Thirty minutes had passed since Cherlaine and Matilda were stopped from their fight by Key. Both of them had just healed using healing potions and had changed their clothes since the ones they used earlier have been shredded brutally due to their overwhelming powers clashing against each other.

Currently, they are sitting on one sofa separately while their hands are clenched together. Not only that, they are feeling nervous and are sweating a lot while waiting for Key to come back. They are in a state that even the tiniest sound could startle them.

And they did when the door of Key’s room opened. Key entered the room followed by Ghena and Jane, and both girls are wearing expressions as if they just saw something really scary.

When they looked towards Key, they saw a face that is filled with annoyance and fury. Thankfully, the only thing they did when they saw that is a scream in their heads.

“Just when I just disappeared for a short while, you two found yourselves fighting against each other. Care to explain what happened?”

Not only Cherlaine and Matilda, Ghena and Jane became scared of Key who is tapping his left foot on the floor while crossing his arms. Ghena and Jane unconsciously went to the wall while slightly shaking.

Seeing that Key is really curious about what happened, Matilda answered first.

“Cherry started it. If she didn’t challenge me to a fight, then none of this would’ve happen.”

“What?!”

Because Matilda was pointing at Cherlaine, Cherlaine’s expression became angry slapped away Matilda’s hand.

“Who wouldn’t get angry if you bring up my family’s name? I can take anything head on against me, but if you include my family, I can’t let it slide, You ‘Self-Proclaimed’ fiancée!”

“Say that one more time.”

“Shut up, both of you!”

Since a cat-fight is starting to start again, Key slammed his leg on the wooden floor and scared the girls. His angry expression became worse.

“We just moved here last night and you two immediately make a problem the next day? Matt, your magic killed the surrounding crops in the area. I had to pay a lot of money to the poor farmers that were growing them despite the winter!”

“S-sorry.”

“Cherry! Although your magic boosted the growth of the surviving plants, you over-boosted them! Did you know? The crops around the area grew 5 times larger than normal.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It should’ve had! But then it started attacking the dwarves who are coming here. Sora and I had to burn them down so that it would stop attacking! Not only that, I also had to pay for the damages done to the people that got hurt.”

Hearing those, Cherlaine and Matilda’s shoulders dropped and became gloomy. On the other hand, Key just kept tapping his foot on the floor which is making them feel worse.

“Key—no, Sir Chardelier, I-I think they are aware of what they did. C-can you please go e-easy on then, p-please?”

Ghena voiced out her opinion to support Cherlaine and Matilda, but when Key gave her a glare which Key himself wasn’t aware of, Ghena’s broke cold sweats while enduring the pressure which could let her burst into tears any moment.

After listening to what Ghena had said, Key then turned his gaze back to his fiancées. He made an expression where he looked like he clicked his tongue while thinking of something. Then after a few moments, he called out Jane and Ghena. He whispered something to them which caused them to make scared expression mixed with pity while tears are starting to glisten at the ends of their eyes.

When Ghena and Jane left, Key sat on the chair on the opposite side of the room. He then signaled his fiancées and made them walk towards him quickly.

“This is the first time you two made a fight of this scale. Normally, I would just let it off since this is the first time this has happened. However in contrast to that, not only you disturbed the neighbors, you also destroyed some buildings, their farms, and even caused injuries to the locals, I will have to give the two of you punishments.”

Hearing that, Cherlaine and Matilda felt chills run down their spines. Moreover, they couldn’t see what expression Key is wearing since his long hair is hiding his eyes. This only gave Cherlaine and Matilda bad omens thus felt worse than before.

Then at that moment, Key muttered his first terrifying words to the girls.

“Strip.”

At first, both Cherlaine and Matilda became dumbfounded. But when they saw Key’s lips becoming displeased, both of their faces turned red.

“T-t-t-t-t-that’s impossible! I’m not a pervert who’ll s-s-s-s-strip during day time!”

“Even if you are our fiancé, I won’t heed to your command.”

