Ok warning, there is a bit of abuse in this chapter (torture) so please be cautious if you're not fond of that.

For Ledus, the world was different. He did not see day until 8 in the morning and his day was over at 4 in the afternoon. His entire life, he has never seen the sun rise, never seen a sunset, and he has never seen a night sky. He was only allowed a walk once a week and it was rarely outside of the palace. He only knew four people...well only four people were allowed to interact with him. His maids, Kara and Liyette, the prince, Jarin, and Tyel who was usually assigned as his guard during big events. Tyel has also been given special permission from the prince, to visit Ledus whenever he wants. Anyone else that appeared around Ledus just did their job and vanished without a single word.

To be honest, things were a lot better now than they were when he was a child. At that time the old king prohibited anyone from showing him kindness, this went on until he was eight. At this point they realized that he could not speak and was only able to understand abusive words like “no, stop, shut up, idiot, useless,” and others that were much worse. To fix this issue the king had Ledus follow prince Jarin and squire Tyel. He would learn reading and writing while they studied, when they trained he was made to sit quietly. It was thanks to Jarin and Tyel that Ledus learned how to speak, however that was what brought their fun times to an end,

Ledus began to speak at the age of 10, at that point the king restricted him to his room and would only allow a tutor to visit him. The tutor came once a week to work on reading and writing. Other than that the tutor would not talk with Ledus. During this time Ledus stopped speaking again, he only answered questions asked directly to him. Other than that he would not say a word.

When Ledus was 13 the king took ill and was limited to his bed. Prince Jarin now took control of matters regarding the palace and kingdom. With all of the political matters he had to deal with, Ledus’ situation didn’t even come to mind.

A year passed and the king’s health had grown worse. He passed away in his sleep. After the funeral Jarin was presented with all of the documents and secrets of the kingdom. It was then that Ledus was brought up. The old king’s advisor told the prince why Ledus was kept in the first place. “His tears will bring us fortune, but we haven’t found the proper catalyst yet. Look through these books and tell us what you would like us to try next.” He gave Jarin three large books to read. As Jarin flipped through the pages he grew more and more sick. The books were filled with all of the different methods they had tried to force his tears. From his time as an infant to the present.

They had beaten, starved, and tortured him in all ways imaginable. In their eyes, the poor boy wasn’t even human. As he reached the end of the third book he noticed the dates. The date was today.

The boy began to cry before we even took him to the dungeon. As usual

he struggled to get away but that just led to his wrists being bruised. Once in the dungeon the boy seemed to shut down. He stopped crying and stared blankly at nothing. We fastened his hands and legs in place then proceeded with the kings last idea. We doused the whip in oil and set it a flame. To be honest it is a blessing the boy heals so fast, or else he would have definitely died The boy cried the entire time but nothing changed. After the 50th lashing we decided to call it a day. His body quivered, whether it was from pain or cold I am unsure. We put a wet cloth over his back and carried him back to his room. The fire was lit and the servants instructed to keep the cloth wet. He has not said a single word.

Jarin ran out of the study and up the tall tower to get to Ledus’ room. He hadn’t been there since they were kids, but what he saw was unpleasant. The room was dusty and dark, the windows shut up by moldy old curtains, there was no bed, no chairs, and no tables. The only thing was the old dirty fire pit and a pile of pillows. He saw Ledus’ thin frail body lying amongst the pillows and went over to check on him.

As he sat down, he saw that Ledus was crying as he slept, his small body still shivering. Jarin gently pulled back the wet cloth. The sight of his back made him sick. The wounds blistered and bled. He sent one of the servants to fetch a doctor. He replaced the wet cloth and gently stroked Ledus’ head. “I promise, I’ll keep you safe from now on.” When the doctor arrived Ledus woke up. Jarin held his hand as the doctor cleaned his wounds. With each small whimper and whine that escaped his lips, Jarin wanted more and more to protect him, pamper him, to spoil him. It became his obsession.