Chapter 341: [A lovely demonstration of a negotiation indeed.]

[It isn’t enough.]

Aurelia shook her head.

Lucian frowned at those words.

"Why?"

He asked out loud.

Varek looked confused.

"Why it’s hazy...? I just told you, I was conscious but my consciousness was fading away."

He repeated his answer, thinking to himself how a man with such strong comprehension issues managed to even enter this place.

Lucian ignored him.

He waited for Aurelia instead.

[Because he is Varek Arcelis.]

And Aurelia answered.

[A disgraced rogue who was expelled from his family, has been wanted for decades, is responsible for numerous deaths and is currently imprisoned by the House he is accusing.]

Lucian understood what she was trying to say.

Varek’s statement did not matter.

House Arcelis could easily counter his statement, saying that he was lying to get revenge on the House that expelled him.

Even if they somehow proved what happened to Varek, how he was experimented on and the lie House Arcelis spun to the entire world—

It wouldn’t change anything for this particular case, if anything, it would give Varek an even clearer motive to lie.

[We need something real.

Definite proof that it exists, something that cannot be denied.]

Aurelia muttered in a serious tone.

Lucian thought about it for a while, then, he looked at Varek and—

"Do you know where it is?"

He asked.

It was a long shot, one that Lucian wasn’t expecting to work but then—

"Yes."

Varek nodded and the instant he did, Lucian’s face changed.

"...what?"

Aurelia went completely silent as well.

"You know where Neroth’s Heart is?"

Lucian repeated the question.

"I do."

[Ask if he means now.]

Aurelia’s voice returned immediately, this time, it sounded more... urgent.

Lucian nodded at that.

"You mean where it was kept before or—"

"I know where it is now."

Varek interrupted him.

Lucian stared at him with a shocked look on his face.

His shot actually worked...?

How...?

Honestly, that didn’t even matter.

What mattered more was...

"Where is it?"

Lucian asked.

Varek looked at him for a few seconds, then—

"If I tell you... will you get me out of this place?"

It honestly wasn’t easy for the Vampire to beg again, but just thinking about the sort of life he would live if he was left here filled him with humiliation and... dread.

He did not want to live like a material that they could harvest whenever they wanted.

He would rather die than accept that fate.

Lucian stared at him, he could sense the emotion behind Varek’s words. The arrogance and disdain he had in his voice when they first met were not there, there was only...

Desperation.

Lucian didn’t answer immediately, honestly, he couldn’t answer anything at all.

Getting Varek out of this place was not under his control, heck, he couldn’t even get here without help.

It all depended on...

[If the Heart truly does exist where he claims... then extracting him becomes possible.]

The Ancient Vampire answered in a serious tone.

[If the Heart is revealed, it would prove that House Arcelis preserved an active Archdemon’s Heart after being explicitly ordered to destroy it. Then, this entire matter ceases to be an internal matter.

It would be treason.

Giving House Veyr official grounds to act.

Varek would become one of the pieces of evidence, so a force to extract him could be prepared.]

Lucian nodded at that. He understood the politics behind it.

It was almost amusing, actually.

To think a man who was a wanted criminal throughout the entire supernatural world was now an important resource in bringing down his even more evil House.

’Sounds like the plot of a movie.’

Lucian chuckled inwardly.

Just then—

[But again, his testimony can only strengthen the case, it cannot grant proper grounds for an action.]

Aurelia spoke up.

Lucian nodded at that.

[We need the Heart.]

Hearing those words, Lucian looked back at Varek and—

"Tell me where the Heart is and if it is actually there, I’ll help you get out."

He offered a new deal.

A deal that made Varek stare at him for a moment.

"How do I know you won’t find it and leave me here?"

A valid question.

Varek wasn’t the only one who hated Lucian. It went both ways, Lucian hated him too.

And Varek knew that well.

The only reason they were even talking was because they both had something the other wanted.

Lucian was Varek’s only chance at freedom, Varek was Lucian’s only chance to get to the Heart.

So when Lucian demanded Varek tell him where the Heart was...

He was essentially asking him to give up all the control.

Varek couldn’t have that.

But—

"You don’t."

Lucian shrugged.

"There’s no point hiding it, we both understand the truth. You attacked the woman I love, I will never forgive you for that."

"You tore my limbs off and brought me here."

Varek didn’t back down but Lucian—

"I don’t care what I did to you."

He spoke with a cold look on his face.

"I will only say this.

If the Heart truly is where you say it is, I will help you get out. I give you my word.

As to how much value you put in my words, that is up to you."

Lucian folded his arms, gesturing that this was not a negotiation.

"You want me... to just trust you?"

Varek spoke with a ridiculous look on his face.

Lucian didn’t care.

"You either trust the man who tore your limbs off...

...or stay with the family currently making sure they don’t grow back.

Your choice."

[A lovely demonstration of a negotiation indeed.]

Lucian decided not to react to her sarcasm.

He only stared at Varek, waiting for him to answer.

Varek stared back at him, for the next few seconds, no one said anything, then...

Varek looked away and closed his eyes.

"...fine."

He agreed.

He didn’t really have any other feasible choice, really. Lucian wanted the Heart so he could prove Arcelis’s Treason, but Varek’s life depended on it.

He needed it more than Lucian did.

And he understood that.

"Tell me where it is."

Lucian asked and Varek started speaking.