Chapter 410: Partial Truths From The Past (Part 2)
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Daimon casually waited for the moment Annete ordered Horals to stop, this is a personal matter for her, so she is in charge of the interrogation, in any case, Daimon believes that Annete is patient enough to not take Carlos out of his limit, she waited one hundred years for her revenge, having the power to execute it, because that was her mother's wish, at least she can let out some steam in this way.
On the other hand, this is the first time Daimon is seeing Horals's interrogation method, and he had to admit that it was quite something, at first, he thought he was using his battle aura to inflict physical pain to Carlos, but that wasn't the case.
Horals has the ability to manipulate his bones however he likes, to the point that each major division of his body can act as a separate entity using one of his body parts as the core.
But Daimon didn't know he could take over other people's skeletons and control them at will, by entering into contact with them, when Horals's finger pierced the leg of Carlos, the tip of his finger pierced all the way to the bone, but that's not what was causing the mind breaking pain which the Delphini Duke was experiencing right now.
Horals's took over the Duke's skeleton, and made it crack just a bit, everything at the same time, being careful enough so that not even a piece of bone broke and pierced the flesh or anything, which could cause internal bleeding.
He just made all the bones of the Duke crack and then repaired them as soon as possible, the pain travelled so fast through all his body, that even if it was instantly repaired the Duke felt as if his body was being teared apart.
It was a type of pain which reached the very core of body, since one's' bones are in fact the core that supports the body.
'I wonder where did he learn to do that?', thought Daimon, he and Rita have been showing to be quite strong and that is while they are Arch ranks, one can only imagine how will they fair once they reach the Half Emperor realm.
…
After a total of ten minutes in which Carlos fainted three times but was immediately woken up by an even stronger amount of pain, Annete finally raised her hand and asked Horals to stop.
The bone general had a bored expression, since he knew that the Duke won't refuse to answer anything from now and onwards, which meant his fun was over for now, but he still stood still right behind Carlos, applying psychological pressure on him.
The queen glared at Carlos before her pretty lips slightly opened as she said.
"I'll ask one last time, who orchestrated my mother's death?".
Carlos's whole body trembled, he was clearly afraid of answering, but he was even more afraid of the crazy guy who was standing behind of him, what's more he saw that skeletal hand, and confused Horals for a Skelefiend, and that terrified him even more, he already had two of the known maximum level Stellar ranks wanting him dead, if the Skelefiends were involved, then wouldn't their king which also a maximum Stellar ranked be involved too!
He looked at Annete with teary eyes, but he didn't dare to beg for mercy, knowing that if he didn't answer, he won't even be given the option to die, which at this point didn't sound bad at all.
"I-It was… the White's ancestor".
The queen trembled of anger, her eyes glowed with a cold light and then she kicked Carlos on the face, making a couple of the teeth which Horals kindly made grow again, fly out of his mouth.
Unfortunately for Carlos, even before he touched the ground, Horals grabbed him by his hair and made him accommodate straight once again, for the interrogation to continue.
"Tell me everything, I have analyzed everything about you over the years to the point that I know the sound your blood makes when it moves through your body, so I can assure you that I will know if you are lying, and believe me when I say you are far from experiencing a pain enough to make you wish to be dead", she coldly said.
Carlos saw the eyes of Annete and his body shivered, as some unpleasant memories flashed through his mind.
'Those eyes, they are the same as hers!', he inwardly screamed, but the dreading feeling of Horals's hand on his head made him react on time to avoid another session of torture.
"It happened a couple of hundreds of years ago!", he shouted, now that he spoke in time to not be tortured, he continued with his explanation.
"When I met your mother, she was a commoner, an orphan which was working as a maid in one of the many properties of the Delphini, I immediately got infatuated with her and brought her back to my personal mansion to work under me".
"I already had a fiancé, but I couldn't overcome the beauty of Helena, so I broke my marriage arrangement off and instead ordered her to become my wife…".
The Duke remained silent for a moment which made Annete glare at him, forcing him to keep speaking.
"I don't remember some of what happened in between, maybe it is because it happened too many years ago or maybe is because I was too happy and drunk at the time, but we ended up having you, after that I distanced from Helena and married my original fiancé for quite some time, I don't know what she did or where she spent her time, but I had Corey with my current wife".
