ESL Chapter 41

Abram, who faintly heard her voice from far away, only blinked blankly. Judging by the fact he could hear her voice, it seemed Michelle was imprisoned not far from where he was confined. He was hanging against the wall with both his wrists and ankles bound in chains, his entire body covered in wounds from torture. He’d heard that Kaien had torture specialists, but it was far more brutal than he’d imagined. They tortured him until just before death, revived him with potions, then started the torture again. The methods of torture were different each time, so he could never adapt no matter how much he endured. If not for the prohibition spell on his head, he probably would have confessed everything long ago.

‘…This damned prohibition spell….’

As his body no longer felt like his own, Abram ground his teeth inwardly. Just thinking about being tortured again was so horrific that his whole body instinctively trembled and his mouth fell open, drool dripping out. Along with thoughts of wanting to confess quickly and die, he simultaneously thought himself a fool. At first, he’d been grateful for the prohibition spell, but now it was a curse to him.

‘I have a prohibition spell… yes… I should tell them honestly… Won’t they kill me then?’

Abram’s brain, which had been dazed from the harsh torture, began to work again, even if just a little. Michelle seemed ready to tell everything she knew, and he couldn’t just sit still. With that thought, he too began to shout in a barely audible voice.

“….I also have something to say! I have something to say! You bastards..!!”

****

The Duke, who had been peacefully eating dessert with Lea, slightly frowned when Hugo walked in and whispered in his ear.

“They both have something to say…?”

At the Duke’s low question, Hugo answered with a puzzled expression, just loud enough for him to hear.

“They stubbornly refused to open their mouths, but once one started talking, the other is making a fuss too. Shall you go down?”

“………….”

After a moment of thought, the Duke turned his head to look at Lea.

“… Will you come with me? They seem ready to finally talk… The condition might not be pleasant to see.”

In truth, he didn’t want to show his daughter the tortured state of criminals, no matter what they’d done. He was partly worried she might think him cruel, but more than that, as a father he wanted to show her only good things. However, his daughter already stood in the middle of a battlefield, so he reluctantly spoke, but Lea’s answer came too quickly.

“Yes. Are we going now?”

At her answer without a moment’s hesitation, the Duke’s eyes dimmed slightly. If she hadn’t been kidnapped by them, his daughter would have grown up more prettily and preciously than anyone, seeing only good things. She wouldn’t even have known there was a dungeon under the ducal estate… Along with self-reproach for not properly fulfilling his role as a father, anger toward them surged up again, but he forced himself not to show it as he stood up.

“Then let’s go.”

The underground dungeon was in a corner of the garden, not easily visible. As they approached, knights standing guard on both sides of the door came into view. Their eyes gleamed fiercely as if they would not tolerate any intruders.

“You’ve worked hard.”

When the Duke and Hugo approached, they bowed in greeting and immediately opened the door leading down to the underground dungeon.

The corridor of the underground dungeon was not as dark as she’d thought, but a faint stench that could only be smelled from back-alley garbage bins flowed through. When she slightly frowned at the more irritating smell than expected, the Duke, having somehow noticed, held out a handkerchief to her.

“Keep this against your nose.”

It was a deep navy silk handkerchief that men used. Though not unbearable, it wasn’t pleasant either, so she took the handkerchief and brought it to her nose. Then the cool yet sharp scent she could always smell from her father flowed from the handkerchief. Perhaps because of this, as her slightly wrinkled face smoothly relaxed, the Duke raised his hand and patted her head.

Walking along the underground dungeon corridor, they could see the cells positioned on the left side. The spies expelled last time had been kept in the cells for a few days to confirm what they knew before being driven out of the ducal house, so currently only Michelle and Abram remained. The places where the two were confined were located at the very end, and it drew attention that Michelle was confined in solitary while Abram was imprisoned in a cell with iron bars. As if reading her question, Hugo whispered quietly.

“Usually women aren’t subjected to much physical torture. Instead, they’re confined in solitary and given psychological torture. It takes longer, but His Grace prefers that method. So do I.”

“Ah….”

Nodding, Lea watched as Hugo opened the door to the solitary cell where Michelle was confined. As the heavy iron door slowly opened, the dim interior gradually began to reveal itself. Surprisingly, Michelle was positioned in one corner, curled up with her knees drawn in. Her hair was unwashed and greasy, and her face and clothes were covered in dust and filth. Her eyes, which had been full of venom, were now filled only with endless despair. It seemed to show how far endless solitude could drag a person down.

When the door opened and bright light poured in, she turned her head as if dazzled. A moment later, after becoming accustomed to the light, she suddenly let out a scream-like cry upon realizing who had entered. With an endlessly desperate expression filling her face, she crawled on her knees and clung to the Duke’s feet.

