CHAPTER 481: CONFESSIONS UNDER THE KNIFE

"It was Edna!" she screamed, still fighting to free her hand with all of her might.

At once, Lauden lifted the dagger away, looking very... Interested in what she had to say, "What was it that Edna did?" he grunted through tightened jaws.

Allegra gulped, choking an incoming sob, "Unbeknownst to us, she had been using the potion you and... My father had given her on Katherine instead of Lord Silas,"

His eyes narrowed upon hearing those words, "So you were aware of that too," he half asked, nodding his head.

"Darrick tells me almost everything," she hissed.

"Almost," Lauden chuckled before regaining a more serious expression, "Now tell me, why should I care about this potion?"

"The potion made Katherine sick. So sick, that her mental health too devolved with her body," Allegra paused to breathe in, "She had seemingly fallen into a coma but, on the night of the spring equinox, Edna put me to sleep so that she could awaken and let Katherine loose,"

Lauden brought his thumb to his lips, pressing them while mulling things over, "Yes, that’s right," he smiled, "You weren’t present at the banquet that night. So, it was Katherine that wreaked havoc, huh?" After a short pause during which his demeanor morphed from a mocking one to a glare, he continued, "Was it Katherine that attacked Edna?"

"No," Allegra whispered, doing her very best to shake her head.

True. That didn’t make a lot of sense. If Edna had been killed by Katherine she wouldn’t have written him that same night. Besides, that dragged a different question along.

"Edna wrote to me that Arabella had died. Did she get it wrong?"

"Yes, yes. She got it wrong," Allegra had immediately flung her eyes away from their initial spot.

Even her tone led Lauden to be skeptical, "My dear Allegra!" he smiled big, "Has anyone ever told you, you are one terrible liar! It is a miracle you’ve managed to keep your identity a secret this whole time," he clicked his tongue against his palate, "But I suppose keeping a secret when you are not being interrogated about it is a lot easier than one might think,"

Allegra clamped up and turned her head as far away from his face as possible. That did not fly with Lauden.

Indeed, very briskly, he yanked her hand back onto the ground then practically growled, "If she wasn’t wrong then what happened? There is no spell, no magic that can bring anyone back from the dead! So, I am going to ask you one last time!" Lauden spat those words very fast and with a lot of passion, but then he took a deep breath, "What the hell happened on that night?" his voice gradually went down to a whisper from the beginning of the question until the end.

The vampiress only bit down on her bottom lip and cried harder which again, did not please Lauden.

The hand clutching the dagger descended upon her middle finger, triggering another wave of thrashing as soon as the metal connected with her skin, but as he began pressing, Allegra screamed.

It was no mere shriek, however. It was one that unleashed her fury with the small amount of strength she still had, "You can chop as many pieces of me as you want! You can take whatever part of me you like; I will not spill more!" she topped it all off by spitting right in his face.

Lauden had the timely reaction to shut his eyes as the bodily fluid landed on him, but instead of rage, a flicker ignited at his core... A thought that only then occurred to him.

"All of this courage all of the sudden...You are protecting someone, aren’t you?" he laughed.

With his free hand, he wiped her spit away before cleaning it against the sleeve of her dress.

"Agh... This dress is filthy too, I am going to have to scrub it off me anyways, but... was I not right then?" his attention went back to her.

The only thing that moved in Allegra was her chest, rising and falling very quickly.

"You know what?" he grinned, wiping the blade of his dagger against her gown, "I have an idea; why don’t I go chop off some parts from daddy dearest instead? That might make you want to talk,"

He pushed himself to a standing position before walking away from her, exiting the cell then locking it behind himself.

However, and only after a few steps further, he froze in place and turned back towards her very slowly.

"No, no, no... That doesn’t make any sense," he whispered.

Allegra still made not a single peep.

"You don’t actually give a damn about your father, don’t you? That’s why you are not trying to stop me from hurting him," the sly smirk on him told it all. He licked his lips before speaking again, "No, I was wrong. You aren’t doing his bidding out of love or respect," he shook his head while slowly marching back towards the metal bars, "You were doing it against your will, weren’t you?"

When Allegra said nothing again, he added, "See? Your body speaks enough for itself, but... I still want to know what really happened that night so... I am going to go out on a limb and guess that Darrick threatened you, right? But not with your own life since you don’t seem all that keen on answering me despite what I am capable of doing to you,"

It appeared, all that Allegra could do in that position was cry all the tears of her body as Lauden read her like an open book.

"Tell you what; I bet Katherine is going to answer my questions. I even bet she was the one that really killed Edna, wasn’t she?"

"No, she wasn’t!" clearly desperate to stop him in his tracks, Allegra screamed.

"Go on then," he stood, a triumphant look on him.

"Katherine attacked Arabella. I was the one that killed Edna for what she did," she grunted.

From that giddy expression to twisted features as he fought to quell the urge to rip her throat open, "Still...," he breathed in loudly, "You are only telling me half the truth. How is Arabella still alive! You tell me or I swear not even Lord Ambrogio himself can stop me from skinning those bitches you call sisters alive! And don’t you dare try to lie to me!"

"It was his blood! It was Lord Silas’ blood that brought her back to life!" she wept.