"It was then that a subordinate of the White's ancestor approached me, I was a mere Half Stellar mage back then and my father, the previous Lord was at the verge of death due to wound suffered in a battle against the Skelefiends, and he offered me a potion to help me breakthrough".
"Naturally it didn't come for free, I was given a task, which was to kill your mother with a specific poison provided by the White's ancestor, at first I refused, but when I went to try and talk with Helena, she refused to even open the door to me so…".
"So, what, you got angry because she didn't like a scum like you and then decided to kill her for some benefits!", shouted Annete, her body was shaking due to anger, but she calmed down and then frowned.
"What about Mellie, you say you remember me, but you didn't mention Mellie at all, when she died Mellie was already being treated in the bubble incubators?", she asked.
When Mellie was born, her mother was sick and that brough some complications, which she now knows were caused by Carlos's poisoning her.
Carlos vehemently shook his head with a genuinely sincere expression on his pained face.
"I swear I don't remember having done anything to her, I did put the poison on her drink, but I don't remember giving it to her, also I don't remember… doing anything so that Mellie was conceived".
"T-That's why I distanced myself from her, I was always stunned by her beauty, to the point that my mind was dizzy, every time I approached her, I ended drinking a lot to gain the value to talk to her, just to wake up he other day dead drunk on the floor… however the day she died was different".
"I had just returned from my most recent travel and placed my discoveries on my desk, you entered my studio and then grabbed one of those discoveries, a book which I found in a rundown boat store from the nomads of the Maelstrom Sea when I was returning to the kingdom".
"That day, the same subordinate of the White's ancestor came to see me and gave me a second different poison, I do remember giving her the poison that time… but it was because the first one didn't work, I thought I was just being tested, to see if I was loyal to the royal family…aghhh!".
Annete ignored the clear lie to lessen the possibility of being tortured and directly punched Carlos's on the face, she didn't use any mana or anything and so, she harmed her pretty hand, the knuckles to be more specific.
But she didn't pay any attention to it, and instead grabbed Carlos by his neck.
"You poisoned her twice and you dare to say it wasn't your intention, you trash!".
"What else happened that day after you gave her the poison?", asked Annete, her mother's body as well as any evidence was taken away, and no one knew what happened to it, even after all these years, Vincent couldn't find any information regarding her corpse, but he did hear a rumor about a certain important book in the collection of the royal family.
"The White's ancestor had everything prepared beforehand, those who came to "investigate" were shadows guards of the royal family, they erased every evidence, which included that book, but only because it was the last thing your mother touched before her death".
"Later I heard from the subordinate that the book had historical value, so the ancestor kept it as a part of his collection, which is in his room, but that was it, no one could read that thing anyway, I bought it out of curiosity and because the cover was made from some valuable materials, that was it".
"As for your mother's corpse, despite my participation in her death… I was afraid of she becoming a calamity for my family, so I did a proper burial, since the White ancestor didn't ask me to give him her corpse, her tombstone is hidden inside an underwater grotto, in the sea that leads to the Elemental Sea from the kingdom".
Annette who has calmed down and was just showing cold indifference towards Carlos, asked.
"What about those shadow guards, are there any of them alive?".
Carlos shook his head in response.
"They were beheaded on the spot, in front of me by the subordinate that acted as an envoy from the White's ancestor, so that only I was left alive, but I had to sign a life and death contract, if I ever revealed what happened my magic core will explode and I will die, in that way I will "return" to the ancestor the power he bestowed me in exchange for my service".
"That was all, after that I never got to see that subordinate or hear anything from the White's ancestor… until a couple of months ago, I was told to proof my family's worth by introducing Corey to the crowned prince's team, by that same subordinate".
"But that was the last time I saw him, he said he had some matters to tend to at the Elemental Sea and then left, after that all the thing regarding the trident of promise happened and Corey met the expectations of the crowned prince and joined his team".
"Everything was going well… until he appeared and ruined Corey's opportunity to bring the victory to the crowned prince", said Carlos as he gazed at Daimon, just for his face to be smacked against the ground by Horals so hard that the floor cracked a bit.
