"So who are you?"
Asher was currently sitting on a wooden chair with a calm, indifferent expression. In front of him sat a woman on the cold stone floor, her clothes torn and tattered. Her entire body was dirty and bore numerous superficial wounds.
Despite the dirt and wounds, her beauty was still evident, with dirty white hair cascading down her slender back, sharp, azure eyes that had lost their sparkle, and a mature, well-proportioned body.
She was puzzled as she observed the person before her. She clearly knew who he was, but he looked different in every way.
"Don't you remember me, Asher Darwin, the heir to the Darwin family?" she asked him as calmly as possible after she had regained some of her energy.
She didn't want to jump the gun and accuse him of having brought her here, since he was the one who had pulled her out of that pile of corpses and brought her here. Furthermore, from his expression, it seemed he didn't even recognize her.
"I don't know who you are, but it seems you know about me and like you. When I woke up, I found myself in this place and I don't remember anything, not even my name. I wouldn't have known it if it weren't for the System," Asher said seriously. The woman in front of him didn't know what to do now. From his expression, it seemed that what he was saying was true, which made her think of one thing.
'It seems he was also kidnapped somehow and brought here, losing his memory due to the shock.' That was her best conclusion so far, though she wasn't entirely sure.
'i am Wait here,' a cold voice snapped her out of her thoughts and brought her back to reality.
'Well, first of all, my name is Rose, and I'm a professor at the Royal Academy. I was poisoned before I was brought here, and they put this collar around my neck that prevents me from using mana,' she said angrily, recalling what had happened to her after she arrived here.
'What happened here and how did those people die inside?' Asher asked, not caring about her suffering, although he noticed her angry expression and a hint of deep sadness in her eyes.
He was simply someone who cared more about himself than anyone else, and now needed information to find a way out of here.
He wouldn't care about any drama.
Rose, sitting in front of him, wasn't the type to start crying either. She simply felt a pang in her pride after what had happened to her here, and she couldn't control her emotions for a moment.
This only increased her pain. Fortunately, the person in front of her had more problems to deal with than to worry about this embarrassing matter.
She also understood Asher's purpose in seeking information, and she, too, had begun thinking about how to leave since waking up here, but she hadn't been able to do so due to the numerous injuries and corpses, in addition to the mana seal that prevented her from using mana.
"There was a group of strange people wearing long purple robes and striped black masks."
"They were performing a strange ritual where they would take five of them and surround one of the victims, and powerful purple energy would begin to emerge from their rings and head toward the victim." She fell silent for a moment as she remembered what happened to each victim.
"Then the victim starts screaming in pain, blood pouring from his eyes, nose, and mouth, and the veins begin to bulge violently until they die." With every word that came out of her mouth, a great deal of hatred came out of it, but she persisted nonetheless, because Asher was her only lifeline now, and she had to hold on to him tightly, as she noticed he didn't have that mysterious collar.
"But there was something strange. After each victim died, the five surrounding her immediately lost consciousness and were taken away by their companions somewhere."
"That's all I've noticed about them." Rose finished explaining everything she'd seen so far, and perhaps because of what she'd been through, she hadn't drawn any conclusions or detailed anything they were doing that could help them.
"What about you? You were with the victims, but you're still alive and don't have any of the same symptoms as them?" Asher asked calmly, trying to find a loophole in their actions that could help them.
But surprisingly, what greeted him was silence. Rose didn't speak, her expression dark and mixed with various emotions: anger, sadness, resentment, despair, embarrassment...
Asher watched her expression for a moment, his gaze drifting to the torn clothing and some areas where her skin was exposed. There were bruises on her face, neck, and thighs, as well as some hand wounds on the exposed part of her chest.
This caused Asher to draw several conclusions in his mind.
"Were you raped?" Rose's eyes opened wide after hearing what Asher had said, but she still refused to speak.
Asher, on the other hand, was certain of his conclusion. First, the bruises and wounds indicated her resistance, especially since they were in sensitive areas of the body. Her reaction also fully confirmed his suspicions.
"Okay, I'm sorry, but can you point to anything that caught your attention while he was raping you? A special mark, a suspicious behavior, a private conversation—anything that would be helpful?" Asher asked indifferently.
"Shut up..." Rose muttered, her expression dark.
"What did you say?" Asher asked, unsure of what he had just heard.
"I told you, just shut up..." Rose screamed angrily, standing up and lunging at Asher.
"I'm just try-" Before Asher could finish his sentence, Rose grabbed him forcefully by the collar, and they both fell to the cold ground.
"Damn you!!! Don't you feel anything? Even if you have amnesia, you're still a human being... I was raped, and you're just saying it like it's nothing. I'm a fucking human too, and I feel..." She pressed Asher against her knees, screaming angrily, tears streaming down her eyes like a waterfall.
"Do you know... do you know what it feels like when you're vulnerable and some damned bastards toy with your body as they please..." Tears streaked her beautiful face and fell onto Asher's as she cried out in agony at the memory of the humiliation she felt then. Asher didn't do anything to resist, just remained calm and stared at the mixed emotions before him.
'Will I ever feel these feelings too?...' Asher thought to himself, remembering what had happened in his previous world that had caused him to lose his feelings once and for all. He had initially thought he might feel them when he reincarnated, but the situation was still hopeless.
Rose continued to cry and scream for a short while longer before falling silent. She didn't get up from Asher's body, her face remaining leaning against Asher's chest.
"Can I ask you something?"Rose suddenly spoke after a long silence.
"What?..."
"Amnesia means loss of emotions?" She raised her head, her hair disheveled and her face stained with tears and dirt, and stared at Asher with a blank expression.
"No..."
"Then how do you explain your condition? I've seen you walk among corpses before without feeling fear or disgust, as if you were used to it, unlike children your age. In addition, you were in the same room with a weak, half-naked woman, yet you didn't make a single lustful look or even think about it. Although I'm in this state, it doesn't detract from my natural beauty, and even if it does, I'm certain my body is sexy, and that's why it happened anyway."
"..."
"What? Am I not sexy to you?" Rose asked, and Asher sensed that there was a deep murderous intent behind her question.
"It's not like that, you're beautiful and your body is sexy and I would be lying if I said I wasn't feeling lust towards you right now otherwise I'm not a man, I'm just a person who controls himself and has his priorities and right now my priority is to get out of this place alive"