After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 1724

Capítulo 1724: Sandra’s Situation

TRIGGER WARNING: Torture. Mostly mental and slightly physical. Some mentions of self-harm. Summary in paragraph comment attached.

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While Voumi nobles prepared for their trip, a certain pregnant woman had just been transferred to Alterra as well. This time, she was on her feet but in chains, pulled along as if she were a normal commuter heading to one of the manual prisoners with just two guards

If they passed through a pedestrian street, they would walk, and if the road could be traversed faster with broat car or a bike car, then they would take it.

The difference was that she looked haggard, very pregnant, and in chains.

After the war, Sandra was first paraded along Bright Village. Unlike in Alterra, where she was mostly just transported in a relatively straightforward manner, regardless of how ‘ugly’ she looked, she was more on display there.

However, because people in Bright actually knew her and had enmity with her, she was cuffed in a protected cage. It was sturdy enough so that even if people threw stones, she wouldn’t get hit.

It was not for her protection, however, but for her child. Alterrans were not so inhumane as to kill an innocent child, and it was the one thing that was protecting Sandra from direct harm.

In contrast, Gingo’s mutilated corpse was also retrieved. His corpse was displayed and burned in front of people, as if just to make sure he would not return anymore.

Sandra watched from the side, shivering, scratching her own body in shock and panic. She wondered….would she be burned at the stake too? She knew people certainly wanted to.

Not only this, Sandra, while in her protective cell, was also displayed in the plaza for at least three days, only taken out at night and when she had to relieve herself.

While displayed, she had to listen to people’s yells and cries, as well as their curses. For three whole days, she had to listen to the wails of people and feel their anger.

She was slapped with facts about the people they lost because of her betrayal.

People lost their friends, their lovers, their parents, and their children.

Some of them were even kids younger than ten years old, killed as collateral damage during the battle with Fargo Village back then. Because of her poison, the Bright’s guards were weakened, and those who could’ve been protected didn’t stand a chance.

“How could you not feel anything when you caused so much pain?”

Sandra was crying the whole time, slowly feeling like she was going crazy, and she started hurting herself in whatever way she could. She was chained so her movements were limited, so she rammed her head on the cage or tried to bite herself.

It was just that she was continuously fed health potions to keep her body healthy, but they were doing nothing to protect her mental health.

She ought to understand the effects of her decisions.

Then she was just imprisoned for the next few days, fed and taken care of, but with no one to talk with. At least no one who was tasked to look after her cared for her enough to have a casual conversation.

Even if none of them were direct victims (chosen precisely because of this), they were still so repulsed to even have to be in the same room as her.

Even if they didn’t have anyone close to them directly killed in that war, many of their friends had lost someone. They had also lost people during the apocalypse and the transfer, so they could emphathize.

Empathy. That very basic trait this damned woman did not have!

The only fortunate part was that Alterra insisted that the treatment was still humane, so no one dared to bully her blatantly, so they could only grit their teeth and ignore her.

And now, she was finally transferred to Alterra, once again seeing the people’s derisive stares before she left, with many mutterings of regret of not seeing her death with their own eyes.

She arrived at Alterra a day later. After so long, she saw the tall walls, which were even taller than before, and definitely covered a much bigger area. The last time she was here, it was still a village.

Sandra was pulled forward, seeing the bustling town that was even more bustling than ever. People were rich and well-off and happy, and many of them paused when they saw her pass by them.

As she was dragged along, people would stare at her, some in disgust and dislike, but mostly with indifference. They might not know her, but some of those who did couldn’t even be bothered looking at her.

“What’s going on? I haven’t seen a sight like this in Alterra before.”

“She must be a horrendous criminal.”

“Yeah, I see it,” another said, having blind trust that Alterra wouldn’t chain an innocent pregnant woman like this.

Then there were some who did recognize her and enlightened the others. “It’s that girl from Bright! I remember her. The one who betrayed them.”

“That’s the jealous woman who destroyed her home for greed?”

“I remember her! She talked a lot like she knew Lady Althea, even had the mild atmosphere of comparing to her.”

The words made juice splatter as people laughed. “Her!? Seriously?”

“I know right. Where does she get those delusions anyway?”

“Be thankful that you don’t understand. Means you’re not crazy like her.”

These people weren’t quiet, and Sandra could hear everything. Her eyes were red, her heart fiery in anger and humiliation.

WHY!? WHY WHY!?

Even now, why was she still being compared to that woman as if she were mud!?

…

Sandra was sent to the camp for prisoners of war and was ordered to work alongside them.

She was a slave now, too, so she could only follow to the best of her abilities. Her tasks were relatively light, like sorting through raw materials, and she could go through the day sitting down.

She was also ordered not to hurt herself and take care of her health well, though psychologically, her face always felt like hurting from embarrassment and humiliation.

Every single day, it felt like the shame was eating her up.

And it wasn’t even shame from the guilt of what she had done. Just…shame that she fell like this.

Worse, it seemed like her situation was no secret, and the guards—and the other prisoners of war—ended up gossiping about her a lot.

For a vain woman like Sandra, there was no worse punishment. She’d rather go under manual labor than be laughed at—and she had to go through both!

“That’s her, that’s her.” One of the aborigine prisoners of war with rotting teeth, pointed at her while they delivered some of the ores to the sorting sector.

The person next to him, a man with large scar and an even uglier face, sneered in her direction. “I heard she was a town lord’s woman.”

“Not bad, not bad. Too bad she’s rotten on the inside.”

“I heard she got a lot of rival women killed by being a green tea bitch.”

This was true. She had killed many women, some Terran, just because they threatened her position. But to think that even those had spread out already-

“I’m amazed she’s alive.”

“She has the baby on her stomach to thank for that.”

“Alterra is so kind. I bet that kid would still grow up well, not knowing the trash that gave birth to him.”

Most of these people were trash themselves, making things even worse.

From a Town Lord’s Wife to a pitiful slave, what could be a greater fall?!