Ch.98Black Magic Workshop – 7

“Kuhuhuhuhuhuh.”

The first thing Catherine did after regaining her appearance from before her facial skin was completely flayed off, thanks to Charlotte’s healing magic, was to laugh as if she had lost her mind.

Catherine’s laughter, bordering on maniacal, continued for quite some time until Charlotte, unable to bear it any longer, tore her mouth apart and then healed it again.

“Have you come to your senses now?”

Catherine nodded in response to my question.

“Ah, yes. I actually regained my senses a while ago. So the title ‘Blood Queen’ wasn’t given for nothing, huh? Even in that horrible state, I couldn’t die. Despite the excruciating pain, I didn’t pass out, which makes me think you did something, right?”

It was Charlotte who answered Catherine’s sarcastic remark. Charlotte issued a brief warning in a cold voice.

“Your tongue is remarkably short. Should I pull it out and stretch it longer so you can speak more respectfully to my husband?”

“Husband? Ha, shit. The Blood Queen has a husband? This is quite unexpected. I was wondering why the queen has been fawning over you since earlier. I see, you must be quite skilled in bed—”

Catherine’s words were cut short. With the sound of tearing flesh, her tongue was ripped out of her mouth.

Catherine let out an agonized scream—”KYAAAAK!”—while shaking her head frantically. Bright red blood flowed from her mouth.

“This is your final warning. Insult my husband once more, and I shall make your filthy body experience the limits of pain a human can endure.”

Catherine, with her tongue torn out, gaped and made strange gurgling sounds.

She seemed to want to say something but couldn’t express herself without her tongue.

This is problematic.

“Charlotte, reattach her tongue and step outside for a moment.”

Charlotte frowned deeply at my request. Then she summoned ice picks and stabbed them into both of Catherine’s ears.

An even more pain-filled scream echoed through the room.

“Are you serious, my love? To say you want to be left alone with such a woman—I trust you don’t believe I would permit such an action.”

“We don’t have time. Quickly.”

“I refuse. I have no intention whatsoever of leaving you alone in the same space with that woman.”

Charlotte seemed unwilling to yield at all.

“…Then stay here. But whatever she says, don’t act before I do.”

“Did you not hear what that woman just said? To ask me to leave such filth unpunished—I cannot do that.”

“Kill her or torture her as you wish later. Later, I said. Not now. Right now, it’s far more important to ask her how she researched black magic.”

“We could extract her memories instead. I’ve told you it would be more convenient to extract memories rather than wait for answers. I don’t understand why you choose the difficult path when an easier one is available, my love.”

I wished I could do that too. Rather than wasting time arguing with Charlotte and exchanging words with that thing, it would be much more convenient to extract her memories and examine them.

But I can’t. Rashly extracting memories potentially contaminated with black magic could risk Charlotte becoming corrupted as well.

“I already told you. Since she might be contaminated from researching black magic, I can’t rule out the risk of you becoming corrupted too. I’m doing this because I’m worried about you, so please listen to me.”

“…Very well. However, I will make you pay dearly for this later.”

“Fine. Thank you, Charlotte.”

With a snap of Charlotte’s fingers, Catherine’s tongue was restored, and the ice picks in her ears melted away.

Despite her body being restored, Catherine twisted around as if still feeling discomfort and sneered.

“Hiya, shit. You’ve really got the Blood Queen wrapped around your finger. I’m honestly surprised. I never imagined that woman would listen to another human being. You don’t seem to have any special abilities, so how did you manage to seduce the Blood Queen and make her fall for you? It’s your bedroom skills, right? That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Curious?”

“Of course. I’m fucking curious as hell. How good are you in bed that you made the queen fall for you? I can squeeze tight too, so why not let me experience it? Like a final gift before I die. If you want, I can let you use my mouth or back hole too. Or even my breasts. What do you say? I’ve been told my breasts are quite large. They bounce like crazy when I move, you know?”

“If you answer my questions well, I’ll consider it.”

That’s a lie.

I’m going to kill her right after getting her answers anyway.

Or hand her over to Charlotte to make her beg for death.

“Really? For real? Shit, you’ll actually let me? Wow, this is unexpected. That woman must be lacking in bed despite her magical prowess. For her to let her husband openly fuck another woman right in front of her—URGH?!”

