Scheme.

[Unedited]

[Xiǎo-er: warning for this chapter, some of you may find this disturbing]

There was an eerie silence in the Capital of Fènghuáng empire, it was the Si Geng[1] hour of the night, everyone was asleep safe and soundly in their homes.

[Xiǎo-er: [1] 01:00 to 02:59 night hour is called Si Geng]

However, Some where within the Imperial City; In the underground torture chamber. There were excruciating screams of a man.

The Imperial city' torture chambers were; only for the people who did a treason against the empire. Here, the guards executing the punishment were not the normal royal guards, but the Dragon guards of the emperor himself.

The torture in the underground chambers were extremely torment, the underground Chambers were famous all over the empire for it's excruciating punishments.

Ming Yu didn't remember how long it has been since he was getting abuse by these inhuman guards. all he knew is that, the punishment of maltreatment; was the idea given to the emperor by his own father!.

He think back to, how his father nearly beated him to death when he found Ming Yu near his jiejie' dead body and blame him for his jiejie' death.

[Past*]

The day his jiejie died, Ming Yu was so busy in mourning his jiejie' death; that he didn't realise the trap laid by the cruel people.

When the dawn came Ming Yu was about to go and tell his father about this. so, he can punish the people who killed his jiejie. but before he called his father, he saw the Ming family' head and his father coming hurriedly with the royal sentinels.

Ming Yu was relieved after seeing his family and hurriedly run towards his father for comfort. but he was harshly caught by one of the royal sentinel in the middle of his way.

Ming Yu was confused, he didn't knew; why he was caught by the royal sentinels but he didn't struggled. He saw his father angrily stomping towards him and gave him a tight slap, a loud sound of slap echoed in the surrounding and Ming Yu' face was tilted to the side; with the impact, a trail of blood came rushing down from the corner of his mouth.

"Bastard!, I knew it, you were jealous of my daughter, but how can you kill her, like this? didn't you feel any pity towards her?" General Ming kicked his son in the stomach, with all his might and continued, "I shouldn't have let a scum and lowly ger like you live, you should have died long ago. because my daughter took a pity on your lowly form and treated you nicely, is this why; you did this to her in return?" he grab Ming Yu' hairs brutally and throws him on the ground.

"I should have abandoned a baleful child like you, when you were born; first because of you I lost my wife and now I lost my precious daughter, it's all because of you, I shouldn't have let such a nasty child live" he keep on kicking Ming Yu, until Ming Yu was lying in a pool of blood.

Ming Yu asked weakly to his father, "Father am I not your son?" the moment Ming Yu asked this, General Ming went berserk and kicked him again, "I never have any baleful son and you evil bastard is definitely not my blood"

Thereafter listening to this Ming Yu felt an agonizing pain in his heart and clutched his chest tightly, subsequently; he felt a small pair' of arm tightly embracing him, he felt a familiar scent around him and tried to find some comfort in Xiao Xiao' embrace and passed out slowly.

*

The next time Ming Yu woke up, he heard the disgusting words; they were whispering about him. but after a lot of crying, begging and beating, he doesn't have the energy to say anything for his innocence.

He was getting dragged by the Palace guards in the middle of the hall, his hands and feet; were tied with iron chains, his conscious were blurred, he was brutally beaten by his own father.

His body was very delicate from an early age, his beaten form looks very pathetic, his white silky rob was covered in blood, his heterochromic eyes; which once were bright now look dull, his skin lost all its lustre and his pathetic form was trembling, sitting in the middle of the hall.

His body didn't have single unharmed skin, all of his skin were covered in dark purple and blue bruises.

His father 'General Ming' was standing with other royal-ministers and was looking at Ming Yu with hostility in his eyes. Ming Yu looked around the hall, saw many people looking at him with disdain and didn't dare to raise his head again, he obediently 'sit' on the cold ground and waited for his execution.

There were many ministers 'whispering' and ridiculing him but one particular 'gentle' looking scholar' words grab everyone's attention. "aah! this humble chèn[1] pity 'General Ming' for having such a 'White-eyed wolf'[2] son. he is so cruel that he killed his own sister in an inhuman way."

