Did she already know what I would ask her for?

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"Will you talk?" I ask, ignoring her insults, for if she doesn't speak soon, I will have to do much harsher things to her.

For the first time, it seems to me that Beatrice is hesitating about her answer, so I will give her time to think.

' - What is this wretch doing to me? I never imagined that physical pain could feel so stupidly good. And this last time... It's ridiculous that I've cum with this.... Anyway, I'm going to resist until the end... I'll have to tell him some things if I don't want him to kill me... I feel so weak... I can't continue as I am. If I do, I really will be the one who loses. But I'm already starting to feel my body getting rid of the poison. I just have to wait a few minutes, and then I will be able to escape.'

After a few moments, she finally seemed to have made up her mind.

"All right. You win. I'll talk," she says in a resigned tone.

'Fine! That's my gi... What the fuck am I thinking? .... Anyway, if possible, I didn't want to hurt her before I killed her, and it looks like, luckily, I won't have to.'

The girl's voice is raspy and hoarse from all the screaming, moaning, and shouting she has emitted.

So, troubled by what I was starting to think a moment ago but happy that she has decided to speak, I move a little away from the girl and pick up one of the glasses we had used for the poisoned wine, which had rolled on the floor of the tent.

I then fill it with water from my inventory and hold the cup up to the girl's lips to help her drink the liquid, since she can't do it herself as she is paralyzed and bound.

' - How did he do that?!!! A magic object? No one can generate liquid out of thin air like that if not with magic, but I didn't see any kind of glow.... The most logical thing would be to think he had it stored somewhere, but... you can't store liquid in the adventurers' inventory either, or in the storage rings, if the liquid isn't in a container.... What he just did should not be possible.... This is no longer just a matter of strength, agility, or a high resistance to poison.... Who the hell is this man, and what other secrets is he hiding?'

"Drink..." I tell her, as I try not to let the stupid relief I feel at the thought of not having to torture her show in my voice.

"... You'll need it if you're really going to finally talk. Because you are going to talk, aren't you?"

I'm suddenly overcome with a sensible sense of distrust.

"Yes, yes. I'm going to talk. Just... give me a moment..." she says with a long sigh before she starts drinking.

When she finishes drinking, she continues with what she was saying.

"... In order to understand what you are asking me to explain, I have to relate to you certain things from the history of my kingdom that are not fully public knowledge."

"If you are trying to distract me so that the poison will stop working on you, you are very much mistaken. I'm going to be watching you very very closely." I say as I give her a gentle stroke with the horsewhip across the full length of her pussy.

"Haaah.... It's not like that... I told you I would talk, and I will. You just have to be patient. It's a long and complex story, and only a very select group of people know about this.... " she says as she glares at me angrily.

"... In fact, I wouldn't even know about it if we hadn't been informed, before the war, about the details of a certain blonde-haired girl whom we were to take care of and bring to our kingdom if we were to find her, even at the cost of our own lives."

"What has that apparently long and complex story got to do with Alessia?" I ask suspiciously.

'Ha... How cute. She seems to want to drag out her explanation for as long as possible to try to free herself from the effects of the paralyzing poison. It seems that she doesn't remember that even if she gets free from the poison and ropes, I can easily surpass her in speed and strength'

"You'll see... If you're smart, you'll make the connection quickly..." says the redhead, looking at me amused and clearly hinting that my intelligence is very low.

"... Look, a long time ago, before my current king came to the throne, the previous king had two children. A boy and a girl. Ronald, the current king, and Alessandra, his sister..."

'Alessia... Alessandra... Don't tell me... No, it can't be true. I must be misunderstanding her. This is too ridiculous'

"... Eventually both children grew up and became young, and.... sibling affection began to turn into something else on Ronald's part, which caused his sister to seek to get away from him...." she says, and her voice has a tinge of hatred in it that, for once, is not directed at me.

"...something she could do with ease while the previous king was alive. However, when the king died and Ronald was about to become king, she realized what was awaiting her and rushed to marry, to be at a safe distance from her brother..."

'If my assumptions are correct.... is Alessia's mother the sister of the current king of Drial Cenit? What on earth am I thinking?'

