Finally, Ava disengaged from Princess Asperia with a little smile, and moved over to me, taking the charm back off my collar.

Princess Asperia looked over to me. "Now, I'm going to give you another little gift, my precious puppy."

I blinked, tail wagging.

"I know you have a hard time controlling yourself when you have the power to help someone... so if you ever feel like you need to have your magic locked away for a little while, your ability to hear things, your ability to move, your ability to speak, or anything else... well, come to me, or if I'm busy, go to Zince or Ava, they should be able to fairly safely put you to sleep until I can help restrict your power into something we can manage, something to let you keep being my good girl." She scritched under my chin, hand holding it there as she gazed down imperiously at me, and my tail wagged a bit more. "Okay, puppy?"

"Yes, understood! Thank you, Princess!" Maybe it was just all the pain into all the endorphins, but I felt truly grateful... power did often feel like a burden rather than a freeing thing to me, after all.

"Ava, do you think you can walk her back to her room?"

Ava smiled at her and petted my head. "My Princess, if you think that little bit of torture was enough to make me unable to function, you vastly underestimate me." She took my by my hand and lead me out, and as I got further and further away from Princess Asperia, I couldn't help but tensing a little.

She glanced back at me and raised an eyebrow. "Still don't trust me, Sasha?"

"Well..." I paused. "I do know you know the assassination arts, now."

"Shadow Arts."

I smiled, doing my best not to giggle from amusement and nervousness-- Shadow Arts sounded so over the top, but they were apparently a very real thing in this world. "Okay, Shadow Arts."

"So you still aren't sure if I was one of the assassins, but you did your best to help me nevertheless?"

"Well. If you weren't one of the assassins, I needed to help you. And if you were one of the assassins... you were the one who hesitated, the one who didn't want to kill me."

"And isn't that disloyal to our Princess of you?"

"Frankly, I don't think you could ever kill Asp regardless of the situation."

She had me pinned against the wall in an instant, eyes narrowed.

"S-sorry, I don't think you could ever kill Princess Asperia. Our Princess."

She slowly let me go and took my hand again. "I know you've been through a lot today, but you really have to be careful about that. If word gets out about me calling the Princess that... well, in the harem, it would just shame her, but if it got out to the general public, it's not unthinkable she might have to execute me."

I stared up at her, blinking... surely not? Surely this was hyperbole to burn it into my brain? But I couldn't absolutely tell, and if she was willing to go that far... I nodded. "Yes. Sorry, Ava."

She stroked my head gently. "I know you didn't mean badly by it... just, please remember. Words are as dangerous a weapon as anything else." She was silent for a moment. "Well. Personally, I think you are very clever in your use of power, when you feel you have to use it. If a little reckless."

I blinked, staring up at her. "...Thank you."

"I can teach you the first step of the Shadow Arts if you want-- disappearing from view would let you escape situations without harm. It won't help you against well-trained assassins, but... it's something for your... more non-confrontational lifestyle."

"How long would that take to learn?"

"Weeks to years."

I thought about that for a moment. "I think I can learn magic quicker than that."

"That's fair. Offer's on the table, though."

We walked in silence for a little while, and I bit my lip. "...Ava, is it okay for me to ask you to dominate me again sometime? I mean, um, and teach me how to be a better sex slave?"

She looked back at me and smiled a little, squeezing my hand just a bit. "Sure. I do enjoy that." Her smile widened slightly. "And you could use the training, honestly."

I smiled up at her, feeling a bit relaxed, like I had a connection with her again. I wasn't absolutely sure that she wasn't the assassin, but I think she wouldn't kidnap me anywhere too bad if she was. She had a pretty gentle heart, for an assassin.

As we stepped into the room and Ava closed the door behind us, and saw Wren lying on the bed asleep, I remembered Velt.

"Um... Ava?"

She looked back at me again, releasing my hand.

"Velt's a ghost. I'm not going to tell everyone, but... I thought you should know."

Her face drained of what little color it had. "...oh," she said faintly.

"She said she's not mad at you, or anyone, but... yes, lingering emotions, I guess."

Ava walked down and sat heavily on the bed. "I guess. I failed as her Mistress... but I suppose I'm not that anymore. Haven't been for a while."

I sat down on the bed next to her. "You used to be?"

