Chapter 445: Visiting The Royal Prison
Damian strode from the royal court toward the prison yard of the Violet Palace, with the ministers, officers and royal guards following closely behind him. Eunuchs and attendants hurried along at the rear, struggling to maintain the pace as Damian moved through the palace streets without slowing.
The atmosphere that had been filled with the confidence and excitement of his first court session had completely changed. Nobody spoke unless absolutely necessary. The revelation that the Order of Demons was the ones responsible for the assassination attempt had placed an uncomfortable weight over everyone, and the fact that a Kitsune woman was now connected to the investigation made the situation even more complicated.
At the top of the staircase leading away from the royal court, Damian’s wives and concubines remained behind, watching the procession disappear down the streets.
Hazel wore a deep frown, her fingers intertwined before her as she stared after Damian. The discovery that someone from her clan might have been involved in an attempt on Damian’s life was deeply troubling her. It wasn’t merely the possibility that someone from the Kitsune clan had betrayed the royal family. What frightened her was what Damian might think about the entire clan if the investigation eventually proved that the Order of Demons had roots among them.
"He didn’t even get to announce our wedding plans." Racheal sighed heavily, glancing toward Hazel.
Hazel’s expression became even more troubled as she looked at her.
"How could he when something this serious came up and involves someone from my family?" She let out another sigh, rubbing her forehead. "If this woman really has connections to the people who attacked him, then everything we were supposed to discuss today has suddenly become secondary."
Ruby stepped closer and placed a reassuring hand on Hazel’s shoulder.
"Don’t worry. All we need to do is help him resolve this from our end. As long as we get things done quickly, we can go on with our lives like this never happened."
Her words were meant to comfort Hazel, but even Ruby understood that things would never simply return to normal if Damian discovered that members of her clan had knowingly aided the Order of Demons.
Hazel slowly nodded, although the concern never left her eyes. "I know."
The concubines said nothing and simply watched the streets where Damian had disappeared. Mary remained particularly quiet, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly as she considered everything that had happened. Alice stood beside her with her arms loosely folded, her expression as distant as ever. Neither woman seemed eager to interfere in a matter that could potentially involve an entire clan, especially when Damian was already moving with such frightening determination.
Several minutes later, Damian’s group arrived at the Royal Prison.
The prison occupied a heavily fortified section of the Violet Palace, separated from the ordinary residential areas by thick stone walls and several layers of defensive formations. Unlike the elegant architecture found throughout the royal residence, this place had been designed entirely around containment. There were no ornamental gardens or elaborate sculptures, only dark stone, reinforced gates and guards stationed at nearly every entrance.
The moment Damian stepped into the compound, several guards immediately straightened and bowed. The news of his arrival had clearly traveled ahead of him because the prison staff were already scrambling to make way.
A heavily built demon hurried toward him before lowering himself into a deep bow.
"Sire, what brings you to such a place?" Daton, the Royal Warden, asked respectfully.
Damian looked him over without saying anything for a moment. Daton possessed the same light blue skin associated with the Kosak Clan, with several lighter blue scales visible across his exposed palms and along portions of his neck. His physical build was considerably more imposing than most of the guards surrounding him, suggesting that he was more than just an administrator of the prison.
"Take me to her." Damian ordered.
Daton immediately lowered his head.
"Yes, Sire!"
He turned around and began leading the way without asking another question. Damian followed, with Kan, Jugo, Talos, Darbin, Amon and the other ministers trailing behind him. The royal guards maintained a wide formation around the group, while the eunuchs and attendants remained farther back.
They passed through another gate and entered the inner prison yard. Damian’s eyes immediately settled on the woman waiting there.
A beautiful Kitsune woman sat tied to a heavy wooden chair in the middle of the interrogation area. She wore white robes that had once been clean, but they were now stained with blood and dirt. Her blond hair hung messily around her face, with several strands stuck against her cheeks. Bruises covered portions of her exposed skin, and several cuts remained visible along her arms and face.
She looked exhausted.
More importantly, she looked like someone who had already endured hours of questioning and had reached the point where even anger required too much energy.
Damian’s gaze moved past her and settled on the table beside her. The collection of bloodied torture implements immediately made his expression harden.
The woman lifted her head weakly when Damian approached, her tired eyes struggling to focus on the figure standing before her. She seemed to recognize the royal robes and the crowd accompanying him, and whatever remaining strength she possessed immediately disappeared from her posture.
"Your Majesty..." she whispered hoarsely.
Damian didn’t answer.
He stepped closer and studied her face for several seconds. The ministers remained behind him, waiting to see what he would do. Kan’s expression remained serious, while Jugo’s eyes narrowed slightly at the condition of the prisoner. Even Daton became somewhat tense, clearly uncertain whether Damian intended to continue the interrogation or simply execute her.
