Depraved Noble: Forced To Live The Debaucherous Life Of An Evil Noble!-Chapter 107: Chasing The Truth

Cassius's gaze then shifted from Skadi's enthusiastic grin to Lucious, who was still muttering complaints about the mess under his breath. "Lucious..." He said, his tone casual but firm. "You can clean up the body later. For now, take Edmund away."

"...His time's finally come."

Lucious paused mid—grumble, nodding with a resigned sigh. "About time..." He muttered, stepping over the blood—streaked floor with practiced ease. He then grabbed Edmund by the arm, hauling the weak, trembling doctor to his feet with a rough tug.

Edmund's eyes widened in panic, his muffled pleas turning into desperate, garbled cries as he struggled against Lucious's grip. "No—please! Help me! Don't let him take me! Don't let this demon take me!" He begged as his gag slipped off, his voice cracking as he twisted toward the trio, his bound hands flailing uselessly.

But Julie simply turned her head away like she wanted nothing to do with him after hearing all his sins and instead, her voice cut through Edmund's cries towards Cassius, steady but edged with curiosity. "Cassius..." She said, fixing him with a piercing stare. "What exactly are you planning to do with him?"

Cassius tilted his head, his smile softening into something almost playful as he met her eyes. "Why do you ask, Captain? Is it because you don't like how I'm handling things? Maybe you'd prefer I deal with my problems in a more...righteous manner?" His tone was teasing, but there was a genuine question lurking beneath it, as if he were testing her.

Julie sighed in response, a long, weary sound that carried the weight of years. "That's what I would've said a long time ago." She admitted, her voice quieter now, tinged with a bitter edge. "Back when I was young, green, and thought life was black and white—good versus evil, justice served with a clean blade."

Her eyes grew somber, shadows flickering in their depths as she continued.

"But after years of seeing the world for what it is—watching the innocent suffer while the guilty walk free, seeing 'virtue' fail to bring justice time and time again—I've learned. Sometimes the righteous path doesn't work."

"...Sometimes you need underhanded methods to balance the scales."

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Her words hung in the air, and Cassius's brows lifted in genuine surprise. He'd expected the Captain of the Sacred Guard—paragon of honor, defender of law—to cling stubbornly to her principles, to lecture him on morality even in the face of a monster like him.

But this? This pragmatic streak, this quiet acceptance of the gray?...It impressed him.

His smile widened, a flicker of respect glinting in his crimson eyes. "Well, now." He said, his voice warm with approval. "I'm glad you think that way, Julie, or else we'd have struggled to get along otherwise—you with your law and order, me with...Well, this." He gestured vaguely at the blood—smeared wall, his tone light despite the grim context.

"And as for Edmund...Well, Edmund is finally going to serve a purpose by taking him to my father and using him as a example."

"...A little demonstration of what my father's dealing with, which should clear up your legion's matter nicely."

Julie's eyes widened slightly, and Aisha's tail flicked in shock as she stepped forward. "Wait—you're meeting the Patriarch now?" Aisha asked, her voice sharp with disbelief. "Like, right this minute?"

Cassius shrugged, his casual demeanor unshaken. "Of course. How else am I going to sort out your issue? Time's ticking, and I promised you'd wake up tomorrow without those 'X's on your backs, didn't I?" His smile turned sly, as if he were enjoying their reactions.

Julie and Aisha exchanged a quick glance, a silent debate passing between them.

The instinct to support him—to tag along as backup in case things went south—flared up immediately. But Cassius, perceptive as ever, caught the shift in their postures and raised a hand to stop them before they could speak.

"Don't even think about it." He said, his tone firm but not unkind. "I'll be fine alone—better that way, trust me...Too many cooks in the kitchen just complicates things."

"...For now, you three should head back to the guest rooms I've arranged. Get some rest, wait for the good news tomorrow. You've had a long night."

Julie frowned, her mind racing as she weighed his words. Aisha opened her mouth to protest, but Julie raised a hand to silence her, her expression reluctant but resigned. "Fine." She said at last, her voice clipped. "We'll trust you, Cassius. But if this goes sideways don't hesitate to call us—"

"It won't." Cassius interjected smoothly, his smile unwavering. "Go on, get some sleep...You've earned it."

