Chapter 33: BEAUTIFUL SCARS

THERE ARE FOUR ROLES that the Delton siblings must follow: the Gentleman role, the boss role, the slut role, and the saint role. Each role also has an assigned punishment, and these punishments are rotational, which means that whatever your role may be, you will have to receive the punishment that is next in line with the previously performed punishment.

The first punishment is the Gentleman punishment. This punishment actually doesn't inflict physical pain to the person who is going to receive it like the other punishments because the punished will be choosing a target at random. There will be four pictures that are handpicked by the family themselves. These targets are the people closest to the sibling being punished. One of those pictures is a wildcard that is personally picked by the person who handles the punishment, who is, in fact, the wife of the head of the family.

The punished will be given a cigar. He has to choose a picture before the cigar meets its end. If the person being punished is not able to choose after the cigar is finished, he/she will be forced to kill all of the four targets. And since this is a gentleman punishment, there is also an exchange. A clean kill will give the punished immunity for the next punishment. I don't know what they mean by clean kill but I'm pretty sure they don't mean it in a literal sense.

Second is the Boss Punishment. It's technically supposed to be the easiest, but it's just as terrible as any other punishment. During my first bidding experience, someone who sat beside me during the bidding explained to me what the boss punishment was, and according to him, the boss punishment gives the punished a choice. Since he's the boss, he can choose from the other punishments, which means he can choose between the slut or saint punishment, but not the gentleman punishment. Either way, it's a total loss.

The next punishment is the Slut Punishment. Out of all the punishments, this one is the cruelest one of all. Rich men and women, young and old, will be bidding on the punished for a chance to fuck them. The bidding is disgusting enough, but what's more disturbing is the fact that the bidders are given the chance to watch the highest bidder have sex with the punished live. They have a specific time for the live broadcast, and after that, the highest bidder can do whatever he wants.

The last punishment is the Saint Punishment. The saint punishment is in fact the most physically painful punishment out of all the three. Like the slut punishment, there will once again be bidders, but this time, they will bid on what item to use for the whipping of the sibling who will receive the punishment. Sometimes its ropes, chains, or even iron wires. The highest bidder will also be given the power to choose how many whips the punished will get. I heard others would make sure they hit the hour mark. Imagine getting whipped by a fucking iron wire of an hour. I'd fucking die.

If I go back to the very beginning, I've seen and heard of all the punishments already. The first one was Chance; he received the boss punishment. Chance obviously chose the saint punishment over slut, which lead Cyrus to ask me to kill president Boris, who was apparently that night's highest bidder. Next was Cyrus who received the slut punishment because of again, president Boris. The third one was Tobias, who received the saint punishment. I only heard about it, and I don't exactly know how and why he received it, but Tobias could barely walk the next day after getting whipped by who knows what and who knows how long. Lastly is the gentleman punishment, which Cyrus once again received for Tobias's sake.

This only made me realize I was there on both times he received different punishments. Hopefully, I won't be getting a third.

Now with all those punishments, why on earth does Tobias want to purposely receive one?

"Boss punishment. I need to receive it, brother. No...I have to receive it." Tobias tells Cyrus, shocking not only him but me as well.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

Tobias lets go of Cyrus's shoulder before resting his head on Cyrus's chest.

"I need to save Cat. It's the only way." He says in such a soft voice that I barely even heard it.

Cyrus was silent for a few seconds, but he grabs both of Tobias's shoulder and pushes him off him, "And what Tobias? Are you going to choose the saint punishment because you're used to it? Your wounds from your previous punishment barely healed yet. You couldn't even lie down on your fucking bed and you expect me to let you do something so foolish?" Cyrus scolds, and honestly, this is the first time Cyrus looked like he was really scolding his little brother.

"Catalina is going to be punished sooner than later," Tobias tells him.

Cyrus aggressively scratches the back of his head and fires back, "Do you think I don't know that?!"

Cyrus's voice was so loud that it echoed in the hallway. The hair on my skin stood up because of it, and as his personal bodyguard, I knew that this was the time for me to step in before something really bad happens. I gathered all my courage and approached the two brothers, "Excuse me masters, but I think it is best you discuss this at the mansion, or in a place that is more...private."

Cyrus looks at me, and then he looks around at the area where we were standing. It was obvious that he only realized that we're actually standing in the middle of an empty hall, and who knows who's been secretly listening to them. Cyrus sighs and massages his temple to calm himself down. "Bring Tobias back to the mansion, I'll talk to the dean," Cyrus instructs before handing me the car keys.

I wanted to protest because I didn't want to leave him here, but Cyrus must have noticed my reaction because he sighs and assures me, "As a gentleman, I'll talk to the dean to at least ease the situation. I'll call for a driver to fetch me after so just wait at the mansion."

I almost smiled because he really explained all that to me, but I kept a blank expression and nodded my head before looking back at Tobias.

"Then master, please follow me."

...

We were almost back at the mansion. Tobias hasn't said a single word to me, which isn't really surprising since I wasn't that close to him. But the awkward silence almost killed me so I had to think of something.

"Should we stop at a hospital master Tobias?" I ask him.

Tobias had a blank expression as he answered me, "I appreciate the kind gesture sir Carter, but I am fine. We'll be arriving at the mansion soon anyways."

I almost shivered by how good Tobias's saint act was. It was strange since I know how he really acts, and I think I know why he's acting like this now.

