Chapter 126

The next day, Cayden set off, leading his army. His goal was to eliminate all the reinforcements that had been aiding the Payne family in their bid for a comeback.

Exterminating them entirely wasn’t feasible... The plan was to subjugate them as subordinate families.

By morning, Cayden had already received letters of surrender from several families.

The twins, Daisy, and Judy saw him off in the morning.

Despite Judy’s fierce opposition, she had no choice but to stay behind. With the likelihood of actual war being low, Cayden assured her to rest without worry.

Each of the four women had their own thoughts.

Among them, the twins were the most anxious.

They hadn’t yet received an answer from Cayden.

Cayden had promised to give them an answer about the family when he returned, but Asena knew he had already made his decision.

...Whether it was acceptance or rejection, she didn’t know.

After Cayden left, Asena moved with purpose.

There was something she had to do.

Accompanied by a guard, she entered the underground prison.

Given the Payne family’s notoriety for crime, the prison was well-built.

No light seeped in, dulling the prisoners’ sense of time, and torture devices were scattered everywhere.

The prisoners’ screams echoed within, unable to escape, while the damp, unpleasant air lingered.

Asena felt considerable satisfaction knowing Sharon Payne was trapped in such a place.

Cayden’s hidden cruelty surfaced again.

“...Listen carefully to me,” she said, holding a torch and addressing the guard escorting her.

“Yes, ma’am.”

The guard, overwhelmed by Asena’s aura, answered firmly.

“...What happens here... must remain a secret. Especially from my Oppa’s ears.”

Her words were icy.

The guard, who respected but also feared their family head, had no courage to respond otherwise.

Even he, who had followed Cayden through the fiercest battlefields, couldn’t overcome Asena’s terrifying aura.

“I understand.”

Satisfied with his response, Asena continued down the cold stone steps.

It was so dark that only the flickering torch revealed the path ahead.

Yet, Asena’s steps were unhesitant.

Her footsteps echoed through the prison, and the torturer, who had been watching the prisoners with folded arms, stood up abruptly at Asena’s appearance.

“...Sharon Payne?”

Asena’s voice was still icy as she asked, and the torturer, bowing deeply, led her to Sharon’s cell.

The soldier and the torturer began lighting torches on the walls as they followed.

The underground prison gradually brightened, and the other prisoners started to stir.

But the figure lying on the opposite side of the cell from where Asena stopped didn’t move, even with her arrival.

“...”

“...Sharon Payne.”

Only when Asena called her name did the prisoner flinch and respond.

For Sharon, who had likely lost track of time, it might as well have been night, but it wasn’t for Asena.

The torturer, quick on his feet, placed a chair behind Asena.

Sitting gracefully, Asena waited for Sharon to react.

“...Pryster...”

Sharon, still lying on the floor, slowly turned her head to respond.

Her cracked voice and eyes reflecting the torchlight, her slumped body…

Seeing her condition, Asena spoke.

“...So you can still recognize me. Maybe we’ve given you too much water.”

Even those simple words made the torturer, who had been in charge of Sharon’s meals, fidget nervously.

“...Ha. Your hateful face is recognizable anywhere.”

Sharon whispered.

Asena didn’t even snort at her words.

“...I didn’t come here to talk. I just wanted to see your condition... to ponder what fate to bestow upon you.”

“...Just kill me.”

Asena answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Of course. Did you think you had a chance to live? Have you forgotten the Pryster family creed? ...You dared to touch my Oppa and almost killed him... Did you think you could survive?”

Her voice began to swell with anger, but it quickly dissipated with a sigh.

“...I’ll make sure you die painfully. Just know that.”

Sharon Payne’s body flinched violently and then slowly began to tremble.

“...Whether it’s by starvation, burning, or stabbing... you’ll experience every form of torture before you die.”

Asena thought it was a fitting punishment.

Sharon Payne, who lay before her, had almost taken her Oppa’s life.

If Cayden had died... she would have died too. And likely, Keirsey would have also perished.

