A Caged Bird Doesn't Cry - Chapter 6 Part I

Chapter 6 Part I

Laticia quietly followed behind the duke. Judging by his slightly bloodshot eyes, she guessed he might be preparing to retire for sleep. However, upon reaching the bedroom, the duke frowned and pointed to one of the adjoining doors.

"Wash yourself."

Only after being abruptly ushered into the bathroom did Laticia understand the oppressive atmosphere Theodore must have felt. The thick steam, layered like clouds, seemed to shrink her presence further. Until now, the space permitted to her had been no larger than a birdcage, making this place feel utterly foreign. She found it strangely wondrous that warm water was always prepared here.

Do I smell?

Laticia brought her sleeve to her nose and sniffed. Though she hadn't bathed since arriving here, by her standards, it hadn't been long. At the black market, washing had been a rare luxury. Some sl*vers would line up their merchandise outdoors during rainstorms, but the miserly Locardi had never shown such mercy. Only when the stench of rotting flesh became unbearable would he grudgingly toss a bucket or two of cold water their way.

Yet the duke's expression of disgust suggested not mere body odor, but as if she'd crawled out of a cesspool. Had she unknowingly rolled in fertilizer beneath the yew trees yesterday? But if so, why hadn't Theodore said anything?

Regardless of reason, Laticia crouched in a corner, diligently pouring water over herself and scrubbing vigorously. Though an opulent marble tub dominated the center, she knew better than to assume it was for her use.

After finishing her bath and meticulously checking for any remaining dirt, Laticia panicked upon finding her neatly folded clothes missing from the door hook. Hesitantly, she donned one of the hanging bathrobes and crept out.

The duke sat propped against the headboard reviewing documents. Laticia stood before him, hands clasped respectfully.

"Master, thank you truly."

Though she carefully selected her words to appear as courteous as possible, the duke didn't even glance up. Undeterred, Laticia persisted with her gratitude.

"For summoning Theodore Vüther... thank you, truly. I'll never forget your kindness. And I'll work harder. I'll sing my heart out for you, Master..."

Just as she was about to add that she wouldn't complain even if her voice gave out, Andrea Kalidnas spoke without lifting his eyes from the papers.

"Who decides your usefulness?"

"......"

The toneless voice sent chills through Laticia's skin. Of course, it was Duke Andrea Kalidnas who determined her worth. For a sl*ve to presume to define her own usefulness was sheer impertinence.

"Forgive me, I only thought..."

Her frozen lips struggled to form words.

"I assumed you called Theo—called Theodore Vüther because of my singing..."

Naturally, Laticia realized she shouldn't use familiar terms before the duke. Andrea finally looked up from his documents only after reaching the last line, his gaze falling upon Laticia standing at his feet.

Perhaps from the bath, her normally pallid skin now glowed with a peachy flush. Seeing her drowned in his oversized robe, an appropriate use for her came to mind.

With a glance, Andrea beckoned her to the bedside. Though he remained seated while she stood, their height difference still forced her to look up—a posture he found quite pleasing.

"Master, I..."

When she seemed about to prattle on about usefulness again, Andrea smirked. Theodore's summoning had been due to Locardi's letter. The message, expressing boundless joy at hearing the Kalidnas Duke's insomnia was improving, cleverly petitioned for Theodore's return. That was why Theodore waited in his mansion.

A promise was a promise.

Blissfully unaware of these circumstances, Laticia kept biting her lower lip. With each nibble, her lips darkened and plumped, while her fidgeting fingers took on a similar rosy hue—as if embarrassed by some indecent thought.

"Perhaps... perhaps..."

He already guessed what she wanted to say, yet wanted to hear it from her lips. Part of him clearly recognized this impulse. It was nothing unusual.

A fleeting interest.

Nothing more, nothing less. It had to be that way.

"You told me to bathe, which means..."

Laticia couldn't continue, bowing her head deeply. Her hair cascaded forward, carrying not the rancid grease from some lowborn painter's nose but a clean, sweet grape scent that teased his nostrils.

"You want to... do that with me?"

Still staring at the floor, Laticia mumbled. Visions of countless copulations she'd witnessed flashed through her mind, bleaching her fingertips white. Just as suffocating tension peaked, a mocking question came:

"You think yourself worthy of climbing into my bed?"

