For a long, agonizing moment, the dungeon was dead silent.
Revista stared at the stale piece of bread shoved against his lips. The sharp claws hovering near Stephanie's throat trembled. His animal instincts screamed at him to tear this arrogant human to shreds.
But another, much stronger instinct overrode it: Hunger.
Slowly, his jaw unclenched. He took a hesitant bite of the rock-hard bread.
As his lips grazed Stephanie's fingers, a sudden, microscopic spark of energy transferred between them.
[Ding! Physical contact with SSS-Class Asset established.]
[Passive Effect: 'Capitalist's Soothing Touch' applied.]
[Asset's Abyssal Curse temporarily suppressed by 1%. Pain level reduced.]
Revista gasped. The maddening, burning agony in his blood that had tortured him every single night for the past three years suddenly... receded. Just a tiny fraction, but enough to bring a sliver of clarity to his clouded, clouded mind.
He looked at the woman standing before him. She wasn't trembling. She wasn't looking at him with disgust or pity. She looked at him as if he were the most valuable thing in the entire world.
He swallowed the dry bread in one gulp. His glowing red eyes dimmed slightly, losing their manic madness.
"More," he rasped, his voice rough like sandpaper.
Stephanie smiled. It was the smile of a CEO who just closed the deal of the century.
"I don't have any more on me," she said calmly, slowly lowering her hand. "But if you follow me upstairs and take care of some... unauthorized pests, I will buy you a feast. Deal?"
Revista didn't answer with words. He simply grabbed the thick, magically reinforced iron chain binding his left wrist and yanked it.
CLANG! SNAP!
The heavy iron shattered like cheap glass under his bare hands. Stephanie's eyes twitched slightly.
What ridiculous strength. The value this bodyguard brings is going to be insane.
Revista stood up to his full height, towering over her. The sweltering heat radiating from him was still intense, working like a perfect, walking heater in the freezing dungeon.
"Lead the way," he growled.
CRASH!
"Kyaaa!"
A high-pitched scream echoed from the grand hall above. Stephanie's expression instantly turned frosty. That was Vespera's voice.
She quickly climbed the spiral staircase, Revista silently trailing behind her like a massive, deadly shadow.
When Stephanie stepped into the ruined grand hall, she found Vespera cornered against a broken pillar. Three large, ugly men wearing thick fur coats and carrying rusty swords were laughing at her.
"Look what we have here," the leader, a bald man with a missing front tooth, sneered. He kicked the pile of dry wood Vespera had carefully gathered. "The Black Gold Guild heard the banished princess finally arrived. Tarkus sent us to collect the former lord's debt."
Stephanie calmly walked out of the shadows. "And what exactly is the balance of this supposed debt?"
The three thugs turned around. Seeing Stephanie's delicate figure and ruined silk dress, their grins grew wider.
"Five hundred gold coins," the bald leader spat, looking her up and down with a vile gaze. "The former lord borrowed heavily from the Guild. But seeing as you're bankrupt, Tarkus is willing to accept you and your little maid as the first installment. You'll fetch a decent price at the underground slave market."
He stepped forward, reaching out a dirty hand to grab Stephanie's hair. "Come here, you little—"
He never finished his sentence.
The temperature in the grand hall suddenly spiked. A terrifying pressure filled the room, making the air so heavy it felt like breathing liquid lead.
From the dark archway behind Stephanie, a massive figure stepped out.
Revista's red eyes glowed in the dim hall. His jaw was clenched so hard a muscle ticked in his cheek. The very idea that these filthy peasants dared to touch his new master—his only source of relief and food—ignited a murderous, abyssal rage in his chest.
"Touch her," Revista whispered, his voice dripping with pure menace, "and I'll peel your skin off."
The bald leader froze. His face turned ashen. Before he could even blink, Revista's hand shot out and clamped around his thick wrist.
CRUNCH.
"AARRGGHH!" The leader shrieked like a slaughtered pig as his wrist was crushed into powdered bone. He fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
The other two thugs dropped their swords immediately. Their legs gave out, and a distinct, foul smell of urine began to pool beneath them on the marble floor. They were completely paralyzed by the Tier 1 Abyssal aura radiating from the silver-haired monster.
Vespera watched the scene with her jaw dropped to the floor.
Stephanie, however, didn't even flinch at the gruesome sound of breaking bones. She calmly walked up to Revista and lightly patted his tense, muscular arm.
"That's enough. Don't damage the merchandise," she murmured.
Instantly, at her touch, the terrifying aura vanished. Revista's tense shoulders relaxed, and he stepped back obediently, though his red eyes still glared daggers at the kneeling men.
Stephanie crouched down smoothly in front of the sobbing, terrified thugs. With quick, practiced movements, she untied the heavy leather coin pouches from their belts.
She tossed the pouches in her hand, listening to the sweet clinking sound of silver and copper coins.
[Ding! Loot acquired: 12 Silver Coins, 45 Copper Coins.]
[Converted to System Currency: 124.5 Wealth Points (WP)!]
Ah, initial capital, Stephanie thought with a satisfied smirk.
She looked down at the pale, trembling men. Her voice was perfectly polite, yet completely merciless.
"Go back and tell Tarkus that if the Black Gold Guild wants to do business here in Winterhaven, they follow my rules," Stephanie said, her eyes flashing with a absolute authority. "And right now... the price for breaking into my home and threatening my people is everything in your pockets. Get out of my sight."