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Vol 04 Chapter 127: Breaking the Curse

 

「Walk! Who said you could rest? Bitches like you don’t deserve rest!」

「……」

Lydia, a spy from the Rozel Kingdom, had a pained expression on her face. She hadn’t been allowed to sleep for the past four days.

Until she was transferred to the camp of King Rosais, Lydia had been tortured by the Equus Tribe in various ways. Whipping, nail removal, water torture…etc.

However, Lydia endured it all. It was thanks to her loyalty to the Rozel Kingdom.

Moreover, the knowledge of the curse that had been placed on her, which would cause her heart to burst if she spoke, helped reinforce her will. Lydia did not want to die.

While captured by the Equus Tribe, the tortures were mostly just pure physical pain. Lydia, being a skilled magician, could alleviate some of the pain through her magic.

Therefore, she always faced the torturers with strength…

However, things changed after her custody was transferred to King Rosais’ Country. Previously, she was only given poor meals, but since arriving in King Rosais’ Country, she was served two decent meals a day.

The nature of the torture changed as well. It no longer appealed to just physical pain. However, this did not mean the torture was less severe.

On the contrary.

「Come on, walk. Thirty laps. After you walk thirty laps, you can sit down.」

「……Understood.」

Lydia stumbled around inside the cage, her footsteps unsteady. By the sixth lap, she collapsed.

Immediately, cold water was poured over her head.

「Wake up!!」

「Ugh… please, please… let me sleep…」

「You aren’t allowed to sleep. Now, walk. I told you to walk!! Are you deaf or something?!」

The torturer grabbed Lydia’s hair and shouted into her ear.

Deep down, the torturer actually wanted to let her sleep. It was a common misconception that only sadists become torturers, but the reality was different.

To prevent excesses, torturers were chosen for being serious and honest individuals. The purpose of torture wasn’t to inflict pain, but to extract information.

However, the purpose of this torture was only to inflict pain. At least, that’s how the torturer perceived it, because he hadn’t been ordered to extract any information.

「If I talk, will you let me sleep? Please, I’ll do anything…」

「I haven’t been ordered to make you confess. I’ve only been ordered to torture you.」

「That’s… cruel…」

Despair appeared in Lydia’s eyes. The torturer forcibly made her stand up.

「Come on! Walk!!」

「It’s impossible, impossible… please, let me sleep…」

She repeated it like a mantra. Lydia couldn’t move an inch.

The torturer sighed.

「Bring the feathers.」

Hearing the order the torturer gave to his subordinates, Lydia’s complexion changed.

「No, no! Not that, please… I’ll walk, I’ll walk, just please…」

「No. You brought this on yourself!!」

Lydia was tied to a chair, her legs spread apart. Her bare feet were exposed.

A slave brought over goose feathers. Pristine, beautiful white feathers.

The goose feather touched Lydia’s bare foot.

「No…ahh!!」

The feather stroked her white foot.

「Ahh, haha, stop it!! I’m going mad, I’m breaking!!」

Lydia’s laughter echoed…

◇

「How about it, Julia? She should be weakened enough now.」

「Yes. With her will this broken down, we can break the curse easily.」

The torture inflicted on Lydia wasn’t because I or the Equus Tribe were sadists. It was to break the curse that had been placed on Lydia.

The curse is wrapped around her mind like chains. To break the curse, it is necessary to weaken her mind as much as possible.

This was quite difficult to accomplish. If she confessed, Lydia’s heart would burst.

We had to continue torturing her at a level Lydia could just barely endure. However, controlling physical torture is difficult.

That’s why we needed torture that directly attacked the mind.

「However, you have quite an active imagination to think of using tickling after depriving her of sleep.」

「Don’t make it sound perverse. I just knew about a torture like this… Besides, I would like some appreciation for coming up with a torture that spared her body from being damaged as much as possible.」

If I had instructed the torturers of this world to weaken someone’s mind as much as possible, who knows what kind of brutal instruments they would have brought out.

Scalding her face with boiling water, cutting off her nose or ears, disfiguring her facial bones with a crusher… Destroying her chest or genitalia… Getting her hooked on drugs to induce dependency…

Women often receive torture focused on destroying their womanhood. In this respect, sleep deprivation and tickling do not cause physical harm.

Though the mental damage is significant… it takes about a week to drive someone insane. It’s only been four days.

She’ll recover quickly. I would like to think that my method is the least cruel.

Actually, I’m skeptical about the effectiveness of torture. Sometimes, the subject admits crimes they didn’t commit or say the things the torturers want to hear without really knowing anything, just to escape the pain.

In terms of accuracy, interrogation is superior to torture.

「Alright, I’ll go and break the curse now.」

Julia, carrying a large amount of herbs, headed towards Lydia’s cell. After this, she will enter Lydia’s mind to sever the curse. That way, her heart won’t explode and we will be able to extract the information reliably.

「Make sure you succeed. Otherwise, all this torture would have been for nothing.」

「Who do you think I am? I’m the best magician in King Rosais’ Country.」

Julia closed one eye. I only realized it was a wink ten seconds after she left.

That was probably the worst wink I saw in my life… wait Ainz’s was even worse.

◇

Lydia stared vacantly into the void, her eyes lifeless. Now, she was allowed to sit in a chair.

However, the chair was so unstable that she would fall if she fell asleep. Still, being able to sit without thinking was far more comfortable than walking.

Watching Lydia in this state, Julia, while feeling internally apologetic, began preparing the curse-breaking ritual. She placed incense treated with cannabis and opium around the cell and lit it.

On the floor, she drew a large magic circle around Lydia. Lydia just watched the process with hollow eyes.

Julia dropped blood into the magic circle, blending her own magical power with the circle.

Then, placing both hands on the ground, she poured a vast amount of magical energy into the circle. Her magic power, hundreds of times that of an ordinary person, flowed into the circle and caused it to glow intensely.

After activating the magic circle, Julia approached Lydia.

「You can sleep now. Get off the chair and lie down on the floor.」

「Really?」

「Really.」

Lydia clumsily fell from the chair. She lay face down on the floor and fell asleep.

Julia then placed her hand on Lydia’s head.

「Alright… let’s break this curse.」

◇

After seeing Julia off, I headed towards another cell.

In the cell, there was a blonde woman bound by chains.

It was Alice.

There was no particular reason to torture Alice, so I had simply deprived her of her freedom. The bed was hard, but she could rest properly, and her meals were the same as those given to the regular soldiers.

「It’s been a while.」

「…It has been a while, King Almus. What brings you here?」

「I’ve come to court you.」

I sat down in front of the cell, adjusting my position to meet Alice’s gaze. Alice quietly shook her head from side to side.

「I appreciate your feelings, but that’s not possible.」

「Hmm, I honestly don’t understand why you would swear loyalty to Prince Aldo. I’ve heard the stories… but it seems you weren’t treated very well, right?」

I already heard about Alice from a servant who worked at the palace of King Domorgal. Apparently, she was often beaten by Aldo. And there were other severe mistreatments as well.

She is probably affected by something like Stockholm syndrome, but…

「Why do you swear loyalty to him?」

「I haven’t sworn loyalty to him. It’s just…」

Just?

「…It’s nothing.」

I see…

「Well, that’s fine. I’ll come again tomorrow.」

With that, I left the prison.