The trio hesitated for a moment longer, then nodded, turning to leave the grim little room.

But just as they reached the doorway, Skadi's ears perked up, and she stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait!" She chirped, her voice bright and curious as she spun around, pointing at the only other door in the storage room—a thick, iron-bound slab that radiated an ominous aura. "Master, what's in there? It's got really creepy vibes!" She tilted her head innocently, her tail swishing as she elaborated.

"The smell I tracked—it wasn't really coming from this room...It was stronger from over there, next door. What's inside?"

Her question was pure, childlike curiosity, but it hit Julie and Aisha like a thunderbolt.

They whipped around, their suspicion flaring as they fixed Cassius with sharp, probing stares.

The door Skadi pointed to was heavy, reinforced, and seemed to pulse with a quiet menace that hadn't registered until now.

Julie's hand instinctively drifted back to her sword, and Aisha's ears flattened, her voice low and wary. "Yeah, Master...What exactly is behind that door?"

Cassius's wry smile faltered for a split second, a flicker of discomfort crossing his face before he masked it with a sheepish grin.

"Oh, that?" He said, his tone a little too casual as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Nothing you need to worry about right now. Just...Storage. Old stuff. You know how it is with big houses—lots of junk lying around." He waved a hand dismissively, but the gesture didn't quite match the tension in his eyes.

Julie's gaze narrowed, her instincts screaming that he was hiding something. "Storage." She repeated, her voice flat with skepticism. "That's a pretty heavy door for old stuff. And Skadi's nose doesn't lie—she tracked something strong. Stronger than this." She gestured to the blood—soaked room behind them, her tone hardening. "What aren't you telling us?"

Aisha nodded, stepping closer to Julie as her tail flicked suspiciously. "Yeah, you've been straight with us so far—mostly. So, don't start dodging now. What's in there, Cassius?"

Skadi, oblivious to the growing tension, bounced on her heels, her eyes wide with excitement. "Is it treasure? Or maybe more bad guys? Ooh, maybe it's a secret wrestling room!" She grinned, her innocence a stark contrast to the dark undercurrent rippling through the group.

Cassius let his gaze linger on the trio for a moment, his eyes glinting in the dim, flickering light of the storage room.

The air was filled with the coppery tang of blood and the faint echo of Edmund's fading pleas, but his focus was squarely on Julie, Aisha, and Skadi, as if sizing up their resolve.

And then, with a slow tilt of his head, he finally broke the silence. "It's true." He said, his voice low and deliberate, carrying just a hint of reluctance. "There is something behind that door—something I'd really rather you didn't see."

He paused, letting the weight of his admission settle, before a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "

But sadly for you, I don't have to explain a damn thing. I'm your master, after all—I have no obligation to bare my soul to my soldiers. I could just snap my fingers and send you off to bed, and you'd have to march right along."

The words landed like a gauntlet thrown down, and Julie and Aisha's faces twisted with indignant frustration.

He was right, and that truth stung worse than any blade. They were knights, bound by duty and hierarchy, mere cogs in the machine of his command. No matter how fiercely their curiosity burned—how desperately they wanted to know what lurked behind that ominous, iron-bound door—they had no real power to demand answers.

And because they knew they had no other choice, they turned, their shoulders slumping slightly as they prepared to walk away, the mystery of the door gnawing at them like an itch they couldn't scratch.

But just as they did so, Cassius let out a long, dramatic sigh that echoed through the room, halting them mid-step.

"But fortunately for you..." He said, his voice rising with a theatrical flair as he pressed a hand to his chest. "You've stumbled into the service of a master far too generous for his own good. I can't stand seeing those eager little faces—twitching ears, narrowed eyes, all that pent—up curiosity. It's positively heartbreaking!" He flashed a grin, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "So, fine—I'll throw you a bone. Just a little something to tide you over, since you're practically begging for it."

Julie and Aisha spun back around, their indignation giving way to startled delight. "Wait—you're actually telling us?" Aisha asked, her tone laced with suspicion but brightened by a flicker of hope. She tilted her head, her tail giving a tentative swish. "No catch?"

