Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions
Chapter 303 Doing It The Hard Way

Lena had to give the man credit, he was holding out much longer than she expected. Thirty minutes and most people would've been ready to give away even their most private personal details.

The man in front of her however hardly even screamed. Not to say he didn't make any noise to indicate pain. He just didn't make the noises the princess expected him. Experience told her that the gag she'd put back in place hardly ever kept the noise down once they really started screaming.

However, compared to when she first entered the room, the man hardly looked recognizable. His face had swelled up to a decent size from her blows and blood caked almost every inch of the little clothes he had left.

Taking things slowly, Lena pulled over a chair to sit as she observed the other. The humidity in the room caused the blood on her skin to remain moist. Mixed with sweat, it gave her skin a red-tinted gleam.

Though she tried to keep the blood off her face it was rather hard with the close proximity during torture. She would just have to make sure to have a proper show when she finished.

"How much longer are you wanting to go through this for? I don't know about you but I have plenty of time left on my hands." Lena twirled the knife in her hand. Tossing it into the air and catching it each time without cutting herself.

"..." The man didn't even open his eyes to look at her. His paced breathing gave away the fact that he was still conscious.

"Come now. Is whatever you're holding onto so much more important that your life? If you'd just tell me what I want to know, you would already be on your way out of here." Kicking the leg of the chair the prisoner sat in caused him to let a hard grunt. HIs brow furrowed in reaction to the pain radiating through his body.

"How much more hm?" The princess twirled the knife once more before standing up.

"Maybe the problem is that I just need to change things up a bit." She murmured under her breath as she began to circle the other.

Lena tried to hide her displeasure over the situation. After all, if the other knew he was getting under her skin, it would just make him hold out longer.

"Where do you want to start first? I think that fingers tend to be an easy way to go. Considering you don't need all of them to complete regular daily activities." The princess stopped when she was standing behind the man.

Giving the chair a rough kick, she knocked it to the ground. She didn't even flinch as the other's body slammed against the floor, body shuddering from the pain.

Finally, it seemed as though he was slowly starting to crack.

"Tried to keep yourself as still as possible. I don't really want you to go about making this harder for either of us." Slamming her knee on the other's back, The princess leaned over the prostrate body below her.

"Your ring finger looks like it would be a good place to start. The absence of a ring tells me you wouldn't be missing it that much in the first place.

Gripping the finger tightly and pulling it back, she could feel it twitch harshly in her hold. An indication that the other was trying to pull away.

"Come now, if you keep resisting like that it'll only make it harder for me to cut it neatly." The man made noises of protest under her as he tried to pull his hand away in vain. There wasn't anywhere for him to pull away to being stuck on the ground.

"How about we count to three? That way we both know when I'm going to be getting ready to do this."

"One." Lena pulled the finger back further, ignoring the crack sound indicating the pressure likely broke the bone.

"Two." With what little energy he had, the man tried his best to resist or push the princess off. His reaction spoke of a power struggle more than fear. Still, it made it hard for her to get the finger in the right position. Pity she didn't have an extra pair of hands to help her keep the other in place.

"Three." With one fluid movement, Lena sliced through the appendage. Without anything to hold it, it went flying through the air.

It only took a second for the blood to start flowing from the stump that remained behind. it wasn't the cleanest cut that could've been made. The princess wanted it to be as straight as possible. The man under her seemed to not agree with her idea based on the fight he put up.

Speaking of which, he was making much noise now. Not quite anywhere near the level of scream but enough to let her know she'd done a decent amount of pain to him.

Wiping her face, Lena licked off the blood that landed near the corner of her mouth. A bad habit that she really needed to stop. One never knew what kind of diseases people such as the man below her had.

The princess didn't move to staunch the steady flow of blood or move off the man as she watched his futile struggle. It wasn't like he was going to bleed out just from this.

"You know if you would just start cooperating, you'd be able to cause yourself a lot less pain. Lena chided the prisoner, in the same manner, a parent punishing their child might. Her tone held just enough condescension to get a reaction from the man below her.

The pain seemed to be a good way to fuel his anger which was good for her. The more upset he was, the more pain she could cause him.

"I must say, Princess, you've done quite a good job on this one thus far. Wouldn't you say though that it is about time you take a break?" Lena had been so focused on the task at hand that she hadn't even heard Jovani enter the room.

"What are you doing here?" She glanced back at the other without moving.

"Oh I came here to see how you're doing actually. I had been distracted taking care of a few other things but my men thought I might need to intervene." Jovani stuck his hands in his pockets as he moved to get a closer look. Careful to avoid the blood as he didn't want to ruin his shoes.

Scanning over the prisoner's state, he let out a low whistle.

"You have certainly done quite a good job thus far. I still think though that a break might be in order." Lena let out a derisive snort in response to the other's comment.

Taking her knee off the other's back, she stood.

"This one is wanting to do it the hard way. I hardly think it would make sense to take a break when I'm only giving him what he wants." Tossing the knife back on the cart, she began to rummage through it in search of something specific.

"I would imagine that he is taking the hard considering the state of his body. I would prefer though if said body didn't give out before we got the answers we need." Lena paused what she was doing to turn around and face the other.

"Do you think that I'm not capable of handling this and don't know what I'm doing? I think that you might be forgetting that this isn't the first time I've been through something like this."

Jovani raises his hands as a sign that he didn't want to argue with the other. He didn't have to hear it from her to be aware of her skill level. The picture in front of him told him more than he needed to know.

"It really isn't anything like. It's more that I'm just thinking he's not the only one we have here. There are others who might be more willing to talk. Not only that but we are starting to run short on time." He knew that the princess wanted to return before his younger cousin awoke.

Too much longer and they would be pushing time to take that happen.

"I did say that I wanted to get back by then and I'm aware of the time. I am also aware that there are others aside from this one to attend to." Picking up the rubbing alcohol from the cart, she shoved it away once more.

"But I'm not going to stop until I am finished. You can choose to partake or stand on the sidelines. I really don't care what you chose to do as long as you understand that I'm not stopping until I'm finished."

Despite knowing very well that the man lying on the floor brought this upon himself, there was still a small part of him that pitied the prisoner.

The princess really could be a devil when she wanted to be.