"ahhh... stop... please, I beg you..."There was suddenly a scream of pain in this once quiet and eerie room. This place also contains a large number of cells where prisoners are being held.
When the prisoners heard the screams getting louder and louder, they immediately became terrified and tried to close their eyes. Some of them were already crying at this point.
The scream was coming from one of the cells, and in front of the cell, it could be seen that there were already two women dressed in white robes and wearing masks that were engraved to describe an emotion.
When you look inside the cell, there are already a few people there. However, there are three people who stand out the most, which prompts you to wonder why the three of them are in this extremely dim and gloomy place.
Because the three people have such distinct and disparate auras, the two are women with stunning faces and bodies who are coveted by all women.
The other individual was a male, but he had a very handsome face, and when one saw him for the first time, they were immediately captivated by his charisma and nobility since he had such a striking first impression.
The three of them looked straight ahead as if they were watching a show. The screams that had been echoing in this place had come from the mouth of a male prisoner who was currently undergoing a painful process.
Because at this very moment, a woman dressed in a white robe and wearing a mask depicting a smiling expression was slowly cutting the leg of a middle-aged man.
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My Pov
"Please... put a stop to it... I have no idea about anything." In spite of the fact that Smiley was cutting off one of the man's legs very slowly, the middle-aged man did not show any sign of giving in.
I was able to see blood pouring out of a cut that had been made with a sharp knife on his knee, and even the bones that were exposed at this point had been easily severed by the blade.
And with a sound like a "thud," his right leg was cut in half, and after that, it was anticipated that the middle-aged man would become even more hysterical.
What they saw in front of their eyes didn't bother Emilia and Sascha very much, although Emilia had a slightly confused expression but didn't know what to say about it. Sascha also didn't seem to be too bothered.
"You are well aware that young master will put an end to your life gradually if you continue to insist on keeping your silence in this manner."
After smilingly and coldly sawing off the leg of the middle-aged man, Smiley spoke in a low voice and tried to persuade the victim to change his mind.
"I really am clueless about everything... I had nothing to do with the bandits who attacked the carriage in the forest back then, and I had nothing to do with them."
The middle-aged man explained everything with a painful groan, but when I heard it, all I could do was sigh, and then I spoke with a chilly voice and a playful expression on my face.
"To be more specific, you were under the impression that I was a naive child who had never left the palace. As a result, you let your guard down, which allowed me to take advantage of the situation." The facial muscles of the middle-aged man appeared to twitch ever-so-slightly when he heard my words.
"So you put on a play with that bandit in the hopes that I would treat your barely existing wounds, but instead, you ended up being tortured in this place."
The expression on the middle-aged man's face was peculiar, and it appeared as though he was trying to avoid answering the question by saying, "trust me, you can ask the surviving brother and sister, they saw me fighting to the death against...ahhhhh."
However, before the middle-aged man could finish his sentence, he was already wailing in pain because Smiley standing next to him, had severed his left leg in half. This time, Smiley did it quickly and violently.
After that, Smiley, who had been speaking in a gentle tone, became stern and said, "I'm sorry, young master, but this individual drives me to the point where I can't stand it anymore. I want to make him sit on a chair with horns sticking out of it, along with many other fun things."
I said to Smiley, "Yeah, whatever, I'm getting bored too. Make sure he dies slowly," but after that, I looked at the middle-aged man, who appeared to be lying limp with his two severed legs, and said with a face devoid of expression.
"Consider this as punishment for the sin you did by keeping me waiting for so long."
"Raupe family... those who told me to put Prince Hadrian von Kaiser and Alice von Kaiser to the test..." The middle-aged man struggled to sit up, and his confession came out in a trembling whisper as he tried.
After I had finished listening to that, I got out of the cell as quickly as possible and walked out of the dungeon.
After hearing the name of the Raupe family, Emilia and Sascha's expressions changed to ones of surprise. However, the two of them moved quickly to follow me.
In the meantime, the middle-aged man could only muster a wry smile, and it was clear he had given up any last vestiges of hope.
"They made the terrible mistake of hiring a novice. What a shame... It occurred to me that I might derive some satisfaction from tormenting you just before you passed away." Smiley uttered those words, and immediately afterward, there was the sound of something falling and rolling inside the prison cell, and shortly after that, a very bright light began to shine from within the cell.
After the three women in white robes left this place to the door they had entered earlier, the place's environment returned to its previous state of tranquility, and no one dared to make a sound.
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Meanwhile, as soon as we were back on the surface, Emilia hurried over to me and started talking.
"I have a pretty good idea what took place, but would the Raupe family really be capable of doing something like that?"
I simply gave a small smile and said, "it's true that their little noble family wouldn't dare to do it, but we are almost close to the real mastermind."
When Emilia heard my words, she suddenly began to ponder something. In the meantime, it was Sascha's turn to inquire about something, and she asked, "Will that responsibility is given to Alice?"
"It is possible, and you will be her guardian while she is doing her errands," I said. When Sascha heard that, she immediately put on a sad expression as if she was dissatisfied with the answer I was given.
After that, I gave Sascha the order to move into one of the empty bedrooms in the palace, and after that, the three of us went our separate ways to do our own things.
After that, I decided to pay my mother a visit because I still had something I needed to discuss with her.
She was kept extremely busy with her responsibilities as Empress on a daily basis. Despite this, whenever there were no pressing issues that required her presence, she would always spend her time working from the comfort of her own room.
Additionally, her assistant, who is always by my mother's side, will act as the go-between for the officials and the higher-ups in the imperial government during the meetings that take place every day.
"What a relaxing life," I thought to myself because, as you are aware, the life of an emperor is very hectic and full of drama, and the life of my mother, who is a female emperor, must have been even worse than that.
But my mysterious mother managed to manipulate everything in some way so that it was more aligned with her interests. Of course, there are other secrets that my family is keeping, and my mother, in particular, is a mystery.
I have arrived in front of a door, and I know that on the other side of it is my mother's study, where she spends the majority of her time.
"Do you have any idea how worried I am, what if something terrible happens to you, and who will protect you?" I was able to make out the voice of a woman who was extremely angry.
"Brother will protect me... so mother needn't worry..." I was also able to pick up on Alice's soft voice, but after that, the owner of the agitated female voice continued her lecture.
"I believe Hadrian will be able to protect you, but what if he wasn't by your side? What would have happened to you if that was the case?"
"..."
The lecture was cut short after hearing the door being opened by me, at which point I sighed and said something.
"I wholeheartedly agree with what mother said, and to be honest, I didn't want to grant Alice's request to leave capital either, but she held a knife behind me, and I had no choice..."
After hearing it, Alice's face instantly became red with rage.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about, brother!"