Five minutes had passed since I entered the waiting room of the castle. Although normally the king would come almost immediately upon being informed of my visit, today was unusually delayed. As these thoughts crossed my mind, the sound of the door being opened echoed, followed by a familiar voice to me.

"Ren, I apologize for the delay"

the king said with a tired look as he entered the room. After closing the door behind him, he walked to the couch in front of me and sat down, slouching as he sighed. It didn't take a genius to notice that things didn't seem to be going well for him.

"It seems like things aren't going well at all, isn't it?"

Hearing my words, the king shook his head from side to side and sighed again. I couldn't tell if he was this way because the spy hadn't said anything or because we hadn't obtained any information that brought relief regarding the other continent. In the end, both issues seemed virtually the same.

"Just as you said, the spy hasn't given us so much as an answer since we captured him. In fact, we're involved in a long cat-and-mouse game, and at this point, I don't know if I could believe anything he says"

the king said as he sighed. It's not like I didn't know it would be difficult to get information from the spy, but according to the king, it was proving to be much more challenging than expected. In the end, it seemed like we were still at square one, with no significant breakthroughs.

"Have you tried bribing him? Although, given the circumstances, he doesn't seem like the type of person who would accept a bribe"

I said, considering the matter. Even in my previous life, spies were trained for situations where they might be held hostage. Although I don't know about other countries, I know that Solaris also had such training, so there's no reason the other continent wouldn't have something similar.

"We haven't even had a chance to do something like that. As soon as the spy was captured, his first action was to try to kill himself. We spent the next few hours searching him to make sure he didn't have any dangerous objects on him, both for himself and for us"

After these words, the king got up from the couch and looked in my direction.

"Anyway, I'll take you to the prisoner before we start drawing any conclusions from this situation. Maybe you'll notice something we hadn't realized"

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After that, we left the room and began to walk through the palace hallways. Over the past two years, I've had the opportunity to explore the palace quite a bit, so I'm somewhat familiar with its layout. However, I must admit that the path we were following wasn't exactly what I expected.

It was the back of the palace, an area that usually didn't catch my attention, and that was understandable since there wasn't much to see there. However, it now made sense that a prison was located in this spot. As I pondered this, we reached a place where a spiral staircase led downwards. The area was relatively dark, but not so much as to make visibility completely difficult.

As we descended, the only sound breaking the silence was our footsteps echoing through the spiral stairs. When we finally reached the ground floor, we found a series of prison cells lined up. At the entrance to this area, two armed guards stood watch, displaying their imposing presence.

We passed directly by the guards, who bowed slightly in respect to our arrival. Then, we entered a corridor flanked by cells. To the left and right, all the ones we saw contained prisoners, although some were empty.

It didn't take long for us to reach the cell where the spy was. It was evident that something was going on since there were more guards than usual, and the atmosphere was enveloped in an oppressive silence. The spy was sitting on the floor, with a pure iron bracelet attached to the wall, but he showed no fear. An ironic smile played on his face as he stared at the guards.

"Do you really think you'll get anything out of this?" the spy mocked, his voice dripping with contempt. "You really seem to underestimate my abilities. Even if you torture me, I won't reveal any information"

Jhon, who was present in the room along with other guards, took a step forward, lowering himself to the spy's eye level and looking directly into his eyes.

"You seem confident"

Jhon replied, maintaining a calm tone.

"But remember that you're on our turf now. We make the rules here"

Upon hearing Jhon's words, the spy leaned his head back and let out a cynical laugh.

"You can make whatever rules you want, but that doesn't mean I'll follow them"

In response to these words, Jhon sighed and turned his gaze away. Though for a brief moment, our eyes met, he quickly returned his focus to the spy.

"You don't understand, do you?"

Jhon said calmly.

"We're willing to use whatever means necessary to get the information we need. You're just making it harder on yourself"

Upon hearing Jhon's words, the spy rolled his eyes and shrugged, as if he didn't care about Jhon's thinly veiled threats.

"Come on, I'm open to surprises"

The way things were going, it was clear that we wouldn't get anything. The spy was proving resistant and unlikely to reveal any information through conventional means, like torture.

Despite finally capturing a spy, it seemed like we were back to square one. This was unacceptable to me, as for all these years, I had been concerned about these individuals who had attacked us without apparent reason.

However, my greatest motivation wasn't just for my own safety but also for that of my family, friends, and especially Emi. I couldn't sleep soundly knowing I had missed the opportunity to protect them.