NOVEL WEB Chapter 29: The Siege
Carl's eyes bulged with rage as he roared loudly, his wrists bleeding from struggling, but human strength had its limits—he couldn't break free from the ropes and could only watch helplessly as that vile man reached into Nick's clothing.
"Don't touch her!! You shameless creature, you filthy scum who doesn't deserve even to look at her—how dare you touch her with your dirty hands!!!"
"Haha, then let you see with your own eyes whether I'm worthy!" Seeing Carl's fury, the executioner became even more excited and beside himself, tearing open Nick's shirt and roughly mauling her underdeveloped breasts with his coarse hands.
"Listen, listen—doesn't she sound quite pleased?" The man deliberately twisted Nick to an angle where both companions could see, extending his tongue to lick her nipples with obscene sounds. Nick trembled all over, her cheeks flushed, appearing as if overcome with passion.
Carl was nearly driven mad, his eyes bloodshot, struggling desperately despite his serious injuries, wishing he could devour the man's flesh and blood. Victor, however, gradually understood Nick's strategy and whispered, "Stop struggling, or you won't be able to walk later!" But the knight could no longer hear anything else, his chest burning with flames of mutual destruction and washing away shame with blood.
The executioner was having a grand time, fondling Nick's lower body through her trousers while undoing her belt.
"Such a soft body—how old are you?"
"Fifteen this year," Nick gasped softly. "Please, be merciful and loosen the rope. I know other tricks."
The executioner bared his yellow teeth in a cold smile, his hands never stopping: "Hanging will do just fine. I wouldn't dare let a serious criminal like you touch my precious thing." He knew it was a trap but couldn't control his lower half, tearing off Nick's trousers and thrusting his thick fingers into her body to stir about.
Nick clamped her legs together, moaning in pain several times, pleading: "Then lower me a bit—I can't reach the ground, my arms are about to dislocate."
The executioner hesitated momentarily, thinking that as a weak young girl, she had no strength, and with her hands bound, nothing could go wrong. So he operated the mechanism, lowering Nick to his eye level, face to face.
He touched Nick's soft lips, threatening viciously: "Listen well, little whore—dare to bite me, and I'll make you beg for death!" Then he leaned in, shoving his foul tongue into Nick's mouth to stir around.
Carl's heart seized with rage, his throat sweetening as he spat fresh blood on the spot. Victor was so nauseated he nearly vomited his overnight meal.
Perhaps feeling Nick's service was adequate, the executioner enjoyed the kiss considerably, so when she leaned to his ear to lick his neck, the man didn't refuse, busy only with removing his own trousers.
With a muffled "crack," the executioner's eyes bulged as his throat made rasping sounds, blood spurting more than two feet high. Nick was splattered with bright red, spitting out filth, watching expressionlessly as the man clutched his throat and rolled to the floor.
Victor was drenched in cold sweat. In that moment of the man's passion, Nick had suddenly lunged like an enraged beast and bitten out his Adam's apple, severing vocal cords and windpipe in one bite. The executioner had no chance even to cry for help, falling to roll and convulse on the ground as blood plasma gushed, soaking the floor purple-red.
Nick pulled herself up with her arms, bit out the small iron piece hidden in her sleeve, and began grinding it against the rope. This was her trophy stolen from the execution chamber earlier, finally put to use. Soon Nick's hands were free and she dropped to the ground, deftly drawing the knife from the man's body and finishing him off with a stab to the heart.
"Phew, that was close." Nick spat on the corpse, wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve, lowered Carl and Victor, and cut through the ropes on their wrists one by one. "Perfect timing—if those men had stayed, it would have taken more effort."
Under Carl's incredulous gaze, she matter-of-factly retied her belt. Her shirt was missing several buttons and could only be roughly wrapped to cover the red marks left by the man's brutal fingers. Even gagged and bound hand and foot, as long as a man approached with evil intent, she still had ways to kill.
Victor silently removed his outer shirt and handed it to Nick. In such dire circumstances, having to rely on a girl selling her body to save two men, his remaining conscience was profoundly shaken.
Carl had overexerted himself and collapsed to his knees, unable to rise. The ship's doctor went to help him while Nick took the weapon and walked to the door, cautiously peering outside.
"You shouldn't look at her with such eyes—it's too heartbreaking," Victor whispered reproachfully. "She sacrificed herself to save you, to save us both."
Carl's face was streaked with tears, his whole body trembling, his mind filled with scenes of Nick being suspended and violated. He buried his head in his hands in agony, regretting that he, who should have protected her, had instead burdened her to the point of degrading herself.
"Rather than being saved like this, I'd prefer to die outright..."
Victor sighed deeply: "You'll never understand her, so she'll never be able to understand you either."
The assassin brotherhood's original plan was to eliminate the executioner and sneak out during the guard shift change. But the midnight jailbreak incident had roused the entire cavalry from their beds, and because brothers had died, they were angrily trampling every inch of ground around the prison with their horses' hooves, trying to find the hidden would-be rescuers.
Through the door crack, Nick saw chaos outside with torches swaying everywhere, and someone even suggested dragging the three prisoners from their cell to be trampled to death by horses. She grabbed an iron bar from the wall and placed it behind the door, then found several backup weapons in the corner before walking back to her companions with lowered head:
"Worst case scenario—we're trapped here."
"Can we hold out a bit longer, until the captain reorganizes people to rescue us?" Victor asked with lingering hope.
"That depends on whether he'll come again," Nick answered heavily. In past years, she had relied on herself to handle everything, never counting on others' help.
This agonizing night stretched on unbelievably long. Before long, the guards noticed the execution chamber, which should have been filled with screams, was suspiciously quiet. After knocking several times with no response, they immediately called the cavalry and prepared to break down the door.
Nick gripped her weapon tightly, standing hunched and ready at the front, her gaze fixed grimly on the thundering door. Victor held a red-hot branding iron, his nerves strained to the breaking point. Carl knelt on the ground kissing a silver crucifix, then struggled to stand with his sword, prepared to defend his faith with his last breath.