Ryu's vision blackened, warping to the point he was suddenly shuttled into another memory.
…
"Little Ryu, whenever you see your royal father in such a setting. You must bow, okay? It's okay to treat him as a normal father in private settings, but in public, he is a King."
Ryu tilted his head to side, displaying his confusion. "But… I can't see, mother."
First Concubine Leilani did her best to remain calm and continued explaining with a smile. "This mother of yours only meant those words figuratively. Simply put, in the presence of your royal father, showing proper respect is important."
Ryu's small head nodded. "Ah, sorry royal father, but I can't bow to you out of respect."
"Little Ryu…" First Concubine Leilani tried to teach her son once more, but this time, she was the one who was interrupted.
"And why is that?" Surprisingly, it was actually the King who spoke. His voice was filled with majesty and the smallest hint of curiosity. He really did want to know what this son of his would say.
"It's simple, really." Ryu explained unperturbed by his father's presence. "I'm blind. If I bowed, I have no way of knowing if I've done so in the proper direction. I could follow your voice, but if I miss by even a hair, and grace a Prince's bow to the wrong person, wouldn't that be more catastrophic than not bowing at all? Isn't my not bowing the highest form of respect I could give you, royal father?"
…
Pa!
The crisp sound of a slap not only made Ryu's ears ring.
His face flushed red. Usually tender and white, it bulged, splitting beneath the strength of his mother's rings.
"Do you not understand the gravity of what you've done today?!" Leilani's shrill voice filled the mother and son's private courtyard. "Do you believe that you were very clever?! Did you think that even if you meant your words with the utmost sincerity that it would matter?!"
…
Ryu relived all of these moments as though he was there again, the days, weeks and months passing by just as slowly. Finally, it was his seventh birthday… Again. The time for his awakening ceremony had come.
However, he seemed to also be aware from the very beginning that no matter what he did, it didn't matter. He was too clever, too intelligent. How could he not realize how his family had been pressing him down ever since his birth? Even if he didn't understand why, he knew enough to understand that it didn't matter. There would be no changing things.
So, when his Awakening Ceremony fizzled out, very clearly because his supposed father had tampered with the items necessary, he simply spoke the only words he had during the entire journey.
"To not even allow me a path to live?... What a good father you are."
Those words earned him yet another slap, one even more resounding that the one his mother had given him all those years ago, and it became an imprint his could still feel even years after.
…
"Fourth Brother, tell me, is your big sister beautiful?" Second Princess Isla spun in a mesmerizing yellow dress. Despite her childish demeanor, she was already a woman who had a child half as old as Ryu. That said, one would never assume so by her high-pitched whining.
"Second sister, how could I possibly answer that question?" Ryu's lips slanted into a bitter smile.
"Your second sister believes you have the best eyes on this entire Plane, is that not enough?" Isla took a seat beside her little brother, ruffling his black-dyed hair. "Look at you, you're so handsome. Don't you want big sister to find you a little wife?"
Ryu smiled lightly. "And which little girl would you sentence to become a widow?"
The Second Princess pouted, knocking Ryu on the head. "Don't say such depressing things. Does this big sister of yours look like the type to allow you to die? Now be serious.
"The little girl of second brother's Garis Clan is quite cute. She's only a year older than you and this big sister's intuition tells her that she's taken a liking to you. There's also the Kunal Clan's young miss. She's already five years older than you, but that's okay. When you two get older and she gets droopy, big sister gives you permission to take a young and ripe concubine."
…
The memories Ryu had of his two sisters were quite good in the beginning. Isla and Dahlia, two names he hadn't thought of in a very long time. It was unfortunate that those good memories didn't last.
…
"Grandpa!" Two adorable five-year-old children sprinted into the arms of King Tor, the little boy monopolizing his right arm while the little girl took over his left. A rare smile graced the King's face, the likes of which hadn't been seen in public for decades.
"Okay, okay, you two little mushrooms. Go off to the garden and play, grandpa has something to speak with your mothers about."
"How are Adorjan and Cato?" King Tor asked absentmindedly, taking a seat.
"Our husbands are doing well, father." First Princess Dahlia responded, a light smile on her face.
At first, her and her younger sister hadn't been too excited to be married off into the Sect, but their husbands were good men who treated them well.
"If you want to ask us how Little Ryu thinks you should respond, then just be straight forward." Second Princess Isla responded. Her voice didn't have any odd fluctuations to it. In fact, it sounded just as light and playful as it usually did. But the weight of her words was fairly clear.
King Tor shrugged. "If he can predict the reason for its destruction without ever taking a step outside, then his insight really is frightening."
"That's why us monitoring him is useless. If we waste even a single word trying to lead the conversation, he will realize it. The Agnes Clan has already forever earned his bad side, even his foolish mother is no exception. I don't know how you could expect us to help you." The First Princess interjected.
"That's where you're wrong." King Tor shook his head. "No matter how intelligence the Fourth Prince is, he is still only a child. Every child is the most susceptible to manipulation at this age and not a single one is indifferent to living a life without warmth. His IQ is irrelevant to the matter at hand."
…
Those two weren't the only ones to betray his trust… Now were they…? His supposed mother's father was a man who had no sense of propriety.
…
"What did I do to deserve this?! A useless daughter! A useless grandson! My entire main bloodline is filled with useless fools! Do I really have to hand the Clan to my younger brothers?!
"What are you worth if not the hole between your legs?!" He turned his ire toward his daughter, swinging his palm toward Leilani with barely a regard for her life.
A resounding slap sent the Second Concubine crashing into a bookcase that leaned against the wall. Books flew into the air, flying upward only to land of Leilani's frail body as she slumped to the floor.
"You summoned me?" Ryu's cool voice directed a question toward his grandfather.
"You have one more opportunity to be useful to me." Patriarch Agnes responded coldly. "For the next three days, the Garis Clan will be here. Although they can reject my offer of marriage, they cannot toss away all decorum. They must allow us to play host. During this time, the Garis Clan young miss—Yanna, I believe her name was—will likely cling to you as she always does, you must—"
"No." Ryu didn't allow his grandfather to finish. In fact, his face as twisted into a look of sheer and unbridled disdain.
"What did you say?!" The chest of the old man rose and fell at astonishing rates. His skin reddened and one could almost see billowing smoke coming from his now crimson ears.
…
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.
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.
…
He could still feel the cracks of the whip, the tearing of his flesh, the blood that fell drip by drip to the ground below.
…
"Stop. Toss him into the dungeon."
Ryu slowly stood. His legs wobbled beneath him, nearly collapsing more times than they cared to count, but in the end, he raised up to his full height.
An ugly bruise of purples, greens and blacks covered his chest, making it obvious at a glance that several of his ribs were broken. His back was so mangled that pieces of whole flesh fell from his exertion, leaving a path of meat chunks behind him.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Patriarch Agnes roared.
Ryu's steps paused. Pressing his thumb firmly against the side of his pointing finger, he caused his nail to protrude as far out as it would go. Without a hint of hesitation, he stabbed this thumb over his heart, drawing a cross upward before crossing back once more to form a bloody X.