Reuben.

"..... And? Is she dead now?" I asked Gilbert in an indifferent manner as I was being reported of the recent events that took place in the castle.

"Yes Your Majesty. Countess Wroth and her grandson had been dragged to the gallows by the earliest of daybreak the very next day and were executed." Gilbert nodded his head solemnly.

"Hah!(Scoff) It seems Beatrice couldn't wait to get rid of the Countess this time." Otherwise, the transgressions of two eminent nobles would have to go through many complicated trials and verdicts before coming to the last resort of execution. It clearly reeked of the Queen Dowager's stench since they were put to death without so much as a trial.

"Yes Your Majesty. It looks like this incident this time was related to the Princess." Gilbert answered.

"Hmm, no wonder she was so impulsive in her move." I smiled to myself.

I looked down and reopened the folded piece of paper and smiled lightly at the messy words scribbled on the fragile piece of crumpled note.

"If you're reading this, I'm beautiful and you're an asshole."

'Truly remarkable', I thought. Her petite puffy red crossed face came into my mind's eye and I couldn't help but smile a bit broader. I never could have imagined my lady to be such an able person when put in a tight situation. She was capable enough to inflict such a fatal blow on the Queen Dowager, I was truly convinced now that she was proficient enough to shoulder my burdens along with me.

I folded back the note and put it inside of my pocket and looked back at Gilbert, "Gilbert, next time you want to make Lizzy bent to your will, add up a few more piles of books to her schedule."

Gilbert chuckled in response and bowed his head in deep apprehension, "Understood My Majesty."

"Now then," The smile on my lips dimmed as I asked, "Have you caught Viscount Groundert yet?"

"Yes Your Majesty, we have him in our custody." Gilbert bobbed his head in accord.

"Alright, I understand. Where was he fleeing to in such a hurry?" I puckered my brows at the thought.

"To answer Your Majesty, he was fleeing towards the southern sea borders, towards the edges of the port city according to my knowledge." Said Gilbert.

"Hmm, did he have any ships awaiting him to deport him out of the country?" I asked.

"No Your Majesty, according to my knowledge, we do not know of any such ships that are about to set sail out of the country illegally." Gilbert informed.

"....Hmmm, then what was he going to do in the sea port city? Rent a ship and escape the country?" I knitted my brows suspiciously; this matter didn't seem to be as simple as it looked.

"I suspect there to be something much deeper hidden underneath his moves, Sire." Gilbert had the same thoughts as me, but before we could go any further with this theory, one of my knights barged into my office in a haste.

"My lord, Viscount Groundert wants an appointment with you urgently." The knight announced and I raised a brow to that.

"Did he say why he would want an appointment with me?" I asked in apathy.

"No my lord, he did not say anything else. He just said that he shall not open his mouth until you agree to meet him." The knight informed.

"Oh? Does he think he will not be beheaded if he refuses to say anything?" I smiled lightly.

"My lord, I do not think it is necessary for you to listen to that depraved man's words. I shall personally take care of him if you just so command." Gilbert mouthed with grinded teeth.

"No need." I held my hand up to stop him.

"Pardon me, my lord. The viscount said that the lord would greatly regret it if he denied him the conference." The knight muttered in a curtsied demeanour.

".... Did he now." I smiled deeply when I heard him.

"How dare He!" Gilbert was riled up by the knight's words but I stopped him from going into a rampage with a stern look and said to the knight, "Lead the way knight Leon, I'm also interested in what the viscount has to say for himself now."

When we finally reached the chamber where the viscount was stranded, I motioned everyone to leave the room except Gilbert and entered the room to come face to face with a thin gaunt beady-eyed man. The man looked to be in his late forties. His shaggy unkept brown hair cascaded his appearance and the bruises on his face were not made very visible due to his frazzled mane.

He was restrained in shackles and was wedged on the gritty floor. Half of his disfigured face was veiled by the shadows of the musky room and he reeked of something rotten.

He raised his whacked face slowly when he heard footsteps approaching him. I took a seat few meters away from his ragged form and crossed my legs one on top of the other, all the while looking at this disgusting rat with cold eyes. I was not particularly interested in what he had to say, but I did want a few names out of his mouth.

Now then, he didn't seem like a tough nut to crack.

A distorted smile broke out of his cut lips when he finally saw me. It was one of those warped smiles when one leers at one's liberator, his timid form gained some impetus when he eyed me, irate as he looked, he tried to subconsciously scurry towards me to gain my favor. I raised a brow to his livid behaviour but did not stop his movements all the same.

However, Gilbert didn't let him get past him as he unsheathed his sword to place it on the man's neck. "One more move from you and do not blame me for taking off your head." Gilbert's callous voice rang throughout the room.

The man abruptly stopped in his motion when he felt the cold icy-sharp steel positioned on his nape. His expression altered into that of the cowardly rat that he was.

"M-My Lord! Please please, I beg you to spear me! I-I was blinded by greed for a moment, I swear I shall never repeat my mistakes ever again. Please show mercy on this humble subject my lord." His mindless blabbering was really getting on my nerves.

I extended one of my feet and raised his scrawny chin with the tip of my boots, "Oh? Well, I can contemplate on letting you off, but it comes with a cost. Now the question is, are you ready to pay the price?" I tilted my head slightly to one side and smiled a tempting sort of sneer.

"Yes! Yes my lord, whatever you wish. I shall try to fulfil your wishes to the utmost of my capabilities. As long as the lord forgives me, I shall give you whatever you wish for." The rat squeaked impetuously as he grabbed onto my foot and kissed it in an eager slobbering manner.

