“Focus General!” Joshua yelled. “I’ve said it twice, if you don’t understand, we cannot go!”

Breathing in and nodding, the General tried to understand the strategy again. He was sitting down on of the head chair, in the hall looking ‘room’, and he had fidgeted too much. His men seemed to have changed from that of battle gear and into attire that looked that of the Crowned Prince’s men. Masks were being distributed throughout the now 150 people there, filling up the entire place. It really was all they could get with the short amount of time that they had…

The only thing left, was to confirm everybody knew of what they had to do.

“Three teams, one with the little fella…And the new recruit. Right?” Joshua had slowed down and tried to stay simple for his General.

It had been ten minutes ago, that a golden eyed person had come, stating only that he was going to help get the hostage back. Many people were stunned and didn’t know what to say to his golden eyes. Having been told about him from his friend, the General hadn’t been surprised at his sudden appearance. And, luckily, the General had already seen red eyes before and had patted the new recruit on the back, stating that he must help in saving the hostage…

Joshua couldn’t believe that such a stranger could be let into their strategy so easily!

They were storming the palace and such a stranger could make things difficult for them!

Who was this man!? Why was the General happily letting him into this without questioning him at all!?

It really was such a mess that Joshua had never had such a big…Night! It wasn’t even a day! Just a couple of hours had gone by since the so called ‘kidnapping’ of someone that ‘needed’ to be saved…

Coming up with a plan hadn’t been easy! He knew that they couldn’t just walk in, he knew that they couldn’t let anyone know who they were and why they went!

As it was, with the plan that he has, he was still somewhat doubtful! But…What could he do!? He was loyal to his General! Everyone was loyal and so, this was it! The stranger with golden eyes was now a part of the plan and…Well, ok, let’s do this!

The General repeated what he knew, “Right, three teams. The little fella, ‘group c’, is the one that will find the little woman.”

“Yes, each group will have a person that can do the ‘Force’ Meditation and can use the fire element. Right?”

Nodding heavily, the General waited.

“We will have ‘group a’ take away anyone wanting to attack ‘group c’, the little fella’s group…Then ‘group a’ will be blocked off from ‘group c’ and will do a circle, leaving half a fire symbol on the way out of the residence… ‘Group b’ will do exactly the same when more come for ‘group c’, leaving fire to finish the other half of the symbol.”

The General looked at what the symbol most likely will look like and nodded, “Right, right. The symbol I understand, but when can we beat them up?”

“General! We can’t hurt them! We run in, two groups go around to make a symbol and leave, the other group rushes in, takes the hostage and leaves. That’s it!”

“We can’t kill them?”

Joshua glared at the General, “I already told you, leaving this symbol will become nothing if there are too many deaths, especially outside of the residence! If it can be prevented, don’t do it! Do you hear me men!? Do you know of the procedure!? Do you understand!?”

The men mostly nodded, some stating a heavy ‘Yes!’.

It was quite normal for Joshua to speak to the crowd like this, no one doubted him at all.

The General suddenly pulls Joshua closer to him and quietly asks, “Am I still a General…If I don’t kill anyone?”

Joshua smirked to his words, “Of course!”

“Why do I feel like I’m losing face then!” The General said, making his angry face even closer to Joshua.

Joshua shrunk a little, “Ge…General, some fights need to be done in secret…”

“Secret?” The General asked, showing a less angry face.

Joshua took this moment to nod his head, “Yes, General, we can’t even tell this to the emperor! This is…An extra fight. One…That will require the man…To run…”

General, please just get over your fighting spirit for a bit!

“…Run…?” The General asked.

Joshua replied quickly, “Like a…Training…General, just take it as training…Training that insists that you do not kill anyone, just…Ram them hard with your body or something.”

Always training! When can I beat someone up! I’m still angry!

Nodding slowly and letting Joshua go, the General looked up at his strategist, “Can we go now!?”

Joshua sighed, “If everyone has changed and put on their masks, we can go!”

“Men! Ready yourselves for battle!” The General yelled, standing up and lifting his arm in the air that held his own mask.

“General, no killing!” Joshua growled.

“Right, Men! Ready yourselves…To…” Silence filled the room as the General tried to come up with something…As he was thinking, his arm fell back down, and he frowned.

“Let’s go make them run so much that they fall down! To our legs!” Again, the General yelled this and lifted his arm up again!

Laughter and some cheers filled the air, as they all vacated the hall like area and started to head over to the Crowned Prince’s residence.

***

Feeling pain race through her back, Sahara clenched her hanging fists, holding in any kind of noise that she could let out. The man, still only with an inner robe, was the one whipping her, and she felt whips go over other whipped areas, making them worse. Unable to handle so much pain and stay emotionless, as the time went on, Sahara couldn’t help but show some signs of being unable to continue to endure. She bit her lips, to have them start to bleed already and her nails had made her palms start to bleed as well. The rest of her body, that still seemed hard to move but felt everything, would sway slightly to the whips.

