Anya did not lose his composure. If he trembled or cowered here, he would only give unnecessary anxiety to Sisou and Buppu who were watching. Everyone present held their breath and watched the fingers neatly placed on top of the white tunic. The long, well-formed fingers unfastened the tunic’s buttons one by one without hesitation.
“……”
The sound of someone gulping could be heard. After the banquet, throughout Eos Castle, the fact that the 12th Prince was ‘a man who could become pregnant’ had spread even to the nameless prisoners locked in the underground dungeons. Even Raniel, who had always been cynical toward Anya, looked at Anya with a curious expression. To be precise, at the inner skin revealed as the tunic’s buttons popped open one by one.
When quite a few buttons had come undone, Sisou resisted frantically beneath Raniel. His movements were so violent that dust rose white from the dirt ground. Royster covered his mouth with his sleeve and coughed lightly.
“Hey, Raven Commander. Hold that guy down properly.”
“Yes, Your Highness. My apologies.”
Raniel struck Sisou’s head with the end of his scabbard. Blood seeped out as if his forehead had split.
“Don’t, don’t hit Sir Sisou. Didn’t I say I would take the beating?”
Anya said coldly toward Royster. Pathetic thing. Does he think I’ll truly be frightened if he glares at me like that? Royster let out a short snort as if finding Anya’s defiance laughable.
“At the rate you’re dawdling, when will this tedious act end? This is merely the prologue.”
Then he grabbed the collar of Anya’s tunic and roughly yanked it down. His lean upper body was completely exposed.
“Ha! Look at this!”
Royster burst into impatient laughter and pulled Anya’s clothes further down so everyone present could see. Then everyone could witness the blue bruises messily covering his entire back. Several people opened their eyes wide and let out sighs simultaneously. Even if he was a half-wit, he was still a prince—how could he be in such a state? That’s what their eyes said.
‘It’s okay.’
Anya repeated inwardly and steadied his heart.
“As expected, barbarians are messy beyond comparison. I hear there are those in the world who feel sexual excitement from sadistic acts?”
Raniel burst into giggling laughter as if responding and whispered quietly to Sisou. Did you also participate in that? Sisou flinched and trembled his muscles while screaming madly, but regrettably it all went muffled into the gag with only humming sounds.
‘It’s okay.’
Anya didn’t bother to refute Royster’s mockery point by point. Instead, in this situation where everything was a mess, he closed his eyes tightly and quietly thought of the world’s end.
The lonely mountain range where nothing exists and the barrier maintained by the sad people’s touch.
The humiliation he was experiencing now was nothing compared to that magnificent world’s end.
“If I…”
Royster ran his finger down Anya’s bare back and grinned.
“Add one more red wound here, Lord Evernight would rather be very pleased.”
“Mm, mm!”
Sisou’s eyes turned red as if blood vessels would burst at any moment. Due to his excitement, blood wouldn’t stop from his split forehead, but he paid no heed and thrashed his arms and legs mercilessly. Even on Raniel’s forehead, who was holding him down, beads of sweat began to form as if he was struggling. The servants had long been repeatedly flying far away from Sisou’s kicks and running back.
“Dear little brother. When you were young, you used to tremble just at the sight of this whip.”
He looked down at Anya while pulling the whip taut. Anya, kneeling with eyes closed in detachment, was very different from when he was young. That point kept gnawing minutely at Royster’s nerves.
“…Now you’re probably getting excited instead.”
Royster swung the whip in an instant. The whip made by thickly rolling hard leather was originally for taming beasts and had tremendous destructive power. Crack—a loud sound rang out, echoing through the clearing, and the ground right next to Anya was gouged out. Small pieces of sand that flew up grazed Anya’s cheek.
“Mm! Mm!”
Sisou finally succeeded in pushing Raniel away and crawling desperately toward Anya, but it was only for a moment. Tsk, where do you think you’re going. Raniel quickly restrained Sisou. Then he tied even his ankles tightly with rope handed by a servant. Buppu was lying prostrate as if about to faint.
“Damn bastards. The Tildyen lot are all full of nothing but bluster.”
Royster ground his teeth and raised the whip high once more. The whip like a black serpent flew quickly and finally struck Anya’s back. It was struck so hard that Anya’s body tilted forward for a moment, unable to withstand the recoil. Anya supported his body by pressing the ground to avoid falling, then stubbornly straightened his back again.
“……”
Anya’s appearance—only slightly furrowing his brow and not letting out a single groan—finally completely gnawed away at Royster’s nerves. His red earring flashed under the blazing sun.
Crack! Crack!
The sound of the whip hitting flesh made a distinctive splitting sound. Just watching brought pain, and several servants squeezed their eyes shut and turned their heads away. Vivid and terrible red marks were carved into Anya’s white, lean back. Tears mixed with blood streamed down Sisou’s cheeks.
