Don't Untie Her Feet

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One month after that illegal transaction...

"Move it!" someone barked, yanking a rope hard enough to make it snap through the air.

The rope was tied around Rheine's neck. She could do nothing but crawl, dragged along the ground behind him — her body caked in dust and grime, her clothes torn to rags, her mouth sealed shut with thick tape. And still she moved without protest, her scraped knees grinding against the rough earth beneath her.

"Come on!" the man snapped again, jerking the rope with a sharp pull, hauling her stumbling into a large, decrepit warehouse. The rusted door screamed on its hinges as it swung open.

Sure enough, the moment they were inside —

Brwak!

He flung her body to the ground. She hit the dirt floor hard, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the air.
"Hahaha!" His laughter echoed through the empty warehouse. Rheine lay still on the filthy ground, her body trembling, quietly absorbing the pain.

Then the man crouched down and seized her chin in his rough fingers. "You know... looking at you up close, you're actually quite pretty."

"I don't understand why the boss only uses you as a housemaid," he said, tilting his head with a shrug. His fingers stayed locked around her jaw.

Then he let go — and raised both hands, wiggling all ten fingers in the air with a slow, creeping motion, like he was reaching for something invisible.

Rheine lay still and said nothing. Her cold eyes stared blankly ahead, as if she'd already worked out exactly what was coming next.

"Alright then."

"Let's have a little look, mwehehe..." he said, eagerness leaking into his voice. He reached out slowly and pressed his sweaty fingers against her cheek.
Then, as his trembling hand began to move downward — toward the hem of her skirt, toward her —

Brwakk!

Rheine's leg shot out like a whip. Her kick landed square in the center of his chest, and the force of it sent him flying into the warehouse wall.

He staggered back to his feet, heaving with rage.

"You — how dare you!" he snarled, breath ragged, hands shaking.

He charged at her, heavy footsteps pounding the ground, right fist raised high and coiled tight, ready to bring it down on her with everything he had.

Rheine was already moving. She lunged forward in a sharp zigzag, dust kicking up at every step.

The man caught her in front of him and swung — full force.

Brwakk!

Zlepp~

His fist sailed through nothing but a fading cloud of dust where she'd been a half-second before.
Rheine had already slipped behind him. Then —

Dragg!

A precise, clean strike. Her hand connected with the back of his neck in a perfect karate chop, and he dropped to the ground like a sack of stones, out cold before he hit the dirt.

She peeled the tape from her mouth carefully.

She looked down at the unconscious man with the same flat, cold eyes as always. "I didn't think it would all go exactly according to plan."

"Now I just have to wait another year or two."

"Pretending really isn't easy."

"I wonder... when will I be able to follow my family?" she murmured, her gaze drifting somewhere far away. Her expression never shifted.

Brakkk!

The door exploded inward from a single kick, its hinges nearly torn clean off.

Heavy footsteps filled the warehouse. It was the boss — the man who had bought her — and he stepped inside with thunder in his eyes.
"You—!" he growled. He stared at Rheine standing across from him, veins straining in his neck, jaw tight with barely contained rage.

Rheine didn't look up. She stood with her dirty hair hanging over her face, perfectly still, as if she hadn't even registered that he was there.

Around her, the rest of his men raised their pistols in unison, hands trembling.

Cklek. The sound of slides being racked rang out across the warehouse.

After a long, suffocating silence, Rheine slowly lifted her head. She met the boss's gaze — vacant, flat, utterly unafraid.

"Those eyes—"

"—those are the eyes of someone who isn't afraid to die..." the boss muttered. A bead of cold sweat ran down his temple.

He pointed at her, his finger shaking. "Everyone — seize her!" he commanded, his voice cracking slightly.
His men moved immediately, swarming toward her in a rush of heavy footsteps. They tackled her to the ground, wrenching her arms behind her back and binding them tight — the rope biting into her skin — then her legs, then tape back over her mouth, rough and careless.

Under the weight of so many bodies pressing her down, Rheine went still. She let them do it. Her body trembled beneath the pain, but she didn't fight.

Once she was fully bound, they hauled her up and shoved her into the car along with the man she'd knocked out, cramming her into the back seat without ceremony.

The car moved slowly through heavy traffic, tires rolling at a crawl. From the outside, the blacked-out windows showed nothing — no one on the street would have known a girl was trapped inside.

Eventually, the car stopped in front of a grim, long-abandoned factory — the same one where she had first been sold by her foster parents. The building loomed with its peeling paint and hollow silence.
Rheine slumped in the back seat, mouth taped, eyes covered. Total darkness.

One of the men ripped the tape from her eyes with a rough jerk. "There," he muttered, voice dripping with mockery.

What are they going to do here again? Rheine thought. Her heart beat faster than she wanted it to.

I really, truly hate this place.

Even thinking about it makes me sick.

Thinking about that day. The blood.

The thought turned in her stomach like something rotten.

"Out!"

"Move!" One of the men grabbed her and dragged her from the car, and she stumbled as her feet hit the ground.

Rheine said nothing. She let herself be pulled, her feet scraping along the dirt.

She raised her head slowly. The boss was seated on a pile of timber above her, legs swinging with casual contempt — like this was all entertainment.
He crossed one leg over the other. Then he pressed his foot down onto Rheine's head. Hard. Then he drove his knee into her stomach without mercy.

"Arkhh..." The sound came out of her before she could stop it. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"Tie her legs too!" the boss bellowed.

"Yes, sir!" His men moved instantly. They held her down and wound a rope tightly around both ankles — though this time, they tore the tape off her mouth and eyes.

Brwakk! They slammed her to the ground. Dust rose around her in a pale cloud.

"Boss, wouldn't it be better if we... had a little fun with her first?" one of the men suggested, his voice thick with something ugly.

"Fun?" The boss raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Look!" The man grabbed Rheine's face and held it up toward the boss.

"She's got a pretty face. Why not enjoy that?" another one of them added, breath quickening. Four of them stood in a ring around her — not counting the boss or the one still unconscious.
The boss considered it for a moment, hand on his chin. "You're not wrong," he said finally.

"But..."

"You all go ahead without me." He stood and began walking toward the exit.

"Why?" his men asked, confused.

"I have a wife." He said it simply, without looking back, his footsteps fading into the distance.

"Alright then..." one of the men said with a grin that didn't belong on a human face.

They closed in.

Rheine stayed where she was, helpless — both hands and feet bound tight.

One of them leaned in close, breathing hard, and grabbed her chin with sweaty fingers.

She threw everything she had into moving her bound legs — but with them tied together, the kick went wide and hit nothing.

"Trying to fight back, are you?!" one of them shouted, eyes flashing with irritation.

Brwakk! Another one of them swung and drove his fist into her face. She hit the wall. Hard.
She didn't make a sound. Not a single word. Blood ran from her lip, and she let her thoughts take over instead — cold and methodical beneath the surface.

“What...”

“What do I do now?”

“Right. Stay calm —”

“— for them to do anything, they'll have to open my legs —”

“— which means...”

They'll have to untie the rope binding my ankles first, she reasoned, still and quiet behind her eyes.

One of them grabbed her throat in his large hand and squeezed.

"Hnngh—" A strangled sound pressed out of her. She could feel the blood in her neck backing up, the pressure building. She forced her body to go limp, trying to relieve even a fraction of it.

“Brwakk!“ He hurled her into the wall.

"Come on! Let's have some fun," one of the men said, his laugh something between a growl and a sneer, fingers closing around her chin, eyes fixed on her with something predatory.

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