CH20 – Interrogation
Arlott didn't respond to Emily for multiple seconds, arranging all the words she spoke.
'She met him at the royal gala and he was sad about his dad's death.' he thought, 'If the system was passed down by the older duke, it would make sense why Emily said that Duke was always a lazy man ever since they met.'
"When did the older duke die? And how?"
"I heard that father died due to a disease. No one was allowed near the corpse though, it was a highly contagious disease. People were only allowed to the grave once father was buried." Emily answered faithfully.
'Father…? Father in law, I guess.' Arlott hummed, 'Dead and no one can see, it's possible but knowing about the system, I doubt it's that simple.'
For the next 10 minutes, Arlott kept interrogating Emily about various questions and she answered them all truthfully without any fanfare.
She was only glad that he was asking her like a real human being instead of using various torture methods on her.
Though she despised the pain he caused, there was a small part of her which understood why Arlott was doing that. Since she had truly broken the charts by trying many torture methods on him as well.
Regardless, Arlott collected all the details he received.
'So the older duke died suddenly, no one was shown the body but the body was buried by his own son… despite the rumors of deadly contagious disease, which can risk the life of the young duke.
The old duke used to be lazy while his son was known to be a hardworking man until the death of his father, after which the new duke started to go into seclusions and sleep or cultivate day and night.
Hailed as a genius, he spent hours in cultivation and reached the 6th circle mage at the tender age of 75. Which was quite good.'
Arlott scoffed the moment he collected every detail.
It was already obvious by now that the duke Zordian had received his system from his father, whether he staged a rebellion or his father willingly sacrificed the system, Arlott didn't know and neither cared.
All he knew was that he learnt a lot from this.
"Emily, I want you to tell me everything you know about the Duke Paxley now." realizing the use of having prior intel, Arlott quickly asked and Emily was more than willing to tell.
Her stomach grumbled in hunger and her eyes darted to the huge pile of bread kept on the bedside table.
"Take one and start spouting what I want to know." Arlott waved his hand carelessly, more focused on his future task rather than a mere loaf of bread.
"Thank you!"
Emily dashed at the table and picked up a single loaf since that's all Arlott permitted her to take.
She ate it in 3 bites before sitting back in front of Arlott and entering her story mode.
She had a lot of tales to tell, but this time Arlott didn't interrupt her and listened to everything she had to offer.
As expected, most of it was useless junk except for some key intel.
'So Duke Paxley is known to be a calm person but he is a cold-hearted killer once he is angered?' Arlott didn't know much about the sins and neither did Emily.
But there was another key piece of intel he found out from Emily after hearing her story.
The issue between duke Paxley and duke Zordian actually started over a woman, which was Emily herself. Duke Paxley wished to make her his, but he wasn't able to.
'Sounds like he liked Emily.' Arlott gazed at Emily and nodded, not finding it absurd.
Emily was a beautiful woman with bountiful assets and charmingly curvaceous body. Her slender waist fit perfectly between her huge bust and her plump buttocks.
If Arlott was more knowledgeable, he would have named her physique as an hourglass physique, but being unknown to such terms, he merely called her a sexy woman.
Dressed in a scant little towel, Emily's skin was left bare for Arlott to see. The skin which appeared more inviting after noticing the tan on her skin.
'Focus. She isn't going anywhere.' Arlott calmed down the bloodrush he felt at the site of her body, "Your information is good, but I want to know more about the sins."
"I… can't. I don't know much myself."
"Tell me what you know,"
Emily fell silent making Arlott curl his fists in frustration.
A sight that instantly sent shivers down Emily's spine.
"It- I know there are seven sins.
Namely: Sloth, Envy, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Lust and Wrath."
Arlott listened with a serious expression before asking, "What's the difference between envy and greed?"
The names of the sins were quite self-explanatory, but Arlott felt it hard to distinguish between Envy and Greed.
"Envy is a feeling of anger toward what someone else has, and a fear that others have it better than you. It's driven by feelings of insecurity and inferiority." Emily sighed, "And Greed is an insatiable desire for more than you need, and a tendency to compare yourself to others who have more. It's driven by desire."
"Pretty similar, but greed is desire while envy is jealousy?"
"You can say that… I guess, I am not too knowledgeable about it myself." Emily lowered her head in shame.
Arlott shrugged it off and focused on his thoughts instead.
Judging from the duke Paxley's character, there was a high chance of him having Envy or Greed as the sin.
Arlott's lips curled into a smile.
Having Envy or Greed as the system sounded much better than having the Sloth system.
And he was also curious what would happen once he gets two different sins.
Would they merge into one? Will he have two systems instead of just one?
There were many questions in his mind but no answer to any of them.
And the only way to get the answer was to kill the duke and check for himself. There was no other way.