"Watch your mouth, you lowlife, how dare you address my young master in such a way, from now on whenever you see him… no whenever you think of him, you will throw yourself to the floor and smack your forehead against the ground three times to thank him for this glorious image from appearing in your head", enthusiastically said the bone general, making Daimon sigh.
"Horals, raise him once again", ordered Daimon, he had to make some time to have a serious conversation with him, others will start to look at him as if he was the founder of shady black sect or something, if he kept spewing things like that in public.
Surprisingly, Carlos's face didn't disappear due to the impact, his nose was bleeding and one of his eyes was swollen, but that was it, probably because Horals was responsible enough to reinforce his skull before he smacked him against the ground, to not accidentally kill Carlos.
The queen and Aurora had noticed the same important point at the end of the story and had the same question to make, so both talked at the same time.
"Who is that subordinate you mentioned?".
They had their own reasons, one wanted to see if there was more information regarding her mother's death and the other was worried about that subordinate causing troubles in the shadows, at the Elemental Sea.
The shaman suffered backslash after the incident with one of their treasures breaking, though he recovered before all this or Aurora wouldn't have left his side to come to the Mermen Sea.
But with her and the patriarchs of half of the sects absent, they might be short in personnel, so there is a chance that troubles are being created without they knowing.
Unfortunately, Carlos shook his head, this time he didn't dare to look at Daimon directly, but he still said.
"I don't know who he is, he always wears a white mask, similar to that guy, but his covers all his face, besides that it is obvious is a male, and he should be around the same age range as you, as for his strength I don't know, he should be stronger than me and he is probably some authority figure among the shadow guards of the royals", said Carlos.
Annete raised an eyebrow, the only high ranked Stellar expert in the kingdom is Tideus, and he can't be a shadow guard, because he is the captain of the royal guard and has openly sworn to protect and obey Triten, in a public ceremony.
Not to mention, it couldn't be him unless he could be at two places simultaneously, Annete immediately thought of the Blackfin Duke's subordinate and she took out the mask that its corpse was wearing on top of the bandages all over his face, she had the corpse in a ring for when the time to deal with the Blackfin Duke came.
"Was it this mask, the one he was wearing?", asked Annete as she showed the mask to Carlos, who at first paled but then shook his head.
"N-No, it might be similar, but that's normal since they are generic masks, his mask has a pyramid form".
None of the women present in the room knew anyone like that and that is a lot to say, considering they are important figures of their respective forces, which are three of the four seas.
On the other hand, there was one person at their disposition, from the fourth sea and for convenience it was trapped within these same walls, in another room of course.
The queen used the master control of the prison to make some movements on the disposition of the rooms, and then one of the walls moved to connect at another room.
There was a metal chair with yellow crystal chains restraining one person, a woman to be exact, and the be even more accurate it was quite an emaciated woman, there wasn't any sign of physical violence, but she looked like a fish outside of water.
Carlos nearly suffered a heart attack, he recognized that woman as the main wife of the king of the Skelefiends, Shirel and she was captured by Annete too.
'What the hell is this woman trying to pull of here!' he shouted in his mind.
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Daimon casually waited for the moment Annete ordered Horals to stop, this is a personal matter for her, so she is in charge of the interrogation, in any case, Daimon believes that Annete is patient enough to not take Carlos out of his limit, she waited one hundred years for her revenge, having the power to execute it, because that was her mother's wish, at least she can let out some steam in this way.
On the other hand, this is the first time Daimon is seeing Horals's interrogation method, and he had to admit that it was quite something, at first, he thought he was using his battle aura to inflict physical pain to Carlos, but that wasn't the case.
Horals has the ability to manipulate his bones however he likes, to the point that each major division of his body can act as a separate entity using one of his body parts as the core.
But Daimon didn't know he could take over other people's skeletons and control them at will, by entering into contact with them, when Horals's finger pierced the leg of Carlos, the tip of his finger pierced all the way to the bone, but that's not what was causing the mind breaking pain which the Delphini Duke was experiencing right now.
Horals's took over the Duke's skeleton, and made it crack just a bit, everything at the same time, being careful enough so that not even a piece of bone broke and pierced the flesh or anything, which could cause internal bleeding.
He just made all the bones of the Duke crack and then repaired them as soon as possible, the pain travelled so fast through all his body, that even if it was instantly repaired the Duke felt as if his body was being teared apart.
