Lilia's Tale

Chapter 46: Interrogation

The crudeness of his demand worried me a little, so I obliged to what he asked. I embarrassingly put my dress back on, and asked:

"May I at least sit down?"

"Yes," he simply replied.

"So, you mentioned having been a slave. You know that slavery is forbidden in the Empire, right?" he asked after I sat down.

"Is it? I didn't know. Doesn't that make whoever used me a criminal?"

"That is exactly the case. Do you remember anything about it?"

"I...do," I slowly said, remember quite painful memories. "I don't remember much of it, but I believe the name was Deki or something? The farm apparently went in flames while I was being tortured underground, so I don't know much of anything beyond that. That's where Father found me and rescued me."

"Deki? A farm that went up in flames and had slaves? None of this makes sense. So tell us the truth now," he said with an authoritarian tone of voice, slamming his fist on the table as he stood up.

"I'm telling you what I remember, sir," I replied as anxiety started settling in.

He simply sighed and went back onto his chair.

"Not gonna get anything out of you, will I? That's whatever. Next, since that thing on your back is apparently a mark that whoever that Deki is put on you as proof of your ownership, tell us more about it."

"I don't remember much of anything about it. Only that it hurt very badly, like I was being burnt alive. My back has been very sensitive ever since."

Anxiety kept growing as I felt like he knew I was lying about the slave mark. Similarly, I knew that Father would be interrogated as well. Unless I told him about the lie, he wouldn't know.

"Did the other slaves have it?"

"Yes."

"The same thing?"

"I'd assume so."

"Yet you only said it was 'something similar' earlier. What's with the contradiction?"

I messed up.

"I couldn't directly compare, as the first time I could ever see my own mark was after Father rescued me. Not every mark was the exact same between the slaves. Some healed better than others I guess?"

He stared at me lengthily, slightly scaring me. I couldn't keep my gaze towards him and eventually moved my line of sight away to the side.

"Soldier, is he here yet?" the veteran suddenly said after the long and awkward silence.

"I don't know, sir. I think he shouldn't take too long to arrive."

"Good. I have another question for this missy here," he added with a smug smile on his face. "What are you."

"Huh?" I simply replied in astonishment.

"Just be honest and tell me. What are you?"

"I-I'm human," I stuttered, now stressing enough to visibly shake.

"Then why are you stressing so much over it."

"T-To be fair, I don't know myself," I lied. "I'm just...scared of being ostracised or something?"

He simply smiled.

"Why would we ostracise you for not being human?"

"I..."

I couldn't find a reason, no matter how hard I tried. I went from stressed to scared to disappointed, finally saying, as I lowered my head:

"I don't know."