Depraved Noble: Forced To Live The Debaucherous Life Of An Evil Noble!-Chapter 490: Hung Up And Drawn

Cassius, oblivious to their gazes, smiled warmly at the group of children huddled before him.

"Alright, everyone." He said, clapping his hands lightly to get their attention. "Listen carefully. See that big sister over there?"

He pointed toward Skadi, whose ears immediately perked up in surprise.

"The one with the fluffy tail? She’s going to break open every single one of your cages and lead you out. So I need you all to take a few steps back—don’t touch the bars, okay? I don’t want anyone getting hurt."

The children immediately obeyed, their fear replaced with the trust he’d built in minutes.

They hurriedly shuffled back from the iron bars, clutching one another but looking hopeful now.

Cassius nodded in satisfaction and looked toward Skadi. "Go ahead."

Skadi straightened her back, cracking her knuckles with a grin.

"Yes, Master!" She barked.

Then she dug her claws into the metal, her arms flexing as she ripped through the cages like they were made of paper.

One by one, the doors gave way, clanging loudly as they fell open. The children gasped and cheered softly, some even reaching out to touch her tail, which made Skadi’s ears flick and her cheeks flush pink.

Cassius then turned toward Aisha.

"And that big sister with the cat ears—you see her?" He said, pointing. "That’s Aisha. She’s going to check all of you. If you feel sick, if you’re hurt, or if something’s wrong, you go straight to her, alright?"

Aisha immediately stepped forward, kneeling among them with a warm smile.

"Come here, little ones." She said softly. "Show me where it hurts."

The children surrounded her without hesitation now, letting her examine bruises and cuts with glowing healing magic.

Cassius smiled at the sight, then turned toward Julie.

"And this..." He said, his voice deep and steady. "...is Captain Julie, the one in charge. She’ll be leading you all out. I want everyone to listen to her, understand?"

"Whatever she says, you follow it exactly. If you do that, you’ll all make it back to your families safely."

The children’s faces lit up again at his words.

Hope, fragile but bright, filled the air.

Julie gave a reassuring nod, her calm authority returning as she began directing them into neat rows.

"Everyone, stay close together." She said gently. "We’ll go through the tunnel one group at a time."

Everything was going smoothly.

The once hopeless dungeon was now alive with quiet chatter, movement, and light. The children, guided by Julie and Aisha, began forming lines, while Skadi continued breaking open the last few cages.

Cassius stood a few steps back, arms crossed, surveying the progress with a satisfied expression.

But just as he turned to glance down the corridor, something caught his attention—a faint, irregular sound echoing from the darkness beyond.

A slow, ragged breathing.

His brows furrowed. "...That’s strange."

Julie noticed the change in his expression.

"Cassius?" She called. "What’s wrong?"

He didn’t answer immediately. He tilted his head slightly, listening again. The sound was faint, but it was definitely there—deeper in the shadows, coming from the farthest corner of the corridor.

Finally, he said. "There’s...someone else here. Breathing."

Julie blinked. "Someone else?"

Aisha, who had just finished healing a child’s scraped knee, looked up sharply. "You mean another captive?"

"Maybe. I can’t be sure yet, but it doesn’t sound like a child." Cassius said without another word he swiftly went towards the direction the sound was coming from.

Aisha too patted one of the children’s heads, and began running after him.

"I’ll check it out!" She said quickly.

With Aisha right by his side, Cassius led the way, walking steadily toward the dark end of the hall.

The air grew colder, the torches sparser, until the faint light barely reached the walls.

The sound of breathing became clearer—rough, uneven, as though whoever it was had been unconscious for a long time.

Finally, the corridor opened into a large, dimly lit chamber and Aisha instantly stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening in shock as she saw what was before her.

The space was massive—stone walls lined to form a domed chamber that was taller then a castle, torches flickering weakly against the damp air.

But in the center of the chamber hung a single figure.

A woman.

Her wrists and ankles were bound by thick chains, stretched outward and suspended from the ceiling and walls, keeping her body suspended like a captured beast.

Her long pure white hair flowed down her back in tangled waves, catching the dim light of the torches.

Her robe, once black, was torn and tattered, barely clinging to her curvaceous figure.

Her skin was brown as coffee, almost looking like delicious milk chocolate in the darkness.

Her frame itself was tall and elegant, her body mature and voluptuous, her presence so commanding that even while asleep, she radiated authority.

Aisha stood frozen for a long moment, her eyes tracing every inch of the bound woman’s figure.

Even chained, battered, and hanging in such a cruel state, her beauty was almost unreal—too perfect, too majestic.

She looked like someone born to rule, her beauty so striking it felt unreal.

"So beautiful..." Aisha whispered without realizing it, her voice soft and breathy. "I didn’t think someone could look so beautiful even in such a state..."

