Punishment Grounds

Ryu didn't know how he had expected those matters to conclude, but what he did know was that it was far worse than he imagined. He had barely taken a single step out of his grandfather's study before he found himself flying backward after a hand grabbed the back of his collar.

His grandfather's rage reached a fever pitch, causing him to punish Ryu by the strictest laws allowed by the Clan Texts.

Ryu was stripped to his barest undergarments and dragged to the Clan Punishment Grounds. With the Sun burning high in the sky, the earth beneath his feet crunched with a coarse heat, burning the soles of his feet. His frail, ice-white skin took the brunt of the punishment, facing the beading streams of light without protection. Ironically, the only thing that protected him from a next day filled with red, painful blisters was the crimson blood that soon flowed from his wounds.

The sound of a cracking whip violently tore through the ambience of the Clan Gathering. Confused expressions colored the faces of those attending, many of whom didn't understand how to properly react to this abrupt change. Whenever there was punishment to be doled out, proper announcements would be made, and crimes would be listed off as a deterrence. But, clearly, none of this had happened this time around.

Crowds of Agnes Clan main and branch members hurried to follow the source of the noise, putting down what they were doing for the sake of curiosity. However, none of them expected the sight they saw upon reaching the sand and dirt field of the Punishment Grounds.

Ryu's small wrists were bound tightly by blood-soaked ropes and then attached to a short pole before him. His bare knees were scraped by the earth beneath them, having been forced to kneel by the position of his tied hands. By now, his frail and delicate back was nowhere to be seen. Instead, its view was replaced by what looked like a fresh carcase, torn apart by the teeth of ravenous wolves.

His face was partially covered by his black-dyed hair, sticking to his face due to some sick sweat and blood mixture. In the end, the only thing that left him the slightest bit of dignity was the pair of loose, now reddened underwear that could hardly cling to his skinny waist.

Many gasped in the horror of what they were seeing. A hesitating servant brandished a thorn laced beast tendon whip, too scared to swing once more, but even more scared of the glaring Clan Patriarch that stood to his side. In the end, his fear of killing Ryu was outweighed by what he feared Patriarch Agnes would do if he tried to back out of his duties.

The whip continued to crack forward, snapping through the air with a ferocity that made those who witnessed every flesh and blood connection cringe.

It was at that moment that the Garis Clan entourage also made their way to the Punishment Grounds. How could the former General miss a chance to poke fun at the Agnes Clan? He still had some built-up anger toward Patriarch Agnes for his negotiating tactics, but he was even more angered toward Ryu for so blatantly disrespecting him.

At first, when he noticed that it was Ryu, he almost laughed. In fact, the four guards who always followed him and his granddaughter actually did. They found it hilarious that the kid who was acting as though he had the whole world in his palm just minutes earlier was essentially being spanked before the eyes of everyone. However, Patriarch Garis somehow didn't find this scene funny at all.

To his side, Yaana nearly fainted in horror. If it wasn't for her grandfather's palm stopping her fall backward, the frail beauty would have collapsed entirely.

The sounds of the cracking whip didn't cease even as the crowd grew. Maybe it was only after ten whips became twenty, and twenty whips became thirty, that those watching suddenly felt that something was off. What could a Clan Heir have possibly done to earn such a severe punishment? It simply didn't make any sense.

Even for the worst crimes committed by those of the main branch – things like thievery or rape – would only result in ten lashes at the most. Of course, matters were different if you were of a branch family, but this was the young heir they were talking about! Plus, he was a young man that only came back to these ancestral grounds once a year for a week at most. Up to now, he had only been here for a few hours. What crime could he have possibly committed in this time frame?

Tears fell like torrential rain from Yaana's small face. "Grandfather, help him!"

Her voice was drowned out by the sound of the cracking whip, but it was obvious what she wanted by how she tugged on her grandfather's sleeve.

Patriarch Garis frowned. He came here to laugh, but it wasn't his place to interfere in the matters of another Clan. Even if their trajectories were different, the Agnes Clan was still far more powerful than his Garis Clan, especially within the capital city. The truth was that even if Patriarch Agnes wanted to kill his grandson right before him, he'd still have no right to interfere.

Still, it was clear that the old man had lost his mind. Even if Ryu's mother was an Agnes, Ryu's last name was still Tor! You couldn't simply whip a Prince like this in public without facing consequences. What do you think would happen to the Cedar Clan if they suddenly found out that the First Prince was punished by his mother's Clan? All hell would break loose.

At this thought, the former General hesitated. Would the Royal Clan really react the same way for this Fourth Prince of theirs? Who would ostracize such a powerful Clan for a useless Prince? If it was a lesser Clan, it could be justified to protect the prestige of the royal family, but the Agnes Clan was no normal family…

By the time the fiftieth crack resounded through the Clan's land, even those who had been laughing began to feel their smiles freeze. Wasn't this too far? Come to think of it, they hadn't heard this boy make a single sound from beginning to end… Could it be that he was already dead?

The mixture of sweat and blood dripped from Ryu's body. Eventually, the dye that coated his hair couldn't withstand the onslaught of tortured liquid, causing a dense blackness to join them. The darkness colored the ground beneath his lowered head as his hair's true whiteness began to slowly shine through.

"Stop." It was only then that Patriarch Agnes called for the servant to stop. He didn't do this to protect Ryu's dark secret, but rather didn't want such a stain to attach itself to his Agnes Clan. "Toss him into the dungeon."