Chapter 20: Is it funny that I tried to run away but I couldn’t?

“So, have I been kidnapped by my master?”

Little Charlotte looked at Chloe, who was roasting fish by the bonfire, and asked with a look of dissatisfaction. She was tightly bound to a tree.

Being reunited with Chloe should have been a happy occasion, but little Charlotte couldn’t accept either the process or the result of their meeting.

Just moments ago, she had watched her banished Master Chloe fly away on her broomstick toward the distant horizon.

To not let her Master’s expectations down, little Charlotte had rushed home, grabbed the magic book her Master had left her, and sat by her bed to read it.

But unexpectedly, the moment she opened the book, she was bound by ropes that sprang out from inside.

When she opened her eyes again, she was surprised to find herself tied under a large tree, and Master Chloe was sitting by a bonfire not far away, roasting fish with a look of great interest.

The surroundings were dark forest, with no moonlight, making it feel particularly eerie. Only Chloe’s bonfire provided any decent light.

This was clearly not the home she was familiar with.

Realizing that the farewell earlier was just an act by Chloe, and that the reality was that Chloe had covertly and unknowingly kidnapped her from home, little Charlotte was extremely displeased with this Master who played with her feelings.

Faced with little Charlotte’s questioning, Chloe didn’t answer directly. Instead, she countered with a question of her own.

“Little Charlotte, don’t you want to continue learning magic with me?”

“Of course I do! I’ve already been learning for several days, and I’ve endured the pain of the magic circuits tearing at my body. How could I give up halfway now!”

“Then there’s no problem! You want to learn magic, and I want to teach you magic. We’re mutually agreeable, but your mother disagreed. So, I had no choice but to use some unsavory methods to secretly kidnap you. This is all for your own good!”

“Oh, so it’s all for my own good? Master, you’re so considerate!”

Little Charlotte’s face was beaming with happiness, but she quickly turned sullen and continued to question her.

“Then why am I tied up?”

If it was just to continue teaching her magic, she could be untied after being brought to this place from home.

But now she was still tightly bound to the tree, as if her Master was very afraid she would run away.

“Well, just in case. If you don’t agree to keep learning magic with me, then I’ll have to use some little toys to force you to comply.”

As she said this, the camera, for some reason, zoomed in on a bag of small cucumbers next to Chloe.

“…” Little Charlotte was instantly speechless, lamenting that her Master’s methods were truly endless. She then sighed. “Master, you can relax. As long as you keep teaching me magic, I promise I’ll be your disciple for life! So, you can untie the ropes now. I won’t run away!”

“I can’t do that!” However, Chloe had no intention of untying little Charlotte. “Little Charlotte, the time you got caught for drugging your sister and instantly sold me out is still very fresh in my memory!”

“Uh… I couldn’t help that! Even if I claimed I made the pill, Mom Rhynes wouldn’t have believed me!” little Charlotte hurriedly explained.

“Selling out your Master to avoid punishment? A disciple who disrespects her Master like that must be properly educated!” As Chloe said this, she stood up and walked closer to little Charlotte.

“Master… Master… what are you going to do to me?” Seeing Chloe approach with a strange smile, little Charlotte, tightly bound, couldn’t help but feel afraid.

Although the reason was flimsy, there was no doubt that she was the one who caused Master Chloe to be locked in a cage by Mom Rhynes, enduring round after round of flogging.

The pain of a butt being whipped raw—she felt pain just watching it.

It was hard to imagine what cruel punishment Chloe, who she had harmed so badly, would inflict upon her.

“Don’t be nervous, little Charlotte. I’m not going to eat you.”

“The way you are right now is even scarier than if you were going to eat me!”

“I just want to share the pain I suffered earlier with you!”

“Pain can be shared?”

“Of course! If I replay the memory of me being executed by Master Rhynes in your mind, you’ll be able to feel the corresponding pain!”

“No, don’t do that! I’m still just a child! How can a child’s body withstand that?”

“You’re my most talented disciple. I believe you can endure it. Oh, right, if you can get through this and not pass out from the pain, I’ll untie your ropes and teach you this memory spell as well. How about that?”

“Really?”
Hearing that there was new magic to learn, little Charlotte’s eyes lit up, but the thought of enduring all the pain her Master Chloe had experienced made her backtrack.
“No, I think I’ll pass.”

“You don’t have the option to refuse now, little Charlotte. Just obediently accept this suffering!”

Saying that, Master Chloe extended her finger and gently pressed it against little Charlotte’s forehead.

Immediately, the scene of Rhynes swinging the whip and walking towards her surged into little Charlotte’s mind.

She couldn’t believe that her normally gentle mother had turned into a whip-wielding demon, exuding a terrifying black aura, lashing her again and again, beating her until her skin was raw.

It was like sticking her hand into a running paper shredder. The pain was simply unbearable. In no time, little Charlotte’s eyes widened, tears streamed down her face like a fountain, her body began to convulse non-stop, and her breathing became rapid.

“It hurts so much… It hurts so much… Mom, stop hitting me… I know I was wrong… if you keep hitting me, I’ll break…”

Little Charlotte let out such a tragic wail.

After this wailing continued for several minutes, Master Chloe finally stopped.

Looking at little Charlotte, who was pale-faced and covered in cold sweat but still panting heavily and staring at the ground in disbelief, Chloe was slightly surprised.

“You didn’t pass out from the torment of the pain? Not bad.”

“I think I’m starting to get used to being beaten…”

Thanks to Chloe’s teaching over the past few days, little Charlotte had to endure not only the severe pain of the magic circuits pulling at her body every day but also the “massage” personally gifted to her by Mom Rhynes. Her body was rapidly developing pain resistance.

“Speaking of which, Master, you tied me up and brought me to this remote wilderness. Aren’t you afraid Mom Rhynes will chase after you?”

“Heh heh, that’s where you’re wrong! I’m now the Night Witch, on par with your Master’s Mist Witch title. If we were to fight, I wouldn’t lose!”

“Then how did you get so easily defeated by Mom Rhynes earlier?”

Little Charlotte remembered that when Chloe was urgently summoned by Mom Rhynes and arrived in her living room, she suddenly realized something was wrong and quickly turned to run. But she was unexpectedly defeated by Mom Rhynes in just a few moves, stripped of her magical robe, and thrown into the cage for punishment.

“Uh… that’s because that was Master Rhynes’s territory. She had a territory advantage, so naturally, I couldn’t beat her there. But she doesn’t have that advantage in this place. Plus, we’re tens of thousands of miles from your home. She couldn’t chase us even if she wanted to.”

“Is that so? So the collar you’re wearing around your neck is also part of your plan to increase your chances of winning?”

“Collar? What collar?”

“The one on your neck. Haven’t you noticed you’re wearing a collar?”

Chloe looked skeptical and reached up to touch her neck, only to actually feel a strange, circular object there.

She was so shocked her eyes widened instantly.

“Not good!”

However, before she could take any defensive measures, the collar around her neck suddenly tightened, making it impossible for her to breathe normally.

She collapsed weakly to the ground, struggling in agony.

“Master… I was wrong… I won’t dare to do it again…”