My thumb dug into Catherine’s left eye. I gripped the side of her head with my remaining four fingers, held the back of her head with my other hand, and pressed my thumb deep to gouge out her eyeball.

Warm blood flowed down my finger. After swirling my thumb inside the eye socket to confirm the eyeball was completely crushed, I withdrew my finger.

From Catherine’s devastated left eye, transparent vitreous humor mixed with crushed eyeball fragments and blood dripped down.

“Don’t cross the line. Just answer my questions.”

Catherine’s body twitched occasionally, seemingly overcome with pain.

“…Hee, heehee. You’ve got quite a temper too? No wonder you match so well with the Blood Queen. There was a reason for it.”

“No, if you were just an ordinary mage who conducted human experimentation, I would have treated you more respectfully than this. I’m treating you this way because I don’t see you as human. I have no intention of treating someone who has dabbled in black magic as a human being. Actually, if you were just an ordinary mage, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.”

I’m not sure if human experimentation can be described as “ordinary.”

Catherine seemed to take offense at my words, glaring at me fiercely with her remaining eye.

“Fuck. You keep saying ‘black magic, black magic.’ What the hell is that, you bastard? What I researched was black blood creatures, not your fucking black magic that you’re so obsessed with.”

“Did you hear my explanation earlier?”

“What? That black mana stuff? Of course I heard it. I was in that state without being able to die or pass out. Do you think I couldn’t hear?”

“Isn’t your research on black blood creatures closely related to black magic? And I don’t usually make these kinds of suspicions. I’ve been desperately eliminating any materials related to black mana as soon as they’re discovered. Most mages don’t even know such things exist. But I found a black magic circle using black mana as a medium on your desk, which is why I’m asking. So stop talking nonsense and just answer my questions.”

“What? There’s evidence on my desk? Then fuck, ask my other personality. Oh wait, you can’t because you tortured and killed her, right?”

“Other personality?”

I paused momentarily at Catherine’s spat-out words.

I thought her personality seemed too different from before, but it was because it was an entirely different personality. Honestly, it was somewhat unexpected.

“Yeah, fuck. My other personality who died from your torture. If she was the one who did the research, I don’t know about it. We only share a body, not memories. I’m really sorry about that, okay?”

Catherine sneered. A different personality that doesn’t share memories—the situation had become a bit complicated.

According to her, the timid and fearful personality had died from torture, meaning those memories were completely lost.

If her sarcastic claim that she knew nothing was true, and it really was the other personality who researched black magic, then there was no point in continuing this.

“You need not worry about that, my love.”

It was Charlotte who pulled me back to reality from my deep thoughts. Charlotte gently embraced my neck from behind and whispered quietly into my ear.

“I have already examined the memories of the other personality she mentioned. However, there was no trace of black magic or black mana in those memories. So this woman is likely lying.”

I turned to Charlotte in shock at those words. Having whispered in my ear, Charlotte’s face was close enough that I could feel her breath.

“You already examined the memories? Charlotte, you—”

“If you’re asking if I’m in my right mind, the answer is obviously yes, my love. As you can see, I am perfectly fine. The concern you had did not come to pass, so you may rest assured.”

“…Don’t do such things in the future.”

“I shall comply.”

Charlotte might think I’m overreacting. From her perspective, she had already extracted memories once and remained unaffected.

But that’s not it.

Far from overreacting, I’m actually being less cautious about the dangers of black magic than I should be.

I turned my attention back to Catherine. She was surveying me with her remaining eye while blood poured from her crushed left eye.

“Charlotte just vouched that she examined all the memories of that personality before it died, and there was nothing related to black magic. That leaves only you. It would be best not to lie. Your treatment will be determined by how your answers sound. If I like your answer, I’ll kill you. If I don’t like it, I’ll keep you alive until the end. Do you understand?”

“Kill me if you like my answer? Keep me alive if you don’t? Fuck, you’re insane too. What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Nonsense? No, I meant exactly what I said. I’ve seen many people who beg for their lives only when death is imminent. Do you know what they all have in common? At first, they try desperately to survive, but later, they beg and plead to be killed. What do you think that means? You should know well, having just experienced it.”

At the mention of what she had just experienced—having all her teeth pulled out and her facial skin flayed off, unable to either die or live—Catherine’s face turned pale.

“…Fuck.”

A short curse was uttered, laden with resignation.