It was a type of pain which reached the very core of body, since one's' bones are in fact the core that supports the body.
'I wonder where did he learn to do that?', thought Daimon, he and Rita have been showing to be quite strong and that is while they are Arch ranks, one can only imagine how will they fair once they reach the Half Emperor realm.
…
After a total of ten minutes in which Carlos fainted three times but was immediately woken up by an even stronger amount of pain, Annete finally raised her hand and asked Horals to stop.
The bone general had a bored expression, since he knew that the Duke won't refuse to answer anything from now and onwards, which meant his fun was over for now, but he still stood still right behind Carlos, applying psychological pressure on him.
The queen glared at Carlos before her pretty lips slightly opened as she said.
"I'll ask one last time, who orchestrated my mother's death?".
Carlos's whole body trembled, he was clearly afraid of answering, but he was even more afraid of the crazy guy who was standing behind of him, what's more he saw that skeletal hand, and confused Horals for a Skelefiend, and that terrified him even more, he already had two of the known maximum level Stellar ranks wanting him dead, if the Skelefiends were involved, then wouldn't their king which also a maximum Stellar ranked be involved too!
He looked at Annete with teary eyes, but he didn't dare to beg for mercy, knowing that if he didn't answer, he won't even be given the option to die, which at this point didn't sound bad at all.
"I-It was… the White's ancestor".
The queen trembled of anger, her eyes glowed with a cold light and then she kicked Carlos on the face, making a couple of the teeth which Horals kindly made grow again, fly out of his mouth.
Unfortunately for Carlos, even before he touched the ground, Horals grabbed him by his hair and made him accommodate straight once again, for the interrogation to continue.
"Tell me everything, I have analyzed everything about you over the years to the point that I know the sound your blood makes when it moves through your body, so I can assure you that I will know if you are lying, and believe me when I say you are far from experiencing a pain enough to make you wish to be dead", she coldly said.
Carlos saw the eyes of Annete and his body shivered, as some unpleasant memories flashed through his mind.
'Those eyes, they are the same as hers!', he inwardly screamed, but the dreading feeling of Horals's hand on his head made him react on time to avoid another session of torture.
"It happened a couple of hundreds of years ago!", he shouted, now that he spoke in time to not be tortured, he continued with his explanation.
"When I met your mother, she was a commoner, an orphan which was working as a maid in one of the many properties of the Delphini, I immediately got infatuated with her and brought her back to my personal mansion to work under me".
"I already had a fiancé, but I couldn't overcome the beauty of Helena, so I broke my marriage arrangement off and instead ordered her to become my wife…".
The Duke remained silent for a moment which made Annete glare at him, forcing him to keep speaking.
"I don't remember some of what happened in between, maybe it is because it happened too many years ago or maybe is because I was too happy and drunk at the time, but we ended up having you, after that I distanced from Helena and married my original fiancé for quite some time, I don't know what she did or where she spent her time, but I had Corey with my current wife".
"It was then that a subordinate of the White's ancestor approached me, I was a mere Half Stellar mage back then and my father, the previous Lord was at the verge of death due to wound suffered in a battle against the Skelefiends, and he offered me a potion to help me breakthrough".
"Naturally it didn't come for free, I was given a task, which was to kill your mother with a specific poison provided by the White's ancestor, at first I refused, but when I went to try and talk with Helena, she refused to even open the door to me so…".
"So, what, you got angry because she didn't like a scum like you and then decided to kill her for some benefits!", shouted Annete, her body was shaking due to anger, but she calmed down and then frowned.
"What about Mellie, you say you remember me, but you didn't mention Mellie at all, when she died Mellie was already being treated in the bubble incubators?", she asked.
When Mellie was born, her mother was sick and that brough some complications, which she now knows were caused by Carlos's poisoning her.
Carlos vehemently shook his head with a genuinely sincere expression on his pained face.
"I swear I don't remember having done anything to her, I did put the poison on her drink, but I don't remember giving it to her, also I don't remember… doing anything so that Mellie was conceived".
"T-That's why I distanced myself from her, I was always stunned by her beauty, to the point that my mind was dizzy, every time I approached her, I ended drinking a lot to gain the value to talk to her, just to wake up he other day dead drunk on the floor… however the day she died was different".
