Chapter 314
At the Federal Bureau, the air was thick with the metallic tang of rust and the stench of blood, making one’s stomach churn.
Nicolas was subjected to brutal torture the moment he arrived. Thirty strokes of the disciplinary whip left his skin lacerated, his blood-soaked clothes clinging to raw flesh. Even the slightest movement sent excruciating pain through his body. He was a wretched sight, with blood dripping from his hair.
Directly across from him, Xander sat in a shadowy corner, immaculate and untouched by the filth around him. Like a devil incarnate, Xander watched coldly as Nicolas was beaten within an inch of his life. Nicolas knew Xander was just settling a personal score. He was venting Athena’s anger.
A violent cough ripped through Nicolas, blood bubbling up from his lungs. He choked, his face turning crimson as he gasped.
Nicolas glared defiantly at Xander and shouted, “I am an official of the court. How can you abuse your power and torture me like this, Prince Xander? Aren’t you afraid the Emperor will hold you accountable?”
Ansel lashed the whip across Nicolas’s back and sneered. “We’ve heard that before. Some people just have to learn the hard way. Lord Nicolas, confess now and spare yourself the pain.”
Nicolas was but a scholar. He could not possibly endure such a savage beating. Nicolas let out an agonized cry as the searing pain sent his muscles into uncontrollable spasms. He screamed, “I want to see Athena! Let me see Athena!” His face twisted in madness.
A cold chuckle came from the corner as Xander slowly emerged from the darkness. Fixing Nicolas with an icy stare, he sneered, “You really think you’re worthy of Athena coming to see you!”
Nicolas retorted, “Prince Xander, aren’t you targeting me like this just to settle a personal score?”
“So what if I am?” Xander replied, his voice icy and utterly fearless. "For every pain Athena suffered, you’ll pay a thousandfold. If it weren’t for her, you’d be nothing. Your whole family would’ve been wiped out long ago."
Nicolas’s eyes widened in sheer horror. “Your Highness, how can you flout imperial law and torture an official? Aren’t you afraid of the Emperor’s…”
Another lash descended. Nicolas screamed in agony, the pain contorting his refined features beyond recognition. One could barely tell that he used to be a noble young man. At this moment, he was nothing but a shackled prisoner, yet still deluded about his own standing.
Ansel couldn’t help but cast a pitying glance at Nicolas. To speak so recklessly before Xander would surely grant him further punishment.
“Back when you harmed Athena, did you ever imagine this day would come?” Xander’s voice, blending with the distant drip of water in the dungeon, pierced Nicolas’s ears like an ice pick.
Nicolas trembled all over as he stared at Xander, his eyes filled with the terror one would feel when facing a demon. He thought, “So it’s true. He really is taking revenge on the Monson family.”
Nicolas’s throat constricted in terror, his jaw clenched so tightly that no sound could escape.
Nicolas thought, “Xander is like a predator. I have only sent Athena to the military camp for three years, yet now he wants the Monson family to pay for it with our deaths. It was me. Who’s next? Matthew! Joseph is still suffering in that military camp. What about Mom and Dad? And Wilkow?”
Nicolas finally panicked. Slowly shaking his head, he said with a fearful expression, “I admit we were reckless with Athena. But that is all in the past now. She’s already let it go. Prince Xander, why must you keep dwelling on it?
“Are you not satisfied until you’ve destroyed the entire Monson family?”
Xander’s razor-sharp glare cut Nicolas off mid-sentence. He said, “Who said Athena has let it go? She merely lacked the power to seek justice for herself. I know every grievance she suffered, and my heart is for all her hardships.
“It’s three years of torment. How dare you think a single word from you could erase it all? Even if Athena is forgiving enough to let it go, will..."
Xander’s voice echoed through the dungeon, his eyes brimming with heart-wrenching tenderness. Athena endured unimaginable hardship in that military camp for three years. Yet, her family had the gall to carry on, completely unburdened by guilt.
With a cold chuckle, Xander turned to Nicolas and said, “Now, it’s your turn to taste this soul-rending agony.”
Nicolas’s unease grew into full-blown dread. He stammered in panic, “Prince Xander, what do you mean by that?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
No sooner had he spoken than a guard strode in and addressed Xander, “Your Highness, someone has come to confess.”
Xander showed not a trace of surprise, as if he had anticipated this all along. “Who might that be?”
The guard reported, “Your Highness, it’s Lady Eloise from the duke’s estate. She claims she orchestrated the poisoning of Leonard, and says this case has nothing to do with Nicolas.”
“Bring her in,” Xander commanded, his lips curling into a cold smirk.
Nicolas thrashed wildly like a cornered beast, his voice raw with desperation. “No, this has nothing to do with my mother!”
But it was already too late.
When Nicolas saw Eloise bound and dragged into the dungeon, he suddenly collapsed into desperate, choked sobs. “Mother…”
“Nicolas!” The sight of his wounds pierced Eloise’s heart like daggers.
Disregarding the prison guards' attempts to stop her, Eloise threw herself in front of Nicolas, tears streaming down her face. “My poor boy, they beat you into such a state!”
“Mother, have you lost your mind? How could you confess to crimes you didn’t commit?” Nicolas asked desperately.
Eloise looked at him with bloodshot eyes and forced a bitter smile. “I could never just stand by and watch you die.”
Then Eloise turned to Xander and declared, “I was the one who ordered Leonard’s poisoning, threatened General Perkins, and arranged the hidden money war.”
Chapter 314
“These matters concern no one else. Prince Xander, will you release my son now?”
Eloise’s plan was utterly naive. She was convinced that her confession alone would secure Nicolas’s release.
However, Xander merely cast an indifferent, cold glance at her, unmoved by her plea. “Even if you’ve come to confess, we must conduct a thorough investigation. Only after it’s confirmed that Nicolas is uninvolved in this case shall he be released.”
Eloise’s face fell as she pleaded desperately, “I’ve already confessed! Doesn’t that prove my son’s innocence?”
Xander did not answer her. He waved his hand and ordered, “Take her away.”
To enter the Federal Bureau was to be put through hell. Even if one survived, they would be stripped bare. After just half a day, Nicolas had already been tortured beyond recognition, reduced to a broken shell barely human.
Eloise had lived a life of pampered luxury for decades. There was no way she could endure this treatment.
"Moreover, every prisoner must first endure thirty lashes of the disciplinary whip."
Not even the duchess was exempt.
Nicolas screamed in terror, his voice cracking with desperation, “Let my mother go! She’s completely innocent! She hasn’t done anything…”
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the adjacent cell, accompanied by the sickening crack of a whip against flesh. The sounds nearly shattered Nicolas’s last shred of composure.
Nicolas begged with a trembling voice, “Prince Xander, please have mercy. Please, don’t hurt my mother.”
But to Xander, Nicolas’s pleading was nothing but a joke.
His face a mask of ice, Xander stood before Nicolas and asked, “Does it hurt?”
Nicolas glared at him furiously. “Prince Xander, you know perfectly well that this is putting me through hell. So why even ask?”
Xander’s expression twisted into an unspeakably mocking sneer. “Well, so you can feel pain too. But Athena spent nearly every day of those three years in the military camp suffering like this. When she was in agony, did your heart ever ache for her, even once?”