Dark Lord in Chains 67 (Patreon)

I couldn’t help but smirk as I watched Queen Sapphire walk toward the entrance of my cell with large steps, her hurry unable to be hidden, even though her hurried steps forced me to come to a radical decision as soon as possible. 

The simplest option was to use the concealment assistance of my blade — the same blade she gave to me from the treasury — to bypass her and took my position in the cell, to continue the impression that I was a prisoner. 

However, simple didn’t necessarily mean useful. At this point, Aria and Emma already knew about my state of freedom. Isolde had no idea, but since she was imprisoned below the cells of the Phoenix, she was not a factor until I could decide what to do with her. 

Which meant that, ignoring Lancelot, she was the only one I needed to deal with. I could maintain the illusion of imprisonment, but how long. And more importantly, to what end. Maybe it was the time to reveal the truth to her, I decided even as I continued to follow her. 

Then, a smirk popped on my face as I made another important decision. Just because I wanted to reveal to her the truth didn’t mean that I had to do it in a boring way. So, I stayed hidden as she opened the cell door, only for her to freeze in shock. 

“No,” she gasped as she stood in the entrance, looking at the empty cell. “Where is he!” 

“Where’s who?” I asked as I stood behind her, using the same voice that I used as a merchant. 

“The dark—“ she started as she started turning, only to take a step back before she completed, quick to process her shock. There was a reason she was able to keep the Empire under her control despite her limited power base. 

I could have played the difference between the mysterious merchant and the dark lord for a while more, but at this point, it would be a waste of time, so I was displaying the three artifacts I had received from her on my body, the Shield strapped to my back, the Sword on my waist, and the Tether wrapped around my forearm. 

A lesser woman might have continued to question whether the merchant was a different person or not after the reveal, but for all her faults, Sapphire was certainly not slow. “Why?” she asked instead as she took another step back, but to her credit, she managed to keep that step small, impossible to notice if I hadn’t been watching carefully. 

“Why, what?” I asked, not bothering to hide my amusement, acting like I didn’t understand her question. 

I expected her to react explosively. However, she just looked calmer, showing the aura of a ruler. I let her succeed, confident that my next answer would destroy that aura after I forced her to clarify. “Why continue to stay at the capital after you got yourself free?”

“You’re assuming that it wasn’t a part of my plans to capture and to be hidden here in the first place,” I answered as I brought one of the most charming smiles on my face while I took a step forward. 

The honest gasp of shock that escaped her mouth was simply beautiful, frozen enough that when I took a step forward to close the distance, she didn’t take a step forward. “No, it can’t be…” she murmured dazedly. 

Her reaction was completely right, of course. The whole idea was absurd. When the attack happened, I had no intention of actually leaving my seat, but they had managed to catch me in complete surprise, overwhelming my defenses at a speed I didn’t expect them to be able. If they wanted to kill me, they could have, but luckily, they were after the artifact I had treated as fancy garbage. 

I had no intention of admitting that at this point, of course. Reputation was always useful when dealing with unreliable allies, and Sapphire, despite all the progress we made in our unique method of cooperation, was still an unreliable ally at best. Ironically, my own reputation as an unusual dark lord was helping me immensely, making even the most absurd possible conclusions plausible. 

“Really, and why do you think so?” I chuckled in amusement as I raised my hand, slowly reaching to her cheek, only for my smirk to widen when I touched her skin. Rather than trying to pull back, she had actually leaned to my touch. 

Apparently, our repeated encounters left an impression my true identity couldn’t erase. 

“You’re the dark lord,” she started, her voice still shocked, but she stopped after noticing my amused expression. She took a deep breath, which made her bosom rise beautifully even with the boring dress she was currently wearing, and continued in a calmer tone. “Why would you leave your post in the first place.” 

“You know, the usual stuff,” I answered. “The politics, intensive workload, the mysterious enemies poking their nose where they don’t belong…” 

“That can’t be, you have just noticed them here,” she said, her gaze accusatory. “Or was that a lie as well?”

