CHAPTER 62: STORY OF DANIELLE KEINE

DANIELLE KEINE

ORIGIN

“How many times, Dany! How many times do I have to tell you!?”

That’s my father’s early morning shouts. Everybody would be terrified of him if they heard him furiously shouting with all the power of his lungs out. But for me, I’m no longer scared of him. It’s my morning routine to be scolded by my spicy-mannered father who is Duke Jordan Keine, one of the most influential men in Alterra.

“You’re grounded from now on! You can no longer step outside the house unless I permit you to do so!” My father shouted.

“Oui. Papa.” I said. Then, I yawned. I just came up from bed, and I’m grateful that my very own father has a talent at being an alarm clock.

Ever since I was young, my father and mother would often scold me for small reasons. My parents are perfectionists, you see, so even a small speck of dirt on my dress would be the reason for me to not go out for the whole day. I was raised this way, so I have polished all my techniques and manners as a future duchess that will hold the house of Keines.

It’s true that I may appear ladylike from the outside, but inside me is a personality that my parents wanted to erase: there is a sprinkle of being a sadist on my heart. I don’t know why, but I like to see people mildly suffer. One great example is my parents. It gives joy to my ears every time they are upset and scolding me. I love inflicting a little pain on their hearts, and knowing that they are disappointed in me gives a smile on my face.

My parents see me as a woman that is born defective. I am fully aware of that, and I will not deny it. In fact, I’m proud of it.

To satisfy this tingling twisted sensation, I had myself join street fights. I wander around the slums of Goldcliffe City, trying to find trouble from the delinquent dragonoids in the area. Since dragonoids are not treated as humans, nobody would care if they got hurt. 

I would often walk around in this kind of filthy place filled with outlaw lizards while I’m wearing a royal yet seductive dress. Being an eye-candy to most dragonoids, they will try to assault me. But they will end up getting hurt themselves. Little did they know that I mastered the secret arts of Keine Thaumaturgy, which uses bladed fans as primary weapons.

Soon, my reputation towards the dragonoid community has been famous, and nobody dared to fight me anymore. I was dubbed to be the “Killer Duchess” even though all the dragonoids I have killed on the street fight are pure coincidence. Whenever I fight, I try hard not to kill my target because I want them to agonize in pain. Killing them outrightly would reduce the number of dragonoids I would like to torture.

I discovered an event in the slums where they schedule a fight in the streets. It is called Dragonoid Street Battle, where people bet on their dragonoids to fight and win a martial-arts tournament. I want to join the tournament to punish some people, but I don’t have a dragonoid. Since I can’t fight, all I can do is to watch dragonoids suffer. But it didn’t give me satisfaction. I want to be the one to inflict the pain.

That is the time where I met Nathaniel, a macho Dragonoid who is apparently a part-time dancer in a bar located on the slums. After every fight, I would go there to buy a drink, so Nathaniel and I already familiarized ourselves with each other’s faces. I became a regular because the bar served luxurious drinks and not because I love macho dancer’s six-pack abs. Their place is surprisingly clean for dirty business.

One time, I saw Nathaniel on the same bar, but not as a dancer or a bouncer, but a customer. He is crying on the counter, fully drunk, and is in a state of panic. I went to his side and tried to talk to him.

“What happened, senor Nathaniel? Did you get hired as an entertainer for a retirement house again?”

“No.” Nathaniel sniffed. “You know the Dragonoid Street Battle? I will be participating in it. My owner wants me to fight on the preliminaries.”

“Oh, that’s good! Now you can display how strong your muscles are!”

“No! You don’t understand!” Nathaniel cried. “My muscles are for display only! I can’t stand hurting a fly! I can’t even punch a kid!”

“Why won’t you stop being a pussy kitty cat and fight?”

“No! I don’t want to be a fighter! All I wanted in my life is to be a model! A macho model with oily six-packs that would make each and every woman drool! That’s all I wished for!”

That’s a weird code for a macho man like him, but I certainly understand him. Nathaniel is a pacifist, which is a complete opposite of mine, who is a sadist. Even with our differences, I can feel that our hearts are connected for some weird reason.

I made a deep sigh. I do understand that he is dreaming of something that is hard to achieve, but for now, he has no capacity to refuse his owner. Nathaniel’s owner is a well-known duke for training dragonoid fighters for his own entertainment and finances, so if Nathaniel didn’t do what his owner wants, he might get killed.

Suddenly, a light bulb flashed inside my head.

“I have an idea. What if I buy you? If I became your owner, then you will never have to fight the needless battle again.”

“R-Really!? Thanks, Duchess Keine!” Nathaniel cried.

