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The prisons of the Heian Dynasty were not a place for samurais to stay. Samurais had a high sense of honor. If they really committed a crime, then they usually lost court positions, fief territory or salary, but if it was a serious crime, then it was seppuku. As for enemy samurais, it was either defection, or seppuku. Capturing was not a thing.

So even though the prison Lily was being led to was called the Heavenly Prison, it was in truth a prison for thieves and gangsters.

The heavenly prison was built on the west side of the palace. Despite its grand name, it was a worn down and dirty compound. In the center of the compound was a big pit. In that pit was filled with stakes and wooden cages. Some of the lesser criminals were imprisoned there. But those wooden structures were not suitable for jailing prisoners.

Before arriving at the pit, Lily could see two paths. A wooden bridge over the pit leading to a governmental office, an office for interrogating prisoners, and wooden stairs leading down the pit. Lily was pushed towards the stairs.

Looking down, Lily could see that the pit was several dozen meters deep, and cells were dug out of the ground on each level. The deeper one went, the more damp, rancid and bloody it became. Lily didn’t like this smell, but all she could do was endure it.

As a criminal who brought a blade into the palace, she was led to the bottommost floor.

At the bottom, Lily was pushed into a tunnel. The walls were made of stone, and torches lit the way illuminating the dirty ferocious faces of prisoners locked in cells.

“Get in!” Lily was shoved into the deepest largest cell. The cell door was shut and locked with iron chains while the shackles around her wrists were dispelled.

The thick wooden bars of the cell were made of grade five wood and those chains were tempered grade four black iron.

As Lily looked around the cell, she could see weeds covering the floor and smell various stenches around the cell. It all made her frown. In this cell, Lily was not the only prisoner.

In the darkness, the group of burly and unkempt prisoners stared at their new cellmate.

“No way… they actually put me in a cell with a bunch of men?” Lily was dumbfounded, they actually put her in a cell full of men, and they all looked fierce and ruthless.

For those men, with the appearance of Lily, their first thought was not of killing. After being imprisoned in this deep dark cell, they no longer remembered the last time they had touched a woman. Seeing a stunning beauty like Lily made them lose all control of their desires.

They were all death row inmates and felons, they just stared at Lily without moving. Since none of them were moving, she didn’t act. It wasn’t as if staring at her was a crime. She ignored them and turned around to look outside the cell.

“Brothers, look… it’s actually a woman!”

In the darkness, a tall bald buck toothed man whispered to a bearded man with hair in a black top knot. This big bearded man had a rough ferocious face, a terrifying scar raked over one eye.

His gaze locked on Lily’s form, that graceful back, that slim waist, that generous plump backside.

His voice, rough and savage, “Woman.”

Lily didn’t respond, her back still facing the group.

The tall baldhead stood up, his arms thicker than her waist and tattooed with images of ghosts. He hollered, “Woman! Eldest brother is calling you! Pay your respects to him!”
“Woman! Are you deaf!?”
“Deaf? Those **** and butt are so big, did it absorb her brain?”

Baldy and the other savage prisoners roared at Lily.

“Strange, eldest brother, why isn’t that woman afraid? Is she really r̲e̲t̲a̲r̲d̲e̲d̲?” Baldy asked.

Another man with a long face stood up in a crouching position, he was too tall. “Eldest brother, I’ll go drag that b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲ over here to pay her respects.”

“Ah!” The scarred bearded man jeered, “That woman must be of high birth, but offended some princeling and was jailed here. Look at her, she must’ve been spoiled from birth and never suffered any hardship. She must still think we’re on the streets and acting arrogant in front of us!”

“Bah!” The baldy spat out, “B̲i̲t̲c̲h̲, do you know where you are? Don’t put on airs! Eldest brother has called you over, hurry and pay your respects! Do you believe I won’t drag you by your hair?”

Several men got up and surrounded her from behind, all of them burly and fierce. Lily felt helpless, she turned and walked over to the seated scarred bearded man. Arriving in front of him, Lily stood there, eyes calm, face emotionless. No fear could be seen.

