Her legs are open, her neck held tight, her arms chained behind. "What else does he need to do?", Melissa wonders as she feels the chain on her crotch being tightened as well. She feels that this is a long process for a simple act. The simple act of putting her in the hands of God.

She tries to avoid thinking about her physical pain and her humiliating position. She is a virgin, no man has ever seen her like this, she feels guilty, but doesn't know of what she is guilty. It is not her who opened her legs. It was forced upon her.

One last pull of the chain and he is done. The man walks around Melissa to reach her shoulders. As his hands move up to her neck she thinks it is the end. She prepares herself. But instead of the metal collar sinking into her flesh, she feels his hands grabbing the top of her garment and slowly pulling it down her arms and over her breasts

She bears this humiliation in silence. She remembers that the victim's top is usually lowered before the execution.

Melissa looks away from the torturer as her shift is slowly pulled down. It slides down her shoulders, reaching her breasts. She tries not to show her feelings, she concetrates on making her face a stony mask of strength. They must not see her humiliation, how she is crumbling inside.

Red Feline is witness to this event from her cage. She can sense Melissa's fear and shame. She does not need to see her face, somehow she can smell the fear, shame, hate and even love.

After exposing her breasts, the torturer walks away, leaving Melissa half naked. Her body has been covered most of the time, until now.

He is concerned about torturing a nun, and worse, stripping her. If she is innocent, God will not see his work with kindness. But he has his orders and he has to expose her skin for her next punishment. Worse yet, he finds the site of the nun's breasts arousing. "Perhaps she is a witch.", he thinks.

He goes to retreive his whip.

Melissa sees the torturer grab the leather whip. She realizes now that the end is not near, that she is held this way to be tortured and not executed. She knows now that her ordeal is far from over, that the preists mean to extract a confession before releasing her soul.

But she has nothing to confess, except her sins...she is not a witch, she had no dealings with the devil.

She sees the torturer approaching, testing the braided tails in the air.