Chapter 252: J-Just… what do you… want…?

"J-Just... what do you... want...?"

The Boss muttered weakly, pressing his remaining hand against the severed end of his arm as he looked up at Lucian and Kanna.

His expression was twisted with pain, and he was barely able to speak properly. Every breath seemed to remind him of the unbearable agony spreading throughout his body, yet he still forced himself to look at the two people standing before him.

"..."

Kanna stared emotionlessly into the man’s trembling eyes, while Lucian was focused on something else entirely.

He was shuffling the handgun in his hands, carefully studying the weapon from different angles.

"I’ve never seen a handgun this closely..."

He muttered to himself, his eyes sparkling with curiosity as he turned it over. It was something he had only ever seen in movies and, once earlier, in Jennifer’s hands.

"Kanna, do you know how to use this...?"

Hearing his words, the maid turned towards him... and seeing the anticipation in his eyes, her lips barely twitched.

She quietly nodded before beginning to explain a few things about the weapon.

All while the Boss knelt before them in disbelief, unable to believe how they were reacting to his existence, as though he wasn’t even there.

Kanna stepped a little closer, quietly asking him to hand it over, to which Lucian simply shook his head at her lack of words before handing the handgun over without any hesitation.

Kanna accepted it.

Removing the magazine, she checked it briefly before loading it again, professionally explaining how it worked and how to use it—which was somewhat basic, to be honest.

"That’s it...?"

Lucian tilted his head, looking somewhat underwhelmed.

"I just aim, pull the trigger, and shoot?"

Kanna stared at him blankly, as if asking what else he had expected.

Seeing that, Lucian coughed slightly before taking it back into his hands, feeling its weight, then...

Casually aiming it directly at the Boss.

"So I just have to pull the trigger... huh?"

"Your aim is also very important," Kanna reminded him.

Lucian hummed in response, though with his senses—especially heightened because of the [Night Sovereign] trait right now—aiming wasn’t particularly difficult for him.

It was almost like having an aim assist.

The moment Lucian pointed the gun towards him, the Boss’s heart nearly stopped.

His eyes widened abruptly.

"Wait! No! I’ll give you anything! Don’t shoot at me!" he screamed, begging desperately and almost forgetting about the pain of his severed arm.

"You can even have all the goods and the women that we have...!!"

"Hm...?"

Lucian’s brows suddenly furrowed.

He hadn’t actually aimed to kill him... as he wanted the man alive for now, and he just wanted to see the Boss’s look of fear.

But hearing his words...

His attention shifted as he slowly lowered his hand.

"What did you say...?"

"T-The goods... there are many expensive goods in our storehouse, you ca—"

"What women were you talking about...?"

The Boss’s expression froze.

His mouth remained slightly open, but then, seeing the faint threatening glint in those crimson eyes... his lips immediately began to tremble.

"T-The w-women... there are a few women we’ve kept in the basement. Y-You can have all of them... you can even kill all these men if you want... but just—just leave me."

The other members of the group widened their eyes before shifting their gazes towards their Boss, a flicker of anger appearing on their faces—but they gritted their teeth and kept their mouths shut, knowing the result of doing otherwise.

"You kidnapped them, didn’t you...?" Lucian asked in a low voice.

Silence fell over the place, and the Boss’s shoulders trembled.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t know how Lucian would react if he did.

"For what...?"

The Boss’s lips parted slightly, but before he could get a word out—

"Forget it. I can already guess."

Lucian’s voice grew colder as he briefly remembered the man laying his hand on his mother’s wrist.

The air crackled with faint flaming sparks, but he took a deep breath, slowly calming himself down.

"Take me to your basement."

He was slightly curious about what these fuckers had done to the women they had kidnapped.

But before that...

"You were also there along with those two, right?"

Ian’s eyes widened as Lucian suddenly turned towards him.

He had previously thought that Lucian might have forgotten about him, especially since he had been standing quietly in a corner, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

He hadn’t even taken a loud breath, holding it in as much as possible.

"I-I didn’t do any—!"

Before Ian could finish speaking, Lucian suddenly raised his arm.

And without even the slightest hesitation—

BANG!

The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the room.

The bullet passed straight through Ian’s head, hitting him directly in the forehead.

His body recoiled violently, and he barely understood what had happened before...

He fell onto the ground with a dull thud, going completely still, completely lifeless.

"Yeah, I know, you didn’t do anything," Lucian calmly completed the man’s unfinished words, already knowing what he would’ve said.

"But I don’t care."

The man really hadn’t done anything aside from standing there like a statue while everything had happened that morning, though he probably would’ve if Lucian hadn’t been there, or if it had been some other woman and not Seraphina.

Lucian didn’t care if it were anyone else... but his mother was off-limits.

’No one is allowed to get too close to her.’

His eyes darkened with possessiveness.

Call it toxic. Call it anything... but as he had said earlier, he didn’t give a—

Lucian shifted his attention towards the Boss, and without even needing to say anything, the large man immediately pointed towards a closed door, trembling.

"T-That door leads to our ba...basement."

Lucian nodded and began walking in that direction.