Stunned by the possibilities of what I'm deducing, I remain silent as the girl speaks at a slow, leisurely pace.

"... She married a baronet who had always been close to her and whose lands were on the border of our kingdom with the Castemira kingdom. I suppose she did it to have a chance to escape to the neighboring kingdom if her brother tried to use his new privileges to force her to be close to him.... She was an amazing woman. Smart and strong."

As she speaks of Alessandra, there is a glint of admiration and respect in Beatrice's eyes.

"Was?" I say, although, if my assumptions are correct, I already know the answer.

"Yes. The official story is that Ronald's sister was always weak in health and died very young due to a scare, a few months after she got married, in a bandit attack while traveling through her husband's lands..." she says bitterly.

'I don't understand... Hmm... if the Alessandra of Beatrice's story was Alessia's mother, how can it be that she died in the Drial Cenit kingdom?'

"... It is supposed that for that reason the king took away the noble title from Alessandra's husband. The truth is that the king stripped him of his noble title as punishment for taking his sister away from him and forced him to send her back to him, threatening him with hanging if he didn't. Or so I was told."

' - I shouldn't be telling him these things, but judging by what happened to me a few moments ago, maybe I would have ended up talking anyway, without gaining anything in return. I've already seen several times that I can't fully trust my body when it comes to this man. This way, at least I am buying some time. I shouldn't have underestimated this man when I saw what he had taken from the tool chest.... His methods of torture are very... unorthodox, but quite effective.'

"You mean Alesandra is with the king? But then Alessia's moth-" I say quietly to myself, increasingly confused.

'Could it be that I simply jumped to conclusions and was wrong in my assumptions?'

"Don't interrupt me! I'm giving you information that could cost me my life. But if we consider my current situation, I suppose that doesn't mean much to you...." she says, looking down without moving her neck to observe the ropes binding her to the chair.

"...Anyway... I told you Alessandra was an exceptional woman. So she wasn't going to let herself be led meekly into her brother's clutches. There is no real information on how she did it, but the point is that she escaped from the guards who were taking her back to the royal palace. After that, she was never seen in the kingdom again."

"So... she fled the kingdom for the Castemira kingdom, right?" I ask as I begin to find some connections between Beatrice's story and what I know about Alessia's mother.

"Yes, I know now that she did. I was told that she was discovered a few years ago in a village in the Castemira kingdom. She was discovered by a merchant who used to do business crossing the borders between kingdoms and who had personally seen her once on the border, during the short time she lived with her husband..." she says as an expression of amusement appears on her face.

"... And I say 'used to' do business because, displaying the vileness characteristic of his gender..."

'It looks like I was right.... This woman really hates all men simply for existing.... What must have happened to her to end up with a mind so full of hate?'

".... he saw Alessandra and thought he could make some good money if he sold that information to the king. Ha! The secret services of the Drial Cenit kingdom imprisoned, tortured, and killed the wretch as soon as he uttered Alessandra's name before them," she says with a sinister smile on her face and falls silent.

I thank and take advantage of the moment of silence because, in my mind, a lot of ideas start to arise as a result of the information Beatrice is blurting out.

'Poor fool...

But I guess he got what he deserved for trying to sell Alessia's mother's information....

No...

I'm still not sure she's Alessia's mother, though that would explain why Beatrice is looking for my girl....

Besides, there are things that are starting to fit....

The way Alessia's friends could not clearly remember my girl's mother, beyond the fact that she possessed an imposing presence....

Also…

Alessia's Blood Seal is blocking part of her memory...

Originally, I had thought that her father had put it on her, but... what if it wasn't?...

A woman of royalty, such as the one Beatrice is describing to me, surely knew of many methods of concealment....

Besides...

The fact that none of the nobles we came across so far have recognized Alessia's surname is also somewhat strange, come to think of it....

But if Alessia's surname belongs to a minor noble from a neighboring kingdom, deposed 18 years ago....

Shit, it all fits too well. Why didn't I think a bit more about those strange details before?....

Wait, Beatrice never mentioned that Alessandra had a daughter when she escaped....

So...'