In Sahara’s prior life, she had never been in such a situation. Being whipped was more of a fantasy thing that happened only in books or movies, it would never happen in real life.

And it was different to the one time in her prior life, of not having a care about anything, which was something mental. But, this type, it was a lot more painful, as her body felt it all!

Just like when she had been dragged along the ground from that boy many years ago, she had wanted to think ‘Hey pain lets you know you’re still alive’…But, again, Sahara couldn’t!

As it was, she was having trouble holding her voice back from the whippings…

Sahara always used to pride herself on having bad experiences…Perhaps it was her way of being able to get over them. Having been homeless, it was an unforgettable experience…But this new experience…Was beyond her expectations.

Being whipped hurt, but then the pain didn’t dissipate, because your skin would be hurt. Once the whipping started, pain and then more pain came upon you without much of a pause, even if the whip wasn’t hitting you for a bit.

She felt a few drops of blood traveling down her back and couldn’t help but wonder how many times that she had been whipped now.

Sahara remembered seeing some movies with whips having barbed edges and had known that it would hurt back then, but this whip was pretty normal, obviously not to take someone’s life! She doubted that her whip marks were even very big, but the man had whipped her now for a good few minutes and the worst, painful parts, were on the side of her waist…Her skin there was easier to make a wound become bigger, even if it was the same amount of strength used elsewhere…

There had been no biased action at all, as he had whipped near her shoulders and all the way down to her higher legs!

He shouldn’t want to have sex with the way I am…Right? He wouldn’t be normal if he did! I’m a complete mess!

Sahara couldn’t help but think that this will help her with her resolution of staying away from men. At this moment, her eyes showed a light glow of rage and anger, brewing up and wanting to be released.

Clenching her jaw to another whipping, Sahara took a deep breath in and sees that she still had her undergarments on…

Isn’t it this type of era, that a practically naked body seen in front of a man, ruins a reputation?

…Sahara couldn’t help but feel like she’s gotten the worst luck…

One tear left her eye, as she started to shake and think of how she most likely will never like an era like this!

Another whip and Sahara swiftly breathed in and put her head back in pain. “Ah!”

Unable to keep her voice back any longer, her thoughts had seized, as she felt even more agony.

“Finally, she speaks. How interesting that you have lasted so long! I am liking you!”

Hearing his words, Sahara was able to remember that she was still waiting…

Breathing heavily, she closed her eyes and tried to find out how the ‘blocker’ is going on her dantian. Seeing it to a point that she could possibly teleport soon, Sahara tried to calm herself and think of the near future of getting away from this psycho!

“Get me the female aphrodisiac, quick!” The Crowned Prince said, then turned to Sahara and smiled.

He pulled her body towards him and said, “I want to see how you’ll want me!”

Dam, I need a huge cleanse when I get outta here!

Letting out a very small laugh, it disappeared quickly and turned into a frown, as he touched a whip mark that was still raw and painful.

“Your Highness!” The servant said, walking in and holding a bowl.

The Crowned Prince walked up smilingly and took the bowl, “Great!”

He’d already organized this earlier, but just remembered about it now…Having been so distracted, made the Crowned Prince’s smile bigger, as he walked back to the red eyed woman. Seeing her like this, he knew he’d have to treat her wounds before he showed the Right Minister that he had her as a hostage. Deciding that he would treat her better tomorrow, he stopped happily in front of her.

Harshly grabbing her hair, he made her head go back and he poured down her throat of what was in the bowl.

Throwing the bowl away, the Crowned Prince went to put his arms around her.

Then, to her strange, weird urge, Sahara laughed. She laughed so hard that she began to show tears.

Maybe she was laughing instead of crying, maybe she was following her instincts, Sahara wasn’t too sure at that moment. But she laughed that much, that the Crowned Prince slapped her, making her face bleed more.

Sahara spit out some blood and snickered, “I wonder…Do you even know how to use it!? That small thing that you have there…”

She started to laugh once again, her rapid breathing already making her laughter sound strange…

The Crowned Prince was so extremely angry, that he had no idea on what to do. No one had ever said anything about his…

His desire was almost entirely extinguished, with what the woman had just said!

How humiliating!

The Crowned Prince picked up the whip again and whipped her once again in anger, making Sahara stop laughing.

Hanging her head, Sahara felt like she might have stopped him from taking her virginity, but was it worth it?

She didn’t care much for it, well, not in this predicament anyway. If she cared about her virginity, she might not be able to focus enough on something more important, like getting out of this place! But now, she was in even more pain…

Another tear escaped her eye as she couldn’t stop it. Nothing had changed, she still hated to cry, as she knew that it never did anything to help!