A few hours after the events of the Sunrise sect, nightfall illuminated by the rise of stars so at Baron Totonk's manor in the black. Frost grew over the windows even as the duvet kept the girl in the room warm. The girl wore a silky nightgown and watched the ice crystals grow for a while, allowing her brain to be empty. The morning would bring the beauty of the ice for sure, that crunch under the boot and the bold greeting cold air brings. Yet between now and watching her breaths rise as new white-puffed clouds, she knew that the night is going to be a cold one.
Knock!
Knock!
Knock!
While the girl was looking at the distant sky through the window, someone knocked on the door softly.
"Come in" the door opened with a low creaking voice and then through the door came an old man who had his face covered with a dark hood.
"Miss Totonk, it seems there was a small hindrance to our plan," the old man said as Jane turned her gaze away from the distant sky to him.
"But Howard handled the situation and brought the girl here" the seriousness and the anger within her eyes disappeared. Her mouth curved upwards to reveal a small smile.
Jane was prepared to punish the old man if he failed his task. She already had hatred towards Ghost simply because Celina hated him and she would hate anyone that Celina hates. Her mother passed away when she was just born and although Celina was just her cousin, Celina raised her like a little sister and for Jane, she was like a mother. Therefore when she heard Celina's complaints about a guy who tried to perv on her at the waterfalls, Celina wanted to tear the guy into pieces. Like pouring petrol into the fire, her anger burned hotter after she heard what happened in Heaven's gate competition. By stepping onto the 100th step and standing beside Celina and Jack despite their strict order against it, Ghost disrespected Celina.
That was why when she heard Ghost came to Bradford through her spies, she immediately went to the Green Heaven and picked a fight with him. She thought her bodyguards could kick the crap out of him but instead, he almost killed her bodyguards.
What made her more furious was that when she told her father and asked him to punish Ghost, he sided with Ghost saying that it was her fault. Ever since she was born, he never raised his voice at her but because of GHost, he chewed her out and made her cry her eyes out. From that day, she was plotting her revenge on Ghost and when she heard he's going into the Nether Realm, she put her plans of messing with his plans in motion.
At first, she sent a couple of goons pretending to be customers to the Majestic to destroy the reputation of his new business. Then, she hired a group of bandits and ordered them to target Ghost's customers. As her next plan, she asked the old man who is her new bodyguard to hire a group of adventurers to harass the disciples and stop their renovation. Of course, by harassing, she meant breaking their bones just like Ghost did to her previous bodyguards as well as kidnap his girlfriend. Jane was planning to either sell her in the slave market or simply kill her and blame Bradia's devil, Lucifer. Many of her father's men were put into the night guard because of this Lucifer who's brutally killing the criminals and crooks and leaving a horrific scene of crime behind.
Baron Totonk had already sent people to the Church of the two asking the priests and the holy guards to come to Bredia. The people were scared silly and Jane was prohibited to leave the manor in the night. Baron Totonk tried to protect the little devil from the real devil but he had no idea that she was trying to get the attention of the devil all along.
"Hahahaha, good work old man, where is that bitch?" The old man was really surprised by Jane. When he first met her, he thought she's just a rich spoiled brat but after spending time with her, he realized that there is something ugly and rotten beneath her beautiful face.
As her bodyguard, the old man advised her to drop her revenge against Ghost because her reasoning seemed silly. After all, he didn't live this long by holding grudges and plotting revenge against a mysterious prodigy like Ghost. The old man and her father and Celina herself told her to drop the matter between her and Ghost, but Jane was stubborn as a mule.
"I put her into one of the secret prisons and Howard is keeping an eye on her"
"Howard is keeping an eye on that bitch? What happened to his men?"
"About that..." Jane frowned looking at the old man dragging his words out.
"What? You can explain it on the way" she quickly changed her mind as she wanted to meet Ghost's girlfriend as soon as possible. The old man nodded and followed her behind towards the secret prisons which were built under the manor.
On their way to the secret prisons, the old man explained what happened at the Sunrise sect and how Howard got captured by the girl as well as how he escaped capturing the girl. Jane was stunned by the old man's words and the curiosity of meeting the girl rose to the peak in her mind.
Since it was nighttime and the way to the secret prison was restricted to servants and many low-level guards, they met fewer guards on their way.
The underground prison was small, Baron Totonk didn't like to keep many prisons under here very much. Most criminals would face trial after a few days and either be released or sentenced to the main prison on the ground.
In addition to the old man, Jane's other guards who were also the old man's team joined them and entered the prison. The prison had a total of three levels and the walls were built out of hard granite blocks. Although Jane was the daughter of the Baron, this was her first time coming here and she noted the deeper she got, the narrower the hallway became.
"Why is this place so wet and muddy?" Jane frowned and twitched her nose as the ground was wet and the muddy sewage was flowing down the stairs, down to the last floor.
Howard and the prisoner were at the bottom of the prison. Each layer they went down, the stench in the air became thicker.
"Miss Totonk, please be careful dealing with that girl, we still don't know the full extent of her abilities and strength"
It was a man following Jane who had spoken.
"You mean to say that the six of you, Core Formation level 4 warriors couldn't handle a Body Refining stage girl?" Jane challenged.
"No, Miss Totonk, I mean …" the man stammered. After hearing her reply, the old man turned his head and signaled everyone not to speak a word as he knew she wouldn't listen to them.
This floor was many times smaller than the one above, with a total of only three to four cells. The warden lit the torches on the walls and as the darkness faded, Jane saw a girl sitting on a chair in the middle of the room with Howard standing behind her. The girl had her head covered with a black sack and Howard's light blue armor almost turned red by his own blood.
The temperature in the dungeon was low enough to make people see white fog when they breathe out. The old man's group circled Jane while the old man himself stood by the girl on the chair's side in case she tried anything that would harm Jane.
His first priority was protecting Jane and he wanted to do that to the best of his ability. Yet because of Jane's stubbornness, his job became more complicated and difficult.
"She did that to you? Hmph," Jane snickered looking at Howard. In the light of the torches, she saw his legs trembling and couldn't help but look down on him.
Howard on the other hand only just a few minutes ago realized that he was hired by the Baron's daughter through the old man. He wondered what Jane was planning to do with the girl.
"Yes'' Howard answered meekly and everyone except the old man was stunned because he was a Body Straightening cultivator while the girl was only at the Body Refining stage. Since they were not there with Howard to see how she massacred his party, they had a hard time believing him.
Of course, he would happily agree to kill this girl as she killed all of his adventuring party and tortured him till he wet his pants but although the girl was tied to the chair as well as iron shackles were around her hands and legs, she wasn't a prisoner as they were thinking.
"She's not our prisoner, we are hers," Howard thought to himself while struggling to stop his body from shivering, not in cold but in overwhelming fear. Looking at Jane and the guards behind her who were staring at him cluelessly, Howard could only feel pity for them.
At this moment, they did not know that they just brought the devil into their household and served themselves on a silver platter.