PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

369 Chapter 369 compassion vs cruelty

Being unable to bear Eria’s cries of pain, Cecilia tried to enter the room only to see her outstretched hand stopped by Nana, looking at her with pleading eyes.

“Nana, get out of the way.”

“Forgive my boldness, your sanctity, but I must insist that you stay where you are.”

Even Cecilia’s enormous concern for Eria’s situation could not overwhelm the surprise of being stopped by the person she trusted the most. Before Cecilia managed to process what was happening, the screaming in the room had stopped.

Refocusing her ability to see into the room, Cecilia saw the now kneeling Eria with her face still held by Desmond. With her bloodshot eyes, her hoarse voice, and an expression of agony, Eria was in a sorry state.

On the other side of the door, Desmond looked at the little mess in front of him with a detached expression. He hadn’t stopped because he felt sorry for Eria or much else; he had simply stopped because there was no point in torturing the girl endlessly.

“Listen to me.” Desmond’s voice was cold and commanding, his hands lightly tightening his grip on Eria’s tiny face, though, with the flow of mana interrupted, this wasn’t particularly painful for the girl who had just tasted hell.

“Look me in the eyes.” Forcing Eria to meet his eyes, the girl witnessed the coldest of emotions; indifference. Desmond felt nothing at all for her, no anger or disdain, no pity or remorse; he didn’t look at her as worthy of those emotions.

That chilling coldness on top of the torture she had just been subjected to made Eria’s psyche at its most vulnerable, something that Desmond was not going to disapprove of. Unlike a well-trained soldier or spy, an average person like Eria would never be able to withstand torture or interrogation, something Desmond was counting on.

.....

To begin with, if he wanted to, Desmond could psychologically break the girl without even having to resort to such heavy means of torture. But he had opted for the quicker option due to how delicate the situation around Cecilia was, something that the naive girl was certainly not aware of.

“That was just a slight test of what I can do to you, but you’re in luck, Cecilia asked me to treat you as well as possible, so I’m willing to stop if you answer all my questions.”

What else was there to add? Eria was already on the verge of a mental breakdown; as soon as she saw a chance to get out of her current situation, she took it. Like water from a broken dam, all the information Desmond needed began pouring out of Eria’s lips.

At least as far as the girl knew, Desmond was expecting Eria to be nothing more than a disposable pawn, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when he realized that the girl didn’t seem to know much about the people she worked with for.

She was meant to be used as a scapegoat at some point, so her employers didn’t tell her too much, but at the same time, she wasn’t taken seriously enough to be treated as a threat. So her employers lowered their guard talking about things they shouldn’t talk about in front of her.

Leaving aside the most obvious discoveries about Eria’s employer being part of the church, Desmond also discovered two interesting things, one related to her employer’s specific identity and the other related to their intentions.

According to Eria, she had never met face to face with the person giving the orders. Still, she did meet on several occasions with another high-ranking member of the church who acted as her contact and controller.

But that contact was of little help since Desmond needed the name of the person giving the orders. Interestingly, Eria learned the identity of her actual employer in a rather fortuitous way that could not be described other than; a stupid oversight on the part of her employers.

Apparently, after one of their clandestine meetings, Eria was leaving the meeting place when an unexpected visitor arrived at the meeting point to meet the same person as Eria.

That person directly ignored Eria and proceeded to greet the girl’s controller. Eria even managed to hear how this person gave orders to her controller; That was how the girl concluded that this person was one step higher in the chain of command.

And it was precisely that individual’s identity that revealed Eria’s actual employer; after all, it wasn’t too difficult to relate a bishop’s personal holy knight to the bishop himself.

Holy Knight Erigard, a man of prestige with outstanding military achievements, Bishop Morteth’s personal knight. This wasn’t even exceptionally secret information, so it was pretty stupid of the said gentleman to show up at a secret meeting place.

Whatever the case, that at least told Desmond enough; the problem was that person’s intentions. Eria revealed everything those people had asked her to do to Desmond, from leaking information to manipulating Cecilia’s itinerary.

It is evident that these people had harmful intentions toward Cecilia. It was not so simple to determine precisely what they wanted; Desmond doubted it was as simple as simply killing Cecilia.

At the end of the day, no matter how much the church hated a pure and incorruptible existence like Cecilia, they couldn’t get rid of her too abruptly; people would not take very well the death of a person they revered as a saint.

“I see. To be honest, I didn’t expect you to know that much; now tell me, How much did you tell about Cecilia?”

Having talked for a while, Eria was calmer, but his sudden question reminded the girl that the person in front of her worked for Cecilia; And if Eria truly feared something, it was Cecilia finding out all the details behind her betrayal.

Desmond could hardly believe that Eria, who had the appearance of a broken doll with empty eyes a few seconds ago, now displayed intense resolve as she clamped her lips shut in refusal to respond.

However, Desmond wasn’t upset; this was nothing more than a minor inconvenience, nothing he couldn’t fix.

“You asked for it.” Desmond barely said a few words before pouring boiling water mana into Eria’s circulatory system, thus resuming the cries of pain.

With her body completely paralyzed with pain, Eria even urinated on her inability to control her sphincter, but Desmond didn’t stop; he wouldn’t stop until the girl started talking.

At least that was the original intent, but Desmond was forced to stop just short of increasing the mana output; when the door to the room was thrown open by the now enraged Cecilia.

Desmond was already expecting something like this, so he separated from Eria, who now looked like an empty shell, and prepared to calm Cecilia down so he could continue with the interrogation.

Desmond never expected not to be able to say a single word before Cecilia would run with open arms before embracing Eria. Holding her as if she were the most fragile thing in the world, with almost motherly care, Cecilia seemed especially vulnerable as she apologized to Eria over and over again.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Eria, I’m sorry; I should never have allowed this.”

Desmond found it ridiculous. It wasn’t just about feeling sorry for someone in pain; Eria had betrayed Cecilia; however, it was Cecilia who apologized to the traitor; it was so ridiculous it wasn’t even laughable.

Desmond felt a fit of inexplicable anger directed toward this supposed saint for a moment. Cecilia’s stupidity and naivete were not something Desmond could tolerate at a time like this, but the scene in front of him made him stop in his tracks.

Tears from Eria’s previously lifeless eyes now fell nonstop; her expression went from physical agony to emotional agony, And entirely to her cries of pain, Eria began to cry like a little girl who finds comfort in her mother’s arms.

“Everything is fine, Eria, everything is fine” With the girl in her arms, Cecilia did not stop stroking Eria’s back in a comforting way while her maternal voice lulled the girl.

Even faster than the girl had spoken when she was tortured at Desmond’s hands, Eria began to describe everything she had done as a spy as she apologized endlessly.

The guilt, the remorse, the physical pain she was subjected to, and all the stress that had built up inside Eria faded into oblivion as she found true comfort in the arms of the woman she had betrayed.

Watching everything from the side, Desmond’s expression was extremely complicated; he had lost. All the cruelty he invested for minutes on Eria was not equal to even a second of Cecilia’s compassion.

Desmond himself didn’t know if it was due to spite or a feeling of sadness, but the following words quietly slipped from his lips as he left the room: “This is why you all end up dead.”