Kill him with Kindness

The young guardsman entered the dungeon cell, it wasn't big, but there was some distance between them, he carried a basket with some fruits in it, 'How cute' DEBUG_HERO thought. He was shy and timid, DEBUG_HERO recognized a look of innocence on him, how did such a boy came be one of her guards?

"I brought you some food" he said, DEBUG_HERO snickered, what was that boy thinking? That he would woo her like that? Be nice and she will fall for him? But wait, that threw her off her plan completely, she will need the keys to get out, so she needed him to get close to her, probably it would be done best with kindness.

"How did you become one of my guards?" DEBUG_HERO asked him, still not moving, it would be weird if she acted all friendly all of a sudden, right? The boy looked away from her, down to the floor, ashamed of looking at her.

"My brother was on the guard, they pay well" he looked at her, trying desperately to avoid staring at her exposed chest. "I swear I didn't know you were down here" He exclaimed, sounding innocent, DEBUG_HERO gathered. She was trying to gauge him, she was usually good at reading people, this time her senses told her he was just a young man who took pity on her, so maybe seducing him wasn't the way to get out.

"So your brother was on the guard before they turned on the royal family?" she asked him, he looked down again, nodding. It was a disgrace, the same guard that she fought alongside with on the night her mother died, then turned on her and her father without even flinching when that fucking mage just strode into the throne room and declared their reign was over and he is now in charge. Not only that, but the same men she bled with against waves and waves of assassins were the same ones who were now beating her to a loss consciousness every night and then doing away with her **** body. But DEBUG_HERO didn't let that distract her, the boy was her way out, she would need to use that.

"You know I don't really need food, right?" She pointed to his fruit basket, "I'm a monstrosity, I can feed myself on the souls of men" she proclaimed, reiterating some of the statements the guards said. "Or at least your brother and his fellow guards keep me well fed by pumping me with protein every night" she tapped her belly. His look was of shame, he didn't look at her naked body, maybe because he was truly disgust by his peers' actions or just because he was prudish.

"I'm sorry for that" the guard said, still not looking at her, she might have gone to far with that statement, but she did get some empathy from the boy, which might be good path. "They got orders to do that, if they don't do that they answer to the High Marshal himself" he apologized further, but that only got DEBUG_HERO riled up.

They beat her up, breaking bones and shattering clavicles just as a normal prison guard duty? How were these men who she had known for a long time do that to her just based on an order from some wizard? Even some of those who she was friendly with and even flirted with on times, how could they turn like that? "And using me as their sex doll was just a bonus?!" she called accusingly, whether or not he was her way out didn't matter anymore, she just couldn't accept this reality.

"I'm sorry!" the guard cried again, "You don't deserve it, but you also didn't deserve to die just because of your father's vanity" he was visibly shaken. "I don't think you deserve this, but it had to be done for the sake of the kingdom, I understand that" DEBUG_HERO had no idea what he was talking about, what was the story the stupid court wizard was spinning? What did her father do? Where was he, she didn't even know that.

"What did my father, your king, do?" She asked him, looking him straight in the eyes. The boy took a step backwards, afraid of her. Maybe he thought she can control him or something through her gaze, she figured.

"He broke the Oath" he said eventually.

"The Oath? What oath?" she immediately asked, that didn't make any sense, her father's rule was benevolent. He cared for the people, often times had long discussions about how to get grain and food to places with failed harvest, or how to get aid to plague stricken areas, he wanted his subjects to have good lives. So what oath breaking made the common person believe he was malevolent?

"The Primal Oath" the guard said, with visible shock she didn't already know such an obvious thing, "Of having a male ruler on the KINGDOM_TITLE throne". So that was it, because her father had a female heir, her, all of this had happened? DEBUG_HERO shook her head in disbelief. So all the things that happened to her, being dragged to a dark dungeon cell, being beaten regularly, regardless of the fact she could recover from it, and the rest was just because of a stupid religious quote from a book that hasn't been updated for a millennia. Great Ariemat that was dumb, she chuckled at the irony of calling on the great lion dragon.

"Okay, so what do you want with me?" She asked him with tired eyes, she wasn't tired physically, not in the slightest, but there was simply no point anymore. Even if she did escape, what would it bring her? Her old life were obviously finished, there was no returning to the throne and getting her **** like she fantasized on in the early days of her incarceration. "Just do your thing, hit me in the head until I close my eyes and be done with it" She told him, her body slump, not even caring anymore.

"I don't want anything" the guard said defensively, "I just wanted you to be a bit better, you don't deserve this".

"That sentiment doesn't matter much" DEBUG_HERO retorted, "If you're not going to end it, either by breaking me out of here or killing me, you're just as bad as them" she dismissed.

"I have never participated in..." he tried to find the words, "what they are doing to you" he finished with great difficulty, looking away again, guilty.

"Again, doesn't matter, even if you're just a bystander and not an active participant" She said, "If you didn't put a stop to it, it's the same thing as doing it, don't be naïve". DEBUG_HERO turned away from him, trying to eye where was her bucket.

"I don't want you to be harmed anymore" he said, sheepishly.

"So, are you going to break me out or kill me?" she asked him, using the bucket to relieve herself, an act she would've never done in front of someone else, let alone a boy, in the old days. Now it just didn't matter anymore.

The guard was silent for a long time, until he broke the silence off with a weak whimper, "I will get you out".

"Are you suggesting or asking?" She asked, prompting him to stand straighter.

"I will get you out of here" he said, more confidently this time, DEBUG_HERO could see the look of determination in his eyes.

"That's good to hear" DEBUG_HERO smiled at the enthusiasm she heard in his voice, "How will you manage that?" she asked him, the man's look of not knowing how to answer explained everything.

"Alright, we will need a map with all the patrol paths, I guess we'll need guard schedules, maybe a safehouse to hide in once I break out and definitely some clothes" she gestured at her naked body, this time the guard did look. "Can you get me all of those?" he nodded for 'yes'.

She dismissed him, she had no idea if the boy will actually do anything, but she might have made him understand his moral code enough to make him take a stance. All she had to do in the meantime is continue doing what she has been doing for the last months, which is getting beaten then used.

"Lovely" DEBUG_HERO said out loud, ignoring the pleased look of the hallucination.