Deciding that speaking with him in this position wasn't fun, I knocked him out before pulling him to a chair.
Good thing there were ropes left from Christopher's last months.
Once done, I poured two buckets of cold water over him, waking him instantly.
"Now we're looking at each other's faces. Isn't this better?" I smiled at him.
He glanced at himself before shivering.
Because the room was unused, the place was cold. I took it upon myself to turn on the air conditioner and lower the temperature even more.
"This is a crime!!!" he spoke.
I yawned, "It's not a crime if no one knows, right?"
He stared at me in disbelief before fear swallowed him again.
"Tell me, who am I?" I asked him as I started moving around the place.
I could not waste all of my time chatting with him, so I should start cleaning up and looking into Christopher's things that I will bring back to the villa.
"Li- Lilith Kingsley."
I nodded, picking up the bottles scattered across the floor.
"You guys have seriously messed this place up. Good thing Riven was able to talk to the police after finding his body here. The place was left alone, at least I can still sort out Christopher's things," I commented.
"I.. was not-"
"Tsk, enough with those words. I have no power. I was not here. I did not do it. I was not involved."
I looked back at him, "Those are nothing but petty excuses. Stop wasting your breath on them."
"Anyway, how did he describe me to you?"
I continued with cleaning up while questioning him.
"The problem child," he replied, knowing that not answering wouldn't do him any good.
"Indeed. But how did he look when he said those words?"
"He... He was smiling... dotingly."
I paused before chuckling, "As always. He describes me in such a negative way, but would always look like he was not speaking negatively."
After gathering all the bottles and putting them on one side. I started looking into the clothes thrown all over.
I still clearly remember his favorite clothes.
And with the CCTV footage, I saw a few that were thrown around as well. Even though he dislikes it more that his favorite clothes are dirtied.
He could no longer bother with it back then.
"Please..."
He spoke again once I stopped questioning him and focused on cleaning.
"Please... let me go..."
"You are tied up for just a few minutes, and you're already begging," I said without looking at him.
"But how many times was he tied up overnight whenever he did not need to entertain those old people?"
I looked at him. I know my eyes must have no emotions in them.
I did not miss a single thing in all the videos of my siblings. I watched every single second, even though they were in a fast-forward manner. I did not allow myself to blink.
And over the past few days, I kept re-watching them from the start, this time no longer fast-forwarding but one video at a time.
Not a single second was left unwatched.
Among the videos of Christopher, there are times when he must have not done what they wanted, as he was tied up in a chair, just like this person, right now.
"Weren't you the one who tied him up on those occasions? Even tying it too tightly at times, loosening it when tasked because you can't leave marks whenever he has a schedule?"
"I'm... I'm sorry..." he weakly muttered.
"Don't apologize. Because you enjoyed it. You were also the one who messed up his clothes, knowing full well how he hated it. So don't apologize for something that you did with delight."
He started crying again.
"You're a grown man. Stop using your tears because any shred of pity left me a week ago."
I picked up a shirt and checked it before throwing it into the pile that I won't bring back.
"You even kicked him when you felt like it. Strong enough for him to cough up blood..."
I paused, then walked over to him.
"Ugh!!!"
He started coughing violently.
"Yes, just like that. You kicked him hard enough for him to react like that," I said, watching him cough blood after the kick in his stomach.
I walked back to what I was doing as I continued speaking.
"But you know what. The reason why you must not cry is because... he never did. Not until his final moment, when he was apologizing about not seeing me again."
He looked at me.
This time, I could not bring myself to keep up with those fake smiles. I could only look at him without feeling anything.
"Do you know why he apologized? Because he promised to celebrate the New Year with me abroad. That he will visit me and spend time with me this coming new year."
I shook my head, "But he won't be able to do it anymore."
After separating the clothes, I took a garbage bag and started cleaning up the other mess.
"Do you know why I was the problem child?" I asked after a few minutes.
"..."
I looked at him when he did not answer.
His shivering, his teeth clacking together.
"I'm asking you. Do you know why?"
He shakily shook his head.
"Not because I was mischievous. Amelia was the mischievous one. Not because I gave my parents headaches. I was always top of my class. I was the problem child because..."
I looked back at him. He was still looking at me, his fear evident in his eyes. There was also begging.
But he could no longer speak to beg.
"...I was ruthless in many ways."
...
After I was done cleaning up the living room, bags and boxes of trash were compiled, but only a handful of things were fixed to return to the villa.
My next destination was the room.
I left the living room with the man who was no longer breathing.