I Reincarnated as a Noble Bastard, So I'm Seducing All the Villainess-Chapter 108: Therapy Session

In all my years as a witch, I have encountered various psychopaths and people with serious mental disorders. I was never interested in necromancy or raising the dead, besides, accepting that people are gone is the right thing to do instead of forcing them to return as an aberration.

I highly doubt my parents would want to return to life in the form of a monster, even I wouldn't wish for such a thing. However, I would like to commit an atrocity upon certain people, such as a woman named Scarlet.

"That was a good therapy session today..."

I say, wiping the blood-drenched knife in my hands. I'm grateful to know enough magic not to ruin my clothes in the process, while I can leave the person I'm torturing sinking into despair with the stains of their own vitality. It's unique.

"So, Scarlet, do you feel more comfortable saying something today?"

I ask the woman I imprisoned in the Galbraith estate dungeon a long time ago. She is still missing one of her eyes, her head lowered, and chains bind her against the wall, just the way I like to see things when it comes to inconvenient people.

I still have a lot of information to tear out of this woman, don't get me wrong. Darius Moonlight has many secrets I'd love to discover, but his past is what usually draws my attention the most. Unfortunately, neither the Duke nor anyone in his family would open their mouths to reveal any minor detail, and since I'd prefer not to bother my mother-in-law, I prefer a more... direct method.

Lightning crackles at my finger, flying toward the fallen half-elf and electrocuting her body. By now, she must have become a living dead given how many times I've pulled her soul back, just to prolong our recreational activity.

"We've been playing for a few days now. I can prolong your suffering as much as I want, as long as you choose to keep your mouth shut. I guess I'm very unlucky to have encountered a masochist..."

"You... never... will get what you want... Ravenna..."

Another lightning bolt fries the tips of Scarlet's hair and quiets her.

"I don't like wasting time with cryptic, useless answers. Why not be more direct? It's not like your family, if you even still have one, is going to survive. Should I extend this to your associates, like the mercenary guild you worked for? Well, it's something to think about."

I sit down in a chair in that room. It's ironic to imagine that my position is inverted, from judged to judge. Still, I will take advantage of her as much as I can, it's the only way I have to get revenge for this disgusting feeling in my chest caused by the amount of time I spent locked up in that dirty prison.

My fingers drum on the table. What else can I try? The healing I provide to this body of Scarlet's is always done in a painful way, just enough to keep her alive, and by now I've cauterized so many cuts that perhaps there's no skin left for that kind of technique again.

In the beginning, torturing her was great fun, now it's just an inconvenience.

"I still want to understand why you resist talking about my dear Darius so much. I know he is an unusual, insane man and may have some attractive factor, but you exposed everything about your own life and nothing about his."

This was the thing that bothered me the most lately. Nyx gave me to understand that Darius has something about him, I don't know exactly what, but just calling him 'Lord' while he is my patron is enough to raise suspicion.

I know his talent in magic and sorcery must be close to zero. Even the Duke has tried to put him in something that would show great potential, and nothing worked. From the start, I knew something was different, besides, it's not like the Moonlight blood is normal to begin with. Torvek Moonlight can attest to that, since he carries that unknown power involving purple energy.

"You know, for a moment, I thought about involving Darius's friends in this too, but I think that would be too cruel. He cares about those people, like... what was his name again? Ah, Joel. As for you, I think he'd be very happy if you vanished off the map."

I stand up from the chair, walking toward the adjacent wall with a series of very useful instruments for our activity. I pick up a barbed whip, unrolling it right away.

"I remember seeing certain nobles use this on people from the North who didn't obey orders. I wonder what Darius will do to change this reality..."

Darius this, Darius that. I want to remove him from my head, but his influence is so great that it's difficult. The whip cracks against Scarlet's thigh, splashing new reddish streaks across the room with the impact and imbedding a part of the metal pieces, before being pulled out along with the flesh.

"Let's try one more time, Scarlet: how about revealing a secret from Darius's childhood to me, hmm?"