The unspoken "how dare you" hung palpably in the air. Strangely relieved by this contemptuous rejection, Laticia shook her head vigorously.

"No. Of course not."

Yet the atmosphere grew heavier despite her quick agreement. When she dared a glance upward and noticed the bulging veins on the duke's hand, she hastily averted her eyes again. What had offended him this time? She could only assume her own fault. The mystery amplified her anxiety. Then her pounding heart skipped a beat at his next words.

"What if that's the case?"

"......"

Though not a difficult question, Laticia's thoughts froze. The duke leaned forward, legs swinging off the bed as he gestured to his prominent bulge.

"Prove your usefulness."

Laticia turned statue-still. Only her trembling pupils showed life. Unfortunately, Andrea's patience proved brief.

"Did you think your precious singing solved everything?"

At his implied dismissal, she jolted to awareness. Being sent away meant Theodore would be expelled too. This realization made her immediately sink to her knees. As Laticia knelt upright, Andrea waited momentarily—even kindly loosening his waistband when she hesitated to reach for his trousers.

The duke's erect member stood imposingly thick and long. Seen up close, its size and weight felt even more overwhelming than before. When her fingers touched it, the way it pulsed like a living creature frightened her. Hesitantly gripping the base, Laticia asked with uncertainty:

"I-Is this how I'm supposed to...?"

"Anything."

Her lips, which had been trembling as if to ask something, parted with resignation. A shallow sigh escaped just before her mouth reached the tip, its warm breath tickling the glans. Then as moist, yielding flesh encircled the crown of that living pillar, a tingling sensation shimmered faintly along his spine.

Yet that was all. Laticia's small pink lips clung shyly like fruit stems, uncertain how to proceed. Though surely not intentional, the timid movements of her innocent mouth created an unprecedented frustration in Andrea.

"Suck it." 

The silver hair wrapped around his wrist like smooth silk. As he moved back and forth, the small head began to sway, sending ripples through the soft silver strands. The interior of the mouth enveloping him was tight and scorching. Before even half had entered, Laticia's eyes were already reddening as she whimpered in discomfort. Andrea clicked his tongue at the sight.

"Move."

At the cold command, Laticia nodded. The motion made her canines scrape lightly against the surface. When a low moan fell near her ear at the contact, Laticia panicked. Worried she might have caused injury, she frantically probed the area with her tongue. As she carefully licked and soothed the path her teeth had taken, the remaining flesh she'd been holding suddenly thrust deeper.

"Ghk... Kgh!"

Laticia thrashed at the sudden intrusion, but the hand gripping the hair at her nape didn't budge. Uncontrolled saliva trickled from the corners of her mouth. The merciless hand shook her head back and forth as she struggled to catch her breath, flailing helplessly. However the duke pushed into his groin, Laticia floundered like a drowning person, her face soon drenched in tears.

"Huu..."

A dissatisfied groan fell upon her crown. At the sound of barely restrained irritation, Laticia finally remembered what act she was performing. Relaxing her jaw and trying not to swallow, she found she could endure better by letting the duke guide her head's movements. As she adapted to the rhythm, his pace began to quicken.

"Mmm, nngh, hng!"

Thuck, thuck. Each time the pillar's tip struck deep against her throat, pubic hairs tickled her nose. The obscenity of it made Laticia squeeze her eyes shut—which only made the foreign object filling her mouth feel more vivid. The upward-curving tip, the bulging veins pulsing around its girth...

Master's...thing...

...was violating her mouth.

It thrust carelessly, as if entitled. The shocking reality of another's most private flesh completely occupying her oral cavity made Laticia tremble faintly.

So strange...too strange...

This sensation was utterly foreign. Each thrust scraped her palate raw. The way the rigid-yet-soft flesh rubbed roughly against her lips only made it burn hotter. Already impossibly large, yet still swelling further—becoming too much for her mouth to contain.

"Schlck...schlck..."

The wet friction sounds from her own lips sounded unfamiliar. When she instinctively swallowed, the swollen head pressed firmly against her soft palate released a trickle of slick fluid that mixed with her saliva. The indescribable, alien taste made Laticia's upper body shudder.

"Hahh...mmn...yhp..."

She endured each suffocating moment. A sl*ve could do nothing but obey. Yet her posture kept collapsing. Unaware her gaping robe had exposed her chest, Laticia desperately buried her face between the duke's spread thighs, terrified of displeasing him.