The Pryster family had nearly been annihilated. Such a punishment was but a trifle.

Sharon’s body slowly crawled toward the bars, her sunken eyes coming into the light.

“...Please...”

“...”

“...Please forgive me...”

The talk of a painful death seemed to have stripped Sharon of her last shred of pride.

She realized that a peaceful death was too much to ask for.

Her sudden change in behavior felt awkward yet simultaneously understandable.

No matter how much one tries to maintain their dignity, when that courage breaks, people change so easily.

“Please... kill me without pain... Lady Asena...”

As she had in the past, Sharon raised her voice in supplication.

“...I was foolish... driven by greed... I thought Cayden was no longer part of the Pryster family... I acted on a momentary impulse for revenge...”

She pounded her powerless head against the ground.

But Asena could only laugh dryly.

“...Revenge...?”

“...Ah...”

“Revenge, you say?”

Sharon’s head remained fixed to the ground, unmoving. Her body seemed frozen with fear.

Asena continued.

“...You’re probably the only one who survived after almost killing the heir of the Pryster family at the academy. Where’s the gratitude for that mercy? You should have been thankful for being alive, not harboring thoughts of revenge...”

Asena regretted not killing Sharon back at the academy. If she had done so, she could have avoided the immense suffering they all endured.

Sharon’s stiff neck finally moved, and she responded. It seemed Asena’s words had reignited her inner defiance.

“...How is a command to bring back my head supposed to be mercy...”

On the day of the incident, Asena had given Sharon a letter with a command.

She had handed Sharon a letter demanding her own head, telling her to deliver it to the head of the family.

Asena spoke.

“You’re alive now, aren’t you?”

“...”

That simple reply shut Sharon’s mouth.

“If I truly wanted your head, I could have had it that very day.”

“...”

“Have you never thought about why I gave you that letter demanding your head?”

Asena had given Sharon a choice back then: to die or to flee.

Of course, Sharon knew this story all too well and had nothing more to say.

“Don’t justify your actions with anything else. Revenge, such nonsense...”

“...”

“You knew, even if my Oppa was no longer part of the Pryster family, that you shouldn’t have touched him. If it were a band of ignorant thieves... they wouldn’t know better. But you knew I held my Oppa in special regard, and you attacked him with clear intent.”

“...”

“That’s why, even after my Oppa escaped, you continued for days...”

Asena’s expression twisted gradually.

“...For days... you must have chased after my Cayden. You knew that if he made it back alive, this would happen to you.”

Sharon crawled across the floor, reaching a hand through the bars.

She seemed to want to grab Asena’s feet and plead.

The torturer, watching from the side, didn’t allow it.

“You scum!”

The torturer kicked Sharon’s arm, once belonging to a noble.

“...Ugh!”

Asena continued to look down at her with an air of elegance.

“Seeing what you did to my Oppa, it was only a matter of time before your family attacked mine.”

“...No...no...”

“There’s a big difference between having the intention and taking action. Since you acted on it, you must pay the price for touching us.”

“No... I never had such an intention...”

“...You say that, but your family turned their back on us the moment they had the chance.”

Asena paused, then corrected herself.

“...Actually, the family doesn’t matter. Just the fact that you attacked Oppa means you have to die. You and your entire family.”

The monster within Asena briefly showed itself.

She bent slightly.

Despite knowing her death was certain, Sharon felt a shivering terror.

“...The price for trying to take my treasure...is not small.”

Asena spoke quietly enough that even the torturer couldn’t hear.

Sharon realized there was no more hope for her, and her fists clenched tightly.

Asena observed this and asked.

“...Do you still feel wronged?”

“...”

“Understand that your position and mine are different. I’m sure you had your reasons. But...”

Asena stood up, looking down at Sharon crawling on the floor.

“The weak always feel wronged.”

“...Ugh... Sob...”

Then she turned away.

Asena never saw Sharon again.

--- End Of The Chapter ---

 

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