I looked up at her worriedly, wondering how long it would be until it took effect.

She smiled down at me soothingly and stroked my head. "Feeling it yet?"

I bit my lip. "Um... no? What does it even do, Princess?" After a moment, my eyes widened. "If you had this, why didn't you use it on anyone else? Couldn't you have avoided all that torture?"

"All it does," Princess replied softly, "is make someone more themselves. It's not good for searching out traitors. But for you, who is innately submissive and honest, it's a good medicine."

"I'm also," I replied, frowning, "innately protective and empathetic. If this works, it's going to really hurt."

Princess nodded. "I know. But I do need to know this, even if I have to torture the truth out of you. This was the nicest way I could think of offhand." She scritched behind my ears and my eyes half-closed. "...still no effect?"

"I... don't think so?" I probably should be faking it's having effect.

"Okay, let's try a little test to see if it's working... hmm. Imagine there's a dog with three heads in front of you. She wants you to pet her heads. If you pet one of her heads, the other two whine. If you pet two of her heads, the third one whines. What do you do?"

I didn't hold back the soft empathetic whine that arose from my own throat as I imagined this poor cerberus. "Well... maybe if I rotate between heads..." I considered it for a long moment. "Oh! I call over a friend to help me pet her, or if I don't have one...."

Princess smiled. "An unorthodox answer. And if you don't have one?"

"Um... I try to coax her onto lying down on the floor and pet the center head with my foot while I pet the other two with my hands?"

"Hmm. I guess a core part of you is cooperative and creative, but..." Princess took my chin and stared down into my eyes for a long moment. "I don't think it's affecting you at all. Strange."

"...how does it work, exactly?"

"Well, very simply speaking-- it works it's way into your soul and causes just a little bit of irritation in a way that intensifies the connection between soul and body."

I frowned. "...if it got into Mistress Eve's soul, either she's feeling more of my body, or she's getting herself... intensified. Either way... is that safe?"

Princess's eyes widened. "...Oh. Oh dear. I assumed since your souls were switched, that wouldn't be possible, but..." She shook her head. "The moment I'm done with you, I'm going to need to send you for a checkup with Elmessa."

I raised my eyebrows. "Princess... you're going to wait on her safety after you screwed everything up?"

"I can send you now, if you like. But if you go now... well, Wren not getting tortured relies on you. After all, I did not specify exactly what making her mine would consist of, after all."

I whimpered and squirmed around... but Princess kept her hand on my chin, staring down into my eyes. "I can tell when you're lying to me, my precious little puppy. We've already established that. You're not a good enough liar to escape my eyes." Her voice was soft, adoring, and merciless.

"I..." I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them up and looked up at her. "Wren was a little scary at first. I was genuinely worried she'd kill me just to get back at Eve. I tried to take on more of the responsibility for attacking her, since I know you can't kill me, at least."

Princess raised an eyebrow. "Hmm... well, I supposed if she didn't attack you, then you have come to the conclusion that she won't in the future?"

"...yeah. I'm the person who took best care of her, so as much as she despises Eve, she doesn't actually want to hurt me, and she knows the only way to survive is serving you... she's accepted that she's your slave now-- although specifically yours, not Mistress Eve's, I think...." and I wouldn't say the part about Valentine.

Princess stared a long moment. "You're omitting something."

I clearly couldn't tell Princess about her talking about killing me. My ears slumped and my tail curled around my body for comfort. "...she... wanted Valentine to be all hers, besides yours, of course, and Valentine agreed to it." I looked up at her worriedly.

Princess sighed, and released my chin, scritching under it. "I'll have to have a talk to her about it."

Fuck, the scritching felt so good. I licked her hand. "I think she really needs something to hang onto right now... much like Mistress Eve did with me. You should try to give her a bit of leeway if you can... or that's what I think, Princess. She is a very sweet and good and loyal girl, despite the world betraying her repeatedly."

My Princess stared down into my eyes for a long moment, and she smiled a little. "...I'll do my best." She patted her lap, and she hugged me close, and whispered in my ear softly, "Is there anything else you're leaving out, puppy?"

