"Name?"
"A... Agnes."
"Surname?"
"......"
"Who is your bloodborne elder? When and how did you become bloodborne?"
"......"
In the interrogation room of the Count’s estate, Charlotte sat gracefully behind the interrogation table, sipping the tea Sebastian had prepared while questioning the tightly bound bloodborne girl.
As for why it wasn’t milk tea... simply because she felt drinking milk during an interrogation seemed too informal.
However, it was obvious that the girl before her was not cooperative. Apart from stating her name initially, Agnes responded to none of Charlotte’s questions, silently glaring at her with defiance.
Charlotte didn’t get angry.She gently stroked the Book of the Dead on the table, and behind her, the spirit of the book, manifested as a blurry figure, cautiously stood, massaging her shoulders in an ingratiating manner.
Charlotte took another sip of tea and smiled, saying:
"Miss Agnes, I have many ways to make you talk. However, I am a reasonable person, and unless absolutely necessary, I do not wish to resort to extreme measures."
"I hope you will cooperate a bit, after all... my patience isn’t limitless."
Seeing Charlotte’s delicate hand gently stroking the Book of the Dead, Agnes’ face turned pale.
She pursed her lips and stubbornly said:
"This time I’ve been caught! I have nothing to say. Do what you will! But... I will never bow to the Castells!"
"Castell... Castell again. It seems you hold quite a grudge against Castell, or perhaps a deep-seated enmity?"
Charlotte smiled faintly.
Agnes turned her head away, maintaining her silence.
Charlotte set down her teacup thoughtfully.
"Let me guess? You were once a noble. Could it be... you were enemies of the Castell family in the past?"
Agnes remained silent.
Charlotte quietly observed her, then suddenly chuckled.
"It seems you really don’t want to cooperate."
With that, her expression turned indifferent, her deep blue eyes suddenly transforming into a blood-red hue, emitting a crimson glow.
A faint aura of authority emanated from Charlotte as she gazed into Agnes' eyes, her voice cold and commanding:
"Answer my questions!"
As Charlotte’s command rang out, Agnes felt as if a thunderclap resounded in her mind, causing her thoughts to become muddled.
Simultaneously, everything around her seemed to dim, leaving only the pair of crimson eyes with a hint of gold in her world.
At that moment, Agnes felt as if her soul was being drawn into those eerie eyes.
Her thoughts slowed, and then... as if being opened from the outside, she lost all resistance, her eyes losing focus.
"de Veillet. My name is Agnes de Veillet..."
de Veillet?
Charlotte frowned slightly, not recalling the surname in her memory.
But the next second, she felt a strong resistance from Agnes’ mental world.
A faint glow erupted from the bloodborne girl’s body, a hazy image of a scythe appearing behind her.
At the same time, Charlotte sensed her control over Agnes being severed by something.
Agnes’ vacant eyes regained focus instantly.
She stared at Charlotte in disbelief, even a hint of fear in her expression.
"Mental domination! It's mental domination!"
"How can you use Bloodborne's mental domination?! You... you are a bloodborne?!"
Charlotte frowned, not expecting her control to be broken so quickly.
It seemed the bloodborne girl had some protection for her mind, and not a low-level one at that, breaking Charlotte’s innate magic without her using divine power.
However, when Charlotte looked at Agnes again, she was surprised to find the girl seemed even more exhausted.
Charlotte pondered.
It appeared that while Agnes could break free from control, it came at a cost.
If she used mental domination a few more times, the girl's spirit would eventually be completely dominated.
However, seeing Agnes's worn-out state, Charlotte dismissed the idea of using mental domination again.
Mental domination could dominate a target's mind, but it also had side effects. Using it once was fine, but repeated use could completely destroy the target's mind.
Charlotte hadn’t intended to go that far, as it conflicted with her initial goal of interrogating her. For her next plan, she needed the bloodborne girl to remain herself.
Seeing the terror on Agnes’ face, Charlotte’s lips curled into a slight smile.
"It seems you recognize this power."
"If you don’t want me to use it again, then answer my questions honestly."
Agnes' expression was conflicted.
She pursed her lips, stubbornly maintaining her silence, even though she knew she might completely collapse under repeated mind control.
However, Charlotte noticed the girl’s uneasy glances around the room, as if searching for something.
Charlotte’s mind stirred, and she looked at her calmly.
"Miss Agnes, remember, you are not my only subject of interrogation."
"You might be willing to let your mind be destroyed rather than answer my questions, but... your knight may not be able to resist mental domination."
Agnes' expression finally changed.
"You intend to control Lahel?!"
She almost immediately responded with anger and urgency.
"Where is Lahel?! What have you done to him?!"
Seeing the girl suddenly becoming agitated, Charlotte knew she had found her weak spot.
She chuckled softly and said:
"Your knight is still safe. He’s gravely injured, and even with Bloodborne's healing capability, it’s hard to recover quickly. He is currently receiving treatment, so I started questioning you first."
Then, Charlotte’s expression turned cold.
"However... if you don't cooperate, I will have to interrogate your knight. He may not know as much as you do, but he should be able to answer my basic questions."
This time, Agnes remained silent.
Charlotte, however, shifted her tone again, regaining her smile.
"I think you’ve already realized that I have no intention of killing you, at least... not for now."
"You don’t have many choices. You can refuse to answer my questions, and I will keep trying. Perhaps I won’t get anything from you, but you will undoubtedly break under my mental domination."
"And I can still get the answers I want from your knight. After you collapse, he might continue to be controlled by me, forget about you completely, and serve me loyally as a knight until his death."
