Inquisition

Serina was locked in the Changwei (廠獄: Changwei’s prison). Although it wasn’t a dungeon, perhaps a dungeon would have been better. At least there wouldn’t have been cold air coming in from outside. The Changwei didn’t want the prisoners they caught to sleep comfortably.

Of course, anyone caught like this wouldn’t be able to sleep properly due to deep anxiety and worry. But the Changwei deliberately made the inside of the prison difficult to sleep in, preventing even a fleeting nap.

It was the same now. A meager piece of cloth that covered less than it exposed, and a thin blanket that would be suitable for summer. Due to the cold seeping from the stone walls of the prison and the winter wind blowing in from the window beyond Serina’s reach, she was afraid of getting frostbite, let alone sleeping.

The Changwei-at least according to the agents-didn’t even allow the prisoners they caught to ‘die’ as they pleased. So, they always tormented the body while exquisitely adjusting the intensity so that they wouldn’t die during interrogation, or even before it.

Serina curled up like a baby on the rickety wooden bed, covering herself with the blanket. This way, the inside of the blanket was at least a little warm thanks to her body temperature, making it barely bearable. Over many years, the Changwei had realized the subtle line of tormenting people’s minds and bodies just enough to be painful but bearable, and had passed it on to their successors.

Even if it wasn’t because of the cold, her burned back was painfully sore, making it difficult to even take a nap. Clear pus oozed from the wound. She felt like she was going to cry because of the sharp pain that chilled her to the bone. Was it about to fester? It was a blessing in disguise that the wound wouldn’t fester easily in the cold winter. But instead of rotting, she felt like she was going to get frostbite.

Apart from the pain tormenting her back, the sensation in her limbs became dull and stiff. Her right arm, in particular, was so bad that she could barely move it like someone who had suffered a stroke. Could she have endured it if she hadn’t cast hypnotic magic on herself to alleviate the pain in her body? Serina herself couldn’t be sure. She had used it several times when there were no magicians around to suppress the pain, but when the reins that had been tightened by the hypnotic magic loosened over time, the suppressed physical pain revived, and a deep sense of powerlessness enveloped her heart.

She had been prepared. But when something close to what she had feared actually happened, it was more overwhelming than she had imagined. A dark and gloomy despair tried to cling to her whole body like a spider web. Once you’re caught in despair, your heart breaks first. Serina shook her head, trying to shake off the touch of discouragement.

Even as she struggled to grasp the hem of composure, Mirabilis’s face didn’t disappear from her mind. Gasping for breath with a strange thirst and torment, she let out a long exhale, and the air pouring out from the depths of her lungs was hot and fishy like blood sausage.

As she pulled up the meager blanket while her fingers and toes were numb and she couldn’t feel anything properly, the events of the day flashed through her mind.

,”Ma’am Handmaiden, I also heard this story from my seniors, but about 30 years ago, the Rose Palace’s handmaidens and court ladies were dragged here too. They were interrogated here back then as well, but not many of them died.”

Strictly speaking in legal terms, those dragged into the Changwei were only being interrogated and hadn’t been sentenced with a legal judgment, meaning they were remand prisoners (未決囚). But the Changwei always treated remand prisoners like criminals. When they thinly sliced off pieces of their flesh, those who had appealed their innocence would tremble like wounded beasts, shedding hot blood and grease. The floor was stained with the pain-filled bodily fluids they had shed. The groans mixed with despair were a supreme pleasure to Sarios.

Pain is the demonic paradox of love. Just as a person in love pours all their attention on the object of their affection, a person being tortured was captivated by the perpetrator, flinching at even the slightest movement. The smug tone of the person in front of her reeked of a foul smell like the scent of a beast, which mixed with the cold and seemed to lick her body.

,”Mortis es opne wiyatores acublis……”

(Death is a fair rest for all…….)

He stammered and recited a short ancient proverb. The pronunciation and grammar were subtly wrong, but Serina couldn’t bring herself to point it out. It was difficult to guess whether he was trying to show off his knowledge in front of someone who had learned noble-like scholarship, even if it was clumsy, or whether he was trying to mock the plight of the prey in front of him by revealing his ignorance. Sarios narrowed his eyes and smiled slyly as he looked at Serina’s expression.

,”You look displeased, did I get my quote wrong? So what. You know what I mean, right? People say that the afterlife is the last refuge for all those who suffer. But that shouldn’t be the case. As long as they’re in our hands, death should never be a fair rest.”

He held out his right fist in front of Serina’s eyes and opened his mouth as he unfolded his fingers one by one. Serina couldn’t take her eyes off his hand.