Cassius chuckled, wagging a finger at her like a scolding teacher. "Don't get ahead of yourself, kitten. I'm not flinging the door open and giving you a grand tour—not tonight."

"...I'll give you a clue, that's all. A bit of bread to chew on while you're cozy in your beds."

He straightened, his smirk fading into a more serious expression as he glanced at the heavy door as he said,

"It's related to the recent disappearances of those convicted criminals in the area. That's your hint...Do with it what you will."

The words hung in the air, cryptic and tantalizing and before Julie or Aisha could press him further, Cassius turned and started walking out, while gesturing for Skadi to follow.

"Come along, Skadi." He called over his shoulder, his voice light and carefree once more. "Let's leave them to their pondering—I'll show you your room before I go and deal with my father."

Skadi in response didn't hesitate, her tail wagging as she fell into step beside him, her earlier curiosity about the door forgotten as quickly as it had sparked.

"Hey, Master." She chirped as they moved down the corridor, her voice echoing faintly back into the storage room. "My nose really nailed it tonight, huh? Sniffed this place out in no time! You think I could find more of your secret spots?"

Cassius's laughter rumbled through the hall, warm and tinged with mock exasperation. "You're too good at that, pup." He replied, his tone teasing. "I'm going to have to up my game—maybe start scattering pepper or garlic around to throw you off. Can't have you sniffing out all my hiding places, now can I?"

Skadi giggled, her voice growing fainter as they rounded a corner. "Ooh, a challenge! I'd still win—my nose is unbeatable!" Their banter faded into the distance, leaving the storage room steeped in silence once more.

And the moment she realised they were gone, Aisha broke thesilence, her voice cutting through the stillness as she turned to Julie with a thoughtful look on her face.

"The disappearances he's talking about." She said, her tail flicking as she pieced it together. "It has to be the ones from Holyfield Estate. You know, Captain—over the last few days, all those convicted criminals, murderers, rapists, the real scum of the earth—they've been vanishing left and right."

"...No one knows where they've gone, not even the investigation department. It's been the talk of the taverns—people whispering about it, wondering who's behind it."

Julie nodded, her brow furrowing as she crossed her arms. "Yeah, I've seen the reports too." She said, her tone low and contemplative. "Word was, dozens of them just...poof, gone. No bodies, no trails, nothing. And honestly? Most folks were glad to see them disappear—less filth to worry about, they said." She paused, her gaze drifting to the ominous iron door as a question tugged at her mind. "But does that have to do with Cassius? Why did he leave that as his clue?"

The two fell silent for a moment, the weight of the hint settling over them like a fog.

Julie's eyes narrowed as she turned it over in her head, her fingers tapping idly against her arm. And then, a sudden, horrifying thought struck her, and her breath caught.

She turned to Aisha slowly, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "Aisha...What exactly did Skadi smell when she led us down here?"

"...What made her so scared?"

Aisha blinked, her ears twitching as she recalled Skadi's words with a calm clarity that belied the growing dread in her chest.

"She said she smelled blood." She replied, her voice steady at first. "Lots of it. And corpses—so many corpses that it reminded her of a battlefield. That's what freaked her out, made her all serious like that—"

And then her eyes also widened as the implications clicked into place, and she followed Julie's gaze to the blood—smeared room around them.

"Wait...hold on, Captain. There's blood in here, sure —a ton of it—but there wasn't a dead body until now." She gestured to the mutilated man Cassius had crushed against the wall, her voice faltering as the horrifying realization dawned. "So that means..."

She trailed off, her words hanging in the air as her eyes locked onto the iron door. Julie finished the thought for her, her voice barely above a whisper.

"...That means whatever Skadi smelled...It's behind there."

A heavy silence fell over them, the air growing heavy with the weight of their shared epiphany.

Aisha swallowed hard, her tail stiffening as she muttered. "No, it can't be. There were 89 people who went missing—89 convicted criminals, Captain. That's the count they've been throwing around...There's no way that so many of them could've been...'dealt' by Cassius."

