Chapter 142: The Only Way to Deal with You Is Sincerity (55/140)

An hour later, the soldier named Ned was found.

He was hiding in the cellar of an abandoned hut, and was overlooked during the first search by soldiers.

But in the end, due to a neighbor’s tip, the soldiers came back and searched again.

That’s how they found him.

“Hmph! You heartless traitor! Not only did you commit a grave crime, but instead of trying to make amends, you ran away!?”

The neighbor, now a die-hard fan of Willis, cursed at Ned, kicking and punching him.

“Not only did you make Her Highness use her own grain to make up for your mistake, but you also forced her to waste manpower searching for you!”

“Damn it, you deserve to die!”

Anne, who rushed over after hearing the news, looked at this commoner in surprise.

She hadn’t expected him to have such insight and loyalty.

Looks like another potential informant for Youmen Hall.

Willis had entrusted her with managing Youmen Hall, and for the past few days, Anne had been troubled about how to expand it.

After all, they had only a thousand people at first. It sounded like a lot, but once spread out, it was too few.

Youmen Hall was mainly responsible for gathering intelligence. Commoners like this could be developed into peripheral informants.

Usually, as long as you paid a small reward for any useful information passed on, there was no need to deliberately seek it out.

What was this called……?

According to Willis, it was turning the people into eyes and ears!

With this method, in regions where Willis’s reputation was sky-high, Youmen Hall’s expenses could be greatly reduced.

Pushing aside these thoughts, Anne memorized the man’s address, then brought Ned back with her.

She escorted him to the Castle Lord’s Mansion, awaiting Willis’s orders.

Inside the Castle Lord’s Mansion, Willis looked at the six kneeling below, her fingers tapping on the wooden table.

No one knew what she was thinking.

Her gaze seemed to be looking at some faraway place.

“M-Master, what are you going to do?”

At this moment, Ophelia, who had always been quiet, unexpectedly spoke up.

Willis looked at her in surprise, and the blonde girl immediately shrank back in fear.

“I-I’m sorry…… I overstepped.”

“Mm, don’t do it again.”

Willis snorted, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Then she looked at the people seated below.

“You’re called Ned? Speak. Who are you? Or rather, who are all of you?”

Willis’s ruby-like eyes swept over the group.

Finally, they landed on Ned, the deserter.

He was a man in his thirties with a scruffy beard.

Weathered, hollow-eyed, and at this moment, haggard and listless.

“Your Highness, I… I don’t understand what you’re saying……”

Ned mumbled hoarsely, “Ned knows he’s committed a grave sin. I don’t beg for your mercy, only for a swift death!”

Upon hearing this, Willis chuckled.

Hill Yu, sitting beside her, whispered, “Sister, what does this mean?”

Willis didn’t answer her, instead coldly looking at the people below.

“Because you are defected city guards, I gave strict orders against neglecting your duties. Let alone the crucial responsibility of guarding the Grain Storehouse, yet you dared to drink?”

Willis’s eyes narrowed.

“Nightfall, correct?”

At that moment, Ned and two others looked at her in terror.

As for the other three soldiers crying out their innocence, they obviously weren’t Nightfall’s people.

Just unlucky souls caught up in the mess.

Suddenly, the faces of Ned and the two others turned fierce, but before they could move, Victoria kicked them all to the ground with a single sweep each.

Blood streaming from his nose, Ned heard a crisp set of footsteps.

Willis approached him, squatted down, and looked at him coldly.

“I’ve been wondering whether the black-clad men eliminated at the Castle Lord’s Mansion that night were all the members of Nightfall in Ushi City.”

“Clearly not. Even if they were, with Ushi City opening up these past days, more could have slipped in.”

“I just didn’t expect you to hide within the Wolf Spider Army. Or maybe I never cleaned house thoroughly from the start?”

Willis smiled coldly.

“Speak. How many more of you are there? What else do you know!?”

“Pah!”

Ned tried to spit blood, but Willis kicked his head sideways.

“You’ll never get a word out of us! Willis! I regret not burning down the entire Grain Storehouse!”

“Ahahaha!”

Ned and the other two burst into wild laughter.

“But you’ll never know how many of us are left. Just guard what’s left of the Grain Storehouse and see if it all burns by tomorrow.”

“Haha, then this Ushi City you dream of governing will be nothing but a joke!”

“Shut up! I’ll kill you!”

Anne, furious, stepped forward, wanting to stab him with her sword.

But Hill Yu stopped her.

Willis, however, wasn’t angry. Instead, she said,

“I believe you all know more than you let on.”

“Even in death, we’ll never talk! Kill us!”

Willis shook her head.

“I have several kinds of torture here I’d like you to try. If you can withstand them, you’ll be freed.”

“There’s flaying, the itching punishment, water drop through the skull…..”

“Oh, and the daily boiling and frying of small body parts, forcing you to eat them yourself…….. until…..”

Willis grinned, and in that moment, everyone in the hall felt a chill down their spines.

“I think you’ll enjoy it.”

With a wave of her hand, soldiers immediately dragged them away to carry out Willis’s orders.

Not long after, screams and wails echoed through the building, mixed with powerless curses.

Hill Yu worriedly walked over to Willis.

“Sister, you…… won’t turn back into that Willis, will you?”

“Hmm?”

Willis turned around and smiled warmly.

“Sister, why would you say that?”

Seeing her acting as usual, Hill Yu finally relaxed.

“It’s nothing, I just feel…… these punishments are a bit too…… Did you come up with them yourself?”

“Oh, I read them in ancient books.”

Willis, of course, wouldn’t admit to inventing such punishments.

Besides, she truly didn’t.

She hadn’t expected the soldiers to carry out her orders so zealously, while her own people hesitated.

Girls, after all, were too kind.

“Sister, I agree with being ruthless to enemies…… But apart from enemies…… You mustn’t.”

Hill Yu hesitated.

Willis rolled her eyes, glancing at the frightened Ophelia behind her.

“What are you thinking, Sister? When it comes to our own people, I naturally have a completely different, and only effective, method.”

At her words, Hill Yu frowned.

“What?”

If Willis dared to mention anything strange or unbearable, as her elder sister, she’d have to correct her immediately.

To maintain her sister’s proper values, she might even have to make the ultimate sacrifice!

Lock her in the dark room for a month. That would do it.

Unexpectedly, Willis spoke with solemn sincerity.

“Of course, it’s true feelings.”

“No matter if it’s you, Anne, Ophelia, Winnie, Victoria, or even Becky…

What I use to deal with you all is only a heart burning with passionate sincerity.”

Hearing Willis speak with such seriousness and depth, Hill Yu instantly turned to stone.

What should she do? So cringeworthy!!!

She shouldn’t have asked!

Her whole body broke out in goosebumps!

“Well, you’ll understand me someday.”

Willis laughed.

“I’m serious, and will be for life.”

Though it was clear Willis was sincere, for some reason, Hill Yu felt a wave of nausea.

Behind her, Anne’s face flushed with happiness, while Ophelia snorted despite herself.

“To lock someone in the dark room and call it sincerity? Pah!”

Two hours later

To Willis’s surprise, the three men confessed before evening.