Chapter 3 - Domino

Lambert grinned widely while the guards cheered in amusement. He started walking behind Ria.

Ango and John who were lying on the ground reacted, saying "no no no no PLEASE NO"

Turning a deaf ear or feeling pleasure due to their reaction he raised his hand and lashed at Ria.

*Crack

"Ahhhhhh" Ria shrieked and fell, her stomach hitting the ground. She groaned and struggled but eventually got to her knees again.

"Well, this is getting fun" Lambert said and got behind Ango again; now the passion in his actions was obvious to all that were there, his expression screamed "I love my job"

*crack Crack CRack CRAck

"7 8 9 10"

Ango was gritting his teeth so hard that blood was trickling down the corners of her mouth. His back was so bloody it seemed he was wearing crimson clothes.

"This getting a bit boring, let me try something else" Lambert said while holding his left hand over the whip.

A green glow appeared on the whip and countless small thorns began to appear all over the weapon. Lambert passed his hand over the thorns, feeling their sharp tips and brutal appearance made his eyes glint.

Ango couldn't see what was going on behind him but Ria could and her expression fell, the thought of what that weapon could do to his son was horrifying. She kept cursing at herself that she had waited that long to send John after Ango, she kept asking herself why but she couldn't give any actual answer.

Lambert raised his hand once again and hit Ango twice in a row.

*CRAck CRAck

"11 12"

"aghhhh"

A groan escaped Ango's mouth; he could barely stop himself from screaming.

Ria, seeing this, said amidst her sobs "please stop my lord, he doesn't deserve this"

Ango's mind went back to what had happened earlier this day.

...

He was standing in the royal palace of the Folium family and he was nearly finished with his cleaning duties. His job was cleaning the buckets that the people in the palace defecated in and they were many of those buckets. Elves were mostly vegetarians and so they used the buckets more than what other races considered normal.

No human was allowed to live in or in the vicinity of the palace, so the slaves had to walk a long distance to get to and return from there. There were multiple human settlements in the city for the same reason, most elves in this place did not want humans to live inside their houses.

One of the reasons he was sometimes late was due to this, and this time he had promised Nina that they would have fun after he was done in the palace but he had to stay a bit more because the head servant, the elf in charge of the slaves working in the palace, was briefing them about their duties for tomorrow.

It was revealed that tomorrow at noon, the palace would be receiving a high-ranking guest from the capital of the kingdom, someone bearing the royal emblem.

The Folium family was one of the lower-ranking branches of the elven royal family that was sent to the borders in order to protect it long ago, but that was long ago; no one considered them of the royal family now, not even they themselves.

To not dirty the eyes of the esteemed guest with their bodies, they would be given special clothes to cover themselves with and some would also have additional duties.

This led to him meeting up with Nina later than planned, the first piece of the domino that fell.

...

Turning a deaf ear to Ria, Lambert continued.

*CRACK CRACK

"13 14"

The pain made Ango snap out of it, it was too much for him, and he couldn't take it.

Unable to vent by screaming he made a fist with his right hand and smashed the ground in front of him multiple times to distract himself from the overwhelming pain he was feeling at that moment.

*CRACK CRACK

"15 16" a tone of delight could be heard in Lambert's voice

"AGhhh"

Ango could now barely take it and started smashing down his fist repeatedly. A disgusting-looking brown liquid could be seen on his fist due to the mixing of blood and dirt. He was barely able to hold down the pain but this time Lambert didn't give him any break.

*CRACK

"17"

"AHHHHHHH" he screamed out loud.

He couldn't control himself anymore, the pain was now too much for him to handle and thorns would rip out his flesh like small saws.

Lambert looked at Ria and gave her a toothy grin as he moved behind her. He didn't bother changing his whip with a normal one and lashed at her and lashed at her.

The whip tore through the air with so much force that a high-pitched noise could be heard.

*CRAAACK

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Ria shrieked loudly, Lambert had obviously used more strength on her. She fell to the ground again and started shivering due to pain, sobbing uncontrollably.

John was now on his knees again and was watching this scene with bloodshot eyes while clenching his fists.

The scene of Ria's naked body shivering made his blood boil, but he berated himself mentally.