“But for one condition!” I waved my index finger at him. “You will still participate in the Dragonoid Street Battle!”

“What!?” Nathaniel exclaimed. “The reason why you’re buying me is to make me avoid a bloodbath in the first place!”

“Si senor. But I have a plan.” I smiled.

And so, I bought Nathaniel from his previous owner for a whopping amount. Nathaniel became my servant, my personal property, and my butler. Every time I go out of the house without my parent’s consent, I would bring Nathaniel wherever I go. Mostly, we go to the slums, bar, and the arena where the illegal Dragonoid Street Battle commences.

As stated in our agreement, I will have Nathaniel participate in the illegal battle. Not as a fighter, but as my owner. We switched roles so that I can inflict pain once more to any people I fought. I wore contact lenses that look identical to the crimson eyes of dragonoids, and Nathaniel equipped himself with lenses identical to humans. I registered myself as a dragonoid named Nathaniel, while Nathaniel registered my name, Danielle. Since there is little to no security on papers, nobody doubted us on our pretended names. Most dukes and dragonoids participate in these underground matches on aliases anyway, so it’s not a big deal.

I know that the first time I talked to Nathaniel, there’s a connection in our hearts. It may be pure coincidence or a planned-out destiny, but our fates are intertwined. We both discovered that we can activate the Vesryn Pulse. I used the power of the Vesryn Pulse to have a link on our bodies and soul, giving us the power to borrow each other’s magic.

So every time I participate in the Dragonoid Street Battle, I would use Nathaniel’s Buff Up magic to double or triple the size of my muscles. I would look like a macho lady-boy with unproportionate body size which can rip a cow with a single hand.

The battles I fought with the dragonoids are easy. It was a cheat using Vesryn Pulse as a source of power. Every time dragonoid attacks with their tackles, kicks, punches, and sometimes cheatingly uses a rocket launcher, my manly muscles would deflect it. Most of it would end up in one punch, one kick, or one headbutt. There was no competition at all.

The joy of fighting which gives agony to the opponent slowly became stale for me. Most of the fight, I would try my best to hold my strength just so as not to kill my opponent. The only thing that gives me joy is the disappointed dukes who lost their bet, so I kept on fighting for this weird and selfish feeling.

Soon after, I became a well-known champion in the underground fighting club. Our make-faces became popular and there are fliers around promoting our win. Since nobody dared to challenge us anymore, I tried to move into a higher state of fighting: which is the Dragon Knight Academy.

In the Dragon Knight Academy, fighting is our daily chore. There are classes that are assigned for fighting, and there are missions that are filled with battles. Of course, some of them are just elective, but I chose to do all those for the sake of my hobby, which is inflicting pain to people. I would always take a war mission on the frontline just to beat the hell out of bad guys, human or dragonoids alike.

The Dragon Knight Academy is a dream-come-true for everyone. My parents allowed my enrollment there for the reason that being a dragon knight is one of the highest honors royal blood like us can achieve in the Empire of Alterra. I could go free on hurting people while giving my house goodwill to the public. With such influence, Nath was also able to pursue his dream which is the macho modeling career that gave him a lot of attention to people, mainly for gays and middle-aged virgin women. I’m a little bit disgusted on his dream, but I let him be. As long as I get my objective, I’m fine on whatever he does in his life.

I still continued our illegal underground battles even after becoming a dragon knight. But it immediately backfired. 

One day, while Nathaniel is driving my limousine, the radio talked about the unlawful battles in the slums.

“Goldcliffe City has been the nest of illegal dragonoid battles which is called Dragonoid Street Battle. Several dukes and duchesses, together with their dragonoids have been apprehended by the police. But there are some people on the loose. The grand champion of the said illegal battle, which is a dragonoid named Nathaniel is now being tracked by the police.”

Nathaniel immediately stopped on the brakes when we are in front of the Dragon Knight Academy. His face is pale white and his jaws are hanging. His crimson eyes are about to unleash tears.

“Neille…” He muttered my nickname. “Are they… coming for me?”

“Good luck, Nath.” I flicked my hair and got out of the limousine. Then I sassily exited the scene with a confident smile on my face.

Nath was left on the royal car, completely terrified and speechless.

Of course, I know my dragonoid is safe. I am the one who called the police to seize the illegal activities on the slums, and I fabricated the evidence regarding our participation in the Dragonoid Street Battle. I did all those because I no longer seek the suffering of dragonoids. I now wanted abusive and evil human dukes to suffer, and seeing those arrogant wretches behind prison bars gives a smile to my face.

I am not doing all these for justice. I’m doing this for my own pleasure. If I wanted a person to suffer, I might as well inflict it on a bad guy so that I can be completely justified.