She gnashes her teeth, showing the typical hateful gaze that I have grown accustomed to seeing daily. This doesn't affect me, on the contrary, it only motivates me to push beyond the limits of a disobedient demi-human's body.

"It's a shame you're so resistant..."

The whip cracks once more, aimed at her forehead and cutting off strands of hair along with it.

The barbed leather slices through the air and tears another gash in her skin. It throbs upon impact, making way for blood to slowly stream toward her chin and fall in drops. Scarlet lets out a hoarse sound, halfway between spitting and groaning, but still holds her jaw shut.

Such stubbornness...

I approach, the metallic smell rises up the walls along with the temperature, as does my hatred for not getting what I want. Every second here increases my disgust, especially when I see the walls filthy with red and brown stains. My boredom with having turned this daily beating into a routine also doesn't help.

I place my finger on the freshly opened wound and press down. The flesh pulsates and trembles under the pressure. Scarlet tries to flinch away, but the chains tighten and return her body to its place like a trapped animal.

"You're becoming predictable, Scarlet... Always looking at me that way... always believing you can hate me until the end of time but not open your mouth."

She lets out a hoarse laugh.

"You... don't know... what... you ask..."

Ah, wonderful. Another useless sentence, a great anticlimax.

I shove my hand under her chin, forcing her face up. The lack of her left eye always leaves a strange impression, like a spiral toward the abyss, a black spot where I burned everything until nothing was left. Now it's just a dead point on her face, a place where no emotion dwells.

"I know exactly what I'm asking, and I know you can answer. But you prefer to be beaten. Perhaps you want me to find that admirable? It only makes me want to destroy what I haven't destroyed yet."

I release her chin and spin the whip in my hand. What else can I try? Maybe fry her flesh with electricity to then heal it with potions? Perhaps open her abdomen again? No, I'm tired of that. I want her to talk.

I cast the whip again. The barbed tip hits her shoulder, sinking deep. The skin splits open, and warm blood splatters onto the side of my boot. The flesh separates into small, moist petals when I pull the leather back, tearing off a pink strand that falls onto her chest.

Scarlet arches her body. The sound that comes from her throat is guttural, as if being ripped from deep within her stomach.

I lean down, place my hand over the wound, and let magic glide across her skin. A ball of fire burns and cauterizes the area, closing the wound like using glass to patch up an open cut. Her body contracts with the heat, with the pain, with the return of the nerves I had destroyed moments earlier.

"You know what's funny?" I ask, almost a whisper. "You always react more to fire than anything else. Would that be due to your Elven nature? Should I call someone to know of other weaknesses that this 'mixed' body of yours might have?"

She inhales with difficulty, her chest rises and falls in a negotiation with her own death.

"Ravenna..."

"Hm?"

"You... think... you... understand Darius..."

More fallacy from a psychotic woman who still thinks she loves him.

"I understand that you still have your entire tongue, and I can rip it out if you want to test my limits today."

She closes her remaining eye. Her face sinks into the cell's shadow, while blood dripping from her chin pools rhythmically on the floor. I put the whip back and sit in the chair, crossing my legs and using a clean cloth to remove the stains that fell on my boots.

"...if I talk... you will hate it."

"I already hate you, Scarlet. Surprise me."

She coughs, a jet of dark blood comes out and falls between her legs. I think we are approaching a point where this body will hit its limit, so I will need to pull her soul back and put it in place. Sometimes it's troublesome and can give Nyx a headache, but I have plenty of time to spend.

She lifts her face, finally releasing a voice solid enough to be heard:

"Darius's mother... is not human..."

His mother? Well, thank you for finally spitting out some useful information, you disgusting half-elf! I jump up from the chair in a hurry, grabbing Scarlet's face by the cheeks so she remains conscious while staring at me.

"Continue, I'm listening."

"His mother... was a living anomaly... a monster..."

An anomaly? But when I met her, her spirit seemed completely normal... Wait, for how long did we converse? What is this supposed to mean? I drop Scarlet's head and let it fall. I will keep you alive, but for a short time, I still need you for more information.