“Please… please just let me out of here…! I’ll tell you everything… everything I know… Just let me leave here..! sob“

The Duke looked down at Michelle, who was dropping tears on his shoes, with cold eyes and spoke. It was a ruthless voice devoid of any emotion. How could it not be? She was a woman who had shamelessly committed all kinds of evil deeds in the ducal house for 17 years, using his beloved wife as a hostage. For him, even seeing her face or hearing her voice was nauseating.

“What do you know?”

Despite the freezingly cold words, Michelle clung to them as if they were a lifeline. She stammered through her flowing tears.

“…Fi..first promise…. that I can… can leave here… You can… can kill me after I leave…”

“It will depend on what you know. You’ll have to tell everything. If you want your wish granted.”

At the Duke’s words, Michelle truly began to tell everything she knew. Since she too was in a position receiving orders from Abram, it wasn’t high-level information, but surprisingly there were several useful pieces of information. The information she provided was as follows:

Michelle didn’t know much about what kind of organization hers was. Like what had happened to her, they would buy young women as slaves, thoroughly train them sexually to seduce men, then force them into noble households through blackmail to seduce them—this was the most common method and was used throughout the continent. This information indicated that the organization’s hands reached into not just the Yurasen Empire but all countries of the continent.

She also explained the locations of branches she knew within the Empire and about the branch heads. In a situation where the central branch in the capital had already been swept away, they wouldn’t keep the branches in the same locations as before, so it wasn’t much help, but the appearances and characteristics of the branch heads were useful. When she finished speaking, the Duke slowly opened his mouth. His expression was still cold as ice.

“I’ll verify whether what you said is true. If it is, I’ll grant your wish. But if it’s false, you’ll have to spend your whole life here, unable even to die.”

“…Thank you! Thank you!!!”

At the words that he would let her out, Michelle bowed her head while tears streamed down. Leaving her behind, the three people headed toward Abram.

“…You’ve finally come.”

Seeing Hugo’s face, Abram smiled bitterly. But seeing the figures of the Duke and Lea standing behind him, Abram’s face turned deathly pale and he closed his mouth. It was because the Duke’s face as he wielded his blood-soaked sword with a ruthless expression and Lea’s face as she held her staff with a reaper’s smile were too strongly etched in his mind. If he said one wrong word, it seemed he’d be thrashed not with a staff but with torture instruments.

“What did you want to say to His Grace?”

At Hugo’s question, Abram, who had been keeping his mouth shut, glanced at Lea and spoke quietly.

“…I have a prohibition spell on me… so no matter how much you torture me, it’s useless…”

He had intended to shout defiantly, but he himself felt pathetic about speaking so timidly, yet Abram said what he wanted to say anyway.

“…Why are you only saying this now?”

“….You guys don’t need to waste energy on useless things either… Just kill me.. No matter how much you torture me, I have a prohibition spell so I can’t open my mouth.. In that case, it’s better for both of us to end this cleanly…”

At the word “prohibition spell” from Abram’s mouth, the Duke’s and Hugo’s faces froze coldly. A prohibition spell that a mage directly places on someone’s head was mainly used to prevent betrayal or to silence them. And to break that prohibition spell, one had to be a higher level than the mage who cast it. High-level mages were rare beings—there were only a few on the continent, and they didn’t respond well even when summoned by the Imperial family. No matter how great the power of Duke Kaien’s house was, summoning a mage to break a prohibition spell was difficult, so even as Abram spoke with difficulty, he laughed unpleasantly as if pleased.

“Try thinking it over, kukuku. Where would you guys find a mage? Besides, the person who placed the prohibition spell on me is level 7…!”

As if he’d said something he shouldn’t have, Abram looked startled and closed his mouth. But both the Duke’s and Hugo’s expressions had already changed at the word “level 7.” There were only three level 7 mages on the continent. Luswin Hivebren, called the Mage of Light; Yudel Chetman, called the Mage of Darkness; and lastly, Darkren Chenfield, the Wandering Mage. And their personalities and actions were as different as their epithets.

Luswin Hivebren had declared neutrality ten years ago and built a magic tower in the barren land of the north where no one lived. He devoted himself to bringing children who had talent in magic but no one to teach them or no money and educating them in magic. Thus, he had no interest in worldly affairs.

Yudel Chetman was the son of a poor tenant farmer. It was known that when his sister was taken by a lord’s tyranny and his entire family was killed, he learned magic to take revenge. After disappearing, he appeared in the world as a level 7 mage, and the lord and territory that had killed his family completely disappeared from the map. Even after that, he punished people according to his own judgment, and his methods were so cruel that he was an object of fear among people.

Lastly, Darkren Chenfield was a mage who traveled the continent like the wind. No one knew where he was born or where he grew up. It just started flowing from the mouths of people who had received help from him. Even now, much about him was shrouded in veils.

“Don’t tell me… the mage who placed the prohibition spell on you is Yudel Chetman?”

Even at the Duke’s cold question, Abram kept his mouth firmly shut and didn’t answer. But at Lea’s voice that soon followed, his pupils shook violently as he turned his head toward her.

“Hmm~ Then I’ll just break it.”