Bala: The Duke's Contract Wife

Information Extraction

The pain spread throughout Rose's body. Embers of fires created burning pains all over her skin. Rose screamed instantly as the pain was getting unbearable. She tried to dodge but the fires chased after her. Wherever she ran, there was only endless darkness. The fires began to circle Rose. Slowly, they spread more to Rose's body.

It was burning.

Behind the fires, a roaring sound of laughter was heard. A man stepped into the circle of fires without being burnt. A cunning smile was displayed on his face. And blood was dripping from his neck from an incision wound.

Rose shivered in fear. She knew exactly who it was in front of him. Her legs became so weak that she fell on the floor. When the man stepped closer, Rose crawled backward. But her hands quickly caught the burning fires behind her. Immeasurable pain crept back in. She pulled her hand back quickly. Her eyes were watering with pain.

"You sent that boy to kill me," Rendre said still smiling, "Now you're going to pay for the consequences!"

Suddenly, Rendre stretched out his arms to strangle Rose. At the same time, the fires began to creep more over Rose's body.

Unable to avoid, Rose could only close her eyes and hoped it all ends quickly.

No. No. If I'm going to die, at least I will look at my murderer.

With all her determination, Rose put aside the burning all over her body. Before tightness in his throat prevented him from breathing permanently, he made a determination.

The world has burnt me too much. Even if this is the only thing I can do, I'm going to stare death straight in the eye. I will accept my death with my eyes open.

Rose opened her eyes.

Immediately, the pressure on her throat was lifted. Instinctively, Rose took as much air as possible using her mouth. She needed to fill the lungs in her chest.

The heat and pain all over her body just disappeared, like it never existed. The first thing she realized was that she was no longer in that dark room. She could see the white ceiling above her room. A small chandelier hung on the ceiling. The shining sun peeked through the crack on the curtains, it created a streak of bright line in the dim room.

Dream.

A crack voice appeared from her throat. Rose raised one hand to her face. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to ward off the tears that were begging to be let out.

It was just a dream.

She never let herself cry. Just when her eyes started to get familiar with the room lighting, she sniffed something that shouldn't have been in the room. The smell of tobacco and smoke.

Rose swallowed her saliva hard. With one hand on her face, she said to the air, "Is watching someone sleep your habit, Duke?"

Rose's voice was more hoarse than Rose would like it to, but she didn't really care. From the right side of the bed, Rose vaguely heard someone exhale. Then she heard the sounds of shoes clicking on the floor and the noise of a chair being dragged out. Victor had stood up and started stepping towards Rose's bed. But he stopped two steps from the end of the bed.

"You had a nightmare," Victor said, instead of answering Rose's previous question.

Somehow, Rose felt an intimidating aura from the right side of her bed. That man's masculinity was so dominating that Rose could almost smell it.

"Do you watch all your prisoners of war while they sleep? To interrogate them?"

"Only for spies that can be slippery."

Rose knew that Victor wouldn't believe her. But she didn't expect him to be so quick to interrogate her. Moreover, the man saw her having nightmares. Victor had seen one weakness from Rose, thus the position of the man was superior in their dangerous but subtle game.

But one thing that Victor forgot, life is not a war. In war, there are no rules. But life has rules, it is more like a game of chess. So it didn't matter if Victor was ahead by one step. Rose just needed to take her turn of play and equalize the position.

"Then I'm honored that someone as powerful as you gave up his hours of sleep to watch me sleep."

Victor laughed cynically. "I could kill you any time, Rose." The way he called her name created goosebumps on her skin. Victor's tone was low, he was threatening Rose. "You were the one who asked to live in Maraina as my wife."

"Ah, but killing me will only destroy your reputation, the nickname 'The Monster from the North' will stick to you more and more," Rose continued, "And you only interrogate spies who you think will be useful for your plans."

Rose could feel Victor's eyebrows raising as a response. "So, what do you need from me that you can't wait until breakfast?"

The smell of tobacco was more prominent in the air. Victor blew a puff of cigarette smoke. Rose guessed that the faint sound she heard next to her came from Victor's gesture that was putting out his tobacco on Rose's bedside table.

"Do you have any experience with information extraction?"

"You suspect me of being a spy but ask me to be your spy?"

Victor didn't answer directly. The man let the silence extended between them until he finally said, "You don't look like a spy. Not the normal spies I usually encountered."

I don't know if I should feel insulted or comforted by that statement...

"Besides, you signed a contract with me to help me bring down Marquis Ferinde's faction."

"If you want to ask me if I have a plan, of course, I have one, Duke. Do you know the best way to dig information?"

Again, only silence answered Rose's question. Rose could feel the man started to think about various tortures, extortions, espionage, and various other war tactics. But before Victor had a chance to answer, Rose had already answered her own question, "The answer is their wives."

"Wives?"

"Just because a wife usually stays silent doesn't mean she doesn't understand the things she hears," Rose said, "And women tend to talk to other women more freely."

"My plan is to gather information through the social circle of the noblemen's wives."

"How are you going to do that?" Victor asked.

"Tea party. A month from now."

Victor frowned. "Why a month?"

This time it was Rose who didn't immediately answer. When the man repeated the same question, Rose finally replied, "I can't meet them with a face like this."

"Like what?"

Victor must have thought that Rose's face was always so bad that the girl had to hide it with a mask every day. But actually, Rose's face wasn't always like this.

Nevertheless, Rose's silence certainly gave Victor a different suggestion. Soon the man would realize the truth. Victor then said, "Your beastly look, the 'Witch from the South', it's actually just a rumor, isn't it?"

"If it isn't just a rumor, would you be disappointed?" Rose's left hand reached under the pillow.

"I don't care what you look like. But I will not be fooled by my own wife."

Rose could hear Victor starting to step onto the bed. Before Victor could reach for Rose, the girl had already twisted her body. Her hand reached for the mask she had slipped under the pillow. In an instant, she was already wearing that mask. So when Victor grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her back to face him, her face was already covered again.

Victor pinned Rose's shoulders on the bed, preventing the girl from escaping. His gaze was full of curiosity. "Why are you hiding your face?"

With her mask, only Rose's lips and red-colored eye beads were visible along with a hint of pale skin. For the first time, Victor realized that Rose's nightwear felt very thin. It was too thin for the cold Maraina weather even though there was a fireplace in the room.

The other thing Victor realized was... How small Rose was compared to himself.

Seeing Victor looking at Rose's nightwear, the girl thought that Victor was attracted to Rose's body. "You're going to be disappointed," Rose said quietly.

Victor raised his eyebrows. It took Victor a moment to understand what Rose was saying. The man ducked down, his hot breaths were burning Rose's skin. 

"I'll decide by myself," Victor declared.

Then using one big hand, Victor began to lift Rose's mask slowly. His fingers brought a tingling sensation to Rose's skin. She held her breath while Victor enjoyed his time taking off Rose's mask.