kingnovel Chapter 390 Prison Food
Chapter 390 Prison Food
half an hour later
Howard was taken to where he was being held, which was the Gunther family dungeon.
In principle, the imperial nobility should not interfere in judicial proceedings, let alone privately set up institutions such as "prisons", but these nobles always find ways to circumvent the legal circle.
The Gunther family explained the existence of this dungeon as a punishment for disobedient slaves.
Those slaves were the property of the Gunther family. As long as no experiments that might harm the empire were conducted on them, no one would be held accountable even if the Gunther family killed them. These were explicit clauses written into the imperial law.
If the nobles were completely deprived of the power to lynch, they would send a slave who had merely stolen some leftovers to law enforcement agencies for trial, which would greatly increase the pressure on the Ministry of Justice.
Therefore, as long as these nobles were not caught doing anything out of line, the Ministry of Justice would tacitly condone the existence of these private prisons.
The purpose of this dungeon is to serve as a "confinement room" for these slaves who have committed crimes.
Since it is a confinement room prepared for slaves, the hardware is certainly not very good. This dungeon is divided into multiple small spaces by iron bars, and the size and internal furnishings of each space are different.
The slightly better cells have a bed inside, which people can barely lie down on, while some other cells are too small and it would be more appropriate to call them cages rather than cells.
With Howard's body size, if he stood in those cages, he could neither stand nor lie down, and he couldn't even squat. He could only use his body to support himself and half-squat. And those cages were made of iron wire, and the places where the wires were connected were sharp and prickly. These barbs had long been covered with black blood.
Some cells are even more eerie and terrifying. There is even a water dungeon that is almost completely submerged in water, with only a few centimeters of space left for ventilation.
The Gunther family servant who led the way took Howard and two Astra Militarum soldiers through these prisons. Most of the cells were filled with slaves... or at least people who were explained to the outside world as slaves. However, they did not show any special reaction to Howard's arrival. It was obvious that the torture they suffered in prison here had exhausted all their strength and hope.
In addition to the prisons where slaves were held, there were also various torture instruments. Most of them were far from sophisticated, so that anyone with a normal IQ could tell at first glance how to use them. For example, the "X"-shaped rack was used to tie the slaves to it and then stretch their limbs with a wheel; or the wooden bed used for water torture.
It is precisely because of their simplicity that these tried-and-tested tools can more thoroughly destroy a person than those fancy punishments.
Gunther's servant brought Howard to an empty cell. Compared with other cells, the conditions of this cell were comparable to a five-star luxury room. Not only was there a relatively less dirty bed, but it even had water pipes and a toilet.
The servant opened the cell and Howard walked in consciously. The cell door was locked and the Astra Militarum soldiers who detained Howard also returned to report. They were not worried that Howard would escape because this was on the territory of the Gunther family. If the suspect disappeared, they would have an excuse to conduct a more in-depth investigation into the family.
Howard lay on the bed with shackles on his hands, closed his eyes and began to rest, thinking about nothing.
He has made up his mind to be just a bystander in this incident.
An unknown amount of time had passed before footsteps and quarrels were heard outside the cell again. Howard opened one eye and saw that the boy who had just identified him was being held by a Star Army soldier and thrown into the cell next to his.
But even after being thrown into the cell, the boy still refused to give up. He grabbed the bars and shouted at the departing servants and Astra Militarum soldiers: "You can't do this to me! I want to see my father! I haven't done anything wrong! You can't do this! I need a reasonable explanation!"
And when the people who escorted him in walked away, and when he was sure that they were not joking this time, his strength seemed to be drained away bit by bit, and he finally sat on the ground against the railing.
Although his eyes were closed, Howard heard Neville sobbing. He was younger than Isabella, probably only in high school in real life, and his behavior at the party also proved his immaturity.
Howard felt a little weird facing Neville with his side profile, because it was as if he was peeping into the boy's inner weakness, so he turned over and faced away from him.
As a result, the sound of him turning over attracted Neville's attention. He recognized Howard and screamed:
"It's you! It's you! It's all your fault! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!"
Not only did Neville scream at Howard, he even reached his hands through the gap in the railings and tried to grab Howard, but his hands were not shackled like Howard's.
But Howard was too lazy to pay attention to him. The distance between the two cells meant that even if Neville stretched his hand twice as long, he still couldn't reach his own. Therefore, he pretended not to hear Neville's noise. He would stop when he got tired of it.
It turned out that this kid had surprisingly much energy. Not only did he keep making noises, he even threw things at Howard. After he had thrown everything he could in the cell, he went to the water pipe to get some water and poured it at Howard with his hands. Although all this did not have any practical effect except making himself very tired.
This went on for two or three hours before Neville, exhausted, finally stopped. But that didn't mean Neville gave up. He was still staring at Howard with hostility in his eyes.
Soon it was time for dinner. The Gunther family's chef and servants came with trays of food for Howard and Neville. While the servants were setting the table for Neville, he kept asking:
"Where is Father? Does Father know what happened here?"
Neville kept questioning the servants and the cook, but all he got in response was silence.
Neville watched the servant who delivered the food leave, and only opened the lid of the food disappointedly after he was sure that the servant would not come back.
Under the lid was a meal so rich that it was almost luxurious: freshly baked, soft and fluffy truffle bread filled with cream, accompanied by exquisitely presented grilled ribs, grilled sausages, mushrooms and mashed potatoes, accompanied by pudding, ice cream and candied olives. The drink served was a bottle of low-alcohol wine and a small basket of after-meal fruit.
Even though Neville and Howard are now in custody, they have not been convicted, so Howard is still a VIP guest, Neville is still Taylor's son, and their meals are still maintained to the highest standards.
As for the other prisoners in this dungeon? They were blessed to have a piece of sour bread a day.
Faced with this sumptuous meal, Neville's stomach growled uncontrollably. He hadn't eaten anything at the banquet in the first place, and he had just been making a fuss for quite a while, so his stomach was already empty.
Naturally, there was no one to restrain or demand him with etiquette in the cell, so he didn't care about his image and just grabbed the piece of bread with his hands and started to eat it. Then he was burned in the mouth by the hot butter inside, so he hurriedly drank a big mouthful of red wine.
But just as he was getting the wine, he noticed that there were not only him and Howard imprisoned in this dungeon, but also many prisoners who could not be distinguished as living people or mummies.
Perhaps because Howard and Neville were to be imprisoned here, these prisoners were very lucky to escape the punishment they should have received.
But because the color of their bodies was very close to that of the dungeon, and they would not react to any changes in the outside world, Neville had never noticed them before. At most, he was a little puzzled as to why many cells were filled with rags or broken wood.
But now, smelling the aroma of food, urged by the most primitive desire of life, these prisoners "came back to life". They clung to the edge of their cells, drooling, and stared at Neville who was eating.
The bread washed down by the red wine seemed to be stuck in his throat. Neville swallowed the food he had eaten with force. When he looked at the bread in his hand again, the bread that was soft and delicious just now seemed to have turned into a piece of cold stone.
After a little hesitation, Neville broke off a piece of bread, kneaded it into a ball, and then threw it to the prisoner closest to him.