,”The Rose Palace’s palace people who came in 30 years ago were all sent back alive. But most of them left the palace on their own and hanged themselves or took poison. Do you know why?”

Sarios smirked and moved his right hand, taking out a branding iron heated in the brazier. It wasn’t as red-hot as the iron being hammered in a smithy, but it looked hot enough to scorch human skin. It was an act called branding, or nakhyung (烙刑).

Serina was newly horrified by his grinning appearance. The smile of someone who enjoys ruining the body and mind of someone who can’t resist. Even the thugs she had met when she went out on patrol with Mirabilis were like gentle lambs compared to this kind of person.

,”I can endure it. It doesn’t hurt. That fire can’t torment my body.”

She used the power of suggestion that she used when hypnotizing Mirabilis on herself. She couldn’t endure it without the power of hypnosis. She felt the well of her heart drying up in real time, so she had no choice but to forcibly boost her strength with the power of hypnotic magic. If it weren’t for hypnosis, Serina might have spilled everything she knew and didn’t know long ago. The torture they inflicted had that kind of power.

,”It’s no use muttering like that. You’re a noble, even if you’re a fallen noble, right? Can you really endure branding?”

Serina suddenly realized that some phrases were engraved on the branding iron, but she couldn’t see it properly because the letters were reversed and the interrogation room was dark.

,”Ma’am, think about it. If words like ‘Changwei’ and ‘criminal’ are engraved all over your body…… wouldn’t you really not want to live? Every time you take off your clothes, you’ll remember this interrogation room. Even if your body is outside, your heart will always be here.”

Sarios smiled and held up the branding iron so that she could see the inscription well. As she forced her eyes to take in the faint light and looked closely, she suddenly realized what the engraved letters were.

MEROTRICS HOMELISEMA

Extremely lowly whore

A humiliating phrase that wrote both ancient and modern expressions for easy recognition. The moment Serina saw those letters, she felt like her whole body was falling into a distant place. She felt like she could endure the immediate pain of being burned by fire. But she didn’t have the confidence to call herself a handmaiden or Older Sister-nim next to Mirabilis with those letters hanging on her body. A dry and bitter smile appeared on her face.

‘Mirabilis……’

Reading the expression on Serina’s face, the man made a bored expression. He wanted to hear her wailing in despair, so this kind of reaction was what he hated the most.

But suddenly, a voice shouting with excitement was heard from beyond the door. It wasn’t the sound of one or two people. It didn’t seem like they were fighting physically, but at least they were verbally entangled and rolling around, as if they were fighting a battle. The person next to him opened the door slightly and went out.

,”Haven’t you received His Majesty’s order? The Ministry of Justice and Changwei have agreed to jointly investigate this case. The Ministry of Justice also has the right, so we will also participate in the interrogation of that handmaiden named Serina!”

Then, another member of the Changwei who had blocked the Ministry of Justice’s official screamed and retorted.

,”Even so, can you barge into the Changwei and demand that we hand over the suspect we’re interrogating out of the blue? If you want to do that, the Minister of Justice should negotiate with Wi Dok first, and don’t flash those blind eyes here!”

The man frowned, and then closed the door again, taking advantage of the lull in the abusive conversation. Then, he grabbed Sarios’s shoulder and shook his head from side to side without saying a word.

Serina had become a prisoner that even the Ministry of Justice was paying attention to. It would be very troublesome if torturing her with a brand that wasn’t even stipulated in the law caught the eye of an official belonging to the Ministry of Justice. Sarios didn’t know the exact circumstances, but he intuitively realized that he shouldn’t do what he was doing now when he saw his colleague doing this. If the Changwei was harmed because of his actions, he wouldn’t be able to get away with it either. Even those who live for the pleasure of tormenting others value their own lives.

,”Tch”

Sarios clicked his tongue. It was an involuntary expression of dissatisfaction, but seeing that, Serina realized that he couldn’t do whatever he wanted. She couldn’t help but think that it was thanks to Mirabilis moving for her.

Even in the content of the Changwei’s interrogation of Serina so far, they had only asked her to confess to using forbidden magic, and there was nothing that would make her think that they had specified hypnotic magic. White hope billowed up from her resigned heart. If she could look forward to the future, it wasn’t too late to give up yet. Sarios changed the branding iron to one without any inscriptions.

The heated iron approached her back and seared her flesh. The flesh burned with a sizzling sound, and white smoke rose, emitting the smell of burning meat. The pain of the burn raged through her whole body, but she was able to endure it because her hypnotically dazed body filtered out some of the pain. Serina gritted her teeth. The eyes of the torturer seemed to widen as if a fire had been lit in them.