CHAPTER 410: A LITTLE PEEK INTO MARIONETTE’S DOINGS? [1]

[A few hours before Lillian woke up.]

*Ring. Ring. Ring.*

"Hello! Just leave a voice message and I’ll call you back later! Or uh, I’ll send you a text or something."

Beep.

A tall woman with long black hair and red eyes sighed as she hung up the phone. It was Marionette, and for the past few hours, she had been trying to call Lillian for their appointed talk over the phone.

But unfortunately, since yesterday and this early morning, she hadn’t gotten through even once. And all of the messages she had sent hadn’t even been looked at once.

She then internally asked with a hint of concern:

’Did my brash approach towards her do this...?’

Was she being ghosted? That can’t be right?

Although this was her first time experiencing such a thing, she felt that the term fit rather well with what was going on...

Marionette gave another sigh as she placed her left hand over the lower half of her face.

’Needy... I’m becoming too needy...’ She thought.

It had only been a singular day, and here she was creating a scenario or possibility for this sudden unresponsive behaviour from her girlfriend.

’Was she upset about the money? I believe I sent what she had spent back to her...’

"MMHM!"

As Marionette continued to linger inside her thoughts, the sounds of loud, muffled noises echoed around a dimly lit room she was in.

Turning around, Marionette found herself face-to-face with three individuals chained and tied up to the stone-bricked wall—all having been inflicted with rather painful-looking fleshwounds.

Where were they all currently located, you may ask?

They were all located inside the Roselle estate. And more specifically, one of the torture rooms is filled with various instruments to both cause pain and also soothe it to allow the victim to last another day.

And such soothing instrument had already been administered to those chained on the wall, who, if Lillian were here, would find that they were the people inside the tent she bought the nail from.

Mark, who was the one who had almost sold Lillian the nail at 10x below the price she bought it for, and the two hookers, who looked rather out of place, since they hadn’t done anything to deserve such treatment.

With mufflers around their mouths, they could only let out desperate and exaggerated whimpers as they pleaded to be released.

However, something was missing.

More specifically... Someone...

"Mmm... Hm...? MHMM!?"

Marionette looked down at the table beside her and found a gagged and well-fit man with blonde hair chained to it.

This was Tristan.

Otherwise known to a certain Rabbit as the person who sold her the nail for 300,000 Semis.

But he wasn’t in one piece, for apart from the several cuts made on his nude body—as if a surgeon had decided to make him their plaything—he was also missing his right shoulder along with that arm.

It was as though some high-speed object had torn through it.

Fortunately, the wound had already been wrapped and sealed; otherwise, he would’ve died due to blood loss.

Marionette gave a low hum as the man locked eyes with her, and, watching him, flinched.

"Awake again, I see..."

Marionette pocketed her phone and put on her mask before making her way around the table.

"With your awakening, this will mark the 19th time you woke up after a blackout."

The heels of her black boots echoed inside the torture chamber as she made her way to a metal standing table that displayed a variety of tools.

Since yesterday, Marionette had been continuously torturing them.

Tristan shuddered as his mind became flooded with memories of her torture. He bit down on the gag in his mouth and flexed his remaining hand.

He needed to escape.

He needed to!

As embers appeared in the centres of his palm, they gradually came together before immediately dissipating with a jerk of his body as a muffled cry of pain escaped his mouth.

Embedded in his left forearm was a slim metal scalpel.

Marionette sighed as she looked into the man’s face and watched as tears began to spill out from the corners of his eyes. Or that was what she wanted to believe...

It was after all... Rather difficult to make out a person’s features if they all appear as corpses.

Marionette pulled off the man’s gag and watched as he let out rapid, deep breaths before muttering in a tired and broken voice:

"I-... We didn’t scam them... I swear..."

Tristan’s eyes had lost their shine, his breathing was ragged, and his face was wet from sweat and tears.

"Hm..."

Like all in her household, Marionette was trained to pick up on lies and truths. Although this skill was easier when you could see a person’s expression, she still managed to learn it in the end by judging a person’s speech.

And yet... Despite being able to tell the man wasn’t lying...

"You’re still lying, I see..."

"W-wait! I’m not, p-pleas—MMGHM!"

After shoving a regular health potion of decent quality down his throat and resetting the injuries made on his body, apart from his arm, Marionette gagged the man before continuing.

Muffled screams of pain and despair echoed as the man’s body jerked each time a blade or needle was inserted into his nude body, with all of this being spectated by the three still chained up to the wall, fearfully waiting for their turn.

And in the entire span since she began the session again, Marionette’s eyes glowed a dark red light.

***

Eventually Marionette left the torture chamber, but only after sanitising her entire body.

She leaned against the wall beside the entrance of the torture chamber and looked down at her phone, still expecting a call or even a message back from Lillian.

Marionette frowned slightly and sighed again as her heart seemed to ache.

But that was until...

"Ah... Lady of Roses..."

Someone called out her title with a deep and rugged voice.

Looking to her left, she found a tall individual with broad shoulders—standing at the height of about 6ft2—marching towards her with a cohort of others behind them.

Their attire consisted of a long, dark and tailored hooded coat, which had roses and thorns woven into a pattern illustrated. A porcelain mask with painted cracks and rose petals, which was hidden under the shadows cast by their hood. And thick black gloves, along with a belt that was equipped with tools, which would usually be found on a gardener.

"Oh... Gardener, how are you this morning?"