Chapter 134

Chapter 134

Contrary to Nix’s expectation, Sylvia did not pay him a second visit. That resulted in him feeling a bit peeved, but also worried that perhaps Roxana or Cassis had noticed his true intentions.

“Rise and shine, Nix.”

The Agrece woman had come to see him instead and wasn’t showing a hint of concern since that beautiful, yet lethal face of hers showed no tell-tell signs of it.

“You’re looking much better today. Perhaps this dungeon suits you.” Her voice still sounded as sweet as honey, which only furthered her endeavor to cruelly goad him. She had been sitting on a chair placed outside of his cell with her legs crossed and looked rather content in that setting.

“This will be the last time I come down here.”

“What?!”

“Yes, so if there’s anything you’d like to know, now would be a good time to ask.” What she had said had taken him entirely by surprise, but he could tell his ears had not been mistaken. “I will consider giving you an answer to whatever you wish to know.”

The puppet squinted at her skeptically. “As if I need to hear anything that would come out of your mouth.” He spoke with false bravado as he had just barely swallowed back the questions on the tip of his tongue. “I don’t know why you abducted me, but I know the Vertiums won’t sit idly by after this.”

“‘Abducted’? Funny you should mention that.” She openly smirked before continuing.

“Are you actually denser than you look? Or have you always struggled to accept reality?”

His eyes narrowed to form tiny daggers, which he then aimed at her for poking fun at him. However, the last thing he wanted was to appear unnerved in front of her, so he remained silent.

“No one’s coming for you, Nix. In fact, I’m the one who brought you here before the Vertiums could dispose of you like the garbage you were reduced to.”

Unable to bite back his emotions any longer, Nix shrieked out in rage. “Bullsh*t! Did you really think I’d believe such nonsense? And from you?!”

“Why is it nonsense?”

While Nix’s temper continued to flare, she remained calm, thus causing him to become even more doubtful and worried.

“For one thing, you tried to kill me—an official guest of Vertium. What’s more, members of another clan were there to witness it.”

The young puppet quivered almost imperceptibly.

“And I know what you’re thinking. ‘Why did the Blue Heir of all people arrive at that exact moment?’”

In truth, he had replayed that same scene in his head countless times since his incarceration. It hadn’t occurred to him in the moment that the silver-haired man who had suddenly appeared was the Cassis Pedelian. He had only caught a glimpse of the Blue Heir while surveying the Blue fortress in search of Roxana.

The puppet suddenly wondered if his sudden appearance at the Gold manor had also been part of the Agrece woman’s scheme. Then again, he recalled how surprised she had looked to see him as well and immediately concluded that she hadn’t been aware of his movements.

“Try to recall the last thing that man Dante said to you,” she whispered in an almost concerned tone. He hadn’t realized that he had been listening to her every word with unyielding attention. Something in her voice seemed to command it.

“Nix, did you really attack Lady Roxana? I’ve always had my concerns, but you truly are hopeless.”

Dante’s cold voice and heartless gaze were the last things he recalled just before he was struck unconscious. He would have remembered those words even without her prompting. Indeed, he had his doubts, but he couldn’t accept the idea that they would actually forsake him.

“To the very end, they maintained that you acted entirely on your own, so all the trouble you caused was without their prior knowledge or direction.”

Her goal was to ignite the suspicion that he had been abandoned by his keepers.

“And to further prove their innocence, they were prepared to destroy you right in front of us.”

Then to nail down his mounting doubts, she concluded, “The Vertiums have forsaken you.”

“Shut the hell up!”

He would have preferred to combat her with reason, but an almost primal scream escaped from his lips before he could think. Suspicion and doubt were weighing heavily on his chest and showed no signs of budging.

“Why else would you be here if I wasn’t telling the truth?”

“It was utter chaos that day. You may have snuck away with me somehow...”

“If that were true, do you honestly think I would have gotten away completely unscathed while ferrying you off? Not to mention that if they hadn’t abandoned you, why wouldn’t they have sent a rescue party by now?” She continued on in the way she might speak to a small child. “Really take some time to think about it. You are not like other puppets who can only do as they are told.”

His instincts were telling him not to trust her since she had proven to be just as deceptive as he thought himself to be. Yet there remained that lingering doubt and suspicion, which she had already successfully lodged in his heart. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t shake himself free of it.

Perhaps the Gold clan had come together and agreed to blame him for everything that happened to the guest from the Black clan. Admittedly, thinking that the loyal white-haired steward would discard him like day-old trash was not surprising in the slightest, but Noel had always cared for and cherished him as his most favorite puppet.

Still, with no one but Dante at his side, he supposed his naïve, young master could be convinced to forsake him. He then unhappily recalled the countless dolls he had witnessed Noel furiously destroy with his own hands whenever he lost his temper.

“You must take me for a fool if you’re asking me to believe you.”

Even so, he could not allow Roxana to notice that he was torn. Thus, he lade his voice with thick sarcasm instead.

“If what you’re saying is the truth, then why did you even go to the trouble of bringing me—a forsaken doll—all the way here with you? If memory serves, you were rather keen on killing me yourself.”

“Well...” She spoke with a far-off tone as if to someone else entirely. “Do you remember how I hesitated to kill you during our fight? I suppose you could say it was due to that lingering sentiment of... let’s call it pity.”

He didn’t have anything sharp or witty to bite back at her with for saying that. His memories of his last day in the Gold lands seemed to keep rushing back to him one after the other as their exchange went on. Just as she had said, he did recall her pausing for the slightest instant when she could have killed him easily.

Her action had been genuine, which had only confused him even more in turn. After watching him internally wrestle with his thoughts for a few moments, she decided to wrap things up.

“All that being said, if you still long to return to your former master, I shall send you to him.”

“What?”

If his head hadn’t been tormented enough, this only doubled his overwhelming confusion. It was the one thing he wouldn’t even dare imagine her offering him.

“I’m sure you know this already, but I honestly don’t like you very much, Nix. Your behavior at the Gold manor irritated me quite a great deal.” He had no trouble believing this statement since both her gaze and tone were rich with absolute disdain. “And I’ll admit that bringing you here was an impulsive move on my part, but I won’t stand in your way if you sincerely wish to return to Noel Vertium so that he can kill you.”

Hearing her conviction, the puppet felt more certain than ever that she had nothing to gain from deceiving him. She finally rose from her chair, then stared at him without any signs of emotion per usual. Meanwhile, his otherwise angelic features had become the epitome of turmoil itself.

“Wait! Were you being serious?! Hey! Wait just a minute! You said I could ask you anything!”

“Yes, but that time is up.”

And with that, she walked away and left Nix to kick and scream to his heart’s content.