Chapter 1433: Interrogation

One moment, he was tallying the ledgers. The next, Burne Ward found himself in a dimly lit room, stripped naked and bound to a chair.

"What... who... who are you?!" He blurted out, his eyes flashing with terror. "What have you done?! Do... do you know who I am?!"

"I know who you are, young man." Nilrem appeared before him in a puff of smoke.

With a snap of his fingers, he summoned a wooden stool and took a seat. He gazed at the Count with a gentle look on his face, and that scared Burne Ward down to his core.

"If you know who I am, then let me go!" The Count roared, his body trembling incessantly. "I-I know the Prince! He’s a friend! If he hears of this—"

"He won’t." Nilrem shook his head, a faint smile on his face. "He won’t need to."

The elderly man leaned over and said in a soft voice, "If you answer all of my questions, I promise I’ll let you go. It will be like none of this ever happened."

Nilrem gently stroked Burne’s blond hair. "Won’t you answer my questions, young man?"

The Count was utterly terrified at the moment.

Not only had he failed to notice an intruder entering what he believed to be the most secure room in his manor, but he hadn’t even perceived how he himself had been brought to this dungeon.

No matter how he looked at it, the elderly man in front of him was a figure of immense power. And Burne Ward understood one thing... if he failed to answer his questions, he might truly die!

"Y-y-yes!" The Count nodded. "I’ll a-answer your questions! J-just don’t hurt me! Promise me you won’t hurt me!"

"I promise you, little one." Nilrem smiled fondly.

With the same look on his face, as if he were greeting a little child, Nilrem asked, "Tell me, Count Ward, just what exactly are the Cult and the Haynam Empire planning? And that whore, what is her role in all of this?"

Burne Ward’s eyes went wide as saucers.

"Poor child." Nilrem gently stroked his hair. "You didn’t expect me to know about any of this, yes? But I do. Now answer me truthfully, or else..."

Stab!

"Huh?" Burne Ward lowered his head and saw a dagger lodged deep into his knee. It took a moment for him to register what had just transpired.

"AAAH—"

Slap!

His screams were interrupted when Nilrem slapped his face, nearly dislocating his jaw in the process.

"Don’t scream, little one." The elderly man made a sad face.

"You see, I don’t enjoy excessive cruelty. But I don’t shy away from getting my hands dirty either. You all messed with my sister’s family, so I’m quite displeased. Oh, by the way, did I mention..."

Nilrem paused, then drove another dagger cleanly into Burne’s other knee.

He then continued with a friendly smile:

"...That I’m a little crazy?"

Brune Ward’s blood ran cold. Pain shot through his body. He had never felt so terrified in his life. And when he looked at Nilrem’s gentle and warm expression, the feeling of dread in his heart intensified.

He screamed at the top of his lungs, thinking to himself that he was going to die a miserable death. He was captured by a lunatic, and now he didn’t know what to do.

The shock of learning that their plans had been found out by a stranger was instantly overshadowed by the pain and dread coursing through his body.

Suddenly, the screams died down in his throat. Tears streamed down his face as he lowered his head and saw ten long needles driven into his fingers, slid beneath the nails and embedded so deep they nearly reached his wrists.

Burne’s body thrashed violently, but no matter what he did, he just couldn’t free himself. He cried in desperation, begging Nilrem to stop.

"Please... please... I’ll tell you everything... so, please..."

"You’re so pitiful." Nilrem wiped his non-existent tears away. "Very well."

He retrieved a healing potion from his ring and fed it to the Count. Within moments, the latter felt his pain reduce, but not completely gone. Still, this was infinitely better than what he felt earlier.

"Now answer my questions one by one, okay?" Nilrem spoke gently.

"O-okay!" Burne nodded, his body trembling in fear.

"That woman, the Enchantress, what is she planning?"

The Count bit his lower lip, then came clean. "I-I don’t know the full details, but... she’s trying to turn the Prince against his family!"

"Hmm." Nilrem nodded in understanding. "As I thought."

He then turned to the Count and smiled. "How many more times are you going to facilitate the meeting between her and Marlow?"

"I... I don’t know." Burne shook his head. "At least, for another couple of months! I-I just follow Lord Osbert’s orders..."

"Osbert?" Nilrem arched a brow. "Is that the necromancer from the Cult?"

The Count winced in pain, shocked at how much the man knew about them. "Yes! Yes! He’s... yes... from the Cult!"

"How many more people from the Cult are present in the city?" Nilrem pressed.

"I... I don’t know." The Count cried in agony. "I’ve only met Lord Osbert! And Leila, she... she’s an agent of the Empire!"

Nilrem nodded. He continued to feed the man one potion after another, while interrogating him about the Cult’s plan. He also asked him extensively about his day-to-day activities and everything else he needed to learn about the man.

By the time he was done with him, Burne Ward had already lost a lot of blood. There were stab marks all over his body, and he was on the verge of death. At that point, he simply wished that it was all over. Yet, despite it all, he desperately wanted to live.

"...Let me go," he weakly murmured. "I’ve told you everything... I’ll leave the city... I’ll leave everything behind... just let me go. I beg you..."

Nilrem nodded with a smile. "Okay!"

Snap!

With a snap of his fingers, the illusion unravelled, and the two returned to the study.

However, the damage inflicted upon the Count’s mind wasn’t something he could recover from at short notice. Well... not like Nilrem had any intention of letting him recover at all.

"It’s all over now," he said gently as he grabbed the unconscious Burne’s neck and then...

Crack!

And right at that moment...

Knock! Knock!

"Come in."

A moment later, a servant entered the study carrying a set of parchments. Nothing seemed out of place. Everything was exactly as it was supposed to be.

"Master, the reports you requested," said the servant as he placed the parchments on the table.

Count Burne Ward nodded without looking up.

The servant bowed and quickly withdrew.

Once the doors closed, Burne Ward’s lips slowly curled up into a devious smirk...