楼上的上瘾女士

As should be expected, the moment Hal grabbed the Duchess' wrist, it caught the attention of everyone in the room who could afford to spare the two a glance i.e anyone who was not screaming their heads off in torture.

Alina took a break from torturing Eunuchs on her Duchess' behalf to glare at Hal's audacity but Hal ignored her as well as everyone else as he focused on the Duchess... With the whom he now seemed to be having a staring contest.

"What do you think you are doing?" the duchess asked, perfectly calm.

Yes, there was a bit of surprise within her at how fast Hal had been to grab her wrist but in a way, she still felt in control. There was nothing this young Eunuch could do that could truly catch her by surprise.

Even as Hal held on to her wrist, he knew that to be a fact.

Maybe it was because of all he had seen her being capable of today but there was a sort of Aura about the Duchess that had Hal believing that if it all got down to it, he could not really get stuff past her in a confrontation.

If he thought it could work, he would have reached towards her neck and grabbed the necklace, and then leaped into the Harem space in escape...

However, he doubted that would work.

Not to mention that the chain the Orb piece was hanging off of (which made up the necklace) had runemastering workings which made it either an Artifact or at least a Pseudo-Artifact that he could not break or would have a hard time breaking.

All in all, the path that he had already chosen seemed the best way forward for now.

Not to mention, he had other goals besides the Orb pieces.

Meanwhile, most likely due to negligence and to gawk at Hal's audacity, the Duchess had not yet wrenched her wrist out of Hal's hand and the longer Hal made contact with her skin, the better she felt all over.

She did not tag this to be because of Hal though and was just confused by her body's reactions.

"I'm trying to stop you from making a mistake," Hal said.

"Stopping from making a mistake? How so?" the Duchess asked with a sneer as she finally pulled her wrist out of Hal's hand.

Thing was, Hal had touched her long enough and she had breathed in more than enough of his pheromones for his touch to have a more potent effect on her.

Unlike how she had been able to shake off the effects earlier that day, there was no escaping the pleasure coursing through her body which she knew for a fact had nothing to do with the agony screams in the background.

"Whatever you plan to do to me and whatever pleasure you stand to gain from it, I can deliver double of the with an alternative," Hal said and took one step closer to the Duchess to speak with his signature mellifluous and charming tone.

His tone along with the pleasure that was already coursing through the Duchess' body aided along by the how much of his pheromones she had breathed in made it so that the Duchess did not immediately dismiss his words and instantly attempt to whip him into obedience.

Had it been any other person, that was what she would. have done because it was more than clear by now that the Duchess would not all any sort of insult of talking back in this room of hers.

This room, her torture chamber, was practically her domain which she completely surveyed.

However, she found and was confused that she could not help but listen to what Hal had to say and was actually intrigued by the proposition of an alternative.

That said, while she was intrigued, she did not let it show and instead chuckled darkly before stepping away from Hal to look round at the screaming Eunuchs.

"Will this alternative involve you surrendering to my control?" she asked.

Hal furrowed his brows,

"Not exactly," he said.

"Will it involve me hearing the sweet music that is your screams?"

'Definitely Not' Hal thought but,

"I don't think it will. It is more mutual"  was what he actually said.

"Humph," the Duchess said with a sadistic smile on her face before she walked close to Hal and trailed a finger over his cheek.

As she did, her legs shook slightly she managed to keep it under control so that she could speak to Hal with clarity.

"You see, that doesn't do it for me. If it does not involve you screaming, then I dare say it will not get me excited" she said and her hand went lower to his chest.

Hal might have pointed out that she already felt pleasure that did not involve him screaming as she was touching him but he could tell with his senses that all he had been able to do to her so far was superficial.

She did not just say what she said because it suited her torturing fetish... There was something about her, on a deeper level, that barred her from actually feeling mutual pleasure.

Her getting off, really getting off and not the mere tingles and leg shakes he had given her thus far, was totally reliant on the pain of others.

If Hal was to mention a similar scenario, he would say it was kind of like Emily's condition (check chapter 182-185 for context).

Emily had been capable of feeling pleasure and could climax from fingers or other means but once a cock hot into her pussy, her body would sort of shut down.

The Duchess was similar in the sense that she color feel and fairly enjoy this sort of teasing pleasure but she would never really feel satisfaction from it.

Hal reasoned that he would need a similar method he had used for Emily with the Duchess.

At that moment, the Duchess made a fist, and with a speed that Hal could not hope to evade or block, especially not when he was not truly mastering his abilities, she sunk it into his stomach.

She had one hand on his back and used it to ensure that, strong as her punch had been, it did not send Hal flying back and into the wall.

Hal on the other hand felt the pain as it knocked the wind out of hue lungs and left him seeing stars and doubling over.

Hal grabbed his midsection in pain as the Duchess released him and let him fall to the ground.

The punch was painful... Immensely so...

As would be expected from a Cosmic Saint.

It was as though his usual defenses were completely down... And they were as he could not risk letting his true cultivation show... For now.

Hal had not been hit that hard in a long time and it lodged itself in his head as he swore to repay this sadistic bitch tenfold.

She would surely pay...

"Ah-ha, now that is what I like to see. That pain, that crumpling... I want to see that surrender and I want to see you completely in my control."

The Duchess then effortlessly lifted him to his feet to punch him a second time with the same or even greater force compared to the first and had his body not already been healing from the first punch, Hal felt he might have fainted.

He took it all well though...

Not screaming once...

The most the Duchess got out of him was a train but it would seem that that was enough for her,

"Oh yes, that's it! Groan for me... Make me feel good darling..." she said with a grin before picking him up again and punching him in the stomach for the third time.

As darkness swarmed Hal's vision as he had neglected to reinforce himself in hopes of continuing the Allan charade, Grimoire piped,

'Wow, Hal, she seems to really like you' the Artifact said with a chuckle and Hal found that he had no retort and just settled with a deep sigh in his mind.

"Keep it locked in... I like the tough guy act... It makes it even better when I finally break you and have you screaming at the top of your lungs." the Duchess said with a deranged smile on her face.

"But you ARE curious aren't you?" Hal said while managing to keep his painful wheezing to a minimum.

"About what?" she asked.

"About my proposition... About a possible alternative. You can't get it out of your head.

The more your hit me or touch me, the more curious you are about what the proposition is.

You have lived years with torturing as your only means of sexual satisfaction... You have tried conventional intercourse but if it does not involve the screaming and pain of your partner, it doesn't feel satisfying for you.

You believe you know everything about your body, and then along comes me who claims to have an alternative and you can't stop thinking about it"

"Who are you?" the Duchess asked.

The way Hal had spoken as well as his words did not seem like the words and manner of speaking expected to be spoken by the castrated and inexperienced young man that Allan was supposed to be.

Her suspicion was piqued...

Alas, Hal pumped her full of his pheromones enough that, despite having those suspicions, she never turned hostile.

Hal could peel back his ruse a bit and show a little more of himself to push his agenda across and that was exactly what he was going to do...

"I'm just a guy, standing in your room of horrors after getting punched by you three times asking you to be open-minded and accept my alternative," he said.

'Accept it, Bitch!' Grimoire yelled in solidarity in Hal's mind space.