Chapter 57: Drunk Ramblings

About half of the people planted with bombs were already caught.

Just hearing that was rather surprising.

I knew we were tight on time and that we had to work fast, but to think we could catch so many in a single day gave a statement about the capability of the Marquis' second-best knight brigade, or rather, the entirety of the Hall fiefdom.

"Here, this is the one in the best condition," Sir Buhini said. He led us to the cell in the furthest corner of the castle's prison. The groans and moans of the other prisoners rang out like music in this smelly and moldy dark place. I didn't bother with looking at any of them, but it was obvious that they were all being tortured thoroughly.

"The other knights have gone out to continue the investigation while the guards are on break, they'll be back soon, so if you wish to ask anything do it now."

I nodded and looked at Lady Sophia. She seemed to be thinking for a few seconds before she sighed.

"Did you manage to get anything out of him?"

Sir Buhini shook his head.

"He refused to speak. I have no idea who the demon's agent could be. He said that man wore a cloak and didn't let him see his face, but the location..."

Hm.

These were all men who had their dignity stolen.

"I think I can give it a shot," I said.

Sir Buhini nodded and opened the door to the cell, letting me step in.

I ignored the wet floor of the cell and the gruel of rotting and rusting scents as I landed my foot on the prisoner's chest.

The brown-haired man crashed against the wall. He looked at me with a hateful glare, but didn't act out.

"I already told you everything..." he muttered, his voice as weak as a whisper."

I slowly leaned down and whispered in the man's ears.

"Where's your dignity, rat?"

The man started trembling.

Wow, just how bad did that guy do him?

"Tell me, and I'll get you revenge."

"re-revenge...?"

"Yes," I whispered, my tone lower. "Revenge."

"I-I was just... I was just a chef... I was going to cook for a noble, but that man! He!"

"He sodomized you?"

"AH!" the man screamed.

"Shush," I said. "I'll get you a chance for revenge. Tell me, where was it?"

"Where...?" the man seemed out of it. "After... after discussing with the butler..."

"Alright."

I moved away from the bastard and stepped out of the cell. The three people outside looked at me with curious gazes, but I ignored them and entered another cell.

This one too.

And the next one as well.

All of them were people who were supposed to serve a noble coming to the estate in some way.

To destroy the dignity of man. Dignities.

It wasn't their loves, nor their asses, actually a bit of both too, but more importantly.

Raum disliked 'Dignity.' 'Nobility.'

"Sir Buhini," I said. "Stop your knights from moving around the city. The people we are looking for are all those who would be serving a noble in some way or another."

"You mean...?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "That guy was planning to attack the nobles all along."

The many interpretations of a single term, the many applications of them, and the notoriety of a demon. What else could I be missing? How else was this guy following the 'wishes' of Raum.

It didn't matter.

I was going to crush all of them anyway.

Right then, the guards of the prison stepped in. They stopped in their tracks and reached to their swords when they saw us, but flinched at sir Buhini's sudden movements.

"Lord Eugene managed to get us a great piece of information! Go and call back the knights right now, we have to change our methods!"

"Yes sir!" Not a second of hesitation. The knights saluted and dashed away.

"You should go back for now," Sir Buhini said. "We handled it here, but it won't be possible for anything else."

"Right," I nodded. "We'll go back. Keep an eye out for the demon's agent."

"Yes, my lord."

I and Lady Sophia nodded before leaving the place.

With nothing else to do, I decided to take lady Sophia and Alec up to the top floor and played the piano for a large part of the day.

***

I sat alone in my room. The sun had long since gone away and the melancholy night without a moon had come up.

While looking at the glittering stars in the sky, I was practicing my wind magic by making a column of stable air that kept my chair just an inch off the ground.

Right then, a knock sounded on my door.

"Who is—"

—thud thud thud.

A continuous chain of rapid knocking interrupted me.

Holding in my confusion, I walked over to the door and slightly pulled it open.

A black negligee came in front of my eyes, greeting me from the other side of the door.

Before I could say anything, the door was pushed open and the negligee-clad Maria stepped inside my room. I took a few steps behind as she rushed to shut the door and covered it with her back.

Then, my eyes fell on her hand.

A bottle of aged whiskey. A high-quality one.

"Young master," Maria spat, her voice lazy. I could see her hair which would always be combed neatly now swaying slightly in the air.

"Maria, are you drunk?"

"Yes," she nodded.

I sighed, exasperated. "What are you even doing? Did you walk here looking like that? What if someone saw you—"

"Young master, listen."

"—You could've been in danger! Heck, what if you tripped from the stairs or something huh?"

"Young master."

"Are you sane? Just a single stroke of bad luck and—"

My collars were jerked as Maria shook me shut.

"Young master!" she said. "You're wrong!"

I stopped my rambling and looked up at her face.

"I thought about it, ok?" she continued, not a trace of drunkenness in her words anymore. She was still wasted, but her sincerity was shining through it. "Out of respect, I thought really hard."

"Ok..." I said, slightly pushing her hands away.

"I... I was not doing it out of guilt."

My eyes widened.

She had sorted her thoughts out. And her answer was one that made my heart race.

"Sure, you resemble Lady Charlotte. Sure, I thought of you as my responsibility... but honestly?"

"Honestly?"

"Fuckkkk all of that!" Maria shouted. "I was doing it because I wanted to! Because I... I think I love—"

I pulled her closer before she could say anything and sealed our lips together. My taste was naturally in older women.

I didn't think about anything else as I kept kissing her. Her body weakened and let go into my arms, but her lips didn't seem to have a thought of going away.

Finally, I moved away from Maria, opening my eyes.

Struggling to keep my breathing stable, I reached ahead and snatched the bottle of whiskey from her hands.

I turned my back to her and looked out at the night sky.

The moon wasn't watching.

"Oh my?"

At once, I put my lips against the bottle and started sipping down the whiskey faster than a cup of water.

"AHH!" I sighed as I drank more than half of it in a go and wiped my mouth.

Should I be doing this?

Morality? We both liked each other.

Age gap? Well, logically speaking, we were the same age.

Deception? No chance. She knew it all, she knew my age as well as I did.

Interest?

Taking another sip of the whiskey, I slammed the bottle back on the table and faced Maria.

"There. See me only for myself, Maria. Don't think of me as a responsibility or a duty."

Maria nodded.

I grabbed her hand and the bottle and jumped to the bed.

"Let's drink the night away."

Sorry, Keith. I'll be breaking our promise.