[Epilogue] New Life

“Riley Hallson!”

The loud, commanding voice of the female warden called out another name, and a small young woman walked forward. She wore a look of disdain as she looked at the warden, who looked right back without even a slight change in expression. The warden was accustomed to getting the stink-eye from prisoners, and this particularly puny lass certainly wouldn’t shake her. Riley, clad in her unflattering prison uniform, continued walking, passing by the warden. She continued through the gate and started heading down the street, towards the site of her assignment. Back within the prison walls, the warden called out the next name.

“Theodora Adamson!”

This time a somewhat tall woman started moving forwards. She was fairly well built and wore a blank expression as she passed by. She was assigned to a carpentry apprenticeship to make use of her strength, and from what the carpenters were saying, she had a certain natural sense for the trade that accompanied her physical strength. Theodora exited the gate, turning in the opposite direction that Riley left in. Once she would arrive at the workshop, she would change out of her prison uniform and join the rest of the apprentices in honing their skills. The warden called out the next name.

“Bernadette Adenot!”

A small, timid woman stepped forward this time, nervously making her way. She looked terrified of not only the warden, but also of the other prisoners around her. Luckily for her, she was assigned to be a library assistant, tasked with processing returns and organizing books. With how nervous she was around other people, this task was a blessing for the frail Bernadette.

The warden continued to call names until the rest of the assigned prisoners were out of the gates and heading towards their jobs. All the prisoners that left through that gate were part of the capital’s prisoner rehabilitation program. Participants would be assigned jobs that allowed them to serve the community while gaining useful skills, hopefully leading to employment after their sentences ended. So far, rates of re-offense were much lower, and businesses that partnered with the prison were satisfied too. They were provided with a source of free labor, one that often resulted in new workers that were quite loyal. Many of the prisoners had committed crimes because of their poverty, so most were grateful to be given such an opportunity at a second chance.

Of course there were concerns of prisoners escaping and committing crimes while outside the prison walls. How could such an untrustworthy bunch be released into the capital and be trusted to follow the laws that they had broken before? Well, the whole program was only possible after a newly developed magic was introduced, though it was quite controversial since it was dark magic.

Each of the prisoners that agreed to enter the program were branded with a seal to control them, which took the appearance of an intricate black pattern that encircled their necks like a collar. These incredibly complex patterns allowed prison guards, employers, or anyone who had the paired magic tool to inflict unimaginable pain to any misbehaving prisoner. While it was possible to remove the seal, it would require quite a remarkable master of dark magic, and most of the prisoners had neither the connections nor resources to get it done. High importance prisoners like the leaders of crime rings were denied access to the program for obvious security reasons.

Riley, Theodora, and Bernadette were the three most recent additions to the program. They were quite unlike the other prisoners, since they arrived with some “special circumstances”. In fact, there was trouble right from the start, deciding whether they should be sent to the men’s or the women’s prison. In the end, they were sent to the women’s prison more as a matter of practicality, as the judge didn’t want to subject them to unintended punishments by the hands of their fellow prisoners.

The three of them were sentenced together for the crime of using dark magic to greatly harm a knight of the kingdom, with their leader being given the heaviest sentence. When they arrived, rumors had already spread about the new arrivals, that were formerly men that were transformed by an eccentric witch. They had trouble fitting in with the rest of the women, so the warden also assigned them new names to use.

For female prisoners in the program, most of the jobs were service related, like Bernadette’s assignment. There were labor assignments for the more physically strong women like Theodora, who sometimes even took assignments from the men’s prison. Riley was also assigned to a certain type of “service” job, but this one was a bit different from the rest. The leader of the misfits was assigned to work in a brothel in the adult service district.

Riley obviously resisted it, requesting to be given a different assignment. However, there was always some reason that she couldn’t be reassigned. Excuses ranged from lack of normal service jobs to the brothel’s demand being too high to refuse. Riley’s assignment as a prostitute wouldn’t change, but at least all sex workers were given the choice whether to accept a client or not. Riley would have to go to the brothel every day, but thankfully she could simply decline all requests made for her.

Unfortunately for her, this also meant that she didn’t reduce her sentence at all. For most assignments, a full day’s work was rewarded with one day off the end of a prisoner’s sentence. However, for the assigned prostitutes, they would earn one day reduced sentence per client. It was potentially the fastest way to reduce a sentence. However, even with a high reward, the demand for this “service” remained high, and the number of participants was low. With no clients, Riley wasn’t removing any time from her lengthy sentence. Given the amount of time Riley was sentenced to, she would have to accept multiple clients daily to be released in a reasonable amount of time.

Despite this, Riley still had her pride, and hoped that being a dead weight would eventually get her reassigned. If she continued to refuse clients no matter what, making it clear that she would never accept any, surely she would eventually be moved to a normal task. However, the warden seemed to be just as stubborn as Riley, and refused to reassign her.

Enough was enough! Riley was going to demand answers from the warden. She waited for the required work hours to run out, refusing every request that came her way as usual. Many of them were from men she had already turned down in the past multiple times, yet the fools still asked for her every visit! Most of the perverts would move on and ask for another prostitute after Riley refused, but one persistent requestor left the brothel after each refusal, only coming in every few days to check if she changed her mind.

The bells rang out, signaling the end of the day shift. Thankfully she had the choice to burn her required hours during the day instead of in the evenings when customers were much more numerous and rowdy. Riley returned to the prison, and requested to speak with the warden again. Her request was granted, and after a short wait Riley was seated across from the warden at her desk.