How many times did he strike down with the whip? Sweat beaded on Anya’s forehead and his complexion became pale as a sheet of paper. Even so, the boy gritted his teeth and didn’t let out a single groan.
“Your Highness, how about stopping around now?”
The chamberlain stopped Royster with a slightly dazed expression, as if amazed at Anya who was desperately enduring. Royster, extremely irritated, shouted neurotically.
“Shut up!”
Yes, yes, I’m sorry. The chamberlain couldn’t exert any influence and withdrew while hunching his shoulders. Then Royster roughly grabbed Anya’s chin with his hand opposite the one holding the whip covered in blood. His lips were so mangled that he was a mess with blood. Seeing that with his eyes finally made him feel a little better. Royster turned Anya’s face this way and that while smiling broadly.
“I have a good idea. Even if I mash your pretty face with the whip, will Evernight still get excited over you?”
“Your… Your Highness!”
The chamberlain called out to Royster with a cry. That, that… He tried to stop Royster while stammering, but Royster was already half out of his mind.
“Chamberlain. Are you trying to back out now? I’m the First Prince—what are you afraid of?”
Royster looked back at his chamberlain with sharp, cold eyes. Though he’d never seen a demon, just like a demon, Royster’s face didn’t look at all like a sane human.
“N-no, Your Highness. I just thought whipping the face was too harsh a measure…”
Goosebumps rose on his back and the chamberlain hesitantly stepped back. Right now Royster was very dangerous, and if he rashly tried to stop him, it seemed he himself would incur his wrath. He had a bad feeling. No matter that he was the First Prince, if he pulverized his consort’s face, the Duke of Tildyen would surely not remain still. But Royster already seemed to have lost his reason.
“The older brother I know…”
That’s when Anya suddenly opened his mouth toward Royster. An unbelievably calm and composed voice flowed out.
“Wasn’t this… emotional.”
The chamberlain and several servants looked at Anya with pale faces in shock. To bring up such words in this situation—wasn’t this practically asking to be killed? When he should be begging desperately instead…
The 12th Prince sitting in detachment declared so confidently without showing any sign of pain. The ends of his long hair fell pitifully on the ground, almost touching it, and on his completely exposed back, red wounds were tattered with gouged flesh. Even so, Anya appeared to be in a superior position to Royster, making the vassals feel perplexed.
“What?”
The end of Royster’s voice trembled minutely, filled with anger. Those innocent brown eyes seemed to contain something deep, and as he looked at them quietly, shame came over him involuntarily.
“Or did you originally have such… lacking character, but I didn’t know because I was a half… half-wit?”
Clearly the one being beaten while kneeling was that half-wit bastard, yet what was that guy relying on to be so confident? Royster was confused by Anya’s change. How had he changed so much? What had made that idiot like this?
“The idiot bastard is pulling every trick to avoid more beatings!”
Royster shouted in exasperation. He too knew vaguely. Recently, he had trouble falling asleep and often stayed up for days and nights, and occasionally suffered from hallucinations or visions of being killed. So even when eating, he would compulsively tear through food and cause a commotion, or react sensitively to the servants’ small words and punish them cruelly. In the midst of this, with even Cloy acting up to obtain the throne, his nervous breakdown worsened day by day.
Originally he wasn’t like this. He had always leisurely played chess from the head seat, manipulating his pieces as he pleased…
The suddenly obtained realization made Royster feel miserable. And at the same time, fury surged up.
“You…!”
He raised the whip high while still gripping Anya’s chin. Anya looked intently at Royster as if not afraid. Royster discovered his own ugly appearance reflected in those clear eyes. It made him feel very small and at the same time humiliated.
“Why! Why are you looking at me like that! Must I be disrespected even by this worthless speech-cripple!”
Finally, under the intense sun, just as the leather whip was about to strike down on Anya’s face—
“Stop this.”
Someone gripped Royster’s wrist strongly. At the tremendous hand strength, Royster let out a small groan and turned his head.
“…Evernight?”
As if he had been running, Evernight exhaled small breaths and gave a quick glance at his consort sitting messily on his knees. Their gazes barely intertwined before Anya turned away from Evernight.
“……”
The sight of him sitting calmly with his upper body completely exposed plucked at his nerves in an instant. The messily torn red wounds that fluttered like gills breathing on his once-clean back seemed very much like a thorn in his eye, and Evernight had to take another deep breath to control his emotions.
“What… are you doing right now?”
His voice flowed out flatly without inflection. Evernight’s gaze turned back toward Royster. A cold murderous intent instantly appeared in his blue eyes. A quiet anger could be felt, as if he would cruelly cut Royster to pieces right here and now. Royster felt instinctive fear.
