Clang.
The sound of something breaking echoed in the study of the Wolfe family.
"Did he really say that?" Wistoria asked Xavier who was kneeling in front of the large table. A chunk of wood clutched in her hands as she raised her hand from the armrest of the chair which was broken by her.
"Yes," Xavier answered and Wistoria let out a growl. She threw the chunk of wood onto the floor. A part of her wanted to ignore that man who had shamelessly raised his payment in just a matter of two hours.
But when she thought about her brother and his condition —
Wistoria closed her eyes and stood up from her chair.
"Let us go. I will listen to what he has to say," Wistoria said to Xavier. If not for the fact that Damien was the only one who seemed to have deduced what was going on with her brother, she would have ignored him and his wilful antics.
But given the condition of her brother—
They couldn't leave the matter hanging for too long.
Xavier stood up from the floor and followed Wistoria. The two of them walked past the winding corridors before coming to a stop in front of the gates of the dungeons which was at quite a distance from the main mansion.
"Open the gates," Wistoria said to the guards who hurriedly pulled the chains of the large iron gate.
The iron gate was pulled up in a matter of seconds and Wistoria marched down the dimly lit corridor even though the water level kept rising bit by bit, it did little to nothing to slow down her pace.
Thus, in seconds Wistoria was standing in front of the dungeon's cell where Damien was locked up.
She glanced at the man who was lying on top of the bodies of flesh-eating rats, some of them were even standing on guard as if waiting for Damien to pass down an order to them.
Wistoria was struck dumb at the sight in front of her.
How in the world did he tame these things?
She turned to look at Xavier and questioned, "Can these rats be tamed?"
"There haven't been any instances of such a thing happening till this day though," Xavier answered. Even he, who had seen all kinds of weird things, had no idea what to make out of the situation in front of him.
"Maybe the rats recognise their family members?" The guard who had locked up Damien spoke and both Wistoria and Xavier turned to look at him blankly.
"Sorry," the guard apologised after being stared at by the two highest-ranking people in the Wolfe family.
Wistoria exhaled heavily with an eye roll. She turned to look at the man who was lying comfortably inside the dungeon cell and cleared her throat. However when the man did not react, she narrowed her eyes and announced coldly,
"I am here, what did you want to say to me?"
Damien raised his arm which he had placed on his eyes and turned to look at Wistoria. He faked an innocent reaction before saying, "Ah, lady Wistoria. What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here though? At such a late hour? Did you miss the warmth of your husband?"
"Imprudent!" Wistoria's cheeks flushed red with anger. She raised her voice and snapped, "How dare you—" She looked at the two guards who were looking anywhere but at her. She gritted her teeth and hissed, "Say such crude words in the presence of others?"
"You mean to say it is alright for me to say these words when we are alone?"
"Damien de Brysrtoria!" Wistoria's eyes now held little flames. She glared at the man in front of her and sneered, "You better not act cheeky with me."
Damien sighed. He pushed himself from the bed made of rats and snapped his fingers. The flesh-eating shivered and immediately swam up the water to make a throne for Damien.
After seeing more than six of their kind fall, how could they not be scared of this terrifying man? He did not kill them but rather gave them a more brutal death.
These beasts were not as intelligent as beastmen but they were still quite quick in perceiving danger.
Wistoria and Xavier: "…"
The guard: "…" Fuck! I have been guarding this prison for ages and yet these rats have never shown such fear in my presence!
Damien comfortably sat down on the back of the rats while looking at Wistoria. He smiled at her proactively before saying, "When did I act cheeky? Wasn't I just asking you, milady, what you are doing here?"
"You know why I am here," Wistoria said grimly.
"Hmm..do I?" Damien tapped his chin with a pondering look on his face. "Oh is it because of what happened earlier? What? Did my prediction come true? It did, right? None of the healers could heal your brother. Ain't I right?"
Wistoria clenched her fingers as rage surged in her veins. Her jaw moved twice before she asked, "Can you treat my brother?"
Damien glanced at Dan who nodded and replied, "The recovery chances of this patient are more than 76%. If I examine him properly then the chances can go even higher."
"I can," Damien turned to look at Wistoria. "But— I want my title of the slave as well as my family to be removed and of course the payment of the treatment."
"Impossible!" Wistoria was quick to refuse but a second later, she explained, "It is not that I don't want to remove the title of a slave from your name but it is impossible. This position was given to you by the Royal family and the current Emperor, himself. There is nothing I can do about it."
She paused and added, "Only someone from the royal family can help you remove this title. Preferably your brother."
Damien frowned. Does that mean he needed to deal with Emiliano? He did not want to at least not for now.
He first needed to find a way to solve the matter of his broken beast nucleus. With no power to protect himself, Damien knew the consequences of attracting the attention of the enemy.
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