Villiem sat on his bed with beads of sweat running all over his exposed skin. Everything hurt.
Blood seeped into the sheets of his bed. His hands were fastened on either side, the grip strong enough to keep him grounded.
It hurts…
Suddenly, the door to Villiem's room was opened and Felix rushed inside with a small wooden box in his hands.
"Your Highness!" Felix stopped moving when he saw the blood.
He looked down on the floor and saw splatters of blood from the bed to the door leading outside the room, and all over the hallway. He didn't even notice the trail of blood outside because he was in a hurry to get here.
He was still too late.
"Ah… Thank goodness you're here. Help me with a pot. My stomach is acting up…"
There was a faint smile on Villiem's lips as he spoke with a strained voice. The pain on his bleeding back versus the discomfort in his stomach, Villiem didn't know which one was more unbearable.
"Your Highness, you truly allowed yourself to get whipped?" The expression on Felix's face showed that he was really shocked, despite coming here prepared for such a scene.
A while ago, after being commanded to eat all the food served on the breakfast table, Villiem didn't protest. He obeyed silently. Time passed and Felix didn't know what to do.
He wanted to help his master, but he knew that would only worsen things. Noticing Felix's plight, Villiem ordered him to carry out ridiculous tasks, just to keep him away.
Being busy someplace else would keep Felix distracted from thinking about him. Though Felix was against doing this, he couldn't disobey Villiem.
That was how Villiem was left alone to carry his personal burden. He had forced himself to finish all the food and was barely able to breathe properly by the time he was done.
Without taking a moment's rest, he was led to a place known as the Punishment Courtyard by the Shadows.
There, he was flogged with the Redemption Whip—the same whip that had hunted him from his childhood. But could he even complain? He couldn't!
He swallowed the pain without a word. After the punishment was carried out, he was informed that no one was allowed to help him.
So Villiem had to walk all the way from the Dark Palace back to the Stone Palace and into his room alone.
His back, which had been viciously designed by the whip, bled all the way.
It hurts.
But this wasn't the first time he'd experienced this type of pain. And he was sure that it wouldn't be the last time either.
"You… expect me to disobey… the Emperor?" Villiem countered Felix's words after some time in between heavy breaths.
A bead of sweat rolled down from the side of his forehead to the surface of his chin, then landed on his lap.
Felix looked at Villiem without saying anything. But it was obvious he had one word to say: YES.
Villiem was known for being confident in standing for justice. Even if it was against the highest person. How could he allow himself to be… disgraced in this way by the filthy Emperor?
Felix had a lot of thoughts and a lot of triggering things to say, but he kept them to himself because he knew that now was not the right time to say them.
He placed the wooden box which contained medicine by Villiem's side, then marched to the corner of the room and picked up a pot. He brought it to Villiem and planted it between his legs.
Villiem didn't even need to stick his finger down his throat before all that he ate poured out of his mouth. Villiem threw up every single thing he ate a while ago.
But even at that, he still didn't feel relieved. His stomach hurt. His throat hurt. Everything hurt.
But he did his best not to show the pain.
Felix helped Villiem to wipe his mouth, then he began to take off his upper clothes. The clothes that were bloody and sticking to the open wounds in his back.
After battling with the tiny buttons, Felix grew frustrated by the almost silent moans of pain that escaped from Villiem's mouth at every action.
He stopped unfastening the buttons to draw out his sword and slice the clothes off his master's body. At the descent of Villiem's clothes, a bleeding back filled with scars was revealed.
Old and new ones mixed.
Every other part of Villiem's body might be fair and clean but his back was a mess that had dozens of stories to tell.
If it were to be someone other than Felix looking at Villiem's back, they would have thrown up in disgust immediately.
Heck, Felix himself also had to shove down the repugnance that was rising in his chest from looking at the repulsive scars on Villiem's back. No matter how many times he had seen it in the past, Felix would never get used to the sight.
Jagged whip wounds, old and new, bleeding and festering, was what covered Villiem Reinhardt's back.
"You…" Villiem closed his eyes as he tried to speak. "Be gentle."
Felix didn't say anything in response, swallowing a gulp of his saliva and he readied his mind for the worst.
He opened the wooden box and brought out a bottle of spirit. He was not at all gentle in the way he poured the content down Villiem's back.
"Yeeeeeshhhhh…" Villiem hissed through his teeth, his grip on the sheets tightening further.
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.
Like it wasn't enough, after emptying the spirit bottle on Villiem's back, Felix brought out another bottle. One that was refined from their own intelligence.
He sprayed it all over Villiem's back. Villiem held back with more effort this time, silently screaming behind his clenched teeth.
It stung. It burned. It hurt.
But Villiem didn't move, refusing the strong urge to twist and turn, stand and run, or do anything to lessen the pain. He had to convince himself that it would pass.
Just like every other pain he had experienced, it would pass.
And it did.
After a series of slapping anguish as Felix administered treatment onto his back, Villiem could finally breathe without straining himself by the last step.
A thin material, soft and wet with unique fluid, was plastered all over his back. The sheets were changed and Villiem was made to lie down on his stomach.
This was a series of events that Villiem should have been more than familiar with at this time. But he was never able to turn off his receptors so he wouldn't feel pain.
Felix dismissed himself from the room after he finished, knowing very well that Villiem disliked having others witness him in a helpless state.
For Villiem, it was better to look foolish and be humiliated in front of his subordinates than show weakness to them.
Anything was better than displaying that he was nothing but a pile of flesh at the end of the day.