Ch 108. Can’t always get what you want

Marcella roused again in the morning, still trying to act the same as usual despite the fact that she had been masturbating fruitlessly throughout the night and had continued to do so until moments before I went to 'wake' her. The heightened sexual appetite still burning away at her nethers and bringing a bright glow to her cheeks as she was forced to put up a tough facade to face the day. The potent vitality in the potion doing wonders to stave off the worst of sleep-deprivation, but that part was just one more aspect that made the blood potions more addictive.

I watched as Marcella went about her 'normal' day. Walking all day alongside the caravan and coming back for her potion at night, a cycle of punishment and reward forming where she endured the long day's travel, an exhausting ordeal for a spoiled noblewoman like herself, only to be given her reward at night, an intoxicating potion that filled her with vitality and the insatiable feelings of lust.

Repeating this over the course of a week as taking the potion became her routine. Each day I increased the amount of my blood in her potion, the potency of the life essence doubling from the night before. Delivering a flavor as if she were drinking life itself. Her feelings of 'aliveness' heightened during that time, the closest semblance to happiness that she had in this world... but the thoughts of lust, especially those that she felt towards me were nothing but shameful for her. Her rosy complexion turning a shade redder at the idea, still refusing to break in the face of such temptations. 

If pushing wouldn't work, I'd need to retreat back a step and allow her to follow. Waiting for Marcella to approach me for her usual dose of potion. 

"Hello, Marcella. Come for the potion again?" I smiled at her knowingly, already apparent what she wanted from the first time that I noticed her. 

She nodded timidly, still not trusting me, but now that I had something that she very much wanted, I was once again in a position where she had no choice but to come to me to ask. 

"There won't be any more I'm afraid... we already know the effects now, there's no longer a use to having you test it out. The potions are something of a pain to make as well." And I meant it in the most literal sense, as I had to use my own blood as the primary ingredient. 

Her eyes widening in alarm at my words. So far she had hidden away the secondary effects, namely the aphrodisiac portion. Only describing it to me as a general 'good' feeling that she felt when she drank it. If I truly didn't already know what it did then I would have been troubled by her vague and unhelpful descriptions.

"That's... you're not making it anymore?" She looked taken aback, given she had lost the one thing that she currently looked forward to in her life I suppose her shock was understandable. 

"It's a product. We know the effects, now all that's left is to sell it. You'd need to buy it like anybody else." I said giving her the cold treatment. What I said made sense. Now that she had done her job, her help was no longer needed. 

Panic filling her eyes after I had totally upended her now 'normal' routine. 

"So suddenly! C-can't we talk this over?" She protested in vain, trying to come up with a solution that would work for the both of us, but most importantly something that would allow her to continue drinking these potions. Asking if she could do my laundry or other miscellaneous chores, as if she were some sort of maid instead of a slave who would be expected to do all of those already for free. But even a maid, one who received a proper salary, would never be able to afford potions like these. Even she had to realize that. Each of these vials was equivalent to the blood of an extremely high-grade magical beast, worth hundreds of gold at the very least. 

When I told her this, I expected her to back down, at least temporarily, but as it turned out revealing the price to her didn't even seem to phase Marcella. She had always had everything provided by her father, to the point she couldn't even realize that hundreds of gold was more than a typical maid would make in a liftetime of work, and yet she as a slave was asking for that much in product every night.

Letting her know that I expected just compensation, refusing her outright as if there were nothing she could offer me that would satisfy the price. But in her eyes I could see that she understood what I was asking for, even without saying the words. She could tell I was after her body, but her pride kept her actions in check. Her words catching in her throat as she struggled to say anything, truly at a loss with how she could obtain what she wanted without compromising herself. 

"Let me know if you change your mind." I smiled and patted her on the shoulder. Heading off to my tent as if I truly cared nothing about her decision either way. She would either beg me to have her, or she would feel loss once again and I would need to reevaluate my methods. Either was fine in my book, I was just curious to see which path she would take. Leaving Marcella to contemplate her future with tears in her eye.