011. Imperial Prince is Hunting a Witch -4 (Part One)

BANG!!

Morian's head smashed into the hard, cold stone floor. Her teeth came loose and her nose bone broke. The girl then brandished her kitchen knife and brushed it against Morian's neck.

Accompanied by a chilling sensation, the skin on Morian's neck split apart slightly, and blood began dripping out a little between the cold metal and human flesh.

Since Morian studied human anatomy, she immediately realized that even the slightest resistance would result in her artery being cut wide open.

She was suppressed even before she had enough time to even shiver from fear.

The Imperial Prince looked at the platinum-haired girl with a surprised expression before walking over to Morian.

"Man, that surprised me."

The boy looked down at the captured Necromancer, 'Morian', with a slightly flustered expression. The latter's shaking eyes alternated between the prince and the girl.

They were both carrying icy-cold glares.

Morian quickly looked around her vicinity and saw the villagers standing nearby. Having found out that she was the Necromancer, their eyes were just as cold, even containing clear hints of killing intent too.

They obviously hated her for utterly decimating their village and ruining their lives.

Morian found them far more terrifying than the boy prince or the girl. She gritted her teeth. She was captured in the end. At this rate, she'd die for sure!

"S-spare me."

The villagers wouldn't let her live. She was the culprit who caused the deaths of all their loved ones, after all.

If she wanted to live, then she had no choice but to appeal to the Imperial Prince. Even if she sounded shameless, she needed to beg for her life here.

"What do you mean 'spare you'? You were so busy trying to kill me, you know... You getting tortured before being burned at the stake wouldn't be enough to make me feel happy here."

The Imperial Prince lightly waved his hand.

The platinum-haired girl must've understood what this gesture meant, because she began pushing Morian's head down even harder against the ground as if to protect the prince.

It felt as if Morian's skull might shatter from the sheer physical force alone. Such strength couldn't possibly have come from the small hands of a young girl.

'Oh my god?! Just who is this girl? Where is she drawing this monstrous strength from...?'

Morian couldn't budge an inch anymore. It was clear that her opponents didn't plan on letting her off the hook. Without any doubt, she'd be reported to the Theocratic Empire. The relevant authorities would be informed that an assassin dared to harm the grandson of the Holy Emperor. She became desperate after thinking about her future.

She wasn't just any other criminal, and if the Imperial Court really got a hold of her, then it wouldn't simply end with her execution.

"Please... I beg of you, let me go."

The corners of the Imperial Prince's lips twitched. "Why should I? I finally caught you after going through so much crap, meaning I don't have a reason to do so. Why should I spare a b*tch who tried to kill me earlier anyway?"

Morian gritted her teeth. She needed to survive. In order to do that...

"If you let me go, I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you who ordered me to kill you. Aren't you curious about that?"

"Kill me?"

The Imperial Prince looked stunned at this sudden revelation. But that made sense since this particular Prince already had no chance in becoming the successor of the Holy Emperor. He had been basically abandoned by his family.

So it was a little wonder why he'd be surprised to learn that he had became a target for assassination.

Hope began blooming in Morian's heart upon seeing the changes in the Prince's expression. If she played her cards right, then she might get to seduce this naïve young boy again and escape from this situation.

Her confidence shot up since she had already charmed the boy once before.

"T-that's right. I was told to seduce you and make it look like you killed yourself..."

"It wasn't suicide?"

The Imperial Prince seemed flabbergasted, but regretfully, that was all–he might be confused by these revelations, but he showed no signs of any willingness to let her go.

This wouldn't do. What she did wasn't enough to convince him. She needed something far more stimulating...!

Morian quickly recalled the reason why the Imperial Prince had been banished in the first place. He was just a naïve and immature kid, yet his interest towards women was in full swing. He was dumb, and extremely easy to seduce too.

That's why...

"You were interested in me, weren't you? I can become your slave. If you want, you can do whatever you want to my body..."

...She should continue seducing him.

He was a boy going through puberty. He'd definitely show a reaction when a healthy and slender beauty was seducing him.

"...I'm not interested in fooling around with a 60-year-old granny."

Morian bit her lower lip. She was currently in an aged state, so this sort of response wasn't that surprising. She couldn't seduce anyone with her current appearance.

In that case, she should try that...!

"I... I won't tell anyone. I won't tell anyone about the 'magic' you used earlier!"

This boy, he summoned zombies.

She wasn't sure how he did it, but well, if rumors of the Holy Emperor's grandson summoning a bunch of zombies got around, then never mind the grandson in question, even the Holy Emperor would feel the heat!

