When Tamil poked his head under the bed, only pitch-black darkness greeted him.

‘… I’m thinking such strange thoughts.’

It’s not like some urban legend spreading among kids. There’s no way there could be signs of someone under the bed in an empty house. Tamil chuckled and tried to shake off the ominous feeling.

As he went to scratch near his forehead in embarrassment, soap suds he hadn’t fully washed off smeared on his hand. Tamil cursed and hurriedly entered the bathroom.

As the bathroom door closed, there was a small thud of something falling from under the bed. It was a very faint sound, just quiet enough not to arouse Tamil’s suspicion.

How long had he been asleep? Tamil felt an uncomfortable sensation of his whole body creaking. It was strange.

He should be lying comfortably on the bed, so why did it feel like he was sitting? As he blinked blearily, he suddenly startled and tried to get up.

“You’re finally awake.”

The man sitting in a chair in front of him was all black. The only part that shone white was around his exposed eyes. Those suspicious blue eyes, he had definitely seen them somewhere before.

Tamil tried to twist his arms to take a defensive stance, but his whole body was tightly bound to the chair.

Panicking, he tried to scream but no sound came out. The gag firmly biting into his mouth plainly showed what situation he was in.

“I was debating whether to pour cold water on you since you wouldn’t wake up. Both you and I are pressed for time, after all.”

Tamil’s anxious eyes darted around the space. A sealed room made of bricks, without even windows. There was only one door for entry and exit. He couldn’t even tell if this was underground or above ground.

“Luth. His gag.”

Who is Luth? As Tamil shook his head this way and that trying to resist, someone whacked the back of his head. Then with rough movements, they untied the gag muffling Tamil’s mouth.

“…Stay still.”

“Ptooey, you bastard! Do you know who I am? What? Your name is Lu… Anyway, I’ll remember you two! Once I get out…”

“Once you get out?”

Is he still hoping he can get out of this situation, or is it just the will to live making a meaningless struggle? A faint metallic sound accompanied Lebel’s short sneer. He soon removed the black cloth covering his mouth and his hood.

Only then did Tamil recognize the identity of the man before him. His eyes wavered in bewilderment as he recognized Lebel.

“You, aren’t you that mercenary captain! Do you think you’ll get away with doing this? I’m an imperial technical advisor trusted by His Majesty the Emperor…”

“No need for introductions. I’ll learn the rest gradually. You’ll have no choice but to speak.”

Everything Tamil tried to say was cut off by Lebel. Tamil let out a bitter laugh, stretching his head back over the chair, either finding the situation absurd or having given up.

“What fools. You’ve shown your faces and even revealed your names, aren’t you afraid of what’s to come? Harming me is like pointing a gun at His Majesty the Emperor himself!”

“That’s why we’re pulling such a bold move. It’s a kind of example before killing Cledius.”

Lebel held up a lamp and briefly illuminated the wall. Tamil’s gaze also turned there. His face gradually hardened as he saw the torture devices hanging on the wall. Among them were tools developed in the name of torture technicians.

“Tamil. There are more people who want you dead than you think.”

Among those brought in by Tamil, there were far more who were wrongly accused. Nevertheless, Cledius turned a blind eye and left Tamil alone. The terror of the torture he carried out only made the Emperor’s position more secure.

“So I thought. Should I call in the people who want to stab your heart and line them up in order?”

But the problem was that there were far too many people who wanted to deal with Tamil. If you include the victims and their families, Tamil would be butchered to the point where not even a corpse would remain.

That would be too simple a death.

People whose bodies were ruined from being tortured by Tamil. Broken spirits in battered bodies. There was an overflow of wretched people who had to live out the rest of their lives clinging to all of that.

At the very least, he should die slowly while suffering the same pain. Using the torture methods Tamil was so proud of developing.

Lebel approached Tamil and whispered hints of what was to come.

“You’ll have to experience each method you’ve inflicted on others, one by one.”

“H-how do you know about that…?”

“There are quite a few people who testified.”

The torture methods of Tamil uncovered through the ‘Gray Hawk’ were unspeakable. Every character written in the testimonies was filled with pain.

Is this something a human would do? Lebel thought as he crumpled the testimony. Horrible acts committed to extract false confessions. Cledius knew this fact but covered it up, and the nobles only watched the mood of Tamil and the Emperor.

And his benefactor who had to endure all of this alone. Limless Rowen Melpiram.

The young master whose arms were broken, covered in blood, and beheaded in front of a crowd.

It was Lebel’s role to send Tamil to hell. The rest… the young master would take care of. Though he must be in heaven, who knows. Perhaps God will grant Limless a day’s leave to go wild in hell.

“This place is perfect. Even if you scream in agony, no one will come to help. Rather, they’d be glad. There’s nowhere in the empire where anyone would mourn Tamil’s suffering.”

“W-why are you doing this to me…”

Seeming to have finally grasped the situation, Tamil’s voice started to tremble. The confidence with which he had been speaking informally was gone, replaced by a tone that sounded on the verge of tears.

“Do you need money? I’ll give you as much as you need, please, please just spare my life.”

“So you only think your own life is precious. Have you forgotten all the pain you inflicted on innocent people?”

“No, I was just following orders. Orders to capture and extract confessions from all those trying to assassinate His Majesty the Emperor!”