“I wish that was a lie,” I said, my sigh completely honest this time. “Unfortunately, it’s not. There’s a completely unrelated party from the first group that’s operating in the dark lands, intervening with politics in a way that was very unhealthy for any ruling dark lord. I thought to come here to avoid it, only to find myself facing another mysterious group.” 

“Do you have any evidence?” she said, her tone turning rebellious, though she didn’t pull away from my touch still. “Your word is not worth a copper piece.” 

That earned another chuckle, even as I let my fingers drag down, and clasp around her throat. I didn’t squeeze, just kept it there. “Oh, honey? Do you think there’s anything else other than a grave danger that would keep me here, hiding like a rat as I run around, trying to discover who this second party is, rather than staying in my castle and having as much fun as I can manage?” 

“Maybe,” she answered, her only reaction to my fingers was her quickening breath. A few days ago, I might have assumed that it was a controlled fear reaction, but I had enough experience with her beautiful body to recognize the signs of arousal.

Our dear Queen was reacting to her state of helplessness much better than I expected.  

“I’m wounded,” I said, not bothering to hide my smirk even as I leaned forward, like I was about to kiss her, When our lips were just an inch away, her lips parted open, her hot breath caressing my lips like tongues of flame. Yet, when she leaned forward, I pulled back. Not much, just enough to maintain the distance. 

Her growl of frustration was heavenly. 

“Is something wrong?” I whispered even as I tightened my grip around her throat just a bit, watching as her arousal climbed even higher. She growled. “Oh, you’re scaring me, Your Majesty,” I said, the tone of mocking even more intense. 

Interestingly, the more I highlighted her helplessness, and the more she was getting used to the idea of my true identity, and the fact that I had managed to defeat her thoroughly, the more aroused she got.  

How ironic, I thought, barely able to keep my smirk widening even more. The most powerful woman in the Empire, and she had a power fetish to accompany her other inconvenient fetishes. Almost impossible to fulfill. 

She was really lucky that I was willing to sacrifice some time from my gloriously busy schedule to help her specialized needs. 

“Nothing is wrong,” she said, somehow managing to maintain her calm tone despite her desperate breathing. 

“Really, your breathing seems to get harder, maybe it’s the dress,” I said as I reached toward the several very complicated knots that were keeping her top together. They were a mess, requiring several minutes to unravel. 

Luckily, they were weak enough to be dealt with one aggressive pull, creating an amazing cleavage in an instant as her breasts rebelled against their prison successfully after receiving outside assistance. “Isn’t this better?” 

“Thank you, you’re a true knight,” she said, not bothering to hide her sarcasm. But considering not only she made no attempt to fix it, but also subtly pushed her chest forward to enhance the cleavage even further, I was willing to write her reaction off as a bonus. 

I decided to tease her a bit more. “Such a radical aggression,” I said as I made a show looking around in my cell. “I don’t feel safe, being locked in with the same Queen who is responsible for my repeated tortures,” I said, not bothering to hide my smirk as I did so, and put my free hand between her breasts. 

She managed to suppress her moan after a fraction of a second, though that didn’t prevent her blush from radiating as I pushed her toward the wall. When her back pressed against the wall, her breathing was already out of control, showing just how much she was longing for my touch, my true identity making it even sexier in her opinion. 

Though, that didn’t prevent her shocked gasp when I triggered the chains on the wall, and they locked against her wrists. I had already managed to crack their protections, limiting their usefulness, but that trick wasn’t a simple one. It required careful analysis of the structure for several hours to discover. 

And Sapphire, just locked in the chains that stripped off her magical power, had neither the time nor the attention required to complete that analysis. Yet, as the chains clasped around her arms, she neither panicked nor got angry. 

Instead, her breathing just got faster, enhancing her already enhanced cleavage even more.