“Jefferson Malone, do you recognize me?” Nolan shouted.
The soldier who had moved earlier immediately grabbed Jefferson and dragged him forward, forcing him to lift his head and face Nolan, high atop his horse.
Jefferson had never seen Nolan before and naturally didn’t recognize him by his face.
But the Prince Regent was known for his silver hair, a feature recognized by everyone.
As the silver strands of hair swirled in the cold wind, Jefferson’s previously flushed face, still drunk, instantly drained of color.
In that instant, his entire body began to tremble in fear.
Jefferson, clutching his severed hand, immediately dropped to his knees, crying out, “Your Highness, how… how did you get here?”
At that moment, Jefferson was completely sober.
But in his flustered state, whether from the alcohol or the shock, he stammered, unable to get his words straight.
The more he spoke, the more terrified he became, and by the end, his voice was almost a sob.
Nolan’s cold voice cut through the tension, “Is my arrival so surprising to you?”
From his high vantage point, Nolan glared down at him.
His gaze, as cold as death, seemed to pierce Jefferson’s very soul, making him unable to look directly at him.
Jefferson thought, ‘This is terrifying, absolutely terrifying. This must be the Prince Regent from the rumors. His aura is as fearsome as stepping into a sea of corpses and blood.
‘Only someone who has drenched their hands in blood, who has killed countless people, could possess such an air. This is terrible.
‘Hasen City must have sent someone, but why was it him? Why did it have to be him? This is really bad.‘
Had he known even a little, he wouldn’t be in this situation now. But now, he had no idea how to talk his way out of this.
Jefferson thought again, “Wait, this is the Prince Regent. Can I really talk my way out of this?”
“I’m asking you a question, and you’re daydreaming?” Nolan’s voice grew colder, “Are you looking to die, Jefferson?”
Behind Jefferson, Black Flag Army soldiers suddenly raised their gleaming white blades to his neck.
The sight immediately made Jefferson shudder, and he hastily spoke, “No, no, no! Please, let me explain. I wasn’t drinking earlier, I… I was just…”
Nolan cut him off with a sharp command, “Shut up.”
At Nolan’s cold order, the soldier’s sword pressed deeper into Jefferson’s flesh.
Jefferson froze, terrified, quickly closing his mouth but desperately trying to plead with his eyes.
Nolan’s disgusted voice rang out, “Did I ask you about drinking? I’m asking you, was my arrival so surprising to you? Why can’t you answer that?”
Jefferson clearly understood the question.
But he didn’t dare to answer.
Whether he was surprised or not, either answer would reveal that someone was behind him.
Seeing Jefferson hesitating, Nolan sneered, “Since you can’t speak, I’ll just have you killed here and now. Chop you up and cook you into soup for those ‘drinking buddies‘ of yours.”
As soon as Nolan finished speaking, the merchants who had been hiding in fear began crying out.
“Please, Your Highness, have mercy!”
“Please spare us!”
They kowtowed frantically, banging their heads on the ground until blood poured from their foreheads, but not a single glance from Nolan was spared.
The noise, however, was unbearable to Eliza.
Successfully unlocked!
She frowned and said to Nolan, “You continue questioning them, I’ll go inside and take a look.”
Nolan replied, “No need to interrogate them anymore. I’ll come with you.”
Nolan dismounted and followed Eliza inside.
550 Chapter 550
“A bunch of parasites being kept here, I can guess who’s behind them. I don’t have time to deal with them now. Once the most urgent matters are taken care of, I’ll deal with them one by one.”
Eliza nodded as she listened, then followed Nolan into the building.
If their trip to Woteria was just for the blessing ceremony, they wouldn’t have needed to come to the county office.
But disaster relief required the officials to step in.
Now that Felix was captured, it was likely that very few of his underlings were clean. As Prince Regent, Nolan had no choice but to take control of the area for now.
Eliza wasn’t expecting what she saw when she entered the office.
Her eyes widened as she saw more than a dozen young boys and girls, naked and covered in bruises, lying sprawled on tables or on the floor.
Shocked, Eliza quickly turned and shouted, “Close your eyes! Don’t come in!”
Nolan, who had entered with her, saw the scene and immediately frowned, turning away. “Do as she says. Get clean clothes and bring all the doctors here.”
When the doctors arrived, they immediately began inspecting the wounds of the children, not caring about any decorum, hurriedly applying medicine.
Fortunately, one of the doctors was a woman.
Also, there were many female soldiers in the Black Flag Army, and this time, a hundred female soldiers were with them.
The female soldiers helped Eliza move the injured girls to a cleaner room, where the female doctor checked each of them and applied medicine.
But the bad news didn’t stop there.
“Three of them… have already been tortured to death. The rest are severely injured, both physically and mentally. Their lives are likely ruined…” The female doctor gritted her teeth.
On the other side, things weren’t much better.
