Black horsewhip

Lola didn't know whether to feel lucky for being an Omega. Since the vigorous equal rights movement decades ago, Omegas were no longer seen as weak. In some cases, they were even given preferential treatment for political correctness.

For example, today. Despite being accused of leaking confidential information and facing severe scrutiny, she was not punished like others.

But the shackle and chain bound her had become unbearable; its weight oppressed her greatly. Lola couldn't stand up anymore and could only kneel on the cold ground. The chilly water soaked her legs while her white dress barely covered her scraped knees. Due to her position, half of her calf was exposed, with red finger marks visible on its fair skin.

The perpetrator stood outside the dark iron railing wearing a black military uniform with his rank on his shoulder badge. His mature body was tightly wrapped by a matching belt adorned with a beautiful yet cold golden buckle.

He wasn't wearing any badges today; his purple eyes fixed firmly on Lola behind bars.

Struggling to lift her head in consciousness, Lola finally saw this man who temporarily marked her identity through the bars - silver hair like moonlight, deep purple eyes set in an attractive but aloof face framed by neat black hair and gloves covering hands that restrained elegant muscles under tight belts - all these features indicated his identity: Caesar Vincent Salleri - eldest son of Salleri family renowned for poison and torture; now a famous general highly favored by Prime Minister.

Lola had heard about him countless times before, but he looked younger than she had imagined. And now this man stood before her across from the bars staring at her face intently.

She wore nothing but a white dress designed solely for modesty, which revealed bruises and scratches, along with swollen bite marks around her neck due to the thick chain collar preventing resistance or escape .its left deep bruises around her neck and the clavicle area.

Caesar finally spoke: "What's your name?"

The prison warden, caught up, panting heavily, replied: "General Caesar...her name is Lola."

Caesar turned towards him, saying: "Sir, I need the suspect's answer personally."

Apologizing repeatedly due to just taking office recently, still having awe towards General Caesar's status, the warden hesitated to wonder if he should say or do something else when Caesar ordered: "Bring me whip, I'll interrogate myself."

Feeling uneasy, the warden asked: "Is it-"

"Arthur is waiting outside; you tell him I need a whip." Interrupted Caesar without looking back at him, taking documents handed over from the warden instead. The latter left obediently feeling conflicted about whether questioning the General's decision right now would be appropriate since the Salleri family was notorious for using poison & torture methods against enemies, including prisoners.

 

The inside cell remained only Lola lying prostrate on the floor while Caesar was standing away from the bars inhaling the jasmine scent emanating from the prisoner like a gentle poisonous mist, and he disliked fragile beauty. 

Not to mention that she was an Asti's people.

She looked frail, having bony shoulders protruding pitifully beneath white clothes, and might die anytime. Caesar couldn't imagine himself marking such a person forcibly yesterday.

 

"Aren't you going to answer my question?" He asked, seeing a pale woman kneeling before him whose fingers lacked strength enough even move slightly.

"I'm interrogating you," he added, displeased.

 

Prostrated, Lola said weakly: "Can I have some water? I'm thirsty."

Her voice sounded pleasant, unlike what he expected considering her delicate appearance, similar to morning dewdrops falling gently onto leaves. Caesar approached closer without touching the bar separating them. Jasmine's scent grew more robust, with a damp smell coming off the wet ground. It smelled like a sharp ice blade cutting through the air.

His low pitch tone: "You think I care about the life of one Astis?"

 

Lola whispered feebly: "I've been falsely accused.

She doesn't look like a spy at all. What kind of spy would be foolish enough to run around during their heat period?

Caesar lowered his head and opened the file in his hand. Everything about Lora was so simple and thin, just as Caesar had guessed - her parents were indeed the organizers of the assassination of the former prime minister. When her parents were executed, Lora was only three years old.

Out of humanitarianism, Lora and several other children were taken to the Prime Minister's residence to demonstrate the government's generosity and selflessness. After all, most of these children were only three or four years old and did not have basic cognitive abilities.

These children were strictly monitored under nominal government care, house arrest, and education to prevent any potential danger. This plan was proposed by Caesar's father - Duke Salleri - and has been implemented successfully for at least fifteen years without any accidents occurring among these children.

Recently, One of them has been secretly leaking information to outsiders.

Caesar had already opened up that thin piece of paper. The girl before him who crawled on the ground begging for water had such an unremarkable life experience in her first eighteen years that even her counselor gave only a few words on her personality test.

"Naive ignorance, kind-hearted weakness. Good-looking but intellectually undeveloped."

In short, she is beautiful but Stupid.

Caesar's gaze shifted from the paper onto this woman chained up before him; all his detested traits perfectly combined into her. He didn't trust everything said by counselors easily; compared with what they summarized above, he preferred exploring it himself.

The warden finally brought back what Caesar wanted; he seemed worried about delaying things too much as he almost ran over here with cold sweat dripping down his forehead while panting heavily.

"General!" The warden raised what he held in his hand high up towards Caesar while wiping sweat from his forehead with another hand, "Here is your whip."

Wearing black gloves, Caesar opened up its lid, revealing two different types of leather whips lying quietly on black velvet inside a long black box made out of particular high hardness silver-white metal handles engraved with his name on them, both differently designed: one using silver wire along with cowhide which splits open when whipped leaving behind deep red marks every time it hits someone whereas another type is horsewhip entirely made out white steel body whose end part curves into arc-shaped cowhide elegantly roundish smoothness.

Although Caesar rarely used second-type horsewhip, today was an exception where he chose it and looked sideways at the warden: "Open up the door."

The warden hurriedly opened up the cell door, respectfully inviting Caesar inside.

Walking towards Lora, standing tall, overlooking the female beneath him, holding a horsewhip tightly and wearing black gloves pressing its cowhide tip against her cheek, creating deep indentations

A strand or two of silver hair scattered across the temple area as Ceasar scrutinized the brown eyes belonging to Lora, saying, "I don't want to torture you, poor thing.

Lola remained silent, feeling the pressure from her captor on her cheeks. The natural physical difference between them and the events of last night made her realize that with just one whip, he could break every bone in her body.

"I will ask you a few questions," Caesar elegantly tapped Lola's cheek with the end of his whip, leaving only a faint red mark without using any force. "You know what to do."

"Please give me some water; I need it," Lola said.

Caesar sneered, "A criminal asking for something from their executioner?"

Lola seemed not to notice the whip in his hand and was unaware of how dire her situation was. Once she was convicted of espionage charges, she would be executed tomorrow at noon.

This woman accused of spying looked helplessly at Caesar with brown eyes: "But I need water. If you don't give me any, I won't be able to concentrate and answer your questions correctly. It doesn't matter if my answers are wrong; you may face external pressure and moral condemnation."

"Shut up," Caesar interrupted.

This guy is more talkative than he imagined; even though she is so weak now that she can hardly resist him physically, she still talks incessantly like a white sparrow chirping non-stop.

The powerless Lola slowly spoke again: "Think about it - if I am innocent but die anyway - my soul will haunt you forever. When you eat food off your spoon or go to the bathroom at night or take off your pants-"

Caesar sternly pressed his horsewhip against her face: "shut up; I'll give you water immediately."

"One more word out of your mouth, and I'll cut out your tongue.