At that moment Tyler’s mother raised her head weakly, blinking through her tears to see the woman who had just spoken.
“I told you I was going to deal with you,” the woman continued with a twisted grin. “You thought because you were hooded and quick with your tongue that no one would touch you.”
Immediately She pointed a sharp–nailed finger at her.
“You dared splash water on me the other day you!” Her voice was sharp now, echoing through the stone halls.
“You filthy, pitiful hag!”
Then she stepped even more closer.
“And now look who got the last laugh.”
Then, without hesitation, the woman raised her hand.
“SMACK!”
Her palm cracked across Tyler’s mother’s face, hard enough to send a spray of tears and blood to the floor.
The slap echoed cruelly, but the torment didn’t end there.
Before the woman could even step back, three guards silent up to this point drew their whips again, each one rolling out with a sharp hiss like snakes ready to strike.
Without mercy, they lashed downward.
“CRACK!”
One blow
“CRACK!
A second
“CRACK!”
A third
Tyler’s mother’s body twisted in pain, her back arching as the whips tore into her flesh even more. The force of the strikes sent her tumbling forward, coughing violently.
blood splattered from her mouth as her body hit the floor with a thud.
And still, there was no mercy.
Chapter 28
+25 BONU
At that moment one of the guards stepped forward again, raising his whip higher this time.
He snarled, his voice loud and filled with hate.
“How dare you cough blood on the king’s floor!” he roared. “Who do you think you are to let your filthy, smelly blood touch the king’s floor?!”
He lifted the whip again, eyes wild with rage.
But just as he was about to swing it his arm froze.
Mid–air.
The entire room went still, His muscles locked.
His breath caught in his throat.
He looked to his right and saw a hand wrapped around his wrist like an iron vice.
A hand that wasn’t there a second ago, at that moment the guard’s eyes widened in horror.
Standing there, without a word, was Tyler.
The moment Tyler’s hand clamped around the guard’s wrist, the whip froze mid–air like time itself had paused.
Immediately the guard’s muscles tensed, veins popping in his forearm as he tried to yank himself free, but it was no use Tyler’s grip was like stone.
Then, the guard turned his head sharply, ready to bark, and the moment his eyes locked with the figure beside him, confusion twisted into his face.
he blinked once, twice.
And then recognition struck.
“What the hell-” he snarled. “You?”
He jerked back his head in disbelief.
“How dare you touch me, you dirty pig!”
The insult shot from his mouth like venom.
His lip curled, disgust dripping from every word.
“How did you even get in here? Did they finally arrest you too?”
He scoffed loudly, eyes darting to the others in the chamber.
The woman who had slapped Tyler’s mother stepped forward with a smirk curling at her lips.
“It looks like justice has arrived on its own,” she said mockingly. “How convenient.”
Chapter 78
+25 BONUS
Immediately another guard stepped closer and grinned maliciously.
“So they caught him, huh?” he said with a laugh. “Well, I guess we don’t have to chase the rat anymore.”
The first guard sneered.
“Everything’s working out better than we expected,” he said coldly. “Now we don’t need to be gentle about it either.”
At that moment he turned slightly, his voice rising as he addressed the others.
“We thought we missed our chance with this bastard. Now he just walks in here like a fool?”
He laughed darkly.
“He won’t be walking out.”
Their confidence rose like smoke, feeding each other’s arrogance.
Their eyes gleamed now not with discipline, but with the hunger of men who thought they’d been handed an easy prize.
But Tyler said nothing, his expression didn’t shift.
He simply released the guard’s wrist slowly, as if he were letting go of something beneath his notice.
And without a word, he turned his back on them.
He walked forward past their taunts, past their sneers.
Step by step, he closed the space between him and his mother who still lay collapsed on the cold floor, her body trembling
As Tyler knelt beside his mother, the stench of blood and the sting of smoke–scorched stone filled his lungs.
He gently turned her frail body toward him, his hand trembling as he carefully brushed the messy strands of hair from her face.
Then… he saw it.
The open cuts across her back.
The whip marks–angry, red, all bleeding.
The torn cloth stuck to her skin, soaked in pain.
Immediately something inside him shifted.
Slowly, without blinking, he stared at the wounds.
Chapter 28
His lips began to curl but not with sorrow, not with helplessness.
It was a dark, quiet smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.
Not one born of madness, Not one born of cruelty.
But the kind of smile that says, someone just made the biggest mistake of their life.
It was quiet, Deadly, and cold enough to kill.
“Mother…” he whispered softly, almost lovingly, “I know you’re not alright.”
At that moment he gently cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing away her tear.
+25 BONU!
“But just give me a minute,” he murmured, lowering her slowly to the ground, “and I’ll be with you shortly.”
Hearing Tyler voice her eyes fluttered open for a second, her lips trembling.
She blinked through the haze and managed a whisper, “Why… Why did you come back?”
Her voice cracked as she tried to sit up.
“I didn’t ask you to come back…” she muttered. “You… you weren’t supposed to come back…”
Immediately her hand reached for his chest, her fingers barely touching him.
“Why… why, Tyler?”
And before he could say anything her head fell back.
Her eyes closed, her body went limp.
“Mother?” he called quietly.
He leaned closer.
“Mother…”
But there was no reply, Just silence.
Her chest rose and fell with the faintest breath but her consciousness was gone.
She had fainted from the pain… the trauma… the exhaustion.
Then Tyler’s hands hovered just above her body, trembling slightly.
His smile had disappeared, his jaw clenched.
And in a whisper only he could hear, he spoke.
“…So I failed you again.”
His voice cracked heavy with ilt
Chapter 28
His voice cracked, heavy with guilt.
“Five years ago… I failed you.”
His head hung low.
“And now, today–of all days–I also failed you.”
He swallowed hard, his fists trembling.
“What kind of son am I?”
Behind him, the silence didn’t last.
Instead, it was broken by mocking laughter.
The guards had seen her faint, and they couldn’t resist.
“Haha!” one of them burst out.
Another added, “You’re a loser, aren’t you?”
“A worthless son,” the first guard said with a sneer.
“That’s why you can’t even fulfill your mother’s wish.”
“You heard her, didn’t you?” another one chimed in, grinning like a hyena.
“She told you to leave, told you to stay away.”
“But what did you do?”
They all laughed now, their voices echoing through the stone.
“You came back.”
+25 BONUS
Chapter 29