"I... don't think so?" I didn't, honestly. "I might have played up or down certain aspects a little, but those were mainly the two things I was worried you'd figure out."

She nodded slowly as her eyes seemed to bore into my very soul. "Okay..." She smiled. "Such a good girl for me... you really just want to be mine, deep down, don't you." She stroked my back.

I nodded against her shoulder, tearing up a little. "I love you so much... I'm a little afraid of you, but... you know just how to control me and take care of me. If it wasn't for Mistress Eve and the political situation and all, I'd be a very happy girl to just think about obeying you and making you happy." My tail wagged at that thought.

She pulled her head back, taking my cheeks and studying my eyes for a moment, then kissed me on my forehead, then my nose, then my lips, each more erotic than the last, and finally kissed and sucked on my neck, and I moaned as she left her mark there. She moved her lips up to kiss my ear. "You're mine, my sweet little puppy." Her voice was soft and adoring. "One day, things will be a little more peaceful, if you keep serving me loyally."

"Yes, Princess." I nuzzled my cheek against hers hands... it felt so good to know she'd take care of me. "You won't kill Val or Wren over this, right?"

"Of course not." My Princess wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me close. "Neither getting angry at torture but deciding to be reasonable, nor secretly planning to be monogamous in my harem are crimes worthy of death."

I let out a long, shuddering sigh. "Thank you, Princess. I... do think you maybe should think about giving people amnesty, if they tell you something in private, like Velt. I'm sure there's more than one of your treasures who would gladly confess a sin and face punishment if they knew they wouldn't be killed. Velt wasn't really allowed out once she stopped, I'm guessing."

My Princess blinked at that. "That... may be wise. It's a delicate balance act, between having them fear and love me... but I really don't like that Velt died. I don't like it when any of my girls die."

"I know. You value us. It makes me happy and proud to be yours, knowing you're trying your best for my sisters. It's okay that you're not perfect all the time, I know you're really trying." I smiled up at her. I did love her. Mistress's Eve training to make me submissive might be part of it. "I know I'm not perfect either, but I try my best. If you ever want a way out of killing another girl of your harem... or a way out of killing anyone else... please let me know."

She laughed, pleased, and ruffled my hair. "If everyone was as sweet and good and precious as you, I'd summon all of the people of your world to be my slaves... but you're a bit of a standout, aren't you? I'll... think about it, if I run into problems again. I think you get too desperate to save others... even after I tortured you and pushed you up against the edge of death, you thought of Wren and Val's safety more than yours. Such a loyal little dog... maybe you were born to be a dog-girl slave, hmm?""

I whined softly. That seemed like something kind of racist to say, but it was making me wet and feel good, and it was hard to stand up against my Princess for something so minor right now... she was trying to end slavery, after all... "Thank you, my Princess...." I could happily stay by her side forever... no, I wanted to spend my life with her, just curling up next to her and spending my life as her little pet, but that would be too demanding on her time....

Princess patted my head lovingly. "Now go off to Zince, and have her guide you to Elmessa's lab."

My eyes widened. Mistress Eve was still in danger! "Yes, Princess!" I stood up quickly, curtseyed, and turned to leave the room in a bit of a hurry, and when I went out, Wren was sitting on Valentine again.

"Um... your turn, Wren." I smiled at her apologetically. "I had to tell her everything, about how you were angry at first, and how you and Val... ah, shouldn't be talking about this around Zince, sorry." Hopefully that'd be enough to warn her exactly how much about that scenario I had told Princess.

Wren's eyes widened, but then she nodded after a moment, took a deep breath, and headed into the room.

Val looked up at me worriedly, but I smiled at her reassuringly, before turning to Zince. "So... kind of urgent, our Princess told me to have you guide me to Elmessa."

Zince stared at me just a bit skeptically for a moment, glancing between me and Val, but then shrugged. "All right." She held out her hand, and I took it, and she started to lead me away towards Elmessa's lab, whatever that was, precisely.