Reyna arrived at the royal prison after a long journey on her carriage. The coachman and the carriage waited there as she and her three knights entered the large imposing building.
Once inside, she met face-to-face with the official who recognized her instantly. She talked with the officials and was granted the key to one of the rooms.
“Here is the key to the interrogation room. Keep in mind, we followed your instructions from yesterday, but I don’t think he took it well,” the official admitted hesitantly.
Holding the key firmly in her grasp, Reyna gave a curt nod. “That’s what I hoped to hear. Thank you for following my orders.”
“A-Ah, yes, Your Grace…” the official stammered, bowing as Reyna walked past his desk.
Reyna descended the narrow dimly lit stone staircase with her knights following closely behind her. Reaching a dark quiet hallway littered with knights patrolling, she made her way to a particular door. Once she reached the solid metal door, she turned to her men. “Wait here.”
““Yes, Ma’am!”” they answered in unison.
Entering the room, an overwhelming stench assaulted Reyna’s senses. She tried to keep a composed face, as best as she could. The smell wasn’t new to her, but it was still uncomfortable.
Behind the thick iron bars sat a stocky nobleman, the suspected mastermind behind the attack on the castle. His once-proud demeanor had long since crumbled. Now, he was but a shell of his former self.
Reyna still regretted that the mage responsible for the attack had ended himself before she could personally handle him, but there was no use dwelling on lost opportunities. The man before her, broken as he was, still held value. He had endured grueling interrogations by the kingdom's most skilled, yet now, it was her turn with him.
Former Baron Viktor Karaneid sat curled up in a fetal position on the damp floor, his once-fine clothes now stained beyond belief. His wide bloodshot eyes stared aimlessly at the floor until he heard Reyna approach.
Reyna slammed her palm against the iron bars, the loud clang reverberated through the room. Instantly, his head snapped up.
“Hiiiieeegh!!!—” he yelped, scrambling backward until his back hit the cold stone wall. His terrified gaze never left her.
“Good morning, Sir Karaneid. I trust you are well?” Reina said, her tone as sharp as a sword.
Karaneid was silent for a moment, but then, in an unexpected turn, he crawled forward on all fours.
“P-P-Please!” he begged, voice quivering. “Please, I-I’ll tell you everything! J-Just no more!”
Reyna raised an eyebrow. “Really? Giving in so fast?” She took a seat on the provided wooden chair facing the iron bars. “I haven’t even been here since last noon.”
“I-I can’t take it anymore! P-Please, just get me out of here!”
Reyna let out a sigh. Apparently, her suggestions to the prison staff had worked extremely well. Depriving him of absolutely everything shattered his ego like glass against steel. No change of clothes, not tending to him for hours, “accidentally” dropping his food in front of him… Those were just a few of the suggestions she gave to the staff here, and to think they had such an effect…
To think he would break this fast though… Reyna had hoped he would last longer. After all, she still needed to vent all her frustrations. This tightness in her chest hadn’t loosened since that day. Losing one of her punching bags this early wouldn’t be good. But still, information has to be prioritized.
“Very well, if you wish to tell me everything, I’ll try to negotiate a better living condition for you,” Reyna said.
“Y-Yes! I’ll tell you everything!” Karaneid nodded frivolously.
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Reyna kept her cool. She folded her arms and leaned back into the chair.
“Tell me, is it true that you were the one who orchestrated the attack on the castle?”
Karaneid remained silent, his eyes flicking between the iron bars, seemingly unsure if he should answer or not. Or whether he should lie or come clean.
Reyna cleared her throat.
That alone sent him into a panic. He yelped and quickly dropped back to all fours.
“Y-Yes… I am,” he admitted, his voice almost a whisper.
“What were you trying to achieve with the attack?”
“I… I wish… to take revenge…” he said, his hands balling into tight fists.
“Revenge? Against whom?”
“A-Against who? Are you kidding?” he looked up and stared Reyna straight in the eye. He glared forward as he raised into a kneeling position. “Who else could I be targeting?! The royal family of course!” he lashed out.
