17 At the very least he won't r*pe me.

"I'm sorry," the Prince finally broke the silence.

"How interesting. I was sure "sorry" wasn't part of your vocabulary," Aidan tried to smile, but the corners of his lips were too sore for that.

"What do you want me to say? My uncle would have taken your slave sooner or later! If I didn't give him a chance, somebody else would," the Prince now sounded like a wronged child.

"Whatever you wish to tell yourself... Your Highness," Aidan said with no expression. He knew from the very beginning that this guy was as slippery as an eel. But for some unknown reason, Aidan had managed to develop a soft spot for him. And now Corus had to pay for Aidan's gullibility.

"But you wanted to get rid of him yourself, remember?" the Prince exclaimed with a slight tremble in his voice. "That time, when we were riding back to the capital, you told me that you were not going to own any slaves anymore. Why did you suddenly change your mind? Why the fuck are you willing to ruin your whole life and leave yourself at the mercy of my madman uncle just for the sake of some slave?"

Aidan sneered with contempt. Of course, somebody like this guy would not understand.

"What does your uncle do to all those slaves he collects?" Aidan asked.

The Prince didn't respond for a while. Waiting for his answer, Aidan managed to crawl a bit closer to the bars and a bit farther from those loud rats.

"I don't know," the Prince said at last.

"Do you think it's something good?" Aidan asked softly.

There was another long silence.

"If you really need to think about it for so long, I have either overestimated your intelligence or underestimated your vileness," Aidan finally lost his patience. "Either way, I don't care anymore. So why did you come here in the first place? To gloat? To stare at me in silence? Because, you know, it's kind of late, and you woke me up from a very good dream."

"Sorry. I came to give you this," the Prince pushed something soft through the bars. Aidan raised his hand to grab it and immediately regretted his decision. His back responded with agonizing pain that made his stomach churn. Who knew that moving a hand required so many back muscles to contract?

Aidan swore under his nose but outwardly didn't show any signs of being in pain.

"It's a blanket," the Prince said awkwardly. "The dungeons are cold and dirty, so..."

"How thoughtful," Aidan almost laughed out loud.

"If you need something else, I can arrange it," Mr. Bigshot was obviously not too good at discerning sarcasm.

"Then bring me some wine and some smokes next time," said Aidan, feeling cold beads of sweat form on his forehead. Great. It seemed he was developing a fever.

"What?" the Prince asked, confused.

"Never mind," Aidan would have waived him away if he dared to move his arms at the moment. "You don't need to come anymore. You and I - we're done."

"I will get you out of here, I promise. I just need some time," for some reason, the Prince now tried to plead with him. Aidan found the whole situation ridiculous.

"How about you just fuck off and do what you're best at – pretend like you don't know what's happening and just let your uncle get away with everything? Though, I'm pretty sure at the very least he won't r*pe me... From what I hear, I'm not his type," Aidan spat out with disdain.

Even in the dim lights, Aidan could see that the Prince became much paler than usual – he looked like he had just received a hard blow to the face. For a moment, Aidan felt guilty. His words might have been too harsh, but he was really at the end of his nerve. Pain and anger had a tendency to make him a little less diplomatic than usual.

The Prince suddenly smashed his fist at the bars, then turned around and left abruptly without saying another word.

"Good riddance," Aidan thought to himself. He then carefully examined the blanket that the Prince, bless his charitable soul, deigned to present him with. It was a very warm and soft item made of sheep wool, and it faintly smelled of acacia – just like the Prince himself. Aidan carefully stretched it over the cold floor and lay on top of it. For some reason, his anger at the fellow now seemed to slightly dissipate.

When did he become so sentimental? Aidan laughed at his own stupidity.

With a long sigh, he closed his eyes and tried to get himself to take another nap. Aidan knew that sleep was his best ally in healing the wounds and getting rid of the fever. And once he felt better, he'd be able to go against the Regent again.

It took a while, but finally, Aidan managed to drift off.

He had no idea how much time had passed when he was woken up again. Something hard fell next to him, and a drunk voice announced:

"Food for the General."

Aidan rubbed his eyes and slowly reached towards the hard object. The thing looked like old bread and smelled moldy.

"Ha, the joke's on you, stingy guard!" Aidan thought to himself. This was still better than porridge and lettuce he had at his mansion.

Aidan picked up the bread, and at that moment, he suddenly realized that the movements were now much less painful than before. There was still some discomfort, and he could physically feel the scarred flesh stretching on his back, but it was very bearable.

"Hey, guard!" Aidan called out.

"There's no other food for you. Be grateful you're even getting that," came a lazy response.

"I am very grateful," Aidan smirked. "Tell me, how long have I been here?"

"Have you gone completely crazy?" the guard came up to the bars but still kept a very respectful distance from the cell.

"You could say that. So, how long has it been?"

"Five days, give or take a couple hours," the guard responded.

