Novel Full Chapter 987: Tortured by Blood
Chapter 987: Tortured by Blood
“ARRRGHHHHH!”
The scream tore through the chamber, echoing off the high vaulted ceilings like a chorus of the damned.
Aurelion convulsed in the iron chair. Every joint of his was bound in cruel cuffs that silenced spells and dulled mana. Though not that this weakling could ever fight back.
His fingers twitched. Blood dripped from his elbows. Skin curled at the edges of his arms like torn parchment, peeled by a delicate yet utterly merciless hand.
And that hand… belonged to none other than his daughter.
Jasmine stood before him with her back straight, her dress decorated by the same blood that soaked the floor. A single scalpel could be seen in her fingers. She hummed an old merchant’s lullaby under her breath in ceremony.
Behind her, Quinlan reclined in a plush armchair. In this moment, he was looking a lot like a dark king watching justice unfold. One leg crossed over the other. A crystal glass of chilled wine balanced on the armrest. Around him, his girls lounged in similar comfort, as if it were a family gathering.
The Ascendants had been sent away, alongside Feng, deemed a bit too youthful for what Quinlan knew would surely come.
Jasmine was a wonderful, lovely woman with a kind heart, but she was sure as hell not an angel of mercy. She wanted her father to suffer the worst possible fate, and far be it from Quinlan to say otherwise. He helped set up everything so his beloved woman could do everything her heart desired.
Thus, only his wives were present, alongside Iris, Lyra, and Kaelira.
The mood, despite the screams echoing off stone walls, was… jovial.
“Wow…” Serika murmured in a low tone, eyes calmly following the scalpel as it traced a slow line down Aurelion’s thigh. She sipped her wine, unbothered. “I must say… Jasmine is giving me quite the memorable first impression.”
“She’s a real sweetheart, I’m sure you’ll find this girl one precious existence, as Quin likes to refer to us…” Lucille chimed in, who sat with her legs kicked over the arm of her own chair, “But you know, this is a special occasion.”
Serika nodded. “Mm. Don’t worry, I understand. Every person has their demons… I just hope she’ll be able to heal.”
“We all fervently wish for that. That’s all we can do besides offering her our support if she’s open to receiving it.”
Further down the row of seats, Ayame and Seraphiel were having their own brand of quiet commentary.
“Deltoid tendon’s been partially severed,” Seraphiel said in a singsong whisper, chin resting on her hand as she leaned forward to get an even better view of the merchant girl’s handiwork.
The elf’s expression was that of a scholar watching a master at work. “Not enough to cripple him permanently, but enough to make every motion feel as if the whole arm’s on fire. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought Jasmine was in the information extraction business, not the coin generation one…”
Ayame observed the gorgeous blond woman with a smirk. “You sound like you’re enjoying this.”
“I mean, I am a healer. I’m trained to notice these things. It’s only natural to… admire good technique when I see one.” Seraphiel’s grin was a little too wide, her eyes too bright. “Besides, it’s not like I’m the one doing it.”
Ayame looked unimpressed. “Mhm. Sure. All I’ll say is that you’re lucky Sylvaris excused herself, saying she wasn’t keen to witness the proceedings or you’d be hearing her heavy sighs, wondering what she did wrong for her daughter to grow up as a terrible sadist.”
“What? Nooo, she wouldn’t!”
“Is that so?” Ayame mused, eyes flicking back to Aurelion as Jasmine cut a spiral around his navel with the blade. “I bet that if I asked Blossom to sniff your mood right now, ’horny’ would be among the first three guesses.”
Seraphiel sputtered. “!!! That’s… ridiculous!”
Ayame turned to the side, toward a certain dogkin with an immensely powerful nostril. “B-?”
“Okay, no need to go that far!” Seraphiel quickly cut in.
Ayame smiled smugly. “Just as I thought.”
The bombshell of an elf couldn’t help but scoff with dissatisfaction and murmur under her breath, “Damned masochist pig… Always so smug, but when you find yourself pinned under Quin’s broad frame… All I ever hear is-”
“S-shut it!”
Jasmine, meanwhile, was focused entirely on her work.
Aurelion was long past the point of rational pleas. He gasped like a dying fish, his mouth hanging open as pain and blood loss blurred his senses. And still, Jasmine danced around him with surgical elegance.
“Would you believe me if I said I studied human anatomy just for this day? I fantasized about butchering you like the disgusting pig that you are for such a long time, Father~”
Before he could even try to mount a response, the brunette woman was already moving on. “There’s a nerve cluster here…” she murmured while pressing the scalpel against his exposed ribcage.
“Do you know what happens when you scratch this just right? You get phantom spasms. Even after healing. Isn’t that neat?”
“P-Please!” Aurelion sobbed, face twisted in agony. “I’m your father, Jasmine!”
Jasmine paused just before stabbing, her blood-slick scalpel hovering just an inch from his skin.
“… You are.” she replied after a bit, voice full of disgust. “That’s what makes this all so poetic, don’t you agree?”
She resumed her motions, beginning the work on his ribcage now.
“The best father in the world,” she cooed sweetly, as he screamed again. “Deserves to have the best daughter! We’re a perfect match!”
She leaned in close, letting the unhinged smile spread even further across her face. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Don’t worry, Father. I’ll take very, very good care of you. Just like you took care of me when I was starving and locked away like a rabid beast. During the countless nights I cried myself to sleep, thinking Mother would be executed if I didn’t obey. Yes… You deserve only the very best. Enjoy.”
She poured one of Aurora’s healing potions across his ruined skin. The bubbling hiss of flesh repairing itself filled the room.
“Can’t let you die too quickly, now,” she giggled with manic eyes.
The floor was a lake of blood now. Deep red pools had formed beneath the chair, weaving their way through the grooves of the polished stone floor. It reeked, being coppery, putrid. But no one was bothered by it. The smell suited the atmosphere just fine.
Aurelion panted like a dying beast. His head lolled. And amid this horror, his survival instincts clawed their way to the surface.
Jasmine wouldn’t spare him, no matter what he said, that much was obvious.
But maybe someone else would.
Someone much higher up the ladder than his Twilight Apprentice-ranked daughter.
Vex.