Instead, Damian reached down and grabbed the woman’s hair and her eyes widened. The moment his fingers tightened around her head, Damian’s expression changed.
Memories flooded into his mind and there was no gradual transition. One moment he was standing inside the prison, and the next he was looking through someone else’s eyes. Images rushed through his consciousness with startling clarity, fragments of conversations, faces, streets, rooms and moments that the woman herself had experienced.
The Kitsune woman immediately began screaming.
Her entire body jerked violently against the restraints as her eyes rolled backward until only the whites remained visible. Her hands desperately reached toward Damian’s arm, fingers wrapping around his wrist as though she could somehow force him to release her.
She couldn’t. Damian’s grip didn’t move even slightly.
Usually, Damian ransacked people’s memories while they were asleep. It was considerably easier that way, with the target’s mind already in a passive state. This was the first time he had directly forced his way through the memories of a conscious person, and the difference was obvious.
The woman’s screams echoed throughout the prison yard.
Several attendants instinctively flinched, while some of the guards exchanged uncomfortable glances. None dared intervene.
Damian simply continued looking through her memories. He didn’t care whether the process hurt. She was connected to the investigation, and he needed answers.
For nearly a minute, the only sound in the yard was the woman’s strained screaming and the occasional clatter of the restraints against the chair. Then her struggling gradually weakened. Her fingers slipped from Damian’s wrist, her head sagged forward and her entire body became limp.
Damian finally released her. She collapsed against the chair, unconscious.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The ministers, royal guards, eunuchs and attendants all remained at a respectful distance, watching Damian carefully. Not even Lin Qui at his worst was this vicious. They seemed unsettled by what they had just seen. There was something fundamentally disturbing about watching someone reach into another person’s mind and tear through their memories as casually as reading a document.
Damian slowly turned toward them. His expression was ugly.
"She knows nothing." He said.
Kan’s eyes narrowed slightly and Damian glanced back at the unconscious Kitsune woman.
"She has never met anyone from the Order of Demons directly, and she doesn’t know where they operate. But she has seen a few strange figures around her boyfriend several times."
Kan immediately stepped forward slightly.
"Her boyfriend?" he asked.
Damian nodded. "She believes they were acquaintances of his. She didn’t pay much attention to them at the time, but she remembers their faces."
Damian extended his hand toward the empty wall beside the interrogation chamber and his demonic aura slowly seeped from his fingertips.
Purple energy gathered against the stone, slowly carving out a shape. Lines appeared first, followed by facial features, hair and distinctive characteristics. Damian didn’t need paper or an artist. He simply reconstructed what he had seen from the woman’s memories and allowed his power to imprint those details directly onto the wall.
A few seconds later, three faces stared back at everyone.
The expressions were crude compared to an actual portrait, but they were detailed enough to be recognizable. More importantly, Damian knew exactly what each man looked like.
He stared at the three unfamiliar faces. None belonged to any clan he recognized.
That immediately confirmed something important. These weren’t ordinary residents of the capital. Their clans weren’t based in this realm.
Damian’s eyes narrowed slightly as he stepped away from the wall.
Kan moved closer to examine the faces, followed by several officers. Jugo also studied them carefully, his expression becoming increasingly serious as he failed to recognize any of them.
"Do you recognize them?" Damian asked.
Kan shook his head slowly. "No, Sire. I have never seen these men before."
"Neither have I." Jugo admitted.
Damian didn’t seem surprised. He had already expected as much.
If the Order of Demons had existed for a thousand years and operated across multiple realms, there was no reason to assume their members would all belong to clans native to Velmora.
Damian turned away from the carvings.
"Make wanted posters." He ordered. "Put their faces throughout the capital. Check every gate, every district and every settlement connected to the capital. I want their identities, where they came from, who they have spoken to and where they have been staying."
He took several steps forward before stopping.
"And don’t just search for them. Find everyone connected to them."
Kan’s expression hardened.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Damian continued walking.
"If they have contacts, interrogate them. If those contacts have contacts, investigate them too. I want the entire network exposed."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" the officers chorused.
The ministers followed immediately, their expressions becoming serious as they understood what Damian intended. This was no longer an investigation limited to finding the people responsible for one assassination attempt. Damian intended to tear through the Order of Demons’ presence in the capital from the roots.
Damian glanced back once at the unconscious Kitsune woman.
This was not Earth.
He had already seen what happened when enemies were allowed to hide within a society until their influence became too deep to remove without bloodshed. He had no intention of allowing the same thing to happen here.
If an enemy wanted to hide beneath his throne, Damian would drag them into the light.
If they had built a network inside his capital, he would dismantle it. And if the Order of Demons believed they could operate within his territory without consequence, they were about to learn exactly how wrong they were.
The tragedy of earth will not repeat itself again!