Chapter 15: Closing one wound, opening others.

Strax completely ignored the System notification window. In fact, it hardly mattered. As he untied Beatrice, he murmured, "I was worried, you idiot," as Beatrice's eyes opened in surprise. She could say something, but she didn't. She just bowed her head, pondering over what she had done all this time.

"Your arm, how did this happen?" He inquired, and she replied in hoarse whispers, her voice strained from screaming. "He cut me when I stabbed his belly," she said, simply and directly. However, Strax looked at the man's slashed body. Disgust swept over his mouth as he uttered the words to Beatrice, "Next time, I'll protect you." Faithful, strong, and fearless, that's how Beatrice saw him.

"I thought you hated me...," she murmured. However, Strax didn't respond to her musings. He stood up, went to the old man's body, the damned old man.

"Don't worry about it, my hatred is directed at the right people," said Strax, pulling out his sword and thrusting it into the old man's back.

"Urgh!" he grunted in pain as he writhed, still tied up. He tried to break free from the bindings, but it was futile.

"Ah, you want to break free... I think not, my friend," said Strax with a sadistic smile, lifting the man's head and examining him closely.

"You have much to suffer, little Oswald," said Strax, his eyes seeming like those of a demon.

Soon after, he released him quickly, hearing footsteps coming from the corridor. Strax got up, lifted Beatrice, who was sitting on the floor, onto the bed.

She showed no fear or hesitation. She simply accepted Strax's care and waited to see what he would do next.

Jason soon appeared holding a small white box with a green cross in the middle. Strax quickly took it and opened it.

"This will sting a bit, but you'll heal quickly," said Strax, like a healer. Beatrice would heal in a few days even if she didn't tend to the wound, but he wanted her to recover quickly, so he decided to do something he knew quite well.

As the last stitches were made and the wound began to close, a sense of calm spread throughout the room.

Strax finally stepped back, took a small clean rag from the Medical Kit, used to isolate wounds, and began to wrap it around Beatrice's arm to finally finish the dressing.

"I'll take care of things around here, can you please rest? I'll inform about what happened and ask them to clean up the mansion. Go to my room, the corpses will start to stink soon," said Strax before leaning in to gently kiss Beatrice's forehead. It wasn't just a gesture of affection, but a silent promise that he would come back to see how she was doing.

He turned to the door where he saw Knight Jason, smiling.

"What's up?" he questioned, but Jason just retorted, "I didn't say anything," raising his hands. "Quit being a wuss, grab this old man," he said, and Jason agreed again, picking up the Butler like a sack of potatoes.

"What are we going to do with him, young master?" Jason asked, and Strax smiled slightly, "Give him back what he did to me, of course." The malicious grin even surprised Jason, but Strax didn't care.

"We'll have a little chat with him, in the basement," he said, smiling.

Strax descended the bloody stairs, leading the way, as Jason didn't know the mansion yet. Of course, he followed his young master very well, as ordered.

Reaching the back of the staircase, there was a small wooden door, which was quickly opened, revealing a rather dark staircase.

"The interrogation is starting, welcome to hell," Strax said and ordered, "Throw him, he goes down the stairs first." With a sadistic smile on his face, Jason raised his eyebrows, but didn't mind.

'I'm against this, but you asked for it, old butler,' he thought and threw the man's body, which descended, breaking on the stone steps of the staircase. Not even his screams were heard, after all, he was still gagged.