"I signed a deal with the devil, but I never felt like I was getting a bad deal; the devil knows how to reward his dogs well." Thoughts of Asha Greyjoy, Viscountess of Sae Prime XI
Asha looked at the chained baron with a malicious smile on her lips. "Dear Baron, will you tell me what I want, or shall we start a very amusing game?" She said this while playfully fiddling with a sausage, obviously implying something.
However, Baron Hopkins simply opened his mouth and spat in Asha's face. The viscountess didn't mind and wiped the spit from her face, the smile still on her lips. "I like men who don't submit easily, although in bed I prefer the more docile ones."
The Head of House Greyjoy took a dagger and made it dance between her fingers with shocking skill. Then, in a swift movement, the dagger pierced the inside of the baron's thigh, an extremely important and even more sensitive vein in the human body.
A painful groan escaped the Baron's mouth at that very moment; the pain made the man tremble before calming down, but his gasping breath showed that the pain he was enduring was far from simple.
"This is just the beginning; you have two hundred and six bones, of which a dozen are vital, and the rest can be broken without you dying." Asha commented as if she were saying it to a friend, friendly and gentle.
But this only caused a shiver in the baron; he couldn't help but think of the rumors he had heard about House Greyjoy. Pirates disguised as nobles, cruel, sadistic, and cold. The crime lords of the Underworld.
However, the Baron was about seven hundred years old, having risen from a commoner to a noble in two hundred years, showing that he was a ruthless man when young, and this only intensified over the centuries.
"Why don't you go screw your octopuses? I heard you're into those bizarre things with animals, especially octopuses." The Baron showed a sarcastic smile and spat again, but not in Asha's face, but on the ground near the viscountess.
"The baron is over seven hundred years old and still acts like a child, but don't worry, I'm very persuasive." Asha crouched down and spoke in a gentle tone while slowly moving the dagger still stuck in the flesh of the baron's thigh.
"Let's start by taking a part that you men value so much." Asha said with a malicious smile as she cut the baron's trousers with the blood-stained dagger.
The baron's face paled; he felt deep despair but showed no weakness, which made Asha even more excited. It had been a long time since she had met a man with such strong determination and convictions. She would truly enjoy breaking this man's spirit.
Hearing the screams coming from inside the prison, the guards' bodies trembled; they turned pale. As prison guards, they had heard and seen everything, but the baron's screams sounded like those of a pig about to be slaughtered.
Both guards looked at each other and saw the horror in each other's eyes; they quickly went to inform the new owners of Miller IV, the Regent Princess, Alysanne Targaryen. However, they returned empty-handed, as the princess did not meet them, or rather, they didn't even get close to the princess.
Just as Alysanne had told Asha and Garan, she didn't care about the means, only the result, and nothing more. If torture was necessary for Asha to extract all the information from the baron, then so be it.
But as Alysanne expected, a report full of names appeared on her desk an hour later. Looking at Asha, who was covered in blood and still smiling as if she hadn't just tortured a man to death, the princess was satisfied.
A dog that doesn't instill fear in thieves is not a good dog.
Looking at the list of names, even Alysanne couldn't help but be surprised. She saw names she didn't expect, some were even Marquesses, a title second only to dukes and the royal family.
A smile appeared on Alysanne's lips; she really didn't expect to catch such a big fish at this moment. Looking at Asha, she couldn't help but find the woman more pleasing to the eye.
"When we return, I will propose to my father that your title be elevated, but if you make further contributions, it is not impossible to make House Greyjoy a Great Noble House again." Alysanne said with a smile, although the last part of her sentence was more of a blank check than actual truth.
Asha looked happy and knelt. "Thank you, Princess, House Greyjoy will be eternally loyal to the princess. Your enemies are my enemies, and our starships are your starships."
Alysanne showed a gentle expression and gently helped Asha to her feet, showing that she was a benevolent princess. Both women looked at each other and smiled amicably, as if they were old friends.
"You must be tired; I will not request your presence for a few days." Alysanne gave a subtle and gentle expulsion order, instead of simply telling Viscountess Asha Greyjoy to leave.
As soon as the door closed, Asha's and Alysanne's smiles vanished simultaneously. Friendship between them? Sorry, there is no friendship between women, especially among noblewomen.
As soon as Asha returned to the room given by the princess, she saw Garan smoking and joined her grandson with a calm look. She began to explain the conversation to Garan, who was showing a happy expression.
"You're happy." Asha couldn't help but smile sarcastically, seeing him so happy with Alysanne's blank check. "I believe I will receive the title of count, but Duke? Don't be so happy, Garan."
Seeing her grandson's confused expression, Asha felt that Garan was still very innocent, even after living for so long in the underworld. But it wasn't his fault; the ideology that the imperial family was sacred and noble was deeply ingrained in the DNA of every person in the Imperium of Humanity. Even House Greyjoy could not escape this and dared not resist the indoctrination.
For all citizens of the Imperium, the Imperial Family was the family of gods, and gods were pure, clean, and incorruptible. All corruption was the fault of the nobles and senators of the Imperium. How could gods lie?
"No new ducal house has been born in a thousand years and none will be; the Three Queens do not want another duke unbalancing their delicate political game. Therefore, no new ducal house will be born." Asha explained with a calm tone. Unlike Garan, she lived in a time when the God-Emperor was not the official god of humanity, so she did not have as much loyalty as other nobles and citizens.
Garan's eyes widened, listening to his grandmother speak. He had seen all the evil in the world from an early age, but now he truly saw that the Imperium was even dirtier than he expected. Not even the Imperial Family escaped being stained with conspiracies and assassinations.
"Don't be naive, Garan; this Imperium was built on the foundation of the God-Emperor's enemies. The Imperial Family is not as sacred and clean as the Inquisition wants them to be. They are humans, and as humans, they have desires, flaws, and selfishness." Asha stole her grandson's cigar and smoked it with a smile.
"But that's good; if they were truly so indifferent to power, we would have big problems trying to climb the hierarchy of nobility and the senate." She said with an allied look full of joy. She felt that this civil war was truly a ladder to the top, allowing House Greyjoy to finally return to its peak, albeit without the titles.
"Remember, Garan, we are dogs, and we will gnaw on any bone given to us, even if that bone has no meat or is imaginary; we have to accept everything, regardless of whether we are rewarded or not. Only dogs that accept orders are good dogs." Asha didn't miss the chance to teach her grandson.
As for humiliation? Sorry, that's not something she had or even House Greyjoy had. Others wanted the chance to be the princess's dogs but didn't have it; now she had to seize the chance and show the talents of House Greyjoy.
"The Princess will send a list of names to kill; you will contact our spies and assassins in the Outer Rim and on the Unnamed Planets. We have many heads to deliver to the Princess." Asha ordered in a calm tone; the smile on her lips never disappeared, it only grew wider.
"Yes, grandmother." Garan replied with a respectful tone, showing an equally malicious expression.
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Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos (500,000 words written).