“I’m not talking about being butt-naked. Just take off your clothes and wear only your underwear.”

After hearing that, although they want to retort, they had no power to turn down his command and thus answered it. It wasn’t only that, because they were defiant, Key released a displeased aura which he himself isn’t aware of.

And after stripping off their clothes, Cherlaine and Matilda covered their underwear with both arms while wearing embarrassed expression. Seeing that, Key didn’t make any expression and said his second cruel words.

“Close your eyes.”

Cherlaine and Matilda shuddered when they heard the next command. This is because of that fact that they’re already half-naked, not being able to see would worsen their feeling of embarrassment. But Key wasn’t aware of that since he had a different reason.

“W-what are you going to do to us?”

“Are you going to shame us because of what we did?”

“Perhaps…”

Cherlaine and Matilda were shaken. It’s clear that the two of them are getting scared of what is going to happen to them if they close their eyes. Even now knowing what it would be, after seeing Key’s scary frown, they immediately closed their eyes.

The moment the light disappeared from their vision, their sense of hearing and touch increased drastically. It wasn’t just because of their sense of sight has disappeared; it was also because of their nervousness that amplified their other senses.

Then out of a sudden, they could hear that Key had stood up from his seat just by listening to the sound of the sofa’s spring and the steps Key makes, they could tell where he is.

Scary and terrible thoughts are running through Cherlaine and Matilda’s mind. They even managed to imagine the worse that could happen to the while they have their eyes closed.

“The two of you have been very bad girls. As your fiancé, it is my duty to straighten you girls so that such thing as killing each other will not happen again.”

While listening to Key’s sadistic words (from their perspective only), they heard a sound of steel sliding down in front of them. Because of that, they can’t help but shriek.

“Now listen carefully. What I’m going to do to you two is something I will be doing every time if you ever make a huge problem. I’m not talking about money here. I’m talking about the two of you trying to kill each other. If I ever hear from someone that you did something like this again, I’m going to do this to you again with more prejudice, you understand?”

““Y-yes!””

Next, they could hear a sound of wood hitting wood. Now, their thoughts have become wilder than before that they could pass out any moment.

And without giving any mercy, he gave his last command.

“Kneel!”

When Key yelled, he also grabbed their shoulders and pushed them straight down to kneel.

“AAAAHHHH!!”

Both of them made loud painful screams. Because the sudden feeling of pain was too unbearable which is similar to electricity coursing through their body, they inadvertently opened their eyes to see what happened. And there, they saw the cause of their pain.

A very wide iron bucket was laid in front of each of them. Not only that; these buckets are filled with salt crystals. The salt crystals are sharp enough to sting their legs which are really painful for them.

“Is this why you made us strip?”

“Yes, were you thinking of something else?”

With teary eyes, Matilda asked Key who is standing in front of them. Cherlaine was also going to ask Key something too, but the pain on her legs was too much that she could cry if she spoke.

When they looked around, Ghena and Jane are also standing by the wall shivering in fear while looking at them. Both of them felt pity towards Cherlaine and Matilda, and fear towards Key.

But Key’s mercilessness was still to be unleashed.

Key then showed two pieces of wooden slab to the girls. On that, a [Magic Array] is symmetrically written. Even though Cherlaine and Matilda were knowledgeable about magic and spells, this [Magic Array] that is written by Key is something new to them.

“Since just kneeling above will make the two of you immune to the pain, I’ll add something to prevent such thing from happening.”

And without wasting any second, Key put one slab each on Cherlaine and Matilda’s legs. After that, he put his hand above the slab and uttered his magic words.

“>”

After that, the [Magic Array] glow in silver light.

Then—

“NOT AGAIN!!!”

“WE’RE SORRY!!!”

The wooden slab became heavy and started moving above their legs. Because of that, it stimulated the existing pain on their legs and amplified it.

“I will not explain how I made this but, if ever you did something like this again, I promise you, I’ll replace the salt with tiny beans.”

And after that, the girls including the maids learned an important and very valuable lesson. That is to ‘Never anger Key ever again’.