Chapter 461: The Script of Evil (4) |
Chapter 461 – The Script of Evil (4)
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“Did you sleep well, Caesar Barbatos.”
The little girl slowly opened her eyes. Perhaps it was the drugs. Her golden pupils could not quite focus. Then again, the room was still filled with the scent of narcotics. It was the strongest blend available. It was only natural that her mind felt hazy.
“Excuse me.”
I bowed my head lightly, then wiped the girl’s naked body with a damp cloth. I dipped the towel several times into the bucket of water I had boiled to a comfortable heat, carefully scrubbing here and there. Since I had been entrusted with Barbatos’ care entirely, even such menial chores fell under my responsibility.
“Y-you…… ugh…… ah…….”
“If you open your mouth, your head will likely throb with pain. I mixed an anesthetic from the Violet Mage Tower workshop into the sap of a thrush tree. For someone unaccustomed to drugs, the effect can be rather strong.”
Barbatos twisted her face in agony.
“The body of a Demon Lord is quite fascinating. Not a single blemish. It is difficult to believe this is the body of someone who has rolled across battlefields for hundreds, thousands of years. I envy you.”
As I spoke, I brushed the cloth lightly across Barbatos’ collarbone. Applying a bit of pressure.
“Hngh……!”
Barbatos’ waist jerked upward. Her body trembled as though a sudden current had run through it. I lowered my head slightly, my expression unchanged.
“My apologies. I inadvertently used too much strength. I shall be more careful from now on.”
“You bitch…… figures you’re his daughter… your attitude is just as bastardly….”
Barbatos ground her teeth and glared at me. Though her face was twisted with pain, the hostility in her eyes still burned clearly.
How should I describe this? She resembled a hedgehog desperately raising its quills. It was rather adorable. Perhaps this side of her was why Father had allowed even a speck’s worth of affection for this woman. Tormenting her felt rewarding.
“I am relieved that you seem healthy. As Caesar, you are the Regent of the Empire. Your body is extremely precious.”
With the tips of my fingers, I lightly touched her throat.
Then slowly moved downward.
“Hah…… ngh……!”
“You must not be injured, after all.”
Past her chest.
“How sorrowful would Father be if he were to see you injured later?”
“Ah—…… ah, ugh……!”
“Come to think of it, you once claimed to be Father’s lawful wife. There are many who believe that the duty of a lawful wife is to keep herself clean and composed, waiting quietly for her husband. What do you think of that, Caesar?”
Past her abdomen.
“……!”
Barbatos’ body shuddered violently. After releasing a short, high breath, her head drooped limply. Suspended by chains in midair, she hung slack.
It was not an unpleasant sight. For a beast that did not know its place, such a posture suited her perfectly. I spoke in a gentler tone.
“But it is rather amusing. You have only been a burden to Father. Yet you still speak of being the lawful wife. Does it not strike you as somewhat presumptuous? Do all who rise to positions of power lose their sense of shame like you, Caesar? Authority is quite repulsive.”
“……ell, ……tch.”
Barbatos muttered. Her voice was too faint to hear.
I leaned my face closer.
“I am sorry. I did not hear you. Please repeat yourself.”
At that moment—
Barbatos suddenly raised her head and spat. The saliva struck precisely beneath my eye. I felt the thin liquid run down my cheek. Barbatos curled the corner of her lips.
“Go to hell, you miserable bitch.”
“…….”
I wiped the spit away with my hand.
Then a rather exquisite idea came to mind.
Father cared for Barbatos to a fair extent. One could tell simply from the tears he shed when he was about to behead her at the public execution ground. Father rarely cried. Even I, who had served by his side all this time, had witnessed it only three times.
Which meant—
“What do you think Father would do if I took you?”
Barbatos furrowed her brow. Still breathing heavily from the excessive pain coursing through her nerves, she asked back,
“……What?”
“Would he be angry. How angry would he be? If I were to ruin you completely, damage you until you’re no better than a rag. If I were to trample your pride, throw it away, and humiliate you…… what emotions would Father feel then?”
A faint smile twisted my lips.
Would Father not come to hate me even more fiercely? The reason Father cherished Barbatos was precisely because of her nobility. If I were to use every drug and torture skill I possess to damage that nobility even slightly, if I were to smear it with mud, would he not hate me with every ounce of sorrow and hostility he has left?
It was a splendid idea.
The more Father hates me, the more he’ll become the victim and I the perpetrator. In other words, Father would return to the proper position.
Barbatos burst into a hollow laugh as she looked at my face.
“Wow. Looking at you now, you really are a crazy fucking bitch. What kind of mind did that bastard Dantalian have, adopting a psycho like you as his daughter? Father and daughter, both of you are equally insane. What, have you two even slept together?”
“You’re rather vulgar.”
“You want to screw me just to spite Dantalian? You crazy bitch. The way you think is exactly like your father’s. Go ahead then, try it if you want, you brat.”
Barbatos spat again. I had no intention of accepting it this time, so I simply tilted my head slightly and avoided it. Barbatos laughed.
“Why not try getting raped by your trash father first? A virgin who has never even had sex is setting her sights on me.”
A virgin.
I, too, laughed softly.
“I see. Excuse me for a moment, Caesar.”
For two entire days and nights,
I tortured her without resting for even a moment.
The room never ceased to echo with screams and groans. Barbatos lost consciousness dozens of times within a single hour, fainting helplessly. Whenever she passed out, I splashed water on her or pressed a heated skewer against her thigh. Each time, Barbatos would awaken with a tearing scream.
