070 – Kidnapper Mikhail

To think such a gruesome place existed in the basement of this grand manor…

—

Taylor Finn (38)

—

“Whatever you do… you won’t get me to talk.”

Entering the chilling basement, I could see tension tighten on the face of the man who had attempted to assassinate us.

“Don’t worry. They all say that.”

“So, the golden boy of the Imperial Family is a skilled torturer, is he?”

“Something like seven levels above that.”

“…Is there even such a thing?”

“There is.”

I didn’t know who had ordered him to kill me and the people of the Eloise family.

But figuring that out was a task for right now, so I casually bound him to the torture rack.

Adopting a sinister air, I began to examine the torture instruments one by one.

“Do you know which of these hurts the most?”

“They’ll all hurt.”

Truthfully, I knew next to nothing about torture.

If the target had been a female assassin, I might have tried tickle torture.

But… there was a certain visceral aversion to tickling a man, wouldn’t you agree?

I’d rather just pull out his teeth or fingernails.

“Well, torture devices were made for the sole purpose of causing pain after all.”

To this man, who seemed prepared for torture, I decided to inflict the terror of the unknown.

“From what I can see, you’ve been undergoing some kind of resistance training, haven’t you?”

With a nonchalant tone, I declared,

“Silence.”

Just in case, I cast a silence spell on the man before me.

“Little by little, the ether within your body will start to drain away.”

For what reason?

And what was the plan?

I didn’t know yet.

“And frankly speaking. I haven’t the slightest curiosity about what you might have to say.”

After fitting a steel gag, designed to prevent speech, into the mouth of the assassin who had come seeking torture of his own volition… he informed him.

“What assassin in this world attempts an assassination and then neglects to depart the scene?”

“…”

“What assassin in this world refrains from immediate suicide and instead allows himself to be subjected to torture? If your objective truly was death, you would have ended yourself, wouldn’t you?”

“…”

“Taylor Pinn.”

“..!”

“I told you. I’ve no intention of listening to your tale, nor any desire to hear it. I already know everything about you.”

*In truth, I’ve known every detail about you from the very beginning.*

“!!Ugh! Ah-ia!”

Of course.

He hadn’t yet uttered a single piece of information, yet I already knew his name.

From his perspective, I could only appear as an unknowable terror.

“If you truly intended to murder me and the Eloise family, and then end your own life alongside us, you wouldn’t have employed such a slipshod method.”

Furthermore, if the assassin truly intended to kill me or the members of the Eloise family, he wouldn’t have utilized such an amateurish approach; that much was easily discernible.

He was brought here seeking torture, intending to spew forth falsified information.

“From this moment on, I shall be venting my frustrations.”

“Ah-ia..! Ah-ia!”

“That’s right. I am, after all, still but a child. As an adult, I trust you’ll generously endure the pain.”

“Ugh..! Ugh-aa!!”

…

This was my first time administering torture, and a certain revulsion…

“Ugh!! Ah-ah-ae!! Ah-ah-ah-oh!!”

“Stop, I’ll talk! I’ll talk, alright?”

Nod, nod!

“I told you, I have absolutely no desire to listen?”

Revulsion? What is that?

Daring to harm the family of my beloved Ella?

Thwack!

“Ugh-aaa!!!!”

There will be no mercy.

Thwack-

“Ugh!!!”

Currently, I have the assassin strapped to a cruciform bed, and I am striking his buttocks with a wooden club.

“I am quite skilled at administering a good spanking, wouldn’t you agree?”

The assassin, no doubt, has undergone training to withstand various forms of torture, but…

He would have no resistance to the Joseon-style punishment of ‘taehyung.’

“Savor the wisdom of our ancestors.”

*Thwack!*

“Ugh!! aaargh!! Ughhh!!”

I worked his backside over for a good while.

“Uuurgh?..”

I pried open the assassin’s drooling maw and removed the gag.

And just then.

“Right then, I’ll be killing you now.”

“W-Wait..! Just a moment..! Please..!”

“Feeling a bit off, with no ether circulating, are you? In a torture situation, ether should be circulating, reinforcing the body. Must be disconcerting for you that it isn’t, eh?”

“A chance… please give me a chance…!”

“I suppose I could grant you a final utterance.”

I offered the assassin a chance to make his last will.

