Laid Bare

(A/N: Short chapter, but I felt like I would ruin the ending if the scene abruptly changed. Hope everyone enjoys it.)

"You okay...?"

"Be quiet...I'm trying to think..."

"Mmm...well, don't hurt yourself..."

"You..."

Though she didn't put any strength into it, Reida rewarded Paul's cheeky comment with a kick to the side of his face. What she didn't expect was for Paul to grab her ankle, playfully musing, "Don't mind if I do..." before gently biting down on her pinky toe.

"..."

As Paul began to pepper to foot with kisses, Reida rolled her eyes in a dramatic fashion, remarking, "You're helpless..." with a faint smile on her face.

Adopting an even cheekier smile, Paul countered, "I told you at the start, didn't I? There isn't a single spot on your body that is profane. Though I'd rather avoid eating your ass, I intend to love every inch of you..."

Feeling a pang in her heart and a sour feeling spreading through her nose, Reida closed her eyes and turned her head away from Paul. They had just concluded the most tender and passionate session of lovemaking she had ever experienced, but, before that, she had given Paul a cursory account of her past.

Though she currently held the title Water God, making her one of the most powerful and well-respected people in the world, Reida's rise to the top hadn't been easy. She was born a simple peasant to an ailing mother who worked in the Red-Light District of a city known as Roa. Rather than her father, the first adult male she could recollect was a man who nearly killed her. From there, things only got progressively worse until she was eventually tossed out into the streets and left for dead.

Were it not for the 'kindness' of a complete stranger, treating her body with Advanced Healing Magic and delivering her to an orphanage, the woman everyone revered as the Water God would have died before she had the chance to pick up a sword.

Unfortunately, Reida quickly learned that genuine kindness was a rarity in the society she had been born into. The orphanage she was dropped off at turned out to be a facility where children were selected to be groomed into 'pets.' Their humanity was gradually stripped away from them as they were taught to think and behave like animals.

Though she had repressed the memories from that time in her life, Reida would periodically remember being dragged around naked on a leash, being forced to eat from a bowl, and suffering severe beatings whenever she broke character or tried to resist. And those were the more 'pleasant' memories.

Upon realizing that she couldn't be trained easily due to her aggressive nature, Reida went from being a pet to a 'fighting dog.' She was forced to fight in a small, circular pit where people would gamble on the outcome of matches. Unlike the majority of fighting dogs, however, Reida was part of a small number of fairly attractive girls that were used to entertain guests in between higher profile matches. They would be dragged into the arena completely naked and pitted against grown men that completely dwarfed them in size, the crowd cheering as they were forced to endure countless indignities.

What the organizers never expected was for Reida, barely even six years old at the time, to actually put up a fair amount of resistance against her assailants. She would invariably lose, suffering a fate even worse than the other girls, but regulars at the gambling pit could see she was improving with each successive match.

Against all expectations, Reida gradually became a crowd favorite, so much so that a betting pool opened to determine when she would get her first win. Over time, people had even started to boo her opponents until, one fateful day, someone tossed a wooden sword into the pit as Reida was on the verge of a loss.

Though she had never wielded a sword before, Reida was able to turn the tables on her opponent with fierce attacks rivaling those of a wild animal. Her victory was ultimately declared null and void due to interference from the crowd, but that singular taste of victory was enough to turn Reida into a completely different person. Hearing people cheer at her triumph rather than jeering at her shame had awoken something slumbering deep within her, a desire to become the strongest.

Shortly after her victory in the underground fight pit, Reida found herself dolled up, bound, and muzzled before being introduced to the man that would become her adoptive father, captor, and swordsmanship instructor. The indignities she suffered at his hand were carved deep into her body, but, even now, Reida still respected him as, no matter how he treated her behind closed doors, he took her education and training very seriously.

In the span of five years, Reida went from a feral girl who could barely speak to one of the few who could read and write. She also learned how to carry herself with dignity and respect, even if she was still used as an outlet for sexual desires. By then, that aspect of Reida's life had become completely normalized, so much so that she didn't even bat an eye when her adoptive father would ask her to entertain his 'friends.'

What brought Reida's world crashing down was when her father sold her to one of those very 'friends' after an incident where she had offended a group of Nobles who were envious of her strength and skill. If not for the timely intervention of another Noble, a righteous young man who became Reida's first love, she would have had both her hands and feet cut off.

After being forced to leave her home, Reida soon found herself passing through the gates of the wealthiest and most prosperous city in the entire world, the Capital of the Asura Kingdom, Ars. There, quite a lot happened, but the most important events were her enrollment in the Royal Academy, her brief captivity at the hands of Gal Farion, the birth of her children, and her prolonged tenure as a 'relief girl' for the social elite.

Though there were countless roadblocks on her path to the top, including several attempts to force her into wedlock, Reida managed to persist until she ultimately found herself in the coveted position of Water God. Shortly after that, the details of her past began to fade into obscurity as nobody in their right minds could believe the daughter of a prostitute could climb to the position of Water God. More importantly, the only person Reida was beholden to at that point was the King, so, for the first time in her life, she was free from the machinations and desires of others, free to choose who she gave her body to rather than having it claimed by others.

Unfortunately, as was often the case for female swordswomen entering into their forties, Reida's condition had already begun its gradual decline. She could no longer push her body beyond its limits. Instead, she had no choice but to refine her skill, tirelessly sharpening her techniques against others in a vain attempt to compensate for her waning strength...

And then she met Paul...one of only three people who had ever managed to touch her heart. Unlike the other two, however, Paul seemed relentless in his efforts to penetrate the walls of her heart and fill the void that had existed there since Reida was a child...

Interrupting Paul's gradual progress up her left thigh, Reida's voice was barely a whisper as she muttered, "I'm not sure I can ever love someone else...I've spent every meaningful moment of my life in pursuit of a single goal. After all this time, I-"

"See? This is what I was talking about. People like you—no—people like us aren't good at thinking, Reida. The harder we try to figure things out, the more we hurt ourselves in the process. Instead of focusing on things neither of us could ever fully understand, we should focus on the things that actually matter. This exact moment, and each moment we share from here on..."

Punctuating his words, Paul planted a kiss on Reida's lower abdomen. He would have kissed her lips, but his position didn't allow it. This ended up being for the best as tears began to build in Reida's eyes as she covered them with her forearm. Her emotions were in complete and utter turmoil, but the two most prominent among them were relief and happiness...

It had taken the better part of forty-six years, but Reida had finally found someone she could bare more than just her body. The void in her heart, something Reida once thought impossible to fill, suddenly seemed a lot smaller...

...

..

.