Garden Of Poison-Chapter 214: Torture in the night

"St—owy?" Marshall asked, his jaw aching and blood trickling from one side of his mouth as he struggled to close it.

"Well, yes. The stories you have been spinning since the gatherings began. Does that ring a bell, or do you need a little jolt to awaken that brain of yours?" Raylen inquired politely, cracking his knuckles, and Marshall’s eyes widened in fear.

Marshall vigorously shook his head, not wanting to receive any more injuries, and swallowed the blood pooling in his mouth. He truly believed that Emily was a nobody and held no significance to the king. His lips moved, but no words spilled from his mouth.

"What I don’t get is, where did you find the courage to keep mocking her?" Raylen asked, his tone filled with apparent astonishment, and he leaned forward. "They say, once a mistake, twice a fool, and you know what comes the third time?" he whispered, as if they were being overheard, even though they were the only ones in the room. "Dead."

The blood drained from Marshall’s face, and the arrogance he had been flaunting along with his status vanished into thin air. Stuttering, he uttered, "I—I thought, you two were not related. All the people, y—you ki—ki—"

"Killed?" Raylen’s eyes twinkled with an eerie glint.

"You cannot kill me. You shouldn’t kill me," Marshall corrected himself hastily. He continued, "If I die, I will end up in—"

"You silly, silly, boy. Tch," Raylen clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Do you think I’m just some ordinary demon? Or perhaps a run-of-the-mill archdemon? Planning to file a complaint against me when you arrive in Hell?" He chuckled darkly. "But you are right. We aren’t related."

Marshall stared at Raylen, who smiled as if Christmas had come early with presents. Summoning his courage, he dared to ask, "Then why... Why am I being tortured?" The woman wasn’t with the king; that much he had understood, as otherwise, why would she be attending the gatherings?

"Hmm," Raylen hummed as though he didn’t have an actual reason, his gaze shifting to the candles next to the wall. He explained, "I was given the responsibility of keeping her safe and sound. Also, I am feeling exceptionally bored and more than a little irritated. You just ended up being a candidate who moved up in line."

Raylen took hold of Marshall’s hand, which had gone rigid on the armrest. He lightly pressed the back of Marshall’s fingers as if he were playing the piano and remarked, "You know, when I was young, I used to do this."

Marshall had heard tales of the king’s diabolical nature, but much like the others who were born in the living realm, he had never personally witnessed it. Now, with cold feet and one less tooth in his mouth, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease. Desperate to seek forgiveness, he began to apologise, "Please forgive me! I will not repeat it ever—AHHH!!!"

His plea was cut short as he let out a piercing scream when Raylen plucked out one of the man’s fingernails by pushing it backwards and removing it whole, causing excruciating pain.

"Don’t say that, Marshie. You are spoiling the fun," Raylen reprimanded the man, observing the blood oozing from the finger. "Wow, you have really small nails. I suppose no one would notice if they were missing."

As Marshall cried out in pain, experiencing a level of torment he had never imagined, Raylen nonchalantly said, "If you decide to grow your nails next time, there’s a simple trick to make them longer. Just let them grow for a while, and then the skin grows along with them, and viola!"

"Argh!" Marshall struggled to hold in the pain, but his finger throbbed relentlessly, and his head swayed back and forth as if it would somehow ease the pain. "I—I am going to die..." he moaned in despair.

"From blood loss, yes. But we will take it slow; there’s no need to rush," Raylen responded calmly. He wiped the blood from Marshall’s finger, eliciting another agonised scream from the man.

"AH!" Marshall yelled out in pain, while Raylen dipped his own finger into his mouth.

"Blood is such a fascinating thing, especially when it possesses flavours," Raylen remarked after removing his finger from his mouth. "And yours tastes like garbage."

"Please..." Marshall wheezed, his plea barely audible, and Raylen tilted his head in response.

"Alright, let us move onto the next nail," Raylen remarked casually before swiftly snapping the fingernail from Marshall’s next finger. "Is it your own low self-worth that makes you want to ruin a woman’s reputation, or is it obsession?" he probed, attempting to uncover the man’s motivations. "Perhaps it’s the kicks you get when a woman rejects you? It’s alright if it is, we all have our kinks."

Marshall was consumed by agonising pain, unable to remember what had brought him to this excruciating moment or where he was. He clenched his jaw, breathing heavily. Through gritted teeth, he managed to utter, "My father won’t be happy about this."

"Who said I’m doing this to make him happy? This is for my own pleasure," Raylen stated with a frown before breaking into a sinister smile.

"Tell me, you must be angry at the princess."

Marshall shook his head, only faintly registering how Raylen had referred to Emily as a princess.

"There’s no need to lie now," Raylen said, clicking his tongue. "You can be frank with me. If she hadn’t come to the castle, and if the taste of her blood hadn’t seemed slightly different than the last time, you would have never ended up here. It is her fault," he tried to coax the man, who continued to shake his head in denial.

The next moment, footsteps were heard from outside the room as Emily, awakened by the screams, had stealthily made her way through the corridors. Her eyes widened upon entering the room and seeing Marshall tied to a chair.

"W—what is going on?" Emily asked, her eyes widening in shock at the sight before her.

"Look what you did? Waking people up," Raylen chastised Marshall with a disappointed look, while the earthling demon cursed him because it was all his doing. He then turned to Emily and said, "We are having a little slumber party. Come join us, Princess."