A few days ago…
"Not a word yet eh? Man… even I gotta commend you for that!"
"…even I can hit someone better than you sissies." The director barely managed to mumble while her head lifelessly dangled between her shoulders.
"Tsk… and here I thought you'd have enough." The same masculine voice from before echoed in the dark room.
The room was so dark, even vampires would have a hard time seeing anything, even with their nocturnal vision. Yet, the man was able to land every single punch on its target. Which target you ask? The director's face of course. Well, technically her entire naked body.
Even the director didn't know how she got into this mess, but she was pretty sure it all began the day she appeared for her trial. She remembered that the nobles were not pleased with the way she was simply let go from all the charges without any consequences.
It must have pissed some if not most of the nobles. But even then she never thought those fools would ever dare to put their hands on her. After all, she was someone not only respected by the werewolves but also the vampires.
How could she imagine herself being kidnapped after knowing all that? However, now that she was tied to a chair and had been thoroughly tortured, her thinking seemed foolish to her.
But something felt a bit… off. Maybe the nobles did not have any hand in it. After all, they would not have any idea about the existence of the secret weapon Ashton's parents were working on before she threw them under the bus.
Only the resistance and Mera had some idea about the existence of someone who could wipe out the entire race of werewolves. But she couldn't see either of them trying to pull off something like this.
For starters, Mera was already too preoccupied with everything that must be going on with Ashton. As for the resistance, they would not have the guts or the runes to subdue her magic by completely draining her of any mana she had.
The only times she had witnessed such runes were used was during the trials of high-value targets, such as vampire counts or even for the kings of rebelling kingdoms. Only a handful of people probably had the access to such strong runes like King Jonathan.
But then again, it wasn't possible for him to know about it, unless…
As her bones were being broken, again and again, the director realised something. There was someone Mera trusted more than anyone else. Someone who followed her around like a shadow but was no longer by her side.
'Donovan… that bastard.'
Although the possibility of it was less, it could be that Mera informed Donovan about the secret weapon while he was still loyal to her. But now that he wasn't he was divulging every secret he knew about her to someone… or maybe a group of string people like the Conundrum.
If it was them, the director could certainly see them utilising the mana draining runes to keep her in check. She had known that the Conundrum was on her tail for quite a while now, thus she was sure to not give them any reason to act out.
But if Donovan had indeed found a way to get in touch with them and informed them about the weapon… that should be enough reason for them to publically make a move against her. All the time she had spent there, things were finally making sense to her.
But just coming up with a reason behind her kidnapping would not get her out of this mess. She needed to do something else… but what? Although she had been able to swallow all the pain to repent for what she did to her 'friends', her body will break sooner or later.
Before that happened, she needed to get out of there, or at least inform Ashton or Mera about the enemies that would come after him. After all… he was the weapon the Conundrum was so desperately trying to get to know about.
'I have to get out of here no matter what… for the sake of Ashton!'
"So… his name is Ashton. I should have known it was the son of those human bastards."
Yet another voice was heard, but this time the director was the only one who heard it as it was a voice inside her head.
The next moment the dark room lit up, momentarily blinding the director who had gotten used to the dark. In front of her, five people were standing. Their faces were covered in black clothing and all of them had a wolf shaped ring on different fingers.
It didn't take much time for the director to figure out who they were. She was witnessing what most people believed to be a myth, a rumour spread across the kingdom to keep the masses from acting out. But she knew they existed, as now they were standing right in front of her.
"It's an honour to meet you, Madam Director." the man standing in the middle greeted her with the utmost respect, which seemed out of place considering she was chained down and naked, "I would have wanted us to meet under better circumstances, but I guess we'll have to make do with what we have now."
The man had some sort of voice modifier that further helped in maintaining their secret identity. Still, the director tried to listen carefully, hoping she would be able to find more about her kidnappers. But it was all in vain.
The man continued, "So, would you mind telling me more about this Ashton kid? I'm afraid his existence would bring Lycania nothing but… unnecessary troubles. That being said, his elimination is of the utmost importance to us and in the interest of Lycania."
"Scre…"
"You want to say something?" The man mumbled before leaning in closer to listen to what the director had to say.
"Screw off… bitch."
"Hm… and here I thought you'd corporate. It doesn't matter. We have the name, we will find more about him in a matter of minutes. When we do, we'll lure him in and kill both of you.." The man said with finality before walking out of the room, along with the rest of his friends.