Chapter 758 - Culling Ⅶ (1/2)

Unintentionally Bertram let out a breath that he had been holding in causing Sanderson to sigh loudly in disappointment. ”Well, Prince, I have clearly lost the bet. It would appear that I overestimated Bertram's capacities. It is your complete and utter victory.” Sanderson tilted his white-haired head towards Reginald Prince in acknowledgment of his loss.

Removing his hood, the stern face of Reginald Prince is revealed. Reginald Prince is as slender as ever and even more so after the death of his wife. The lines in his face have grown deeper, and that cold gleam of his past had returned to his eyes. There was a sense that the sleeping hungry wyvern was slowly being aroused, sharpening its talons even as it slept. And when the old wyvern finally did awake, it would devour everything and anything in its path.

”Are you going to kill me, Prince?” Bertram bluntly asked before a slow sneer appeared on his face at the lack of response from either man.

”You cannot be that correct, Prince?” Bertram contemptuously emphasized with great relish. ”The Potentate of London is bound by the oath to protect and interceded on my behalf.”

The icy visage of Reginald Prince's face begins to crack as a slow, cold smile appears on his face. ”I will very much enjoy this,” he muttered out loud, before pulling his wand back Bertram's neck. In an instant, he casts the Cruciatus curse, ”Crucio,” sending Bertram screaming and withering onto the cold, stone floor.

The ear-splitting shrieks of Bertram echo loudly in the stone bas.e.m.e.nt causing Sanderson to wince at the unsightly shrieks. Studying his nails impassively, Sanderson removes a nail filer from his pocket and begins to clean his nails, while filing them down. Time passed by in this miserly fashion until at long last Sanderson finished both hands.

Putting the nail filer away, Sanderson claps his hand loudly to gain the old Prince's attention. ”Come now, Prince, surely this has gone on long enough? My ears are ringing painfully, and my head is beginning to ache.”

Abruptly Bertram's screams shut off as small gasps and sobs escape from his hoarse throat. He is simply unable to think as all he can feel is still the aftereffects of the curse. His nerves feel as they are melting on the inside of his body as his body continues to violently tremble with after shakes. It hurt even to attempt to move his fingers much less the rest of his body. The pain was such that the collective could not even pierce through the fog and connect to him. He was alone.

A trace of fear begins to appear in Bertram's as crisp footsteps can be heard as Reginald Prince approaches him. Opening his mouth to speak, he finds that he cannot make any sounds beyond gasping for breath and pained whimpers. He weakly lies there on his side gasping like a fish out of water unable to move and painfully suffocating to death.

”Thief, you are correct, I cannot kill you,” Reginald Prince pointedly answered, before bending down and leaning close enough to whisper only into Bertram's ear. ”That honor belongs to my dear younger sister, Georgine. You stole that which was most precious to her, the future that lay in her w.o.m.b. You should have remembered that the Prince's are never to be crossed. Sanguis Enim Sanguis, Blood for blood, this debt must be repaid and it will be repaid in full with added interest.”

Bertram opens his mouth to spit at the old Prince only to find Reginald Prince prying his mouth open with gloved hands. A merciless expression can be seen on Reginald's face as he removes a metal tool from his pocket holding Betram's mouth open. Holding the metal pincer-like instrument up to the candlelight, he muses out loud. ”The goblins have always made excellent metalwork. They are masters of their craft.”

Lowering the instrument to Bertram's mouth, Reginald begins to ruthlessly pull out a tooth from Bertram's mouth. Bertram's hoarse screams fill the dungeon once more as crimson splatters onto the floor and their clothes. However, thanks to the length of the Cruciatus curse, Bertram has no control over his body. The fragment is unable to move, and worst of all trapped within the vessel's body feeling every single shred of agony. It was trapped!