Betrayed By The Hero, Loved By The Lord-Chapter 288: Preparing for a fight (1)

"No," Bryce replied, deciding to trust in what he knew.

Phillip coming after him was all a misunderstanding. Phillip had taken care of all of them, and it would be a great slap in the face to reveal to a pureblood that Phillip had these markings.

It couldn’t be demon language. Phillip wouldn’t mess around with anything demonic. It had to be that Phillip was trying to get rid of demons if there were any here in town.

"Nice try," Bryce said, seeing through Xavier’s trick. "You thought you could fool me. Turn me against the others. When your king attacks the town, war will break out, and it will be the end of vampires."

"So, you have decided to be a sheep. Torture him," Xavier ordered the guards.

"No. Wait," Bryce said, wanting to go back to his cell.

"Take the tip of each finger until he starts to speak. Time is running out here. Will you protect the one working with demons, or will you protect your kind? Isn’t protecting humans your goal?" Xavier asked.

The priests seemed to have lost sight of their goal and were willing to kill their kind just to protect one of the priests.

Bryce was taken to a table where his hands and feet were strapped.

"The priests would never work with demons. We have been fighting using only the holy weapons given to us. The church fell for another reason," Bryce frantically spoke.

Bryce kept his palms closed so his fingers would not be pulled out to be cut.

"I overheard you tell Cassandra that the holy water is gone, so none of you could easily get a holy weapon. When you are short on the weapons you need and the war is starting to feel like it is lost, it is easy to be swayed by a demon," said Xavier.

Xavier continued, "Demons don’t come to you in a terrifying state. They know how to approach their victims. They will present themselves to you in a good light. For a priest, they might make themselves appear holy. Promising you a way to win your battles."

"These aren’t simple creatures. They are manipulative, and once they get hold of you, you will lose yourself. Then, they will use you to make way for more demons to come up out of the underworld. You are inviting one more creature that preys on humans into this town."

"I have studied them for years," Orlork spoke up. "They will either have you perform rituals to have their kind enter your body, or they will enter the bodies of the dead, which will be around the town soon. That would explain the marking Zephyr saw."

Xavier pried Bryce’s hand open so he could make the first cut. "He doesn’t want to speak," he said, no longer interested in waiting for Bryce.

"P-Phillip," Bryce confessed, angry with himself. There was no way the priests could ever forgive him after this.

Bryce was biting the hand that kept him fed for years. He would be labelled a traitor after this, and rightfully so. What if Phillip was innocent? What if there were no demons?

Bryce had never heard of demon language before.

"Why are you so hellbent on protecting the same people you were running from? If they were so forgiving and kind, why did you need to run? Forget about the others and think about the innocent families who might die," said Xavier.

Bryce didn’t understand Xavier. Why was a pureblood caring for humans so much? Was there something else at play here?

"Why do you care what happens to us?" Bryce asked.

"You’re my food, and I don’t need all the noise from a war around me. Living alongside humans is already quite troublesome. I have no interest in demons and their games. So, where can I find the one you saw with the markings? It is only that person who needs to die," Xavier said.

"If the king truly is attacking the town, then Phillip will go right for the king. Others will be sent out to the homes of purebloods. I just want my kind to be safe. Please," Bryce said, becoming emotional as he thought about the things he did for the sake of a better future.

"What does this Phillip look like?" Orlork asked, tapping Bryce’s face to stop him from crying. "Now is not the time for you to be like this."

They hadn’t tortured the tiny human yet Byrce was on the brink of tears.

"I’m assuming that Phillip will be the one leading the group and going right for Darius. Besides, it should be easy to tell who has a demon attached to them," Xavier said, letting go of Bryce’s hand since it was time to leave. freewebnσvel.cøm

If what Bryce said was true, Xavier needed to put his guards on alert to keep the estate protected. While he was away, the estate needed to be on lockdown since Selene and his mother were there.

"I don’t deserve to live," Bryce said, the memory of Lucinda’s death once again haunted him. "I killed her."

"We have all killed someone," Orlork said, walking away from the table to head to the door.

Orlork needed to get to his children to put them all in one place so he knew that they were safe.

Bryce felt like he was no better than Xavier or anyone who worked with demons until he confessed to what he had done wrong and begged for forgiveness.

"I killed anyone Phillip asked me to. I did it all for our future. I kept secrets from the group, like the holy water and the things I saw Phillip do to those who didn’t believe in his plans. I killed innocent people. I have not been able to rest properly since I killed Lucinda," Bryce confessed.

If Phillip truly was evil, Bryce didn’t want to be around to see it. He knew that by revealing he had done what Selene was blamed for, Xavier would kill him sooner.

This wasn’t the future Bryce was working so hard for. Everyone had evil intentions, and more families they promised would live through this were going to die.

It was better not to be alive to see the downfall of this town and the church.

Xavier knew Bryce wanted to die. Unless Bryce was a fool, the only reason he revealed killing Lucinda was to upset Xavier, who would then react by killing him.

"Death is too easy a punishment sometimes. Live with that guilt," Xavier said, deciding to keep Bryce alive. "Besides, I can’t kill the only friend the princess has."

Along with this, Xavier needed Bryce alive in case Phillip slipped away tonight.