Aidan sat up and rubbed his temples thoughtfully. Even for such a healthy and strong guy like Adnan Minn, this was miraculously fast healing. However, it confirmed the suspicion Aidan had had for a while now – General Minn possessed capabilities that exceeded those of a normal human. Just like the Prince. It probably had something to do with the spiritual strength... If only Corus was around, he could have asked him all about it.

"Hey, you," the guard was suddenly calling him.

"I'm not giving back this scrumptious bread," Aidan said seriously.

"You're really crazy."

"I thought we had already established that," Aidan walked towards the bars. It was really refreshing to be able to stand.

"Can I ask you something?" the guard hiccuped nervously.

"Only if you share some of what you're drinking there," said Aidan.

"Can't," the man shrugged his shoulders. "I... hic... finished it all."

"Then you can't ask me anything," Aidan crossed his arms.

"Please?" the guard even dared to come closer now.

"Fine, what do you want to know?"

"How did it feel?"

"What exactly?" Aidan asked. "Being lashed? Felt great. Would recommend."

The man looked at him in confusion.

"No, you crazy pervert. How did it feel to clock Reo Atarian right in his face?"

"You want to know?" Aidan smiled.

The guard nodded.

"You really want to know?" Aidan came up to the bars, and the guard immediately jumped away.

"If you really want to know, then come closer."

The man swallowed loudly, obviously torn between his fear and his drunken curiosity. Finally, he made one tiny step forward.

"Just a little bit closer," Aidan cheered him on.

The guard made another step.

"Come on, I don't bite. I'm safely behind bars."

These words gave the man courage to make yet another step. And it was exactly what Aidan was waiting for. He used two fingers to grab the guard by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward. If he had used just a bit more strength, he might have been able to break the guy's nose. That was useful information.

"If you really want to know," Aidan whispered to the guy, "you should try it yourself."

With these words he let the guard go. The poor man bolted like he was being chased by rabid dogs.

Aidan returned to his blanket, sat down, and started gnawing on the bread.

What he didn't know was that it would be the last piece of food he'd get in the next couple of days. It seemed that his little stunt deterred the guards from coming near his cell ever again. Nobody else visited him either. Aidan's mood got worse by the day as he realized that his plan about trapping the Regent had a big flaw in it – the Regent needed to come by at some point. But it was as if the man had completely forgotten about his existence.

"Well, time for plan B," Aidan sighed. Plan B involved breaking out of the dungeon, arming himself with the metal bars, and walking around the palace, till he runs into Reo Atarian and takes him hostage. Then he would negotiate his release in exchange for Corus. Or maybe for all the other slaves too. In case they were still alive.

This was not a very good plan. And there were many ways it could go wrong, but this was all he had now.

Aidan came up to the bars to examine the weak points more carefully and see if he could tear them out of the wall directly or he needed to break them first.

"Admiring the architecture, General?" Aidan heard a cold voice, and as he raised his eyes, he saw the asshole Regent in the flesh – tall, blonde, and evil as usual.

Aidan smiled. Maybe plan A was still on the table.

"I suppose you didn't come to apologize, Your Excellency."

"I came to see how you're doing," the Regent said indifferently.

"Peachy."

"Does it feel "peachy" to finally pay for your crimes?" the Regent asked, his voice full of unmasked hate.

"My crimes?" Aidan couldn't believe his ears. This was an extreme case of the pot calling the kettle black.

"Don't you feel bad for anything you've done?" the blonde man now looked disgusted and shocked at the same time.

"I could ask you the same thing," Aidan rolled his eyes. "But I'd rather ask you, where is Corus."

"I already told you."

"How about you tell me the truth?" said Aidan.

The Regent sighed:

"I knew it. You can't be reasoned with, and you can't be guilted. You have no conscience at all."

Aidan roared with laughter. Why was this guy acting like he was the one in the right here?

The Regent furrowed his brow and uttered:

"General Minn, you're truly despicable."

"Can you, maybe, come in here and tell me that?"Aidan motioned with his finger.

"In your dreams," the Regent scoffed.

"So, what are you going to do about me?" Aidan asked. "To execute me, you'll have to let somebody into this cell, and this will not end well for them. Or for you."

The Regent narrowed his eyes.

"I can just wait till you die of hunger."

Aidan nodded and said thoughtfully:

"Do you think I'll die of starvation before I can get through these bars?"

The Regent only raised his eyebrow in response.

"I mean, the metal here is very rusty. Maybe you should have invested into renovating your dungeons?" Aidan gently stroked the bars up and down.

"They can always be reinforced," said the Regent slowly. This was the first time when Aidan noticed a flicker of insecurity on that arrogant face.

"Good luck with that."

The Regent shook his head and then enunciated:

"Just you wait. I'll be back."

Aidan laughed to himself at this cliché Arnold Schwarzenegger line and mockingly said:

"Yeah, I'll be waiting, you wannabe Terminator."

Upon hearing these words, the Regent sharply turned around and gave Aidan an intense look. Aidan looked right back at him.

After a while, the side of Regent's lip slowly curled upwards, as he asked:

"Well, well, I'm guessing you're not General Minn, are you?"