“Don’t make excuses. It was your conscience that ordered you to carry out those commands, not the Emperor.”

The path to evil is not so difficult. Just erase all the complex conflicts in your heart and carry out the orders from above. The moment you stop questioning your conscience, humans take a step closer to evil.

And do you firmly believe that confessions obtained through torture are the truth? It seemed a new dictionary of imperial language would have to be written.

Lebel sneered and picked up a large machete hanging on the wall.

“It’s so noisy… I’ll have to do something about that tongue first.”

“Aaagh! Please! Please! No! Spare me!”

“See, I told you it’s noisy.”

Lebel set the lamp on the floor and deliberately swung the machete with a whoosh. A gust of wind blew. Tamil was now about to wet himself from fear.

“…Captain.”

Luth, who had approached at some point, grabbed Lebel’s arm to restrain him. Tamil was still shrieking in terror, seemingly unable to hear what the two were saying.

“…If you cut out the tongue first, he’ll bleed too much and die early.”

Ah. He had forgotten the most important fact. He can’t die quickly. Who would like that? Lebel immediately returned the machete to the wall.

“Cover that bastard’s eyes first.”

Let him die slowly in darkness, not knowing what will be done to him.

Wordlessly, Luth picked up the gag that had been covering Tamil’s mouth and used it to blindfold him. They couldn’t waste new cloth on a guy like this.

‘Young master.’

The young lady cannot sleep. She keeps longing for you. So please appear in peace now. Lebel approached Tamil, who was now almost wailing. He kept repeating pleas to be spared.

What a pathetic and pitiful bastard. Lebel tightened the leather gloves on his hands.

“While you led the way in taking other people’s lives, did you never think you could die yourself?”

“Please, please, forgive me…”

Forgiveness? After committing such acts all this time, you seek mercy? The ones you should be asking forgiveness from aren’t even here. The countless citizens of the empire who suffered at your hands. Lebel clenched his fist tightly.

He knows to some degree that this isn’t right. This is purely personal revenge and acting as a proxy for those who suffered. So let’s meet again in hell someday, Tamil. Lebel laughed and whispered ominously.

“Shut up and bite down on your molars properly.”

Soon the sound of something shattering rang out. But none of the capital’s residents woke from their sleep. It truly was a silent and holy night.

**

The guards yawned as they guarded the entrance to the mansion where Tamil lived. It had been several years since he had hired private security personnel, saying he was trusted by His Majesty the Emperor and had many enemies targeting him.

Why create such anxious situations? One of the guards grumbled softly but didn’t forget to survey the surroundings.

It was still dawn, and they had to stand for a few more hours before the shift change arrived. Though boring, it was a job with steady weekly pay, so there weren’t major complaints. Just a little longer and it would soon be time to go home…

Tok, todok.

“What’s this, is it raining?”

The guard wiped off the water droplet on his cheek with his palm. As he casually looked at his hand, he grabbed the guard next to him in shock.

“W-what’s wrong! What happened!”

“This, isn’t this blood?”

It was certainly not a clear water droplet. There was a distinct dark stain on his cheek and hand. The liquid emitting a faint fishy smell was definitely blood.

The two looked up with trembling eyes. Soon a large shadow fell, and something was flung from the roof.

Thud!

With the dull sound of something falling, a death scream rang out. It was a clamorous sound heralding the capital’s dawn.

“Hey, what’s going on…”

Jake and the other reporters sighed deeply as they looked up at Tamil’s mansion. What do you mean the scoop disappeared, every day is scoop material. He grumbled as he pushed through the crowd of reporters gathered to cover the story.

The front yard of the mansion where Tamil lived was truly a scene of carnage.

“The state of the corpse… the scalp was flayed, both arms were fractured and tied crossed, and the tongue… ugh, and what’s the cause of death? Unknown?”

“They say it’s impossible to tell what the fatal wound was. However, it’s speculated that he died slowly while experiencing extreme pain.”

The junior reporter waved his hand with a nauseated expression.

No matter how he fell from above, Tamil’s condition was horrific. There was only speculation that he was likely already dead before falling.

This was certainly not an accidental death. This was a planned torture murder. The reporters, as well as the patrol officers guarding the scene and the onlookers who had gathered, all thought so.

And they inwardly snickered. A fitting end for ‘Tamil’.

Just then, a colleague approached Jake. He was a reporter mainly in charge of illustrations. Judging by his flushed face, he seemed to have discovered something new.

“Jake, request cooperation from ‘Hotel Wenry’ right away. Ask if we can sketch illustrations from the top floor of the hotel.”

“Huh? Suddenly? What’s this about?”

Why suddenly go up to the newly built hotel? From the very top of the hotel, you could probably see the roof of the house where Tamil lived.

The colleague reporter lowered his voice and whispered in Jake’s ear.

“Do you know what’s written on the roof? This looks like something big is about to happen properly.”

From the top floor of Hotel Wenry, you could see the house where Tamil had lived in full view. Thanks to the stark red letters written on the roof, which they didn’t particularly want to know about.

‘You’re next.’

There was a woman calmly reciting that potentially chilling sentence while drinking tea, and another woman leaning crookedly with a cigar in her mouth.

“It’s a noisy but truly beautiful scene. Don’t you think, Keira?”

The black tea is especially smooth today. Marsha smiled like the black tea in her mouth as she looked down at the outside scenery.