Reyna tilted her chin down slightly. “The royal family? Why?”
“T-They… They took my land from me! They took everything from me! How… How could I let such a tyrannical family be the head of this kingdom?!”
Reyna barely reacted at all. She had already learned of his fate before the attack.
After being found guilty of embezzlement, his title of Baron was stripped from him as quickly as a fox. It was a fitting punishment for someone like him, she was surprised he wasn’t exiled though.
Reyna held back a smirk. He had the gall to call that decision unfair? How delusional was this man? But, delusions or not, the fact of the matter still stands. His madness almost killed the royal family, and most importantly, her dear daughter, Carine.
“Next, I want you to tell me about that mage you conspired with. What do you know about him?”
“W-What? That useless junk?” Karaneid stammered, calming down from his anger. “...He’s a dropout from the Royal Knight Academy. I was told he was expelled after a series of bad behavior unbefitting of a knight.”
“You were told?”
“Well, yes… I met him in a tavern I frequented. I learned of him from the chatters there…”
Reyna narrowed her eyes.
So, two people who wished to take revenge happened to meet up in the same tavern…
Too convenient. Reyna leaned forward, tapping a gloved finger against her armrest. Coincidences were rarely so neat, and she had learned long ago that opportunists like Karaneid were often played as much as they played others. Someone had nudged him in the right direction.
She was about to press him further when a sharp knock came from the iron door behind her.
“Your Grace,” came one of her knights’ voices. “Castle officials are here. They request that we leave immediately. They wish to conduct their own investigation.”
Reyna gritted her teeth. Now of all times?
Still, she couldn’t go against the castle officials. She was only granted permission to participate thanks to them, and denying their request would sully the Sareid family name as ungrateful.
She exhaled through her nose and stood up in one fluid motion. Karaneid flinched as her gaze settled on him one last time. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”
She turned on her heel and headed towards the door. She met with the castle officials just beyond the doorway.
“Your Grace,” one of them greeted her with a bow. He extended an open palm upwards and flashed a smile, “The room key, if you may.”
Reyna gave a curt nod before handing over the key. The officials stepped aside to let her through.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Your Grace. We will inform you if we uncover anything substantial.”
“I appreciate it,” she answered out of obligation. The metal doors closed behind her with a clang, leaving Reyna alone with her knights.
It took all her might to hold her tongue against those officials. If it weren’t for them, she would already be uncovering everything there is to know from that scum fallen noble.
“I still had questions to ask as well… What a shame,” Reyna grumbled.
“Shall we head back to the manor, Your Grace?”
Reyna shook her head. “No, I still have another suspect to question.”
Fortunately, for Reyna, there was still someone else she could interrogate to alleviate this frustration. That mess of a man who stalked her yesterday.
He didn’t have time to properly question him yesterday, since he spent most of his time in captivity screaming like a madman. Something about how things were “not supposed to be like this.”
With Karaneid temporarily out of reach, she should at least turn her attention to him instead.
…
Reyna returned to the official at the front desk and requested the room key. He nodded and pulled out a key from a locked cabinet under his desk. He handed Reyna the key, but then he spoke up.
“Ah, that’s right, Your Grace. I forgot to mention… Early this morning, we placed another inmate in the same cell as the man you’re about to visit. I’m sorry if this is an inconvenience.”
Reyna stopped mid-motion, her fingers tightening around the key. “Why would there be two people in the same cell?”
“W-Well, you see…” the official scratched the back of his head. “There was a scheduling issue, and we had no choice but to put him there…” he admitted awkwardly.
Reyna let out a long sigh. “Paperwork shouldn’t be overlooked so easily. How do you expect me to interrogate someone with a third party around?”
“I-I’m really sorry, Your Grace! But, I don’t have the authority to do anything about it, so…” he twirled his fingers awkwardly, avoiding her gaze.
Reyna clicked her tongue. She had no time to waste arguing about paperwork.
“Fine,” she said, gripping the key tightly. “I’ll make do.”
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image [https://i.imgur.com/RdC5Gde.png]