"I had just returned from my most recent travel and placed my discoveries on my desk, you entered my studio and then grabbed one of those discoveries, a book which I found in a rundown boat store from the nomads of the Maelstrom Sea when I was returning to the kingdom".
"That day, the same subordinate of the White's ancestor came to see me and gave me a second different poison, I do remember giving her the poison that time… but it was because the first one didn't work, I thought I was just being tested, to see if I was loyal to the royal family…aghhh!".
Annete ignored the clear lie to lessen the possibility of being tortured and directly punched Carlos's on the face, she didn't use any mana or anything and so, she harmed her pretty hand, the knuckles to be more specific.
But she didn't pay any attention to it, and instead grabbed Carlos by his neck.
"You poisoned her twice and you dare to say it wasn't your intention, you trash!".
"What else happened that day after you gave her the poison?", asked Annete, her mother's body as well as any evidence was taken away, and no one knew what happened to it, even after all these years, Vincent couldn't find any information regarding her corpse, but he did hear a rumor about a certain important book in the collection of the royal family.
"The White's ancestor had everything prepared beforehand, those who came to "investigate" were shadows guards of the royal family, they erased every evidence, which included that book, but only because it was the last thing your mother touched before her death".
"Later I heard from the subordinate that the book had historical value, so the ancestor kept it as a part of his collection, which is in his room, but that was it, no one could read that thing anyway, I bought it out of curiosity and because the cover was made from some valuable materials, that was it".
"As for your mother's corpse, despite my participation in her death… I was afraid of she becoming a calamity for my family, so I did a proper burial, since the White ancestor didn't ask me to give him her corpse, her tombstone is hidden inside an underwater grotto, in the sea that leads to the Elemental Sea from the kingdom".
Annette who has calmed down and was just showing cold indifference towards Carlos, asked.
"What about those shadow guards, are there any of them alive?".
Carlos shook his head in response.
"They were beheaded on the spot, in front of me by the subordinate that acted as an envoy from the White's ancestor, so that only I was left alive, but I had to sign a life and death contract, if I ever revealed what happened my magic core will explode and I will die, in that way I will "return" to the ancestor the power he bestowed me in exchange for my service".
"That was all, after that I never got to see that subordinate or hear anything from the White's ancestor… until a couple of months ago, I was told to proof my family's worth by introducing Corey to the crowned prince's team, by that same subordinate".
"But that was the last time I saw him, he said he had some matters to tend to at the Elemental Sea and then left, after that all the thing regarding the trident of promise happened and Corey met the expectations of the crowned prince and joined his team".
"Everything was going well… until he appeared and ruined Corey's opportunity to bring the victory to the crowned prince", said Carlos as he gazed at Daimon, just for his face to be smacked against the ground by Horals so hard that the floor cracked a bit.
"Watch your mouth, you lowlife, how dare you address my young master in such a way, from now on whenever you see him… no whenever you think of him, you will throw yourself to the floor and smack your forehead against the ground three times to thank him for this glorious image from appearing in your head", enthusiastically said the bone general, making Daimon sigh.
"Horals, raise him once again", ordered Daimon, he had to make some time to have a serious conversation with him, others will start to look at him as if he was the founder of shady black sect or something, if he kept spewing things like that in public.
Surprisingly, Carlos's face didn't disappear due to the impact, his nose was bleeding and one of his eyes was swollen, but that was it, probably because Horals was responsible enough to reinforce his skull before he smacked him against the ground, to not accidentally kill Carlos.
The queen and Aurora had noticed the same important point at the end of the story and had the same question to make, so both talked at the same time.
"Who is that subordinate you mentioned?".
They had their own reasons, one wanted to see if there was more information regarding her mother's death and the other was worried about that subordinate causing troubles in the shadows, at the Elemental Sea.
The shaman suffered backslash after the incident with one of their treasures breaking, though he recovered before all this or Aurora wouldn't have left his side to come to the Mermen Sea.
But with her and the patriarchs of half of the sects absent, they might be short in personnel, so there is a chance that troubles are being created without they knowing.
Unfortunately, Carlos shook his head, this time he didn't dare to look at Daimon directly, but he still said.