Hearing Charlotte’s words, Agnes glared at her with wide eyes, full of anger.
"You dare!"
"Of course, I dare."
Charlotte took a sip of tea and said calmly.
Then, she changed her tone again, smiling sweetly.
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"Of course, there’s another way."
"You can voluntarily tell me everything I want to know, and I promise not to harm your knight. Perhaps there’s still hope for you."
"Other than that, you have no other choice."
Agnes stared blankly at Charlotte, biting her lip in anger.
"Devil! You’re a devil!"
"Thank you for the compliment."
Charlotte smiled, revealing a pair of small fangs, looking as innocent and charming as a little demon with horns.
"So... what’s your answer to this devil’s proposal?"
She asked with a sweet smile.
Agnes continued to glare at Charlotte.
But soon, she succumbed to the piercing gaze of those crimson-gold eyes, her defiance draining away.
When one’s fatal weakness is exposed, even the strongest person will fall. The girl seemed to lose all her strength in an instant, lowering her head slightly, and muttered.
"The one who turned me into a bloodborne was Count Hol, a fourth-generation bloodborne from Shedite. I was captured and turned into a bloodborne eighteen years ago."
Eighteen years ago!
That meant she was at least in her thirties or forties!
Charlotte's eyebrow twitched.
The Book of the Dead's sense of time was inconsistent and not very reliable. This was the first time she knew the exact duration Agnes had been a bloodborne.
But... Shedite, huh.
It seemed not all dark clan bloodbornes were like the blood-crazed cultists despised by other bloodbornes.
"And then? Did you kill Count Hol and disguise yourself with your knight?"
Charlotte asked.
Agnes glanced at the book spirit behind Charlotte.
"It was that thing that told you, right? Don’t you already know everything? Why ask me?"
"Just confirming with you."
Charlotte took another sip of tea and continued.
"Where did Count Hol transport the mithril he collected?"
"Mithril? What mithril?"
Agnes looked puzzled.
Charlotte frowned.
They had been pretending to be Count Hol for so long and didn’t know about the mithril mine?
"You don’t know what Count Hol was up to?"
She asked.
"How would I know? I just knew he and some other bloodbornes were up to something big, but I didn't know the details. It’s been only two and a half years since I killed him and gained freedom!"
Agnès shook her head.
Two and a half years?
So, the real Count Hol was managing the Returning Star United Trade Association two and a half years ago?
Charlotte frowned.
"Wait... mithril? Mithril mine? The Castell Mining Workshop?! So that’s what the workshop was about!"
Seemingly realizing something, Agnes widened her eyes.
Charlotte: …
She suddenly felt that the girl in front of her might know less than she did...
This was absurd. They had been disguising themselves as Count Hol for two and a half years and hadn’t infiltrated the enemy’s ranks?
The real Count Hol had been dead for two and a half years, meaning the Returning Star United Trade Association had been without management for that long.
However, from the investigation of the mining workshop, the Bloodbornes’ plan continued without interruption, and the trade operations continued normally.
Ridiculous!
How could the Nez Clan not have noticed anything wrong with Count Hol for two and a half years?
"In two and a half years... you didn’t find out what Count Hol was doing?"
She couldn’t help but complain.
"We don't dare! Every time we attended meetings, the bloodbornes present had incredibly strong auras. It was hard enough to maintain our disguise, let alone investigate what they were up to!"
Agnes complained.
Meetings?
Incredibly strong auras?
Charlotte's heart skipped a beat.
"Meetings?"
Charlotte raised her voice.
Agnes pursed her lips, seemingly reluctant to speak, but under Charlotte’s intense gaze, she finally relented.
"They used crystal ball projections for remote meetings. Many bloodbornes attended, and I could tell from their accents that they were from the Falling Star Kingdom."
"Do you know their specific identities?"
Charlotte asked.
Agnes thought for a moment and said.
"They rarely mentioned their identities, and seemed quite familiar with each other. But... I remember three names, probably the highest-ranking among them: Count Yurst, Count Nottingham, and Count Lachlan."
Three counts?
Charlotte’s heart skipped a beat.
These names weren’t unfamiliar, as she had seen them in the information provided by Anna, the Witch of Prophecy.
Yurst, Nottingham, Lachlan—these were place names in the Falling Star Kingdom, representing three Bloodborne Counts of the Nez Clan!
Three Bloodborne Counts were targeting Castell County!
And that didn’t even include Count Hol, whom Agnes had killed!
Frankly, Charlotte was curious how a bloodborne girl without a Silver Moon strength managed to kill a Blazing Sun Bloodborne.
Agnes continued to recall and speak.
"Among those three counts, the highest ranking should be Count Yurst. He almost always called the meetings..."
"Oh, and they often mentioned 'His Grace', who seemed to be the real orchestrator behind the scenes. However, 'His Grace' never attended the projection meetings, and it was always Count Yurst who relayed his messages."
His Grace?!
Charlotte’s eyebrow twitched.
In vampire society, "His Grace" referred to a Bloodborne Duke.
And a Bloodborne Duke corresponded to the fourth tier of the extraordinary—Legendary!
This was a true high-ranking bloodborne, at least elder-level, possibly even the clan leader!
Thinking of this, Charlotte's heart sank.
The Nez Clan's infiltration of the Castell County was orchestrated by a duke-level bloodborne!
"Now... do you understand why it was so hard for us to stay hidden? Under such circumstances, we wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible. How could we dare investigate what they were up to!"
Agnes said weakly.
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