"I'm not a watcher yet master so you don't have to be so cautious with me," I inform him.

Tobias glances at me, but he doesn't say anything.

"What's happening to mistress Catalina? Why do you need to save her?" I ask, hoping he gives an answer even though I know that I'm crossing the line here.

"That's none of your business," Tobias answers, making me smirk because he dropped the act as soon as he found out I'm not a watcher yet.

"But we should really get you patched up. Maybe I should call the doctor." I say, and Tobias looks at me with an annoyed expression.

"We're not allowed to get treated. Don't you get it?" Tobias revealed, almost making me hit the breaks because of how shocking that was. I know I said that I might never get shocked by whatever I hear after everything that I already found out. But this? They're not even allowed to get fucking treated? Does the family want them to die?

"They don't want people to know why we got such bruises, so we just do it ourselves," Tobias explains to me when he saw how I reacted. I grip on the steering wheel and try to calm myself down. I didn't say anything to Tobias anymore until we arrived at the mansion. Tobias removes his seatbelt when we got past the gate, but to his surprise, I didn't drop him at the main entrance of the mansion. I drove him to the back instead.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

I didn't answer and just head out of the car without saying a word. Then I opened Tobias's door and pull him out. I closed the door for him and start dragging him by his hand.

"W-what are you doing? Let go of me." Tobias says as he struggled to pull his hand away from me, but he was unsuccessful since I was very much stronger than he was.

I don't know why I'm so bothered by something like this, but those untreated bruises suddenly reminded me of Kris. And I'm not letting another boy pretend like such wounds aren't hurting him.

"Just follow me," I say without looking back at the young master.

Tobias eventually gives up and lets me drag him.

The two of us finally arrived at our destination, which was actually Adam's room AKA my bedroom. Tobias was surprised when I brought him there. He couldn't even say anything.

"Take a seat," I say as I close the door behind us.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Vincent Carter?" Tobias finally asks as he looks at me.

I head to the bathroom first and take out a first aid kit. When I went back to where he was, I showed the kit to him as an answer, and Tobias was left speechless.

"Let me see your injuries," I say as I approach him. Tobias looks at me with disbelief and starts walking towards to door to take his leave. But I immediately drop the kit on the bed and run to him so I could grab his hand again.

"I finished a favor for you. At least let me do this." I tell him.

Tobias contemplated for a second, but then he sighs in defeat and takes a seat on the bed without any force. I sat beside him and started treating the bruise on the side of his mouth first. When I patted it with the cotton that had an ointment, Tobias didn't even flinch. With my previous experience, this thing stings like hell, so Tobias must really have such high tolerance to pain for not even flinching a little.

"Someone close to me was always covered in bruises before. He tried to hide it from me like an idiot, but I always saw it, so I always treated him like this." I open up, surprising Tobias.

After my talk with Cyrus, the topic relating to Kris didn't feel so depressing anymore. Talking about it with others isn't something that's hard to do, and it didn't feel wrong like before.

Tobias was silent for at least a minute before asking, "How is he now?"

I put down my hand and gave him a sad smile; "No one is hurting him anymore. And that's good enough for me."

Tobias studies my expression, but he doesn't say anything, which I appreciated because he didn't ask me anything further.

"Can you remove your shirt?" I ask him.

Tobias doesn't answer and starts unbuttoning his black shirt. He was about to remove it, but then I saw the side of his mouth twitch a little. That's when I knew that he was having a hard time doing what I asked him to do.

"Let me help you," I say as I helped remove the shirt for him.

I didn't know what to expect at first, but when I saw his back, I accidentally let go of his shirt because of complete shock.

His back was covered in bruises. Some were scars, some were scabs, and some looked like it was still fresh because it was still bleeding. This must be because it wasn't treated properly. And this would be impossible for Tobias to treat since it's his back. I almost cried upon seeing it.

"Disgusting right?" Tobias suddenly asks, surprising me.

I gulp and stare at his back again. Instead of feeling disgusted, I felt pity, but I didn't say anything. I knew Tobias would want me to be disgusted by it than feel any sort of pity. So without saying anything back, I grab the first-aid kit and treated the open wounds first. I gently did it because I didn't want Tobias to hurt even more.

"I remember when you barged in here and almost killed me. That really scared me at that time. And it was my first night here too." I tell him so we could shift to a different conversation.

"I didn't barge in here. I thought you were an intruder." Tobias answers, making me smile because I thought he wasn't going to talk to me anymore.

"Who even brings a knife that late at night?" I tease him.

"Shut up."

I started laughing to change the mood, but Tobias's body starts shaking that I thought I was hurting him. I immediately stopped what I was doing, but then Tobias says, "S-Shut up."

I didn't have to see his face. Because through the sound of his voice, I knew that he was crying.

For the first time, I saw a broken young man.

"You really remind me of him you know? Like you, he always tried to hide the fact that he's in pain." I say, and I could already start to hear Tobias trying his best to stop his sobs from making a sound.

Sometimes I forget that Tobias is still a young man. But after everything that happened to them, he was forced to become mature.

"Listen..." I take a deep breath and gently pat his head to comfort him, "You're a good kid Tobias. You don't need your saint role to prove that you are. And if you're ashamed to show your pain to others, then come to me. I'll watch over you. And I will never judge your beautiful scars."

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