“Do not approach her, Princess. It’s not a good idea!” The chastising voice of her adviser made her eyes roll as she continued toward the dungeon without hesitation.

“I told you I’d let you handle the information extraction for a while, but now it’s my turn to give it whack, so to speak.” Alice’s placid tone didn’t have much variation, though her slight annoyance was rather evident. After it was clear that the princess had no intention of changing her mind, the royal adviser muttered a small complaint and hung back reluctantly.

With a gaze, she ordered the door open and entered the dark, long stairway down to the dungeon to meet with the source of her recent headaches.

“You can breathe now, Knight. It’s only me.” The casual manner of speech was all part of her plan. She had to gain her knight’s trust in order for any secrets to be spill, obviously. Physical pain had proved to be entirely unuseful. The guard at the door stood patiently, and Alice took the opportunity of him standing there to have him do some legwork, because she simply wasn’t built for heavy lifting.

“Undo her arm restraints, if you would, sir. That can’t possibly be comfortable.”

“Princess, she may escape if she is unrestrained.”

“Well, then put a heavily-weighted ankle restraint on her to keep her from moving very far at one time. That would seem more logical than torturing her to death and having her hang by the arms in the meantime, wouldn’t it?”

“Certainly, Your Highness.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He dragged his feet in undoing the more uncomfortable restraints, but eventually it was done and she was left to support herself...or not.

“There. Now if you would please excuse us, Guard.”

“Your Highness-”

“I’ll be sure to call if I feel endangered. Please wait outside the door.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Alice stopped speaking then, instead opting to take the guard’s resting chair from near the door and moving it closer to her prisoner. She sat down rather stiffly and paused to collect her thoughts before speaking again.

“Now, I realize that I may not be in your highest esteem. I assume that you work under another person due to your strategic and systematic attacks, so my first question would obviously be who that person might be. However, if I were in your place, I would never simply answer that question. So my first question for you is a rather simple one, as I aim to earn your trust over time. What is your name?”