurt me without being deadly, and they could never dare to kill me. Not with their desire for the Eternal Core. 

“You can never do that, not with my leverage,” I answered. 

She laughed derisively. “What leverage. You’re like a dog, chained against a wall, doing nothing but yapping as I kick you,” she said, kicking me just to underline her statement. 

Rather than crying, I laughed. “Well, that convinced me, I’ll talk…” I said, and she smiled, only to fade again with my next words. “To Emma.” 

“You can’t do that!” she exclaimed. 

“Why not?” I said. “I’m doing what you guys want and revealing my secrets, after all. Maybe the Queen even give me a more comfortable bed in exchange.” She looked at me in shock, finally realizing my leverage. It wasn’t a group interrogation anymore. “Wouldn’t it be fun,” I continued, ignoring her distress. “I’ll tell Emma everything about the hiding place and the way to it in exchange for some trivial rewards, and you can stay in the palace rather than going all the way to discover the route. Of course, I don’t know how your precious Lancelot would react to it. 

“But…” she murmured, only to fade helplessly, defeated. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She didn’t even try to act like it wouldn’t bother her. I wouldn’t have believed her, of course, but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t at least tried. 

“Well, luckily for you, I’m not an evil man,” I said. She looked at me hopefully while I did my best to suppress my mirth at my own statement, which might be the most bald-faced lie I had ever told. “Maybe we can come to an agreement.” 

“What do you want?” she asked. 

“What can you give?” I countered. 

“I can get you food,” she offered. “It must be hard to live on with the meager prison gruel,” she said, with no small derision in her tone. 

Admittedly, it was not a bad idea. Nobles were conditioned to enjoy the finer things in life, and even without their poor attempts of torture, I could easily imagine a noble willing to compromise for some semi-decent food. For someone that lived off the land whenever she scouted, there was no surprise why Isolde would feel disregard for such decadence. 

“That would be nice,” I said, and her face was alight with victory, no doubt assuming that I was no different than those other nobles thanks to my fake background. “I naturally have my own conditions, of course,” I added, which clamped her excitement quite a bit. “I want you to feed me by hand.” 

“You want me to … feed you,” she muttered, like she was unable to believe what she had just heard. “Ridiculous!” 

“If you say so,” I answered indulgently and leaned back, my eyes closed to signal the end of the discussion. She tried to argue against it for the next five minutes, offering many enticing foods and shouting threats in rotation, even slipping a few kicks into the mix. She didn’t have much before leaving for her mission, so her surrender arrived. 

“Okay,” she finally muttered in defeat, though still bristling. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” With that, I watched her disappear quickly, giving me a fleeting glimpse of her toned legs and perfect ass wrapped in her leather pants. 

Despite seemingly getting such a simple reward for revealing the secrets of the destination, I didn’t feel like I got a losing deal. After all, it was just the first step of my plan. Unlike Aria, Isolde wasn’t both submissive and weak, so pushing the situation to the extreme wouldn’t have worked. Unlike Emma, she wasn’t under the impression that she had committed a mistake so bad that nothing other than the location of the Eternal Core could resolve, which she desired to take with her horrible mental attitude. Unlike Sapphire, she wasn’t caught in the middle of a situation that would ruin her reputation while being dangled her hopes… 

Still, that didn’t mean that my trade was a simple trade to humiliate her. No, it was bait to pull her deeper into the waters. Getting a more detailed breakdown of the surroundings would make her job so much easier, but that meant that she wouldn’t be able to replicate the same feat for the next location —and there would be the next location thanks to my deal with the Queen. For the first time, it was just a nice-to-have. As she continued to display her amazing performance, my insider information would get more and more vital, especially when I added some fake self-destruction schemes in my information that required them to move fast. 

Of course, when Isolde burst in, carrying a fancy plate filled with fruits and pastries, she was happy, unaware of the slippery nature of the slope. 

“Here,” she said as she placed the table on my lap, looking despondent as she did so, maybe hoping that the smell of it would prove to be tempting enough to remove my last request. Unfortunately for her, I just opened my mouth, and waited. 

She grunted angrily as she grabbed the pastry hard enough to squish it. “Slowly,” I warned her. “Either properly feed me like a decent maid, or leave and abandon our little deal. There’s nothing I can do if you can’t take a dish of humility for your ultimate objective. Maybe you just leave your precious Lancelot for that redheaded witch to take. She is fiery enough to handle him.” 

That earned another kick in the ribs, but since it was lacking in power, I just chuckled, not even bothering to acknowledge it. “You’re a bastard,” she growled. 

“I know, honey, I know…” I answered before opening my mouth once more. This time, she fed me a small piece of fruit with her trembling fingers, barely able to keep herself back. I was tempted to tease her further, but she was already on the edge, so I let it go, and slowly explained the surrounding area and the traps around. Most of the information was already provided to the Queen, but from her lack of realization, I understood that the information was not shared. 

A nice precaution, considering our working relationship with the Queen was yet to be established properly. She clearly wanted to use the opportunity to validate the trip… 

As Isolde fed me the last bite, I had finished giving her all the information required, and she was preparing to leave. But maybe…