Chapter 159 - 158: Vio Bell’s Confession

Chapter 159: Chapter 158: Vio Bell’s Confession

Hesia continued asking, "Why would she do that? What was the deal between you?"

This time, Slag’s Spirit Body didn’t need another ’reminder’ from Bruce. He was exceptionally submissive before the ’master of his master’.

"The deal was simple," he replied, his voice hollow. "She paid part of the commission up front and promised to have the manor’s Guards moved away on the night of the attack. Her request was... to kill the Painter, Vio Bell, and the Baron’s adopted daughter, Jasmine."

’The targets were Vio Bell and Jasmine?’

The answer took even Hesia by surprise.

He had assumed Helena was having problems in her relationship with the Baron, or perhaps that she was simply after the Baron’s nonexistent fortune.

He continued, "And then what? What exactly happened that night?"

"Vio Bell was dealt with as requested. But on our way to find Jasmine, the Baron intercepted us. After we dealt with the Baron, Jasmine had disappeared."

The moment Slag finished speaking, Jasmine’s Spirit Body let out a heart-rending cry.

"Father... He... He was trying to save me..."

All her previous resentment and confusion transformed into remorse and grief in that single moment.

She had always believed her father died because of her ’betrayal,’ never imagining that he had actually laid down his life to protect her.

Hesia looked at Jasmine’s violently fluctuating Spirit Body and comforted her softly, "This isn’t your fault, Jasmine. You’ve been the victim from start to finish."

In Jasmine’s diary, he had seen that Vio Bell came from the Royal Capital, Forest Port City.

And Buton had mentioned before that the Baroness, Helena, was also from Forest Port City.

’Could it be they knew each other beforehand?’

At this thought, he immediately turned to Jasmine for confirmation. "Was Vio Bell the teacher Helena hired?"

"Yes..." Jasmine’s voice was filled with pain. "That woman said... she said I had a talent for painting, and that she happened to know a highly respected Painter she could invite to teach me..."

"’Highly respected?’ Loris scoffed in anger, having also connected the dots. ’By the Holy Light, this is a conspiracy through and through! It seems Helena and Vio Bell had some sort of falling-out long ago. I just don’t know what it was that would make her hire bandits to kill him! Perhaps the only way to get answers is to ask that bastard Vio Bell himself!’"

"No!" Jasmine shrieked, her venomous gaze locked onto the twitching Goblin Skeleton. "I won’t let him out! I want him to suffer this pain for eternity!"

Hesia agreed that questioning Vio Bell was the most direct way to uncover Helena’s motive.

He looked at the agitated Jasmine and reasoned with her patiently. "Jasmine, listen to me. If his soul truly has no consciousness, as you say, then there’s no point in torturing him like this. In fact, it might just feed your own resentment and cause you to lose your way."

"More importantly, he might have information on Helena’s whereabouts. Don’t you want an answer—for your father, for Tammy, and for yourself?"

Jasmine hesitated. After a long silence, the fluctuations of her Spirit Body gradually subsided.

Finally, she nodded.

Bruce’s head had been resting lazily on the mirror, his tail sweeping the ground every now and then.

He had no interest in the preceding conversation of conspiracy and betrayal, his mind preoccupied with how many meat pies Lady Cassandra might bake that evening.

It wasn’t until Hesia nudged him gently with the tip of his boot that he abruptly looked up.

"Woof?" He blinked, bewildered, then understood. He got up and pressed his paws against the mirror again.

The surface of the mirror rippled. Slag’s Spirit Body, which had been kneeling on the ground, was pulled by an invisible force, transforming into a streak of light that was sucked back into the mirror.

Immediately after, a similar Spirit Body was drawn out from the Goblin Skeleton, coalescing in midair into the form of a man.

He was rather handsome, with a stylish, center-parted haircut.

Though his eyes were vacant at the moment, his slightly sunken eye sockets gave him a look of deep, artistic focus.

A high-bridged nose should have made him even more dashing, but its slightly hooked tip added a hint of ruthlessness and cruelty to his features.

Like Slag before him, he knelt respectfully on one knee before Bruce, only his words were far more florid. "My dashing master, your servant, Vio Bell, is here to await your orders. Please command me at your leisure."

Apparently, habits from life carried over into death. This one was a smooth talker.

Although Loris was also full of questions for the scumbag, having been put in his place once before, he wisely restrained himself and didn’t immediately speak up.

After Bruce explained the important concept of "master of his master" with a "woof" and a few simple words, Vio Bell immediately turned to Hesia, his posture becoming even more deferential.

"To the master of my handsome master, I await your command."

Hesia said, his expression blank, "Cut the crap. Tell me how you and Helena met, and what your relationship was."

"Helena?" Vio Bell’s Spirit Body tilted its head as if searching its memory. Then, his tone turned flippant. "Oh, you mean that jealous woman. Nothing special. Just one of many... brief companions from my younger, more adventurous days. Horrible temper, always making a scene over the smallest things. It was all so dull. So eventually I... well, you understand. We drifted apart."

At these words, Loris’s fists clenched so tight his knuckles cracked. Jasmine trembled, staring at the man in disbelief.

Hesia fought the urge to blast him to bits with a [Magic Missile] and continued his questioning. "And after that? Why did she summon you to Shadow Split Town?"

"Why else?" Vio Bell’s Spirit Body let out a few dry laughs. "She missed me, of course. Or maybe she just couldn’t get over me? She told me she’d married some rich country noble, and was worried I wouldn’t come."

"Heh, didn’t she realize that would only make things more interesting for me?"

"And then? Do you know why she wanted to kill you?"

"Why else?" Vio Bell’s Spirit Body spread its hands in a gesture of obvious innocence. "Because the bitch couldn’t stand to see me happy with someone else, of course! I was just being a little ’friendly’ with that little slip of a girl, Jasmine, showing her a bit of my ’artistic guidance,’ and she couldn’t handle it? It’s laughable. It’s not like I didn’t keep her satisfied. What more could she possibly want?"

This utterly shameless declaration, which shattered all their perceptions of decency, left everyone present speechless.

And upon hearing this, the grief and rage that Jasmine had suppressed for so many years finally, completely, erupted.