She nodded a little. "She was my slave. I wasn't very good to her. Our Princess tried to teach me how to treat her better... and then insisted she come with when I offered to become her slave. I didn't really know how to take good care of slaves until our Princess taught me."

I wrapped my arms and hugged her.

"I... should have told her that our Princess had done that, rather than taking credit. I thought it would make things less awkward since we had to live with the same status, but... maybe she would've been a little more loyal to our Princess if she had known."

"You couldn't have known she'd well, do that."

"I suppose you are correct. Merely... I continually failed her." Her eyes slowly moved over to Wren. "Do you think that you'll be able to take good care of her?"

"I don't know what she needs, but... after what I did to her, and then what Eve did to her, I kind of feel I owe it to her."

"...yeah. But prioritize yourself, okay? If she becomes a danger to you or Eve or the harem, it's better to come to our Princess for help as soon as possible-- once she's killed someone, it's too late, and our Princess will almost certainly get rid of her. So even for her own sake, hiding any potential danger she might cause isn't good."

I nodded slowly. "Our Princess does consider her one of her treasures now, so as long as she's loyal and doesn't do anything bad... isn't this entirely situation kind of fucked... rather, isn't this situation kind of messed up, though?"

"With Wren? Bad slave training, that. I don't even know exactly how to undo it."

"I mean with slaves in general, and Princess Asperia owning all of us."

Ava glared at me icily, and then looked away. Closed her eyes. Inhaled. Exhaled. She finally opened her eyes again, staring into space ahead of her. "Look. I'm not a fan of winter, but there's no point in complaining it comes around each year. Slavery is the nature of things, and it has been for centuries... that's not going to change any time soon."

I nodded. I guess she wasn't in on the plan yet, but it certainly wasn't my place to tell her.

"As for our Princess... you really can't call that messed up, okay? We're very lucky to be owned by someone who genuinely cares about us, the crown princess of our country, no less. She's certainly a better person...." She trailed off, and shook her head. "I forget myself, please ignore that." ...was she about to say "then Eve"? Well, she wasn't wrong, if so.

"Yeah, sorry. Our Princess is trying her best for us."

"Yes, she is. So please don't say stuff like that again. You literally just got punished for badmouthing our Princess. At least try to be a loyal slave, okay? I am trying to control my anger that you're able to say that when she was so forgiving and kind to you... I know you aren't trying to insult her, really. But she's our Princess, we're her slaves, and she's our kingdom's Princess, and if you criticize what she does... it makes you and her and all of her harem and the kingdom look bad in ways that I don't think you fully understand? Loyalty and hierarchy are the only things that can hold a group together."

I nodded, pressing a little closer against her. "I'm sorry. I'll try really hard to be better about that."

"If she was a brutal, merciless tyrant who tortured us without thought for our feelings... it would still be our duty to fully obey her and not speak ill of her."

I tried not to tense or raise my eyebrows or protest at that.

"And she is so kind and gentle for her position... I don't think you understand, being from another world. She is soft with us in ways that endanger her at times." Ava's voice was soft and gentle and melancholy.

"You love her."

"Naturally."

We sat in silence a little longer, and then Ava reached over and gently massaged Wren's neck. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around, disoriented, and then seeing me, dived towards me, wrapping her arms around me and nuzzling against my shoulder, her fox tail wagging behind her wildly. "Oh no, I was so worried, my dreams, you were... this is reality, right? You're not going to die, right?"

I stroked her head gently as she looked up at me with teary eyes, and wrapped an arm around her. "This is reality. And... not anytime soon, I hope. I survived the trial, and our Princess has forgiven me."

Ava stood up, and her eyes were shining with tears too, but her voice was businesslike. "I'll talk to you two later. Don't be strangers, okay? We're all a family here."

"...You can stay if you want, Ava."

She shook her head firmly. "Thank you, but I have some other tasks to complete." She left.

Wren watched her leave a bit confusedly, before looking back up to me. "Did she go through the trial too?"

"No I... guess she's not over Velt."

"...that did happen... today? I'm not good at time, and people keep on putting me to sleep."

I stroked her back softly. "Yeah."

"Would you cried if I died?"

I squeezed her close as the tears I had thought I had run out of filled my eyes once again. "I would cry so much."