"Well then, what I want from you are the names of your associates and the reason why you were rushing off towards the port of the southern sea." The rat's visage evidently paled when he heard the words that came out of my mouth. "I think it is a fair deal, don't you think so Sir viscount? Vital information for your vital life?" My lips lifted upwards into a smile that looked very coaxing to the eyes of onlookers.

"M-My lord!!..." His speech faltered halfway as his mind contemplated my words.

"Hmm?" I smiled some more.

"I... I, My lord if I give out t-their names, they will kill me." He prostrated on the ground while hitting his head erratically, "Have pity on me, my lord! Please! I have children and a family to fend for. Please show mercy, Your Benevolence."

"Oh? You don't think I'm showing you enough mercy by letting you live?" His timid form quivered with my words, he didn't dare to look up to meet my eyes underneath my intimidating gaze.

"N-No my lord!..Ugghh!!.." I stepped on his head and grinded my heels on top of him in a crushing fashion, looking at his sorry form with loathe. "Viscount Groundert Garison, do you know the enormity of your crimes? I could obliterate your entire household, and no one will even make a peep in refute. No one can even afford to, do you understand?" I grated my heels into his skull with sheer force to show him his filthy place. "Now, you are going to die either way. It is up to you to decide in whose hands do you want to end your miserable excuse of a life with. And believe me when I say this, you should be prepared if you want to choose me as your executioner, because I will make you wish that you were dead but will never give you the satisfaction of death at all." My form exuded my intense killing aura as my eyes gleamed bright. "I will break you and then mend you, and then break you all over again, so much so that you will go mad, but I will still return you to your sanity just to break you again."

I smiled at him in a cold light, his repulsing figure was shaking in utter fear that I had evoked in him, and his disfigured face looked even more contorted with his appalling fluids running down his face.

"Now then, my dear viscount, you should make your decision soon because I'm not a very patient person you see."

"I.. I.. AHHHHHH!!!" I cut off one of his fingers to quicken his pace, but regrettably so, he let out a revolting scream which got me more irritated now. So I cut off one more of his fingers to quieten him.

"GHAAAAAAA!!!" But it didn't seem to work very well.

I 'tsked' and grumbled, "Dear Viscount, if you don't want to lose your entire arm, I suggest you quite down a little bit, or else, I can't guarantee your intact limbs."

This time, my words seemed to have made an impact on him since he muffled his screams and quieted down a bit. "So, where was I? Ah yes. Patience," I mouthed out as I wiped my dagger in my nice white handkerchief to clean it off his dirty blood, "As you can already see, my patience runs thin very quickly, so you should hurry up Groundert, or I fear something unsightly might just happen to you." I threw the blood-stained handkerchief on the ground and smiled in reassurance at the rat, "And you shouldn't blame me if that were to happen, hmm?"

"Hnnhh...Hnnnn.... Haha... Hahahahaha....!" The rat suddenly started laughing and crying at the same time, he looked like a lunatic running amok. I raised my brows a little as a result. "They were right about you. You really are the inhuman royal hellhound born of a philistine bitch!.... Aaahhhhhhgggghhhh!!!" I bolted his hand with the dagger into the ground, the smile on my face dying faster than wisps of smoke dissipating after a candle flame that had been snuffed out.

"Yes? Where were we?" I glared at him in distaste, openly showing my killing intent, consequently making him convulse.

"Beast! You beast! You..."

"Gilbert, your blade." I commanded.

"Yes my Lord." Gilbert handed me his switchblade and I embedded it deep, into the scum's other hand, making both of his hands immovable.

"AHHHHHHHHGGHHHH!!!" He was not reserved this time when he let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Well, where were we then?" I asked him again.

"Y-You! You're too late! Hahahahahahaahahaahah.....! All of you are going to die soon. All!!! All of you! She is coming. SHE IS COMING, and she will destroy you all. She will destroy everything! And both of you will perish! And I shall be there to see all of your downfall and I shall be the one to have the last laugh! Hahahahaha!" The scum rat broke into hysterics while he jabbered gibberish that didn't make much sense. However, before I could even ask whatever it was that he meant, his eyes rolled over and fine white foam started forming out of his mouth. I knitted my brows and took my foot off his head and gestured Gilbert to examine him.

Gilbert checked his pulse and after a moment, shook his head from side to side, "Sire, he is no more. A blood spell had been casted upon him. It seems they really didn't want him to disclose any information about them or their purpose." Gilbert said as he pulled the tongue of the viscount out of his mouth to show me the blood curse magic circle that laid a red outline of itself on his tongue, its traces still discernible to the eyes.

I raised a brow and said, "A blood spell? That's a powerful spell, not everyone can cast such a spell. And from the looks of it, Groundert didn't seem to be aware of this spell that was casted on him."

"I believe so too Sire, otherwise, he wouldn't have revealed the information that he just did. This man was too cowardly to give up his life for a moment of triumph." Gilbert agreed. "So what are we to do now, Sire?"

I thought for a moment and then spoke, "Make preparations, we are to head off to the southern seaport by the earliest of dawn tomorrow. I feel we will soon be made aware of their plans when we reach Calavaria." Calavaria was the adjutant province to Galvolner. It was a port city and an important import export commercial trading city of Reveldron. We were supposed to leave for Calavaria to pick up Princess Lydia of Zeldereth after we had sorted out the troubles in Galvolner. It seemed like we will have an early trip to Calavaria instead.

"As you command, My Liege." Gilbert bowed in concord to my orders.

I put my hands in my trouser pockets and felt the coarse texture of the almost crumpled-up note, my lips stretched into a soft smile at the reminder of her sulky resentful little face.

Ah! That little chipmunk Fake Lizzy.

To be Continued..........