"I don't know who he is, he always wears a white mask, similar to that guy, but his covers all his face, besides that it is obvious is a male, and he should be around the same age range as you, as for his strength I don't know, he should be stronger than me and he is probably some authority figure among the shadow guards of the royals", said Carlos.
Annete raised an eyebrow, the only high ranked Stellar expert in the kingdom is Tideus, and he can't be a shadow guard, because he is the captain of the royal guard and has openly sworn to protect and obey Triten, in a public ceremony.
Not to mention, it couldn't be him unless he could be at two places simultaneously, Annete immediately thought of the Blackfin Duke's subordinate and she took out the mask that its corpse was wearing on top of the bandages all over his face, she had the corpse in a ring for when the time to deal with the Blackfin Duke came.
"Was it this mask, the one he was wearing?", asked Annete as she showed the mask to Carlos, who at first paled but then shook his head.
"N-No, it might be similar, but that's normal since they are generic masks, his mask has a pyramid form".
None of the women present in the room knew anyone like that and that is a lot to say, considering they are important figures of their respective forces, which are three of the four seas.
On the other hand, there was one person at their disposition, from the fourth sea and for convenience it was trapped within these same walls, in another room of course.
The queen used the master control of the prison to make some movements on the disposition of the rooms, and then one of the walls moved to connect at another room.
There was a metal chair with yellow crystal chains restraining one person, a woman to be exact, and the be even more accurate it was quite an emaciated woman, there wasn't any sign of physical violence, but she looked like a fish outside of water.
Carlos nearly suffered a heart attack, he recognized that woman as the main wife of the king of the Skelefiends, Shirel and she was captured by Annete too.
'What the hell is this woman trying to pull of here!' he shouted in his mind.
Daimon casually waited for the moment Annete ordered Horals to stop, this is a personal matter for her, so she is in charge of the interrogation, in any case, Daimon believes that Annete is patient enough to not take Carlos out of his limit, she waited one hundred years for her revenge, having the power to execute it, because that was her mother's wish, at least she can let out some steam in this way.On the other hand, this is the first time Daimon is seeing Horals's interrogation method, and he had to admit that it was quite something, at first, he thought he was using his battle aura to inflict physical pain to Carlos, but that wasn't the case.Horals has the ability to manipulate his bones however he likes, to the point that each major division of his body can act as a separate entity using one of his body parts as the core.But Daimon didn't know he could take over other people's skeletons and control them at will, by entering into contact with them, when Horals's finger pierced the leg of Carlos, the tip of his finger pierced all the way to the bone, but that's not what was causing the mind breaking pain which the Delphini Duke was experiencing right now.Horals's took over the Duke's skeleton, and made it crack just a bit, everything at the same time, being careful enough so that not even a piece of bone broke and pierced the flesh or anything, which could cause internal bleeding.He just made all the bones of the Duke crack and then repaired them as soon as possible, the pain travelled so fast through all his body, that even if it was instantly repaired the Duke felt as if his body was being teared apart.It was a type of pain which reached the very core of body, since one's' bones are in fact the core that supports the body.'I wonder where did he learn to do that?', thought Daimon, he and Rita have been showing to be quite strong and that is while they are Arch ranks, one can only imagine how will they fair once they reach the Half Emperor realm.After a total of ten minutes in which Carlos fainted three times but was immediately woken up by an even stronger amount of pain, Annete finally raised her hand and asked Horals to stop.The bone general had a bored expression, since he knew that the Duke won't refuse to answer anything from now and onwards, which meant his fun was over for now, but he still stood still right behind Carlos, applying psychological pressure on him.The queen glared at Carlos before her pretty lips slightly opened as she said. "I'll ask one last time, who orchestrated my mother's death?".Carlos's whole body trembled, he was clearly afraid of answering, but he was even more afraid of the crazy guy who was standing behind of him, what's more he saw that skeletal hand, and confused Horals for a Skelefiend, and that terrified him even more, he already had two of the known maximum level Stellar ranks wanting him dead, if the Skelefiends were involved, then wouldn't their king which also a maximum Stellar ranked be involved too!He looked at Annete with teary eyes, but he didn't dare to beg for mercy, knowing that if he didn't answer, he won't even be given the option to die, which at this point didn't sound bad at all."I-It was the White's ancestor".The queen trembled of anger, her eyes glowed with a cold light and then