A Change of Heart

The witty-eyed woman continued glaring at him even as he entered her cage. He walked in with confident steps and stood before her. She was visibly shivering as she tried to contain her fear.

She was weak and wouldn't be able to fight back if he tried to do something.

"Stand up!"

Magnus grabbed her shoulders and forced her to stand up. He grabbed her two slim wrists and pulled her close to him. He glared at her in the eyes.

"You're either gonna listen to me, or I will train you!" Magnus threatened.

"Do it! I won't budge!"

She gritted her teeth and didn't let herself be intimidated by him.

"Hmph."

Magnus flipped her around and put her two wrists together behind her back. He bound them with the rope.

"Feel scared yet?" Magnus asked.

If this still wasn't enough to scare her, then he would go further. After all, it would be impossible to free them if they didn't have any ounce of respect for him. They clearly looked down at him from the beginning.

"If I still had my Moon Roots, I would have killed you!" the witty-eyed woman threatened with bloodshot eyes.

She was blushing and humiliated. She didn't expect to be easily bound by a man in such a manner. It was crass and lacked gentleness.

"So that's not enough for you?"

Magnus was annoyed at her stubbornness. He looked around and saw the other Cynthian women looking on with proud looks on their faces. Instead of feeling scared, they were inspired by how the witty-eyed woman acted.

"Puh! In my Cynthian Empire, you'd be wagging your tail before me!"

She spat at Magnus' face.

Magnus froze and wiped the saliva off his face slowly. He looked at his wet fingers and at her unyielding expression.

*Slap!*

Magnus didn't hesitate and slapped her face. She went too far by spitting on his face. He simply wanted to make her realize that it was better to swallow her pride for a bit. He didn't expect that she was this stubborn.

He wondered what kind of training Ava and Rivia went to for them to become that subservient to Farqos. It must not have been pleasant.

That thought alone soured Magnus' mood. He left the cage and sat on a chair in front of them.

The witty-eyed woman was stunned by his slap and touched her painful cheek in a daze. She looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

She might be stubborn, but she saw something in his eyes when he slapped her. It was a look of frustration and powerlessness. It shouldn't be in his eyes unless...

"Release me."

She was upset, but she didn't shout at him aggressively this time.

Magnus stood up and walked back inside the cage. He pulled the rope, and it untied immediately. He then walked out and sat back on the chair.

He stared at the floor in a daze. He sighed and frowned.

"..."

The witty-eyed woman slowly approached him from within her cage and grabbed the steel bars. She silently watched him with a confused expression on her face.

"Do I really have to do this..." Magnus whispered to himself.

He covered his face with his palms and closed his eyes. He might be a criminal and was involved in a lot of criminal activities in his past life, but that didn't mean he didn't have ethics and standards. The thought of 'training' her to become like Ava and Rivia caused chills to run down his spine.

"Hey. I'm Caitlyn," the witty-eyed woman said.

Magnus raised his head and looked at her. She was not glaring at him anymore.

"Did you hit your head?" Magnus couldn't help but ask.

Her sudden change of attitude was weird.

"Hell no! I want to know more about you before I can go along with your plan," Caitlyn said.

"Really?"

Magnus' face lit up, and he looked at her with excitement. It seemed like his attempt at scaring her by tying her hands behind her back had worked.

"Caitlyn!?" the brown-skinned woman exclaimed in disbelief.

She couldn't believe her own ears.

"Jurena, let me handle this."

Caitlyn waved her hand at her.

The other ten Cynthian slaves looked at each other in confusion. They were also shocked at Caitlyn's sudden change of attitude.

"Who are you, and why are you working for the Bravodel Clan?" Caitlyn asked.

"I'm Magnus Dalisay, and I became one of Young Master Farqos' men because of a work referral. I'm assigned to train maids," he responded.

"Why do you want to free us?"

This was the point she was most suspicious about. In this day and age, no Phaeton man would willingly let a Cynthian woman go. The grudge ran so deep that they would enjoy sabotaging the other party.

"Is it weird that I feel bad?" Magnus responded.

He couldn't tell them that he was from another world that had abolished slavery. He felt compelled to make a difference now that he was here. It was the right thing in his mind.

It should be noted that he wasn't doing this because he wanted to become a saint. Rather, he was doing this to make up for his wrongdoings in his past life. It meant a lot to his conscience as he had thought about what he did before he was executed.

He wanted to become a better man.

He tried to ignore these things and go with the flow, but it was impossible. His values were not aligned with this world.

It might be normal for them to enslave men and women, but it was not for him.

Caitlyn stared into Magnus' eyes for a long time. A minute, then ten minutes.

Magnus felt uncomfortable being stared at by her.

"Don't you know that we treat men as slaves in the Cynthian Empire?"

"I do."

"Do you know how we force them to submit to our whims?"

"I do."

"Do you know how we force them to impregnate us when we want a child?"

"...I don't."

Magnus furrowed his eyebrows when he heard that. It might seem nice to some, but that was definitely not consensual.

"Do you know what happens to males born in the Cynthian Empire?"

"They are disowned..?" Magnus blindly guessed.

"They are killed half of the time."