The Dragon's Flame Queen ✔

✔LVIII - The other Side of Me

A scream echoed through the stone walls of the dungeon as the knights of Rockdelia sat in silence. Their hearts thumped together in fear as their blood ran cold. Lord Irwin's whimpers resonated through the cells as the knights gulped, their mouths running dry.

They had never expected a child looking Prince was this merciless and it was a blessing that they had no knowledge of these ships that conducted illegal business. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss too.

"Now," Demian said, his deep blue eyes stayed on Irwin's face. Somehow after getting so many punches his smashed-face had restructured in a good way. One of his eyes was closed with a nasty swell as a tooth or two was missing. Blood and sweat mixed in the air surrounded him as he cowardly backed further back to the stone wall behind him.

Demian sat at a distance, his face bore no emotions yet he gave off something sinister that Irwin's heart howled with fear. He sniffed, hot tears ran down on his disfigured face and he begged, "Ha-have mercy on me. Please, your Highness."

Corners of Demian's lip curled up, "I told you," his hands rested on his lap in a clasp as he was sitting on a chair and in the darkness of the dungeon, he looked more terrifying than death, "If you say that word one more time, I'll make sure you forget how to spell it."

Two of his guards came near again, their eyes resembling dead fishes' eyes and their hands held various objects of continuing his despair. He shook in his place and immediately bowed down his head to the ground, "I-I will tell you everything. I will say everything you want to know. Please. Please make your subjects stop this. Please. Have mer-"

Demian put his hand in the air as the men stopped and he ordered, "Start talking."

Irwin looked up and released a sigh and spoke, "This happened two years ago when a man appeared. He proposed to give us gold to help build the city we desired."

"Who was the man?"

Irwin tried to remember the name and somehow even when the man had come two or three times, he could not remember his name which was strange as he never forgets names. He felt as if his memories were a bit hazy and tried to recall how he looked. But nothing came.

Irwin's eyes widened as he had done conversations with him while Lord Heartstone was present there but he couldn't remember anything. How could that be possible? Had the tortures made his memories hazy or was he hallucinating about everything about their deal? For a moment, he went still and doubted his own thoughts; however, an angry scowl from the guard snapped his attention.

"I see, still not enough..." Demian said, his face grim with passing moments.

"His name was..." Irwin tried to rummage through his memories. Filo. Fany. Fella. No! Nothing was coming to his mind. And suddenly, as if his mouth recalled the name, he said, "Felis."

"Felis? Where did he come from?" Demian asked.

"Pardon, Your Highness but that time I wasn't with Lord Heartstone." He informed but truth to be told, he couldn't remember his whole name and it seemed to be best to put all the blame on his master who wasn't in his capable mind.

"He appeared and proposed out of the blue?" Demian interrogated further, his eyes were devoid of emotions just like the man. Yes! He remembered his eyes. It was dark and dry as if they were dead for years.

"Err... Yes and no." Irwin's eyes drifted away from Demian, "He said he had been helping poor cities with his gold as he wanted to use his wealth in a good way. So, he was trying to lend his golds to those who were in need and he also said we could give everything back to him anytime we wanted." Irwin Slowly recalled the man's assurance as he said that they didn't have to rush things.