Andrea watched as her previously flat nipples gradually stiffened into taut peaks. Their swelling transformation, flushing an intoxicating shade of red, proved rather entertaining. He idly wondered what expression she'd make if he pinched and twisted them.

The sl*ve girl seemed oblivious to these changes in her own body, which only piqued his curiosity further. Yet he had no intention of verifying it personally - touching such lowly flesh held no appeal. Instead, he released the handful of hair he'd been gripping and seized the nape of her neck instead. When he shoved her down to the root, he could feel his shaft bending to conform to the shape of her throat.

"Hk! Yht! Hhkt!"

Laticia convulsed violently. The thick flesh plugging her windpipe prevented even whimpers from escaping. As her eyelashes fluttered rapidly, tiny teardrops formed at the corners. When she reflexively swallowed around the obstruction, her soft palate pressed firmly against the invading member. Each gulp - gluck, gluck - visibly constricted the swollen tip buried deep within, the sensations unmistakable even to her.

Eventually, something hot and viscous flooded deep into her mouth. The thick substance slowly trickled down her gaping throat. Only after she'd completely swallowed every last drop did the massive flesh finally withdraw from her mouth. The excruciatingly slow extraction seemed endless, leaving Laticia's jaw hanging slack throughout.

With a final pop as the broad head cleared her lips, strands of uncollected saliva dripped down. Everything from her mouth to her ears and down her neck burned with raw sensitivity.

Andrea calmly adjusted his attire before the dazed, blinking Laticia. Having restored himself with a few efficient movements, he issued his command.

"Sing."

"......"

"Can't you hear me?"

"Y-yes...yes..."

The heat behind her eyes intensified. She blinked rapidly to conceal the gathering tears. Fortunately, the Duke had closed his eyes. Rising from knees long gone numb, Laticia staggered from the pins-and-needles in her legs. Yet she desperately forced out the song through her ravaged throat.

"A gentle breeze tickles my forehead. Starlight settling on green grass - the fairies of night."

My singing voice trembled slightly. Each time I tensed my abdomen, the faint metallic scent of s€men rose up my esophagus. As if the seed the Duke had planted was taking root in the pit of my stomach.

When she finished the second song, Laticia found that the Duke had fallen asleep. Her work was done. She had fulfilled all the uses he demanded her to prove.  

Suddenly, I longed to see Theodore. Yet I hesitated. The ill-fitting robe hanging open was one thing, but my swollen lips - rubbed raw and puffy from the Duke's member thrusting in and out of my mouth - worried me more. If I met Theodore now, he might detect the secret traces left inside me.  

So instead of searching for Theodore, I curled up near the Duke's bed. Where my cage used to be. When confined, I'd constantly wished to escape those surrounding bars, yet now freed from the cage, I found myself with nowhere to lay my body. It was absurd to miss my cage.  

To wish I still had that cage.  

But this wasn't the only thing that was confusing. Laticia recalled the incident earlier, burying her face in the Duke's groin, endlessly taking him in.

Sucking, licking, swallowing.  

Through this simple repetition, the Duke treated her as nothing more than a living hole. I felt no sadness about this emotionless act. Rather, I was profoundly relieved. If this was to continue, I sincerely hoped he would never regard me as more than a warm hole.  

'Theodore said what matters is the heart.'  

Even beasts mate. Even insects copulate. That isn't love. Yes, it means nothing. Now I understand. When I'd vaguely imagined this might happen, I wasn't confident I could endure it - but now that it's past, it was nothing.  

Besides, this likely wouldn't happen again. Recently, the parade of women changing multiple times a day had stopped. I had no way of knowing what transpired in noble society. I only knew that without other partners, he had used me instead.  

When women returned, I would simply sing as before.  

Hope swelled in her chest again. Feeling lighter, Laticia nearly went to find Theodore immediately, but seeing how dark it was outside, she simply sat back down. She would see Theodore first thing at dawn.  

Yet at dawn, she couldn't meet Theodore. The moment she opened her eyes, the Duke made her kneel between his thighs again, just like last night. And he handled her even more leisurely this time, giving specific directions about angles and areas. At the end, as drops of semen fell onto her tongue, he rubbed the tip lightly against her and laughed brightly.  

"Good morning, Laticia."  

Only then did she realize that this would not be a one-time occurrence.  

***

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