[: 3rd POV :]
Melira's piercing gaze locked onto the trembling man before her—the so-called leader of the Black Pirate slave merchants.
Her voice cut through the heavy silence like a blade, low and chilling, every word laced with icy venom.
"So tell me…" she began, her tone deceptively calm yet saturated with an underlying menace.
"Twelve years ago… were there any newborns… that you had enslaved?"
The man's eyes darted wildly, his throat tightening as fear constricted his every breath.
For a long moment, no words escaped his lips, the weight of her presence suffocating him.
Then, with a sudden, sharp motion, Maiya's blade glinted in the dim light as it sliced clean through one of his fingers.
A piercing scream shattered the tense air, echoing through the chamber.
"I-I don't know!" he stammered, voice cracked and desperate.
"There were just too many newborns! Too many—I couldn't keep track!"
Melira's lips curled into a thin, merciless line, unimpressed and unmoved.