Julie's face paled, her mind racing as she connected the dots. "But it's 89 people, Aisha" She echoed, her voice trembling slightly. "That's...That's about the number of corpses it'd take for Skadi to say it smelled like a battlefield. A slaughter big enough to hit her that hard." She stared at the door, its iron surface seeming to pulse with a sinister promise, and a shiver ran down her spine. "If that's true...If he's got 89 bodies stashed in there..."

Aisha's tiny claw flexed involuntarily, her eyes wide with horror as she glanced between the door and the gruesome remains behind them.

"T-That's insane." She whispered, her voice shaking. "That's...That's a massacre. A whole damn graveyard shoved into one room." She forced a weak, nervous laugh, trying to shake off the dread creeping up her spine. "No way, right? It's too much—even for him."

The silence stretched on, thick and oppressive, as they stood there, staring at the door like it might open on its own and confirm their worst fears.

Finally, Aisha broke it, her voice tentative but edged with a reckless curiosity. "Should we...Should we just break it down? See what's inside for ourselves? Get it over with?"

Julie let out a shaky chuckle, rubbing the back of her neck as she glanced at Aisha. "You really ready to see what's in there, Aisha?" She asked, her tone half-serious, half-mocking. "After what he did to that guy?" She jerked her thumb toward the crushed corpse, its blood still dripping faintly onto the floor. "Are you prepared to face 89 more like that—or worse?"

Aisha's gaze darted to the grisly sight, and her stomach churned. She let out a nervous laugh of her own, her ears flattening as she hugged her arms to her chest.

"Yeah, no thanks." She said, her voice tight. "This mess was enough to kill my appetite for a week. If there's 89 corpses in there, all mangled up like that? I'd never sleep again—probably claw my own eyes out just to forget it."

Julie nodded, her faint smile fading as she took a steadying breath. "Agreed." She said, her tone firming up as she made up her mind. "And we can't jump to conclusions with just this. This could just be something else entirely—could be Cassius throwing us off, playing his little games again...I'll look into it later—dig through the rumors, see what I can find about those disappearances."

She glanced around the room one last time, her nose wrinkling as a faint, putrid whiff hit her senses.

"...But for now, let's get the hell out of here. Ever since you mentioned what might be back there, I swear I can smell something awful too—like rot creeping through the walls."

Aisha's eyes widened, and she nodded vigorously. "Oh, I'm with you—let's go, now." She said, already moving toward the exit. "I don't care if it's my imagination or not; this place is giving me the creeps worse than ever."

They stepped toward the door, unable to throw off at that unsettling feeling. And just as Julie reached for the handle to pull it shut behind them, Aisha paused, letting out another nervous chuckle as she glanced at her captain.

"Hey, Captain." She said, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and humor. "Why's it feel like the more we learn about our new master, the more he seems like a demon instead of a human?"

Julie froze for a split second, her hand lingering on the door as Aisha's words sank in. Then she turned, a wry smile tugging at her lips despite the unease swirling in her chest.

"Because he probably is a demon." She replied, her tone dry but tinged with a strange fondness. "Some hellspawn that clawed its way up from the pits, all charm and chaos."

Her smile softened, a flicker of relief breaking through her somber demeanor. "But lucky for us, that demon's on our side—at least for tonight. Guess that makes him our guardian angel, in a twisted sort of way."

Aisha snorted, the tension easing just enough for her to manage a shaky grin. "Some angel." She muttered, her tail giving a final, anxious flick. "Hope he's got wings big enough to cover this mess."

Julie's smile lingered as she pulled the door closed with a heavy thud, sealing away the room full of blood, secrets, and that ominous iron slab.

The click of the latch echoed faintly, a quiet promise that tonight's mysteries would wait for now. "Let's hope he delivers." She said softly, more to herself than Aisha, as they turned to climb the stairs. "For all our sakes."

The hallway swallowed them up, the oppressive air of the basement fading with each step, though the shadow of that door—and the 89 possibilities it held clung to their thoughts like a specter they couldn't quite shake.

Tonight, they'd trust Cassius to keep his word.

Tomorrow, they'd chase the truth.