54 Punishmen (1/2)

They deposited the mentally deranged girl in the palace's dungeon. She would get 'special' treatment down there, courtesy of Emperor Destan. He also gave permission for Nine to torture Baron Ruben in his place.

Emperor Destan had been rightfully enraged at the thought that his son had been stolen from right under his nose. Although he had prepared for external forces trying to get his son, he hadn't accounted for internal ones. That was his mistake.

Nine placed Deltan under lock and key, with Nocturne watching over him. Hopefully, he would get over his irrational jealousy after spending an extended time with him.

While he was doing that, she met up with her four students who had detained Baron Ruben after learning he was responsible for the kidnapping.

The Baron shivered as he quailed under Nine's glacial gaze, cursing his past self for ever having thoughts. His mind whirled as he frantically tried to find a way out of this predicament. His eyeballs rolled in his eye sockets as his brain finally came upon a possible way out. He fell to the ground in a grovelling position.

”It was all Rose's fault! I don't know where she got the idea from, but it definitely wasn't mine. You see, she's just a lowly maid servant's child, so the upbringing she got from her mother was rather lacking. She put all those fantastical ideas inside her head like trying to climb into the Eldest Prince's bed!”

Ruben paused, trying to gauge how it was going, but couldn't glean anything from the Crown Prince's expression. Swallowing, he powered through. ”After she kidnapped him, I couldn't possibly turn around and tell the Emperor, right? It wasn't my fault! I was going to bring him back on the sly, but Your Highness took action too quickly.”

”So, you're saying this is my fault, Baron?” came Nine's silky-smooth voice, deceptively warm.

Baron Ruben trembled. ”No, no. Of course not, Your Highness! It was all my stupid daughter's fault! I didn't raise her right. It's all my fault. It's all my fault! Your Hightness should punish her however you see fit.”

The smile on Nine's face made him feel relieved, causing his tense body to loosen somewhat.

”Haha,” he laughed nervously. ”Your Highness, you understand, right? Please don't kill me. It wasn't my fault. Take Rose!”

Behind him, Lucien sneered inwardly. What a parent. If someone had a father like this, they were better off without a father at all. It was clearly his fault, yet he was still blaming his daughter like it was her entire plan. He thought that he was unlucky that in this life, he didn't have parents just like in his old one but looking at the way the Baron snivelled now and tried to save his own hide, he would rather not have parents than a parent like that.

The Baron in the room seemed not to notice the looks of disgust that everyone was sending him. He only had eyes for the Crown Prince in front of him. His entire life depended on the words that came out of the prince's mouth. It didn't matter that he was demeaning himself like this. All that mattered was that he was able to stay alive.

As long as he stayed alive, he still had his heirs and wife, as well as the few concubines that he had raised on the sly. What was the loss of a measly daughter? Even though she had been brought up, she was still useless in the end. She failed to seduce the Eldest Prince in the past couple of months, in the end forcing them to take drastic measures.

Without any need for Nine to prompt him to do so, Brooke couldn't take the disgust he felt any longer, throwing the documents on the floor in front of Ruben. The papers fluttered as they slid across the polished hardwood floor, scattering.

Baron Ruben wanted to glare at the lowly commoner but didn't dare lest the Crown Prince think that he was slighting him. He silently swore that he would kill off that brat's entire family when he got out of this.

He looked down at the papers, causing him to pale as all blood left his face. How could this be? Someone betrayed him!

With clammy hands, he reached forward to touch the papers. He sweated as he collapsed to the ground helplessly, not even able to get out of his grovelling position. Finished. He was finished!

Baron Ruben started laughing helplessly as tears pricked his eyes. The laughter steadily grew until it was maniacal in nature, showing the way his mind had deteriorated. He knew he didn't have a chance anymore.

Detailed on the paper was the information that the team of four had collected in their anger whilst here in the mansion he had been staying in. They had managed to interrogate a few of the Baron's trusted subordinates, as well as the information that spilled from his own mouth whilst he was unaware and lost amidst the pain.

Baron Ruben had received orders from someone to kidnap the Crown Prince but had to reluctantly change his plans to the Eldest Prince instead because the Crown Prince had been too hard to approach. It would have looked suspicious had Rose approached without any rhyme or reason to try and act nice since everyone else disdained and looked down on him.

Luckily, Rose had some contact with the two princes. Ruben judged that it would have been easier for her to get closer to the Eldest Prince, who seemed to be craving parental acknowledgement. Ruben himself intended to fulfil that role once Rose roped him in.