Cassius stepped beside her, his gaze calm but equally intrigued.

"Yeah." He said quietly. "She really is gorgeous, isn’t she?" He tilted his head, studying the mysterious woman. "Almost too gorgeous."

Then he glanced at Aisha and asked,

"But before I ask anything else, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you still be with the children, making sure they’re alright?"

Aisha turned to him, still a little dazed.

"It’s fine." She said quickly. "They’re all okay now. Most of them just have bruises, burns and minor cuts. I used what healing spells I could, but they’ll need a priest for full recovery."

"For now, they can walk on their own."

Cassius nodded slightly.

"Good." Then his eyes went back to the chained woman. "Do you have any idea why they’d keep her restrained like this?"

Aisha shook her head.

"No...but honestly, I don’t care. All I see is someone suffering. Whoever she is, no one deserves this." She took a determined step forward. "I’m going to free her."

But Cassius reached out, gripping her shoulder gently but firmly. "Hold on, Aisha."

She blinked at him, confused. "What’s wrong?"

He gestured toward the woman.

"Just look at this. Bound from all four limbs, sealed in a chamber apart from everything else...This isn’t how you restrain a random prisoner. This is how you contain something dangerous. Are we sure we should just unbind her?"

But Aisha shook his hand off, eyes hardening.

"I don’t care about that right now. She’s clearly been tortured by these lunatics. I can’t just stand by and do nothing. Even if she’s dangerous, she’s still a victim."

Before Cassius could stop her again, Aisha summoned a sharp stone spike with a flick of her hand and sent it flying toward the ceiling mechanism.

It smashed through the heavy weight supporting the chains, and in an instant, the metal bindings slackened.

The woman’s body dropped.

Aisha darted forward, catching her mid-fall with surprising grace.

"It’s alright...you’re safe now." She said softly, lowering the woman gently to the ground.

But the words had barely left her lips when the woman’s eyes snapped open.

And the moment she saw her eyes—Aisha froze.

They were red—crimson red—and they glowed faintly in the torchlight.

The kind of red that didn’t belong to any human being.

Aisha’s entire body locked up, an instinctive chill racing down her spine. She couldn’t even breathe almost as if just looking at her eyes was causing her body to lock up.

And while she was facing temporary paralysis, the woman moved with terrifying speed—her right hand pulling back, her long black nails stretching and hardening into claw-like fangs.

She slashed down toward Aisha’s face looking to slice her head off

But the blow never landed.

Aisha blinked—and in that instant, Cassius was there, his arm around her waist, pulling her back just in time.

The claws sliced through the air where her head had been, leaving a faint ripple of mana behind.

While Aisha was in a daze from the sudden attack, mysterious woman herself slowly straightened herself.

For someone who had been hanging by chains just moments ago, she rose with an eerie elegance—her every movement fluid, regal, proper.

Her crimson eyes then flicked toward Cassius, narrowing slightly.

It was subtle, but he caught the faint look of surprise on her face—surprise that he had managed to pull Aisha out of her reach so swiftly, when she had been mere inches away from striking her.

The woman’s gaze lingered on him, assessing, measuring.

There was a quiet wariness there now, as if she’d realized that Cassius was far more dangerous than he appeared.

Her lips also parted ever so slightly—plump and blood-red like she getting ready to take a bite out of his neck and in that moment—Aisha saw them.

Two gleaming fangs catching the dim light of the torches and seeing those along with her crimson eyes, her breath caught in her throat as she realised what they were facing.

"C-Cassius..." She whispered, her voice trembling as her eyes widened, but he was more focused on the women to respond.

The woman herself didn’t lunge immediately, though her posture tensed, the faint rustle of the chains that still clung to her wrists echoing faintly.

Cassius could see her body coil, muscles tightening as if preparing to spring forward, her sharp nails flexing like claws.

But then—she stopped.

Her head turned sharply toward the corridor, her eyes narrowing.

It was as if she’d heard something...a distant vibration, a voice, or perhaps a signal.

Whatever it was, it clearly took precedence over them.

She glanced back at Cassius one last time. This time, her gaze filled with open hostility, a predator’s promise that their meeting wasn’t over, before she turned and vanished.

It happened in an instant. One moment she stood there; the next, she was gone—nothing but a blur of motion and the faint whoosh of displaced air.

Cassius blinked.

"Tch...fast." He muttered under his breath. "Not quite as fast as Julie, but...close."

He then turned his attention back to Aisha, who was still staring at the spot where the woman had been, pale and speechless. Cassius crouched beside her, resting a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"You alright, Aisha?" He asked softly. "Did she hurt you?"

Aisha didn’t respond at first. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her eyes still wide.

When she finally looked up at him, there was disbelief written all over her face.

"Cassius..." She whispered, her voice almost cracking. "That woman...she...she..."

"...SHE’S A VAMPIRE!"