This was something Barbatos had brought upon herself.
You tried to assassinate Paimon without reason, and thus events flowed to this point. The true instigator was the Minister of War, Laura de Farnese, but your fault was hardly small either. I used every skill in alchemy and torture I had learned, crushing Barbatos in the most literal sense.
“Haah.”
I sighed. With a clink, I dropped the iron skewer onto the floor.
On the ground lay a small pool of dark red liquid. A filthy puddle of blood. The skewer sank halfway into it. I wiped my forehead lightly with the back of my hand.
“……, …….”
Before me was a mass of flesh writhing without even the strength to cry out.
Her once beautiful white hair was stained and tangled beyond recognition. Her pale skin had been grotesquely mutilated. The regenerative power of a Demon Lord had not disappeared, so her wounds were healing even now—but very slowly. That was because artifacts that sealed magical power were attached all over her body.
“Caesar. This is my final warning. I am not someone who repeats the same warning twice, so please keep that in mind.”
I grabbed Barbatos by the hair and pulled upward. Like a ragdoll, her head lifted in whatever direction I dragged it.
“Do not insult my father carelessly. You do not possess that right.”
“…….”
There was scarcely any consciousness left in Barbatos now. That was only natural after enduring my torture for over forty hours without pause. And yet, within her cloudy eyes, a trace of mockery still lingered.
Perhaps she was different from Demon Lords like Valefor.
I released her hair. Then I opened the door and stepped outside.
“Oh, Daisy…….”
Luke was crouching right outside the door.
For the past two days I had used the room as a torture chamber. As a result, Luke had lost his place to sleep and had been forced to endure the corridor with nothing but a single blanket. He looked up at me with a gaunt face.
His expression stiffened.
“You…… what on earth……”
It seemed my blood-soaked appearance had shocked him.
Wondering if it truly looked that dreadful, I lifted the hem of my clothes and brought it to my nose to smell it. There was no unpleasant odor at all. The blood and entrails of a Demon Lord did not carry the foul stench of other living creatures.
That was quite a convenient trait.
“What? Is something off?”
“…….”
“I will go ask the Intelligence Department people to clean the room. Sorry, but do not go in just yet. Actually, you may go in if you want, but it might be a little too much for you to handle.”
Leaving Luke behind, I walked down the corridor.
After walking a short distance, five large men appeared ahead of me. Each one had reached the realm of Swordmaster, and they had been sent by Consul Elizabeth as watchers to monitor me. They looked at me with cold eyes.
“As you may know, the room has become somewhat dirty.”
Holding the edges of my skirt, I bowed politely.
Various surveillance devices had been installed in the room. The scene of me torturing Barbatos had certainly been transmitted in real time. These watchers had likely seen it as well.
“If there were cleaning tools available, I would take care of it myself, but no matter how much I searched the room, I could not find any. Would you kindly clean it up, even if it is somewhat troublesome?”
“You crazy bitch.”
One of the swordmasters muttered coldly.
“I never thought I would live long enough to feel sympathy for a Demon Lord. When I heard the cursed Nightmare of Bruno had taken in an adopted daughter, I wondered what kind of person she was. As expected, you are nothing but a monster.”
“…….”
“Do not look at me. It is unpleasant enough that I do not even wish to breathe. If it were not for the Consul’s orders, I would have cut off your head long ago.”
The swordmaster spat onto the corridor floor.
Nor was he the only one. All four others glared at me as though looking at trash and spat as well. Whenever I saw people spit right in front of me like this, I could not help but admire how exaggerated human beings could be.
“I still have not heard an answer to my question.”
“We will give you a rag. Clean it yourself.”
“I will also need seven buckets filled with water.”
“Get lost.”
I bowed once more and turned away.
Behind me came the sound of more phlegm being spat. I wondered just how rotten their lungs must be to store so much phlegm inside their bodies like reservoirs. It was rather fascinating.
Now the Republic’s Intelligence Department would trust my innocence even more.
No matter how repulsive it was, it was true that I opposed Barbatos. Daisy von Custos’ betrayal would appear credible. That was how they would judge it. These two days of torture had been meant to achieve exactly that.
The day before yesterday, I heard that Father had begun marching south with his army.
And that the supreme commander was Duke Laura de Farnese…….
What might Father be thinking now? Does he still hate me? Is Laura de Farnese, the Minister of War, comforting him with her sly and coquettish face? Saying, “It is all right, my lord. I shall remain by your side forever.”
Thump.
“…….”
Imagining that scene tightened my chest. I searched inside my coat and took out my pipe. With slightly hurried movements, I lit the tobacco and drew a deep breath.
Gradually, my mind calmed.
It is all right.
I can see this through to the end.
Until the very end, I can deceive Father properly.
So it is all right.
Until the final moment, without leaving any regrets—
Until the very end.
***
TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry, I’m just repeating myself at this point. Weekend work after weekend work just hoping for things to get better. I think last weekend was the first weekend in 2 months that I didn’t have to work. It’s really been rough. I have to go to the NEOWIZ office again next week, and that’s gonna be stressful. Someone asked before but yeah, I’ve been translating Browndust2 for a while now. I’ve mostly been doing things related to event stories and side stories. Though since March, I’ve been going like 2-3 days every month to their office to help translate their dev notes. Not sure why I have to go all the way to their office to do it, but that’s just how things ended up… Doesn’t help they also give us a shit ton of work at the same time so I have more weekend work coming! Yipeeeeee Kill me PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER