In my twentieth year in this world, I felt the most pain.
It was the same blade.
Same fire.
Same whip.
Everything was the same.
However, this was the most painful have I ever gone through.
This is because the one skinning me was not Shan. The one burning me was not Keth. But the one holding the whip was Lennie.
She will burst out of laughter every time she sees me bathed in my own blood before getting healed by a Miracle-Worker again. After that, repeat.
Time passed. The ninth month where the Princess would bore our child is nearing.
After all the torture under Lennie, I saw it...
I saw the sadness in her eyes!
I knew it, she was just being forced to do these harsh things to me. I am saddened to know that they are forcing her to do this!
Before we are set free, I want to be clear with her. That I don't hate her and that I understand her.
The perfect day for that has come. Keth and Shan were nowhere to be seen.
Near the end of the day where blood had already created a puddle around me. My innards have been placed outside. No matter how many time I see this, I can't get used to it.
Due to the accumulation of my Karma, it has been manifesting itself. It made my body stronger, more resistant to this, not letting me die so easily.
Not all of my Karma will be passed and that is reasonable. They cannot control how my body will grow, after all. So Karma affected that part.
However, they seemed to be expectant to this and increase the range of how I am tortured. After all I've gone through, my Karma just increased the methods they can use to me.
"Lennie..." I barely let a voice out of my throat.
When she was about to rip my throat out of my neck I gave my all to shout, "Argh! I..."
As if desperate, she dug her nails into my neck, about to ripped it out.
"I..."
However, I will not let this chance to say to her-
"I still love you!"
She stopped. I-I... I knew it. Hahaha...
So I continued.
"I know that you don't mean everything that you said and you did. I know that you still care for me."
"I can see it. I can see that you're sad and reluctant in this."
"I was forced to do things like this. Therefore, I understand it and that I forgive you. Before we part, I want to say that I still love you. I see you as my true mother in this life. That will... never change."
"...." she stared at me with silence.
The expression she wore ever since she became my Tormentor melted.
Tears came out of her eyes, releasing all the guilt and weight she had been feeling, "You're right, Prince... even though you brought nothing but disaster to me and my family... I love you too... as my son..."
This is the Lennie, my mother, I know.
"This is the first time a Prince forgave such betrayal. The Princess had gone through this too but she almost killed her caretaker on the spot."
Yeah, the Princess is very tough. I'm not surprised.
Lennie then took a step back as she smiled tenderly at me, "Then... this is truly our goodbye, Prince."
What goodby-
Without warning, something flashed.
I weakly turned my head and saw an arrow embedded in the wall on the left. I rolled my eyes back and saw blood trickling down from Lennie's temples. Both of them.
In the shadows, Shan and Keth came out. The latter was holding a crossbow.
It was obvious what happened.
However, Lennie's body had to fall first, like a puppet that had its strings cut, her face still showed a relieved yet frozen smile, before I processed what happened.
"I can't believe this... you actually forgave her."
"Don't turn insane on us now. This is probably the worst torture a Prince from all generations had."
"Shan... I have the Sanity Recaller with me."
"Ah, I forgot about that! That was just too sad even for me."
"Right... I don't even know how he got to say that in that state..."
"Hmm? Why so quiet, P..nce?"
"M...be... he..."
"Oh!... sa... me!.."
...
...
.̷̨͝.̶͇̽.̷̛̹.̶̠̈́.̸̪͂.̴̹͂.̴̟̂
Ȉ̶̳͇͕̅ ̶̺̼̞̱̀͊͝ẖ̶̛͕ǎ̶̦̟͌̇̍v̵̹̹̊͐̅ḙ̵̩̯̒̄̌̀͜ ̶̨̧̟̫̓̽̓͘t̵̲̤̥̟͝ò̴̖̣̖̀͛ ̵͊̉̅ͅk̷͍͖̈́̊̋ȋ̶͚̮̂̍̅ĺ̸̼̇͝l̶̯̞̈́̈́͌͝ͅ ̶͎̤́͒ţ̶͉̯̘͊h̵̛͓͋ẹ̶̬̩̩̅̑͘m̶̭̤̩̕
"Hey, why is his body twitching like that!?"
"I'm sure... he wants to take revenge after what we did..."
"HAHAHA! But what is he going to do with his... intestines out... how can you stand up?"
K̴̡̘̠̤̦͈̰͈̣̦i҈̡͈͔͍̪͙̟̫͈̞͚͙͚̦l̸̢̘̲͙̟̦̬͚ͅl̶̘̜͖̗̬͇̭͖̠͢ t҉͔̲̭̩̰͈̳̦̙͕̭̮̪͈͢ͅh҉̡̘̬͙̬̥͔̥̟̳̮e҉̧͇̦̤̩̫͕̠̘̙̖̙̦m̶̢̤̲͍̳͈͖̬͕̟̙̰̞̫͙̫
"Keth... be prepared...!"
"He is a dying man, how can he be any threat?"
"I know... but it is better to be safe than sorry..!"
"It is already a miracle that he is able to stand up in that state! Argh! But you're smarter than me so what do we do!?"
"Just be careful..."
Kill them?
K̵i̴l̴l̶ ̷t̶h̵e̵m̴.
Kill?
Ḱ̴̢̛̞̥͉̹̭̦̠͇̂̓̀́̀̈̍̎͂̿̓͌́͋̌͒̃͊̕̚͝͝͝Ī̸̡̜̮̬̬͓̠̻͍̬̹̤̝̝̝̥͕̠̃ͅĻ̷̞̼͔̬͔̘̟̾̽̀͊͂̒̊̓͆̉̾͑̃͘L̶̢͉̟̩͇̫̤̖͈͇̦͚͎͙̜̻̞͚̯͓̰͉͓̹̦͛̑̿̋͆̇̂͆͆͊͐̍̊̕͜͝ ̶̡̢̨̡̛̲̱̝͎͚̯͔̳͕̱̜͓̦͂̐̐̿̑͋̌̀̅̃͋̎̈́̃͘͘̚͝͝Ţ̸̧͓̩͇͓͍̞̳̟͖̼̤͍͖̖̠͉̾̆̑́͗͆̄̐͗̋̽̍͌͛̚͠Ḩ̷̨̢̦͚̞̜̖̹̱͈̣̦͇͈̭̓̅͗̋͐͂͐̑̑͐̑̅͂͌̌́́̑͘̚͝Ḛ̷̢̖̦̠̦̦̟̬͊̋́̅̑̎̔̓́͌ͅM̷̢̢͍̩̥̦̦̹̺͇̫̙̹̝̩̥̼̺͉̅͒̋͐̓̅͆̀̿̾͑̋͊͗͐͘͝
"AHHH!!" kill them.
"What the hell!? How can he move like that!? Shan, dodge!"
"Don't use the crossbow...! We still need him alive... Keep him company, I will call for a soldier and the Miracle-Worker... at this point.. he's going to die...!"
"I WILL---!!!" k̶i̷l̸l̴ ̶t̵h̶e̵m̶.̵.̵.̵
"Bastard, shut up!"
"How can you still stand up!?"
"Monster! Get down, ha!"
K̵i̷l̵l̸.̷.̸.̴
"Ah...! I will... kill you..." k̶i̷l̵l̷ ̴y̸o̸u̵.̶
"Seriously... you're freaking me out, man! Stop it!"
"I've already broken your bones, you will die!"
"Damn you!"
"I will...!" k̶i̷l̵l̷ ̴y̸o̸u̵.̶
"Shan, stop... soldiers, hold the Prince down...! Sir Miracle-Worker... please heal the Prince."
"What an abomination is this. I swear! Healing Trinkets are expensive!"
"Please, Sir...!"
"I know, just complaining."
K̷̤̜̐̈́͜i̷̧͖̎̈́̀̅̓̒̎́͛l̷̡̨̯̟̹̱̰͇̩͐̐̌l̵̡͍͓̺̬̖̀̿͘.̷̢̭̹͍̻̌̈́̆̓͛̏̂͠͠͝͠.̵̨̰̤̙̱͓̊̏͝.̷̢̭̦̣̠̠̀͜
...T̷͓̆h̷̬̤̬͔̔e̶̬͝m̶̹̈́...
...
...
...
I will never forgive you.
Never.
...
"So he forgave the betrayer? He will surely create the greatest ruler. Ready the final ritual." the elder smiled, "Let them meet one last time."
One day in the ninth month, the Princess was about to give birth.
The Prince was forcefully placed to sleep due to the threat that he may die due to his extreme, abnormal, and terrifying outburst.
However, on this day, he woke up together with the Princess. They were not in the same place where the ground was mud.
This time, they sat on a cold floor. Candles on the walls while no windows. There was one wide double-door on one face of the room.
It was a very strange cubical room. It was wide and big as if a whole house in itself. Furthermore, there was a fence before the door.
"Prince..." the Princess held him.
His eyes opened, however, he was unresponsive.
"Prince?" only by calling out a few times did the Prince regained his consciousness.
"Princess," crying, he buried his head in her arms, "They killed Lennie."
"But... didn't she betray you too?"
"She..." however, the Prince didn't want to tell the truth. He was sure that the Princess loved her caretaker too. However, she was also "betrayed"
If she knew the truth, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself for almost killing her caretaker.
"This is our child?" the Prince held the Princess's large round belly.
The Princess smiled with joy, "Yes, Prince."
Before the Prince could speak more, they were interrupted when the only door opened and entered the Elder with her two assistants, Keth, and Shan.
"The time is finally here. Today, the greatest ruler will be born."
The Princess blankly stared at them while the Prince trembled when he saw Keth and Shan's faces It wasn't fear that made him tremble.
But another thought quickly arrived in their heads. After being betrayed multiple times, they were afraid of what will happen.
Their promised freedom... would they continue to gullibly cling onto it?
The Elder then continued, "Today, the blood of the Prince and the Princess will be poured onto the child and all that Karma will make that child the greatest Ruler of all!"
'Blood...?' the Princess was not dumb and immediately knew their fate.
"Today, we will witness the greatest ritual this world will ever have... This will make our Genriar Kingdom hold its position as the greatest and biggest kingdom for a century to come!" she then placed down her hand and shouted, "Release the man-eating pigs!"
"Prince... I..." the Princess held the Prince tightly with worry in her face, "The child will come out!"
Large men then came in, pushing a giant metal cage with strange and terrifying creatures inside. They do resemble pigs.
The fence was opened and the cage was pushed inside. The large men closed the fence then pulled something that opened the cage.
The man-eating pigs rushed out.
"Prince... I-"
"No, concentrate on giving birth. I now know what to do. I will keep you safe." the Prince placed the Princess down gently and kissed her forehead before standing up, facing the rushing demonic creatures.