Seeing this, the Boss and the others couldn’t help but sigh in relief, but just then—

Lucian suddenly looked back and frowned.

"Hey, why are you sitting over there? You’re coming along."

"...!"

The large man’s eyes trembled, but instead of arguing—which he didn’t have the guts to do—he swallowed his complaints before slowly pushing himself upright.

"C-Can I at least wrap something around my hand...?" he asked nervously, faintly gulping.

"Whatever, be quick."

The Boss immediately nodded as he took a cloth lying on the sofa, not even considering going into another room or anything to find proper bandages.

After seeing his hand sliced off without even noticing the woman’s movements, he had no intention of doing anything behind their backs.

He didn’t want to risk it.

Who knew when he might suddenly feel something sharp stabbing through his back, just like Gary?

The thought alone made him shudder.

Meanwhile, Kanna and Lucian stood beside each other, quietly waiting.

But after a few seconds... Lucian’s nose twitched.

His lips twisted in disgust as his gaze slowly shifted towards the lit cigarette resting on the table.

"This room stinks!" he cursed in revulsion before kicking the table itself.

The entire piece of furniture flew towards the group, crashing into them before sending several objects tumbling to the floor.

"Gah—!"

"Ugu—!"

The men yelped in pain, some with suppressed anger, as they endured the abuse.

"Get that disgusting smell away before I come again."

Lucian’s words were a complete threat.

His crimson eyes glowed menacingly, and a wild aura began radiating from his body, making the already terrified men feel even more terrified.

"Yes, sir!"

"Please don’t kill us!"

"We’ll do whatever you say!"

Everyone shouted in fear, not even complaining about the table that had fallen onto their heads.

Their lives were more important, and there was no way they would go against this human-looking monster.

"Even though he behaves like a monster... why is he this handsome...?"

Lucian’s crimson-red eyes flickered towards the man who had spoken, and immediately, the others slapped a hand over his mouth, almost making him yelp in pain.

"W-We’ll beat him up, Boss! Y-Y-You don’t have to stress yourself o-over him!"

Lucian ignored their weird behaviour, having no interest in whatever nonsense they were talking about.

He simply turned around and glanced at the Desert Eagle in his hand.

A sudden thought came into his mind, and... he casually tossed it back, straight towards the men.

A few immediately flinched backwards despite seeing a weapon they could use to defend themselves, while others instinctively tried moving towards it, only to remember what had happened to their Boss just now.

And so, while most of them retreated in fear...

A few... particularly stupid—or perhaps brave—individuals still moved to grab it.

But before they could even reach the weapon—

The shadows beneath it suddenly trembled, and darkness surged upwards, completely engulfing the handgun before retreating back towards Kanna’s own shadow.

"Why did you do that...?"

Lucian’s sulking voice rang out, causing the maid to turn towards him.

"I wanted to see who had the guts to grab that... but you ended the fun."

He let out a disappointed sigh.

It wasn’t as though he couldn’t dodge the bullets, and even if he couldn’t, his body would simply regenerate anyway, so there was no problem.

Kanna blinked.

For a moment, she wondered whether there was something wrong with his head... but then she remembered.

’Scarlett Bloodline... right. No wonder.’

She inwardly nodded to herself, getting all the information she needed to understand his reckless behaviour.

***

The basement doors opened slowly.

Lucian walked forward, with the bulky man following behind him, holding onto his now-bandaged arm. Blood still leaked through the bandages, though all the man could do was grit his teeth, unable to do anything about it.

Kanna followed behind them, keeping a close eye on the man’s reactions to see if he was trying to trap them or do anything suspicious... though he seemed genuinely terrified for his life.

As they continued further down, the darkness gradually thickened around them. However, Lucian and Kanna had no difficulty seeing through the familiar darkness.

The Boss, on the other hand, took unsteady, careful steps, making sure not to stumble.

After a few seconds...

Lucian finally came to a stop.

The Boss was about to bump into him, but Lucian casually moved aside, causing the large man to stumble and fall to the ground.

"Agh—!"

He groaned loudly.

But the moment his voice escaped his lips—

"N-no... not again... please..."

"P-Ple..."

"W-Wh—"

Lucian calmly looked towards the figures inside the basement.

Within the room, there were only... women.

Some were completely naked, while others wore torn, almost tattered clothes—or little more than rags. They were scattered throughout the room like they were nothing but livestock.

"Kanna."

Lucian’s voice softly echoed through the basement.

Every one of the women flinched at the sound, their bodies tensing as their expressions shifted sharply.

Some lowered their heads, while a very few instinctively pulled at their tattered clothes, trying to cover themselves.

"Switch on the lights... and if you don’t know where they are..."

Lucian’s gaze landed on the Boss, who was slowly getting up with a pained expression.

"Then take him towards where they are. He must know."

His words came out colder than normal, yet unlike before, there was no shimmering rage or sudden outburst.

Kanna, however, didn’t need the Boss’s help.

She easily found the switches a short distance away and walked towards them.

Click.

The moment the lights switched on—

The entire basement came into view, and with it... the full extent of what the group had done was finally revealed before their eyes.