she kicked Carlos on the face, making a couple of the teeth which Horals kindly made grow again, fly out of his mouth.Unfortunately for Carlos, even before he touched the ground, Horals grabbed him by his hair and made him accommodate straight once again, for the interrogation to continue."Tell me everything, I have analyzed everything about you over the years to the point that I know the sound your blood makes when it moves through your body, so I can assure you that I will know if you are lying, and believe me when I say you are far from experiencing a pain enough to make you wish to be dead", she coldly said.Carlos saw the eyes of Annete and his body shivered, as some unpleasant memories flashed through his mind.'Those eyes, they are the same as hers!', he inwardly screamed, but the dreading feeling of Horals's hand on his head made him react on time to avoid another session of torture."It happened a couple of hundreds of years ago!", he shouted, now that he spoke in time to not be tortured, he continued with his explanation."When I met your mother, she was a commoner, an orphan which was working as a maid in one of the many properties of the Delphini, I immediately got infatuated with her and brought her back to my personal mansion to work under me"."I already had a fianc, but I couldn't overcome the beauty of Helena, so I broke my marriage arrangement off and instead ordered her to become my wife".The Duke remained silent for a moment which made Annete glare at him, forcing him to keep speaking."I don't remember some of what happened in between, maybe it is because it happened too many years ago or maybe is because I was too happy and drunk at the time, but we ended up having you, after that I distanced from Helena and married my original fianc for quite some time, I don't know what she did or where she spent her time, but I had Corey with my current wife"."It was then that a subordinate of the White's ancestor approached me, I was a mere Half Stellar mage back then and my father, the previous Lord was at the verge of death due to wound suffered in a battle against the Skelefiends, and he offered me a potion to help me breakthrough"."Naturally it didn't come for free, I was given a task, which was to kill your mother with a specific poison provided by the White's ancestor, at first I refused, but when I went to try and talk with Helena, she refused to even open the door to me so"."So, what, you got angry because she didn't like a scum like you and then decided to kill her for some benefits!", shouted Annete, her body was shaking due to anger, but she calmed down and then frowned."What about Mellie, you say you remember me, but you didn't mention Mellie at all, when she died Mellie was already being treated in the bubble incubators?", she asked.When Mellie was born, her mother was sick and that brough some complications, which she now knows were caused by Carlos's poisoning her.Carlos vehemently shook his head with a genuinely sincere expression on his pained face."I swear I don't remember having done anything to her, I did put the poison on her drink, but I don't remember giving it to her, also I don't remember doing anything so that Mellie was conceived"."T-That's why I distanced myself from her, I was always stunned by her beauty, to the point that my mind was dizzy, every time I approached her, I ended drinking a lot to gain the value to talk to her, just to wake up he other day dead drunk on the floor however the day she died was different"."I had just returned from my most recent travel and placed my discoveries on my desk, you entered my studio and then grabbed one of those discoveries, a book which I found in a rundown boat store from the nomads of the Maelstrom Sea when I was returning to the kingdom"."That day, the same subordinate of the White's ancestor came to see me and gave me a second different poison, I do remember giving her the poison that time but it was because the first one didn't work, I thought I was just being tested, to see if I was loyal to the royal familyaghhh!".Annete ignored the clear lie to lessen the possibility of being tortured and directly punched Carlos's on the face, she didn't use any mana or anything and so, she harmed her pretty hand, the knuckles to be more specific.But she didn't pay any attention to it, and instead grabbed Carlos by his neck."You poisoned her twice and you dare to say it wasn't your intention, you trash!"."What else happened that day after you gave her the poison?", asked Annete, her mother's body as well as any evidence was taken away, and no one knew what happened to it, even after all these years, Vincent couldn't find any information regarding her corpse, but he did hear a rumor about a certain important book in the collection of the royal family."The White's ancestor had everything prepared beforehand, those who came to "investigate" were shadows guards of the royal family, they erased every evidence, which included that book, but only because it was the last thing your mother touched before her death"."Later I heard from the subordinate that the book had historical value, so the ancestor kept it as a part of his collection, which is in his room, but that was it, no one could read that thing anyway, I bought it out of curiosity and because the cover was made from some valuable materials, that was it"."As for your mother's corpse, despite my participation in her death I was afraid of she