Indeed.

The assassin’s plan would have been thus.

To feign a botched assassination, endure the Eloise House’s torture, then through a fabricated confession, throw us into disarray.

Following that, he’d attempt to use magic to escape this place.

But as fate would have it, his opponent could see the information within a status window.

And as fate would have it, his opponent could seal away ether.

“Let me speak..! I’ll tell you everything..! There must be something, surely, that you don’t already know…!”

And so, he desperately groveled for his life.

“I know everything. I even know you’re thirty-eight years old.”

In a negotiation or discussion, the most a subordinate can do against a superior with overwhelming dominance,

Is to reveal every last trump card, if only to curry the other’s favor.

Just as I’d anticipated.

“!!! It’s, it’s definitely not the Empress who’s behind this..! The mastermind isn’t the Empress..! You did know that, didn’t you…!?”

The assassin began to spew out a truthful confession, not a false one.

“Not really interested in hearing it, to be honest.”

“It’s the Cliance Ducal House..! The Duke of Mihan orchestrated the circumstances to make His Majesty resentful…!”

“Ha… I told you, I already know all that… Alright, fine. Speak. I’ll keep you alive while you’re talking.”

“The Cliance Ducal House..! They’re displeased with the Eloise March being raised to a Dukedom…”

*

Taylor had been a shadow, working for the Cliance Ducal House in the shadows for a long time.

“..Still not back?”

“That is correct…”

Considering pure combat ability alone, he might not achieve a victory against the Marchioness.

However, what that implied was that, excluding the Marchioness, no matter how many Eloise House soldiers blocked his way,

If he set his mind to it, he could escape that place.

“But the Marchioness was supposed to be at the border, wasn’t she?”

“..It seems he encountered a problem during his escape.”

The Shadow, dispatched to Eloise House with false tidings, remained unescaped, already five hours past the appointed time.

“…”

Of late, House Eloise’s sway over His Majesty’s attention had become irksome.

They, confined by the limits of a Marquis family, should be incapable… yet recently, they dared to encroach upon our ventures.

Thus, I sought to use the Empress, addled as she was, to sour His Majesty’s regard for the Eloise Ducal House.

“Send Payden to Eloise, ascertain the situation.”

“As you command, Master.”

Intelligence from our informant within the Imperial Palace revealed that the current Emperor was ready to give ‘Mihan’ – a certain man – everything, his very liver and lungs.

If this continued… our position, so closely entwined with the Imperial Family, would be undeniably threatened.

Therefore, I aimed to manipulate the Empress, driven mad by the loss of her daughter, to make her distrust this Mihan…

“Master…!”

“Barely five minutes have passed. Surely, you haven’t already gleaned information?”

“It is not that… …The Shadow has returned.”

“At last!”

“However…”

“What is it?”

“…It is best you see for yourself…”

The returned Shadow…

Could not even stand upright on his own two feet.

“…Report.”

Therefore, I sought to know what manner of being had rendered the Shadow thus.

“…Huh?”

Suddenly, my vision flipped, and before I knew it…

“What…!”

I was situated in a space of unknown origin.

“Shhh…”

“…!!”

“If you turn around, you die.”

An overwhelming presence loomed directly behind me.

A being capable of manipulating a human body at will now stood just at my back.

It wasn’t hard to understand.

This was not a dream, but reality.

A single misstep, and I could truly… die.

“Spare me, I implore you… I am Heist Klein, Head of the Klein Duchy! I will give you anything your heart desires, I beg of you…!”

Thus, I tried to beg for mercy, pleading with the man in order to somehow survive this place…

“Listen carefully, Heist.”

“Yes…!”

“I said, listen.”

“…Yes?”

“Listen quickly. Or else this goes into your thigh.”

“…Huh?”

*Thwack-*

“Guah!”

Suddenly, a dagger was embedded in my thigh, and simultaneously…

“I am Mikhail, the kidnapper. Try your best to find me, Heist. Kidnapping.”

“Excuse me?”

With the word ‘kidnapping’ spoken, I found myself back in my room.

“What…!”

I quickly realized that what I had just witnessed was a mere illusion.

I attempted to rise, but…

“Ugh…!”

The dagger lodged in my thigh… it proved that it was no illusion.

“aaagh!!”