If she used this fact to negotiate with him, then...

"Ahh... that's right. This b*tch, she saw 'that', didn't she?"

The glare in the prince's eyes grew even colder.

Something went wrong just now. Morian needed to retract what she had said or else. Just as she hurriedly opened her mouth, he forced his shovel inside her jaw instead.

Morian's trembling eyes were now looking up at the prince.

"I advise you to reply promptly to the questions I'm going to ask you now. If you get it, blink once," the boy said.

Morian blinked her terror-filled eyes.

"Three months ago, were you the one who hung me up on the tree?"

She blinked her eyes once.

Back then, she seduced the Imperial Prince and lured him into the forest. The dumb prince fell for it and followed after her. She then subdued the foolish prince who showed up all alone and hanged him on a tree, thereby making it look like a suicide.

In case something unexpected happened, she even confirmed that his heart stopped beating too. She left after feeling confident of his death, and yet somehow, the Imperial Prince came back to life.

Paladins soon showed up afterwards to protect the boy, thinking that he tried to hang himself. They stayed around for a month to guard the monastery, but fortunately enough, the Prince couldn't remember anything from the incident, and thus, Morian was able to escape from their suspicion.

Even after the Paladins went away, she remained under the radar for the next two months to avoid further doubts.

And the result of all that was this.

The Imperial Prince sighed in relief. "So that's what happened." He formed a bitter grin and threw out the next question, "The one who wanted me dead, do you know who it is?"

Morian remained still for a bit there, her eyes wide open.

She didn't know who it was exactly. However, she could speak about the organization she was a part of instead.

The Imperial Prince seemed to have read her mind, seeing as he raised the shovel up a little. "Oh? In that case, what is it that you wanted to tell me then?"

Now that her mouth had become less restrained, Morian was able to speak what was on her mind, "The organisation I belong to."

"What's the name?"

"It's the Black Order. They ordered me to assassinate the seventh grandson of the Holy Emperor."

The answer came out way too easily. In fact, it was even more suspicious precisely because of how quick she 'fessed up.

"That came out way too easily. I don't believe you."

"Rather than being caught and tortured by the Theocratic Empire, being honest is far more preferable right now," Morian replied.

The Theocratic Empire's 'Heresy Inquisitors' were basically a bunch of inhumane demons. They were supported by not some piffling little organisation, but the entire Empire.

As far as the human physiology was concerned, they possessed far more intimate and detailed knowledge than the Necromancers who dealt with death itself.

Such as, how to not kill a person while still inflicting the maximum amount of pain, or how not to destroy one's mind while still placing the poor person in the maximum load of stress, etc, etc....

Their mercilessly cruel and evil torture methods were infamous for making 99 out of 100 confess to their crimes.

They would torture you until they got the exact information they wanted, and then, they would start performing strict and precise live experiments until the victim's life ran out.

Basically, they were worse demons than the Necromancers. They were a group of people clearly at odds with how the holy men and women of faith should behave, in other words.

"So you want me to spare you with only this little information?"

"Please let me go. I beg of you. Once I'm certain of my safety, I'll provide you with all the info I can on the Black Order. I'll even report back to you on who wanted to kill you."

"Who'd be dumb enough to believe that?!"

This had to be a lie–that's what the Imperial Prince thought.

"If you want, we can perform the Soul Contract. I mean, it'll be troubling for you if your magic gets known to other people, right?"

The Soul Contract. A type of pledge that Necromancers could make while using their souls as collateral. A promise would be made by risking a certain amount of one's remaining life span, and in case the promise was broken, the contract ensured that one's soul would be torn to tiny little pieces.

Morian, now in the appearance of a shrivelled-up granny, pleaded with him desperately.

The Prince looked at her and nodded his head, as if he too agreed with her sentiment. "Right, if that gets out, things will become annoying for me too."

"Y-you see? Soon, Paladins will show up here after realizing that something has gone wrong."

It would be infinitely more preferable to kill herself rather than get caught by those bastards.

"Let me go before they show up, please. If I were to get dragged before the Inquisitors, they'll find out about the magic you used and..."

"Annnd? That's why it's dangerous to let you live, right? My bad, but why don't you just die instead?"

Morian's expression hardened upon hearing this.

The young Imperial Prince was grinning right now. The way the ends of his lips curled up, that was definitely not the smile of a devout cleric who worshipped a deity. No... that was a cowardly, vulgar smirk that belonged to a devil.

This bastard, he never planned to let her live from the beginning!