becoming a calamity for my family, so I did a proper burial, since the White ancestor didn't ask me to give him her corpse, her tombstone is hidden inside an underwater grotto, in the sea that leads to the Elemental Sea from the kingdom".Annette who has calmed down and was just showing cold indifference towards Carlos, asked."What about those shadow guards, are there any of them alive?".Carlos shook his head in response."They were beheaded on the spot, in front of me by the subordinate that acted as an envoy from the White's ancestor, so that only I was left alive, but I had to sign a life and death contract, if I ever revealed what happened my magic core will explode and I will die, in that way I will "return" to the ancestor the power he bestowed me in exchange for my service"."That was all, after that I never got to see that subordinate or hear anything from the White's ancestor until a couple of months ago, I was told to proof my family's worth by introducing Corey to the crowned prince's team, by that same subordinate"."But that was the last time I saw him, he said he had some matters to tend to at the Elemental Sea and then left, after that all the thing regarding the trident of promise happened and Corey met the expectations of the crowned prince and joined his team"."Everything was going well until he appeared and ruined Corey's opportunity to bring the victory to the crowned prince", said Carlos as he gazed at Daimon, just for his face to be smacked against the ground by Horals so hard that the floor cracked a bit."Watch your mouth, you lowlife, how dare you address my young master in such a way, from now on whenever you see him no whenever you think of him, you will throw yourself to the floor and smack your forehead against the ground three times to thank him for this glorious image from appearing in your head", enthusiastically said the bone general, making Daimon sigh."Horals, raise him once again", ordered Daimon, he had to make some time to have a serious conversation with him, others will start to look at him as if he was the founder of shady black sect or something, if he kept spewing things like that in public.Surprisingly, Carlos's face didn't disappear due to the impact, his nose was bleeding and one of his eyes was swollen, but that was it, probably because Horals was responsible enough to reinforce his skull before he smacked him against the ground, to not accidentally kill Carlos.The queen and Aurora had noticed the same important point at the end of the story and had the same question to make, so both talked at the same time."Who is that subordinate you mentioned?".They had their own reasons, one wanted to see if there was more information regarding her mother's death and the other was worried about that subordinate causing troubles in the shadows, at the Elemental Sea.The shaman suffered backslash after the incident with one of their treasures breaking, though he recovered before all this or Aurora wouldn't have left his side to come to the Mermen Sea.But with her and the patriarchs of half of the sects absent, they might be short in personnel, so there is a chance that troubles are being created without they knowing.Unfortunately, Carlos shook his head, this time he didn't dare to look at Daimon directly, but he still said."I don't know who he is, he always wears a white mask, similar to that guy, but his covers all his face, besides that it is obvious is a male, and he should be around the same age range as you, as for his strength I don't know, he should be stronger than me and he is probably some authority figure among the shadow guards of the royals", said Carlos.Annete raised an eyebrow, the only high ranked Stellar expert in the kingdom is Tideus, and he can't be a shadow guard, because he is the captain of the royal guard and has openly sworn to protect and obey Triten, in a public ceremony.Not to mention, it couldn't be him unless he could be at two places simultaneously, Annete immediately thought of the Blackfin Duke's subordinate and she took out the mask that its corpse was wearing on top of the bandages all over his face, she had the corpse in a ring for when the time to deal with the Blackfin Duke came."Was it this mask, the one he was wearing?", asked Annete as she showed the mask to Carlos, who at first paled but then shook his head."N-No, it might be similar, but that's normal since they are generic masks, his mask has a pyramid form".None of the women present in the room knew anyone like that and that is a lot to say, considering they are important figures of their respective forces, which are three of the four seas.On the other hand, there was one person at their disposition, from the fourth sea and for convenience it was trapped within these same walls, in another room of course.The queen used the master control of the prison to make some movements on the disposition of the rooms, and then one of the walls moved to connect at another room.There was a metal chair with yellow crystal chains restraining one person, a woman to be exact, and the be even more accurate it was quite an emaciated woman, there wasn't any sign of physical violence, but she looked like a fish outside of water.Carlos nearly suffered a heart attack, he recognized that woman as the main wife of the king of the Skelefiends, Shirel and she was captured by Annete too.'What the hell is this woman trying to pull of here!' he shouted in his mind.