“What’re you here for, same request as last time? Look, the answer is always the same.”

With previous requests, Riley had tried to be polite, respectful, and well behaved. She was asking for a favor after all, but this time was different. This time, she was fed up with the constant refusal and knew that acting cute would get her nowhere.

“Cut the shit warden, I’m not playin’ your game anymore. I wanna know why you have it out for me! Anybody’d be reassigned if they asked, but why not me? Why’re you so hellbent to keep me cooped up in a brothel all day? You already know I’ll never do it, so why waste both our time? I wanna real answer, not the same made-up crap that you always use! Why’s it me?”

The warden glared at Riley, who awaited her answer. She looked like she came to a choice as she relaxed and sat back in her chair. She pulled out one of her desk drawers and produced a letter with a broken wax seal. She placed the letter in front of Riley and spoke.

“Nothing personal, just orders from above. You probably know more than me about why you’re in this mess.”

Riley picked the letter up and read through it. The contents specified the treatment given to all three misfits. Bernadette would be given the most forgiving treatment, while Theodora would be treated normally. But for Riley, there were explicit directions for her assignment to the brothel. The letter even instructed the warden to give Riley the letter once the prisoner in question demanded answers. The next section of the letter addressed Riley directly.

“Naughty boys need to be taught a lesson~ This should help teach you some manners~ Selfish brats like you always try to take advantage of everyone, so I think you should learn what it’s like to be on the receiving end~ Look for me after you’re released, maybe I’ll give you a reward for all that hard work~ Who knows~?“

At the bottom of the letter, it was signed by Coltia and stamped with the royal seal. Riley stared at the letter wide eyed, re-reading the section again. The warden started speaking again.

“As you can see Riley, I don’t have any choice here, and neither do you. I suggest you stop resisting it, or else you will be bored to **** long before your sentence passes.”

Riley let go of the letter and allowed it to fall back onto the warden’s desk. She stewed in her thoughts about Coltia. Riley didn’t know her all that well, but she got a sense of Coltia’s personality while back in Knottori village, during the interrogation. Coltia was brutal and terrifying, sadistically inflicting pain one moment then whimsically punishing and experimenting on them in unusual and perverse ways.

Was this all just Coltia’s wrath? A petty grudge? Riley was the only one that tried resisting Coltia’s interrogation, so maybe she was being resented for it? No, that would be too… boring, too simple for Coltia. It didn’t fit someone as powerful and eccentric as her. No, Coltia probably wanted something else… but what? Was the idea of Riley being **** to work as a prostitute some sort of sick, twisted trial?

Well, there was nothing Riley could do in her position but accept Coltia’s conditions. Between rotting in jail for an eternity, or sleeping around a bit, there really was ****. Riley refused to have prison be the end of her life. Her ambitions wouldn’t allow it, in fact some sort of flame was lit inside of Riley. She started thinking about how she would get back at Coltia if she ever had the chance, how she would flip the tables and punish her. With new determination, Riley left the warden’s office.

The next day Riley went to her assignment as usual. However, unlike every day before, she was willing to start considering requests. She needed to start reducing her sentence, but she still had reservations about having sex with men.

Riley rejected all requests so far, most from customers that she found particularly unbearable, or from customers that were known to be particularly rough. While she needed to start accepting requests, she would prefer her first time not be more unpleasant than it had to be.

At some point in the day, a familiar face appeared. The repeat customer that only requested Riley arrived, and she decided that he would probably be a suitable first customer. He looked like a decent guy, and judging by how he asked for her exclusively, he must value her highly. Hopefully that would mean that he would treat her delicately.

Riley’s first customer was surprised to hear that his persistent request was actually accepted, in fact he was almost ready to turn around and leave like usual. The manager of the brothel was just as surprised as him, but quickly got excited. Finally Riley would get to work! The manager had to keep her around, or else the prison would pull all of their participants out for some reason, but finally Riley would do more than just take up space! Refusing all requests was such a waste too, there were all kinds of women working at this brothel, but Riley had a particular body and air about her that was unique, almost magical. The manager took the customer’s payment and encouraged them both into a private room, telling the customer the brothel’s rules since this was his first time being serviced. The manager finished talking, then wished Riley luck before closing the door, leaving the two alone in the room.

There was an awkward moment as neither of them knew what to do, sitting next to each other on the brothel’s bed. Riley could feel her heart almost beating out of her chest, but the customer next to her looked just as nervous. She could see him avoiding eye contact, but still glancing over her body. Her chest, her waist, her legs… he would take quick looks for only a split second, but Riley could feel his eyes every time. She turned to her customer, deciding that she just had to make the first move.

“Sir… What’s your name?”

“Uh- My name’s Hamond.”

“Mr. Hamond… I’ve seen you come here before… why did you only ask for me?”

“Oh, uh… Well… Because- uh… Because I only wanted you… I guess?”

“Oh- okay… Thanks. But why?”

“You’re cute… that’s all…”

Despite Riley’s nerves, her mind wasn’t totally paralyzed. Hamond was anxious and awkward. He clearly wasn’t a regular customer at brothels, in fact this was probably his first time on top of a brothel bed. Maybe he wasn’t all that experienced with women in general? Maybe he picked the cutest, least intimidating girl because it would be less pressure for him? Well then dialing up the cuteness and meekness would be the right move here.

“Hamond… can I ask you a tiny little favor?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Of course, anything.”

“It’s my first time doing this so… please be gentle.”