As he examined the cells, his expression grew more and more pained. He had completely forgotten about the man in black at this point. He had to know if this was real. He didn't even look in the third one as he blasted the cell's lock with a fire lance and went inside. She was drooling as she lay on the floor and had a vacant expression in her eyes. She wore nothing but rags to cover her bottom half and nothing to cover her top.

These and the breasts of the women before were the first Tibaut could recall he felt deeply uncomfortable looking at a pair of breasts. She had no bruises on her but looked worryingly docile. There was an empty vial on the floor beside her so Tibaut had an inkling of what happened to her. When he reached to grab her, he hesitated. He wished what he was seeing was an illusion, that instant he touched her, he'd hear a cacophony of voices mocking his stupidity, for falling into this trap.

But he wasn't the one to touch the other first. As he hesitated she noticed his presence. Her first action was tightly hugging the man and rubbing against him as she made muffled noises with the gag around her mouth. He gently pushed her off himself and fell back to the floor. He started hyperventilating and steadied his breath as he stood back up. Her warmth alone was enough to tell him she was real. He quickly ran out of the cell and looked in the remaining cells. They all had residents.

All of them were chained up and gagged, some had bruises while others sat in silence. Only one had any sort of big reaction in her eyes when she saw and it was abject fear as she hid in the corner of the room and held her hand over her head, shivering.

He tried to convince himself they might have been prisoners but no matter how vile they all were this was a step too far. He couldn't bring himself to believe this was something that would be done to an innocent woman. As he stood in the hall contemplating what to do he saw the door open and two people come in.

"Huh, who the hell is that? Is he the bastard that's been causing trouble?" She commented sounding annoyed.

"I hope this isn't one of our clients throwing a hissy-fit." The other casually remarked. She seemed as though she didn't have a single care as she watched her comrade walk over to him.

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He ran up to the one walking towards him and grabbed her by the chest plate.

"What the hell is this!? What the fuck have these guys done to deserve this, HUH!? Just what!!?!" He shouted at her.

The woman had disgust across her face when he grabbed her but it quickly turned to shock.

"Uh, well, uh."

The other guard looked at her with confusion.

"What's the mat- Oh shit." She went over to him and drew his attention.

"You're that adventurer, aren't you? What brings you to our…" she paused for a brief but very noticeable moment, "prison."

There was visible doubt in Tibaut's eyes and he didn't care if those two could notice it. He went back on the attack and started lambasting them.

"You call this a prison, what th-" Before he could get the words out he was slammed in the gut by a baton. The sneak attack paired with his remaining injuries nearly knocked the wind out of him but he managed to block the next blow coming his way.

"You idiot what are yo-" The one he was speaking to, raised her voice at the other guard.

"What the hell are we waiting for? This bastard left me taking out wood splinters for a day," There was a tone of disdain in her voice as she spoke. "You think I'm just gonna let this bastard leave here? You know what'd happen to the Lord and us if he did. Plus don't you wanna kick this guy's ass for the trouble he caused us. Help me out, you bitch!"

She was already on the attack as she talked to the other and Tibaut seemed to be struggling to take her on as he parried the baton. The other guard looked uncomfortable as she said all this but she must have made up her mind because she also pulled out her baton. As soon the other looked ready to attack, Tibaut landed a blow to the face of the one attacking him and the other hurriedly tried to swing her baton at him. She also was sent to the floor when he got close to her and landed a roundhouse to her head.

When they fell to the floor he began searching them and even examining hoping he'd find something to prove he was overreacting and this was all a big misunderstanding. As he looked at the girl on the floor, that hesitated to attack him, he realized she looked familiar.

("I remember her. She was in the garden when I visited with Grace.")

This confirmed in his mind that the estate had some part to do with this. This wasn't something they could hand wave away by saying it happened under their nose without their knowledge. But this left him with a question. How far up the estate did this go?

His question was quickly answered when he saw Albus standing at the entrance of the hallway trying to hold a neutral expression, with occasional twitching on parts of his face. He always had the appearance of a princess but with the dim orange lights of the torches flicking on him, he looked like a vampire hungrily staring down his prey trapped in a dungeon.

"Let's talk, Tibaut."