With no plans whatsoever to move his legs or leave in the first place, Tamen dragged his seat closer to the maid on the floor, before sitting back on it.
"Blackmailed? " he then asked without overly pushing her to talk about the people behind it.
He was wearing a rare and expensive truth ring on his right finger that could bypass most enchantments even on a demigod level and it enabled him to be able to tell when someone was lying.
So he was sure that the maid in front of him wasn't lying about being blackmailed since the ring had not once blinked red or changed from the aqua blue color it had.
"Yes, they threatened to hurt my family, If I didn't do what they wanted" Jasmine replied.
"What did they want?" asked Tamen the third prince, having already thrown away the smile he formerly had on his face.
Before Jasmine thought to answer his question, she glanced at the two men behind him wondering what their reaction would be if she began to tell the prince the truth about everything.
Both of the men standing close to the door had black cloaks wearing black bowler hats on their heads and the only things that differentiated them from each other was their height and size and also the different expressions on their face.
The older one looked more robust in size and smaller in height and seemed like he couldn't wait to hurt her while the other one, who had the less dignified look, appeared somewhat terrified as he kept shifting his gaze from his partner's own to the back of the prince's head.
"They...They wanted me to curse a girl wearing a red-colored gown," Jasmine said turning her gaze and attention back on the prince.
"It didn't matter who she was, the man that came to me just wanted me to curse any of the debutantes at the banquet who wore a red gown," Jasmine said clearly having already decided to confess everything she knew about the matter in hopes that she alone would suffer and the royal family wouldn't touch her family unlike if she decided to cover up for people that looked like they would like nothing more than to kill her to cover their tracks.
The prince was however only a little surprised to hear what the maid sitting in front of him had to say.
Later that day, the mage that attended to the girl who had been cursed had informed him and his mother, the queen about the kind of sacrificial curse that was placed upon her.
He was surprised to find out that the lady would have definitely lost her life if she had been wearing a gown with a deeper shade of red and he quickly recalled the young lady he had spoken to at the banquet.
"Why then did you pick the lady you chose, I was at the banquet so I'm sure that one of the debutantes there was wearing a deep colored red gown?" He asked curious to know why she didn't curse who she was told to and instead chose a different person wearing a peach gown.
"Yes, the lady you were talking to. When I noticed that you were talking to her and you seemed to know her, I didn't want to curse someone close to the royal family in any way," she replied answering the third prince's questions honestly and as truthfully as she could.
In the meantime, while Jasmine was busy talking and opening up to the prince, standing behind the prince and not as close to the door as Exiner was, Lank tried his best to stop himself from reacting in any way but the more he watched the maid on the ground open her mouth to talk, the more convinced he became that she needed to die.
"I can't trust Exiner not to have left a clue behind and moreover I'm sure she heard the entire conversation we had in front of the door, so I'm sure she knows that we are somehow involved," thought Lark tapping his left foot on the ground impatiently and as noiselessly as he could not wanting to draw the wrath of the prince to himself.
But the moment, she finished answering one of the prince's questions, Lark quickly stepped forward and came to stand behind the prince.
"Your highness, I would not trust a word coming out of the criminal's mouth. She could be lying and for the sake of gold coins probably promised to her family she could be saying exactly what she had been told to say," he said speaking strongly with his head bowed to show respect.
" I believe that torturing such a heartless criminal and even involving her family would be the best solution instead of simply talking to her, your highness," Lark continued.
Tamen was surprised to hear Lark suddenly speak up and interrupt his questioning but since Lark wasn't young, and he had a respectable rank among the punishers unlike Exiner who chose to remain quietly by the door, Tamen decided not to admonish him.
" It's fine. I know what I'm doing. You may move back to the place where you were standing before," Said Tamen sparing a glance at him to show his displeasure without having to voice it out.
" I apologize your highness. I leave this matter to your supreme judgment Lark said before taking a few steps away from the prince, without once raising his head until he was back in his former position not far away from where Exiner was standing.
"What...," Exiner sai, about to ask a question as he wondered what he and Lark should do to prevent the maid from speaking and he had just begun talking when he immediately shut his mouth after seeing the look Lark threw his way the moment he raised his head back up.
Lark was furious and he tried his best not to show it but he knew that any idiotic or annoying questions that Exiner was bound to ask him had a high tendency of setting him off and he was happy that he had long learned to be calm, even in provoking situations like the one he was in.
"What am I to do when I get stuck with partners like this," he thought turning back to look at Exiner's face as he stood by the door a few paces behind him with no clue of what to do, except simply waiting for him to tell him what had to be done.