She was taken to an A-C Rank Dungeon, where only the most prominent species get confined and mistreated daily.
They assign grades to creatures based on the tools and expertise required to draw them out of hiding. In the F-rank, a seasonal and tropical fairy will be put close to a slime and mouse beast since they are the simplest to trap. From there, spanning from a rabbit to a flightless bird can be put next to a human chimeric and troll. So on and so on.
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The king awaited her arrival, and with just a glance, he sneered at her hopeless attempt to evade his private guards. He intended to have the wolf decapitated where she stood, but he has schemed to take the offspring that the forlorn woman-wolf would soon birth.
He wouldn't dream of calling that monstrosity his grandchild. He vowed to dehumanize the dreadful half-breed for the rest of its pathetic life as his captive in the castle, for being the worst misstep his eldest son has ever done.
The king reached inside his cloak for a dagger and delicately tapped onto the wolf's belly. “This. Creature. This thing.” For a brief second, the king retained his furiously agitated breath, the inner corner of his brows narrowed down, before turning to face the wolf. “It doesn't deserve to be treated as if this is a human being. It will never have such rights because of what you are.” The wolf couldn't suppress her blood from racing. The walls and ceiling seemed to tremble as if there was an earthquake at that moment.
Even if she wanted to, she couldn't flee out the gaping, unprotected door. Seeing as, she was unable to fully rise to the immense aura that this human emitted. She felt inferior and helpless. Oh, how she longed to retreat under the night sky, but the shackles around her neck and legs were forged with a powerful binding spell intended for her kind.
As soon as the king existed, the wolf began to huff. Sinking to her knees, vomiting nothing but dry air, and wheezing in pain. Nothing wanted to come out, not even her words. She had heard countless stories about this tyrant. She eventually realized why people would claim that embracing one of the rulers from the underworld is more soothing than being in a room with this king now that she had experienced it for herself. She cried and hung her head all night. She was much more afraid and fatigued than she's ever been.
Since the arrival of the king, the wolf's life has only gotten poorer than that of the other beast. To begin with, she is the only wolf there. The humans concluded she was discarded by the other wolves, which is why she was so important to capture; they mocked and punished her for it.
Worse, everyone saw how the king despised her. After all, he had personally come to see her. That event enabled the humans to get violent with her more than the others. The humans reasoned that if the king were to come back and saw how hard they worked to make the wolf's life in prison unbearable, he may appoint them to a more affordable job. To help make sure their children don't need to work at such a young age, just so they can't have food on their table.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
She had still not been fed adequately by the third day, and by the second month, she was being forced to take regular ice night baths by the escape door. The wolf was fed off with it, all she wanted was to get out before her pup arrived. She recalls that the previous time she went to the bathing site, just one guard was fully armed, so if she was lucky enough, she might be able to make a move and climb over the gates.
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In her isolated cell, the wolf sat uneasily. She was mentally preparing herself for the escape. It was interesting how quickly she could recall when each schedule guard switched over and where they were headed. It might be her determination to protect her unborn baby, or it could be from the lack of food. The only problem is that there's no diversion.
Her ears perked up as she anticipated the guards who would be in charge of her that night. She pulled in her tail as it kept involuntary, swinging in the same rhythm as one of the guards walking towards her cell. Thud. Thud. Thud. It was the only thing she could perceive. Was it already time? Thud. Thud. Thud. It was uncertain to tell if it was her pulse or the guard's thundering footsteps. Thud. Thud, thud, thud. She couldn't bear it any longer, standing up, she shoved her head as far as she could between the bars.
She looked out her cell door to check if there were any guards, but no one was outside her locked cell. She knows she didn't make it up; she did hear someone walking to her cell just now. She used her nose, but all she could smell were the other beast men confined within.
“Am I already hallucinating?” Scratching the back of her head, she returned inside, to lean against the wall. Her grimy, mangled hands brushed her tail. Now, thinking back, she remembered seeing a few lighted candles in a room full of humans not long ago. It's probable that they're masking that drug aroma into their skin and clothing, which explains why she couldn't tell where they may arrive.
Exhaling, she dropped to the floor, curling up as far as she could, waiting there, staring across the room at the bare ceiling. She was unsure whether she was thinking clearly anymore.
“How can I escape if I'm not sure if I'm in the human capital, inside the castle, or an isolated island for beast prisoners? How could I be so naive?” Finally closing her eyes, she silently drifted to a dream world.
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She jerked when she woke up from the men's frantic screams from upstairs, causing the chains to rattle and tighten a little more on her fur. She gripped her legs gently, unraveling the fur, which had been caught in the shackles. “They were just like this earlier in the day, and they can't seem to just shut the fuck up. You, on the other hand, slept quite comfortably through it all. I see that you have finally fallen prey to it.”
The wolf threw her gaze across the room. It was her new cellmate; he'd been brought in the night before while she slept, and he, too, was shackled from around the neck and legs. She first questioned whether he was only a figment of her imagination. She didn't mind it, though she had been cut off from the rest of the world for quite some time. This presence was reassuring to her.
The beast continued to speak to her as if they were good buddies, even though she was giving him nothing but silence. She'd rather sleep than listen to what he said next. “I wonder if the king died or if he's coming to visit this beaten-up building?” That remark made her uneasy, and the king simply reminded her of the scumbag who sold her out, as well as that menacing aura the king radiates. He is nothing more than death itself.
Even though she was already shaken, the wolf managed to sleep a little longer while leaning back against the hay that was supposed to be her bed, trying to ignore the beast as much as she could. She rationalized that there would be no more icy night baths. She simply wishes her delusional brain could muster up a decent getaway fantasy.