'Just endure it, Endure it, It will pass, Fucking endure it' He was no hero and he knew it, only the mentally ill or the powerful had that luxury. To survive he had to bow down and endure, there was no other way for the truly weak.

He could hear the laughter of the guards; tears were falling down his jaw like rain drops while his nails dug deep into the palms of his hands.

Lambert walked behind Ango again, with small, measured steps.

He arrived in front of the mangled flesh that was Ango's back and raised his hand, the droplets blood tricking down the now red thorns fell on his armor.

*CRACK CRACK

"18 19"

Ango's nails broke while he was hitting the ground, groans of pain and muffled whimpers were all that could be heard from him.

Ria looked at him and with tear-filled eyes said "please stop it, my son doesn't deserve this, he was just late"

Lambert who was raising his hand to strike once more stopped and turned his head toward her. He smirked and a green aura appeared on the whip. The thorns grew longer and their tips curved.

His smirk turned sinister as he turned around and lashed at Ango.

*CRAAACK RIIIP

"20"

"AGHGHGHGHGHGHGHH"

Ango screamed at the top of his lungs. he fell down and started twitching. The whip had acted like a saw and rent his flesh. He tried to touch his back but Lambert stumped on it and moved his foot around which made his scream turn erratic.

Ria couldn't watch anymore and yelled "STOP YOU BASTARD, YOU'RE KILLING HIM"

The sound of laughter stopped, the humans stopped breathing and John's mind went blank. They should never disrespect the higher races. This had been ingrained in their bones through pain and fear.

Lambert suddenly turned around and lashed at her face with the thorned whip.

*RIIIP

The whip tore her face apart, her right cheek was slashed open, and her lips ripped apart. It had happened so fast that blood had not come out of the wounds yet.

Ria fell onto her back and screamed with her hands on her face trying to sense the familiar pieces of flesh but she couldn't.

"I see that the livestock is forgetting her place. The punishment for disrespecting the higher races is death" Lambert said with a voice so calm that it sent a shiver down the humans' spine.

Ango's mind was just coming back, he was struggling to get up but the next words that Lambert spoke made him freeze and his blood run cold.

"But technically you're two people in one, what to do, what to do"

In the next instant he appeared before Ria and kicked her stomach.

"This will teach you to not disrespect your owners, a dog shouldn't bite the hand that feeds it" he said.

Ria screamed while holding her belly, her voice getting cut off as she was kicked repeatedly.

John's mind caught up with the events, he started yelling in a high-pitched voice and started moving toward Ria but Lambert kicked him away.

Ango was too weak to move but even if his body, his mind would not. The world was crashing down on him and his mind was stuck on a futile question.

'why…why…why'

He had lost too much blood and his vision was becoming blurry. His sensations grew faint, even the pain numbed a bit and he passed out. John had also passed out after he was kicked but Ria was conscious, holding her stomach that was twitching and still crying.

Lambert walked away from her, faced Gloria and said "Can you heal them enough that they stop bleeding?"

The female elf nodded silently and went over to Ango. She squatted down and touched his back, a look of utter disgust appeared on her face but she continued.

A green aura spread from her hands to his back and his wounds started closing up; mangled flesh wriggled and moved and skin appeared in some spots. A minute passed and his back had healed but not enough for scars to disappear.

Healing took a toll upon the body, much energy and nutrition was needed, things that Ango lacked. If he had not passed out before, he would have passed out now.

She did the same to John then moved to Ria and grabbed a hold of her face tightly since she moving around too much. A few seconds later she was done and moved away.

"Now GET BACK INSIDE AND TAKE THESE ANIMALS WITH YOU" Lambert yelled and moved away with the rest of the guards.

The men and women quickly walked toward them and took them inside. Ria was struggling with the pain as she had gone into labor. It was unexpected but it was only a few days early. The others knew what this meant but Ria still had a bit of hope.

She was grunting and breathing loudly for around 5 hours, with two of the women helping her and she passed out many times during that period.

And finally, she gave birth but when Layla, the woman that was helping her showed her the baby girl in her hands with a crestfallen expression, Ria's world crumbled. The baby wasn't screaming, wasn't crying, wasn't breathing and wasn't moving; It was deformed with bumps everywhere.

It was stillborn