“What’s your name? How old are you?” He looked over Lily, salivating over her breasts, waist and legs.

He wasn’t hurried at all, as if Lily was already a piece of meat in his mouth, one he could enjoy whenever he wanted. He wanted to frighten her and make her submit, as the boss of the cell he was used to obedience.

“Kagami Lily, seventeen.” Lily felt it was nothing and replied.

“What’s your crime? Adultery, cheating? Or prostitution?” He asked, in Heian-kyo, prostitution wasn’t illegal, but those they had to pay the prositution tax. Women who weren’t legalized were subjected to heavy penalties.

Lily didn’t answer.

Baldy, horse face, and the other men all took a deep breath as they approached Lily, “She smells so good… eldest brother, I’ve never met such a top quality woman before.”

The baldy kept his eyes on her, “Eldest brother asked you a question. You look so arrogant, it doesn’t seem like a prostitute, was it adultury? Speak up, let us teach you!”

“Hmph.” Lily’s gaze remained calm, “What did you guys do?”

If it was another prisoner asking, they’d be taught a lesson and their arms and legs broken, but when asked by a sexy woman like Lily, they rushed forward to report their crimes, to show off in front of Lily.

Baldy grinned showing off his buckteeth, “I collect protection fees at the markets, I occasionally kill or beat up those hawkers who dare disobey! The government doesn’t really care, but one night I drank too much and stopped the ox cart of some young miss, killed all her guards and did her on the spot. After that I took her to my brothers for some more fun, but who knew she was so weak, we played her to death. As a result, I was captured, how about it, aren’t I capable? Hehe, that young miss was still a virgin and sexy, totally worth it!”

The horse face pushed the baldy away, “You, that doesn’t count as anything! I followed the boss as a gangster. In a territory fight I killed more than ten people and maimed over twenty. I even killed the chief and bailiffs, so I ended up here!”

A short dirty man with a black face interjected, “You guys are so capable, you’ve killed so many, but me? I only lost all my money and snuck into the palace to steal some treasures, but I saw a princess taking a bath! I couldn’t help it and tried to mess with her, who knew she’d be so powerful. She beat me into the ground with a few moves and sent me into this death cell! I didn’t even get to steal any treasures, didn’t I take a big loss?”

“What loss? A mousy guy like you, seeing a naked princess? It’s so f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g worth it!”
“I only killed three people! I can’t compare with you guys!”
In a dark corner a fatty boasted, “I mained my wife, and when my in-laws came to reason with me, I exterminated their whole family in a fit!”

The criminals all proudly boasted their crimes one by one, all watching Lily with great pride wanting to enjoy the sight of her face turning white with fright.

Baldy grinned, “Enough, you’re all nothing. Prepare to listen to eldest brother, be prepared, woman, when you hear his crime, you’ll piss yourself in fright!”

The scarred bearded eldest brother sneered at them, “You guys don’t have to be like that. Look at this little girl, so white and tender, and those hands, so small and soft. She hasn’t killed a chicken before, I don’t want to make her cry or piss herself!”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The group of criminals surrounding Lily roared in laughter.

“Isn’t that right? Look at her, like a jade flower. You don’t leave your house often do you? It’s really hard to be locked up with this gang of vicious criminals isn’t it? Ahahahaha!” Baldy taunted.

“I say, to think the guards would lock her in here with us. What crime did she commit and who did she offend? I really pity her!” A red faced ronin circled her while taunting.

“Silence!” The horse-face hollered, “Listen to eldest brother, let’s see her piss herself!”

The scarred bearded man looked at Lily snorting with disdain, his only eye stared at her, “ Woman, I really don’t want to frighten you, murder is nothing to me, I’ve even killed monsters!”

“That, that’s right!” The horse-faced man boasted, “Eldest brother invaded deep into the barren mountains by himself and killed a middle ranked archdemon!”

“Ohhh——” Everytime they heard the story, they would all quiet down and stare at the scarred bearded man with admiration and fright.