"Nothing?" Zen grumbled as Kiki returned to him after being in the kidnapper's cell for quite some time.
The woman stared at Zen before shaking her head, her hands a little bloody but not too much. Honestly, the prince doubted that she had done too much against him. More likely she had broken his nose and that's why her hand had blood on it, not that she stabbed him or anything. If she got mad enough...she might hurt him some more. A lot more. But she wasn't cruel enough to just start out like that.
"Crap. What do we do if he won't talk?" Mitsuhide asked with a grumble too, his hand clutching onto his sword hilt but didn't do anything with it.
"I'll find a way to make her talk." Kiki replied, emphasizing on the female part...which surprised Zen a little bit. He wasn't sexist but...he supposed he had just assumed that the kidnapper was a male. The last few were males and most of the fighters he knew were actually males as well. Kiki was an exception but the world was prejudiced against girl fighters. Zen almost felt bad for assuming, but he quickly wiped it away when he remembered what the woman did to Shirayuki. He didn't have any more sympathy.
"Don't kill her." Mitsuhide told her, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Kiki sighed, not even bothering to reply to him. The woman turned on her heel and started to head back into the cell, determined to get her to talk.
"Wait." Zen called out and reached for Kiki. He didn't touch her but he reached.
Kiki glanced back, raising an eyebrow curiously, "Yes?"
"I want to talk to her first." Zen replied, his hands lowering, "Maybe I can get something from her."
"Oh?" Kiki questioned with her eyebrow still raised.
Zen nodded, "Just let me talk first, okay?" he asked.
Kiki frowned but she nodded. She's denied things to the prince before despite not having the actual authority to but he seemed a bit more determined for this. And maybe he would be able to do something, she didn't really know. However, she trusted him.
"Thank you." Zen said before leaving them and heading to the cell. He opened the large door then walked in.
The first thing that hit him was the smell of dirt. The stinking smell of dirt that was mixed in with the smell of rotting flesh. It wasn't the woman who smelled of the rotting flesh but she wasn't the first person that they've kept in there. It was a cell for the more dangerous ones...and the ones that they didn't expect to be getting out of anytime soon.
Zen glanced around the cell, the only source of light came from a candle on the ground that look like it could burn out at any minute. The woman was laying in the middle, her hands in chains that attached to the walls. She was on her knees with her face to the ground, a small pool of blood had formed beside her head. Enough for a broken nose, like Zen had first thought. Her blonde hair was out and sprawled against the dirty floor and she wasn't wearing many clothes. It was basically what would've been her undergarments.
Zen sighed slightly as he leaned down and got into a crouching position, staring down at the woman below him. The woman who had tried to take everything from him. She wasn't much older than Shirayuki though and she didn't seem very...threatening anymore. She looked vulnerable and , the man placed his hand on the back of her head. However, after hearing a hissing sound come from her mouth, he retracted his hand.
"Why did you do it?" Zen asked her with a growl, putting his hand on his knee as he stared down at the woman still, "Why did you take and hurt her?"
"Why not?" The woman asked innocently.
"It would be wise not to play with me right now." Zen hissed in a threatening tone, raising his hand as if he was going to hit the woman. But he pulled his hand back instead. He wasn't going to hit her, not yet. He had enough willpower to hold back for now.
"I don't mind playing. Dolls were my favourite as a kid." The woman snickered, her face still on the ground.
Zen growled at her, "Tell me why you captured. Tell me why you're trying to get back at me."
"Whomever said that~?" She hummed, more confident than most were when they were in that cell.
"It was obvious." Zen snapped, "Now tell me why."
"What's in it for me?" She asked.
"Excuse me?" Zen questioned.
"Well I'll only tell you where if I get to give you forty lashes but what happens if I tell you why? What do I get to give you then I wonder?" She hummed again before she started to cackle.
"Your friend, the messenger," Zen started as the girl quieted down, "he's not just a messenger is he? You protected him. Is he family perhaps? A friend?"
"You stay away from him..." The woman growled and Zen couldn't help but smirk. He had something against her now.
"I didn't plan on going after him, since it seems like he could've been forced into this. However if he was an accomplice so I may have to go catch him and throw him in a cell just as rotten as yours." He explained himself and he watched her tense a little, "Unless you tell me why and where then maybe I could just forget about it. Turn the other cheek."
"I won't tell you where she is unless you take the forty lashes." The woman replied bitterly.
"Even if I threaten his life?"
"He knew what he was doing. We both signed up for this and we both want it. If I tell you where then all of this would've been for nothing."
Zen scowled but accepted that he couldn't get it out of her, "Why then?"
The woman let out a sigh before she started talking, "She shouldn't have won. She cheated to win. It's not fair...my father was a hard working and honest man." she explained, her voice getting more venomous as she went on, "She cheated to win the court herbalist contest. She used her friendship with you to win and you let her. You let her seduce you. You weren't fair. My brother even pushed you in that greenhouse with her to ensure that she wouldn't win, that this could be a fair trial. But it wasn't and now my father has paid the price for it."
"She won that trial fair and square." Zen defended but the woman only snorted, not even believing him. Or refusing to.
"She's not even from this country. How could she have any right to be the court herbalist? My father worked for years and years to be the best he could be. He finally got in and that wretched bitch won all because of you. My father had to get into more illegal activities like Claw of the Sea. You arrested him even though it was your fault. You put him in jail and he was killed in there by corrupt guards under your watch." The woman hissed at him, "His blood is on your hands."
"She didn't cheat." Zen repeated himself but the woman ignored him. She didn't care what he had to say. Nothing could change her mind.
"His blood is on your hands." The woman mumbled quietly to herself before lifting her face to look at him, revealing her crooked nose, "Now that you know why, will you let me go? Will you allow me to give you your punishing? For you to pay for your actions?"
Zen frowned and glared at the woman before grabbing onto her nose. He moved it just a little and the girl screamed in pain, "Tell me where Shirayuki is." He demanded as he glowered down at her. She bit her lip until it bled but she stayed quiet. Zen growled a little bit before move the nose entirely and moving it back into place. The woman winced but she stared at him oddly after it.
"I didn't do it to be nice." Zen stated, making sure he was clear as he stood back up, "I did it so Kiki can break it again."
And then he left the room as the woman screamed curses at him.
I haven't actually read the manga but I don't think they've explained who pushed Zen in the anime so I'm doing this.