[Xiǎo-er: [1] state official or subject in dynastic China I, your servant (used in addressing the sovereign)

[2] used to describe a particular cold-hearted and cruel person.]

these words brought sneer from everyone's mouth, Ming Yu tightly shut his eyes, he really didn't have any energy left to argue with anyone, he let his dark and evil thoughts consume him, 'his own father didn't want him, his father hated him, he killed his mother and sister; he don't have any right to live in this worl-'

"Enough!", Ming Yu was jolted awoke from his thoughts by a very cold and domineering voice. Not only Ming Yu but everyone in the hall suddenly quieted down.

Ming Yu looked up with his distorted vision; to see the owner of the voice, his eyes met with a very cold looking, abyss like black eyes, void of any emotion, it was a black whirlpool in the black eyes which can suck anyone and anything.

Ming Yu looked at the man' appearance, he was wearing golden robe with the dragon symbol on it, his long black hair matched his black Phoenix eyes, he was wearing a golden mask which covered half of his face.

There was a loud gasped in the hall and the emperor's personal eunuch kowtow and said shakily, "this[Ming Yu] lowly disgusting creature dared to make an eye contact with the emperor, he should be punished more severely, death will be an easy punishment for him. first this creature killed the future empress of the empire and now he break the taboo."

Only after listening to the eunuch did Ming Yu and the other realised that he looked at the emperor in the eye. Ming Yu suddenly halted his actions and looked down, he clutched his hands tightly into fits and tried to stop his trembling. Only he knew what he saw into those black whirlpool eyes.

The eyes look so familiar to Ming Yu but not familiar at the same time, he couldn't point out the unusual thing about the eyes. black eyes are very rare in the Fènghuáng empire, the black eyes are the symbol of extreme power in the royal family, the true heir of the throne will have those black abyss like eyes.

Ming Yu tried to recall, where he saw those eyes, but his mind wasn't able to unveil the foggy memory of his consciousness.

Ming Yu again jolted out of his thoughts but this time, the words he heard; cut his heart into million pieces. General Ming 'advised' for his punishment, "Your Majesty, please pardon the idiocy of this chèn, this humble Chèn wanted to give his advice for the punishment of this[Ming Yu] lowly creature."

"continue, General Ming." the cold voice echoed in the silent hall.

General Ming, "Your Majesty, this[MingYu] lowly thing, did a treason and his punishment can't be a simple death, Your Majesty, please grant this humble chèn a wish, this humble chèn wants, the lowly thing to be tortured persistently in the Imperial Palace' underground chambers."

There was a queer silence in the hall, even the emperor didn't said anything, after a long time of silence the emperor asked, "do General Ming know what he is asking for?"

General Ming kowtow on the floor and said "this humble chèn know what he is asking for, Your Majesty please grant this wish."

Ming Yu can feel the eyes of every person present in the hall; on his pathetic form, he felt so insecure and expose in the eyes of all old foxes.

He felt a familiar presence around him again, Ming Yu didn't waste a single second and immediately looked up, he saw Xiao Xiao standing in front of him. his dull eyes brightened immediately and he felt a strange sense of safety coming from Xiao Xiao.

But this feeling of safety didn't last long because Xiao Xiao frown, Ming Yu saw her panicking and followed her line of sight, he saw the emperor looking at Xiao Xiao' position, it was almost like he can see Xiao Xiao.

Xiao Xiao' expression turned pale and she said hurriedly, "Yu-er, don't worry nothing will happen to you, he will not harm you, he won't repeat the same mistake again." and vanished in the air.

Ming Yu' was stunned and his eyes again met with the black abyss whirlpool, but this time Ming Yu didn't looked at him and bow down his face, his thoughts were in turmoil, 'who was he?, who will not harm him?'

"Zhen, permit General Ming for his request, but no one will visit the lowly thing in the underground chambers, he will persist his punishment for a week and this lowly thing is not allowed to be killed, after his punishment is over, he will serve in Zhèn' Imperial harem."

No one objected the emperor's decision because nothing can be worse than serving in the Imperial harem, a place full of scheming white lotus bitches.

"Dismiss!" the emperor said and stood from his throne, everyone immediately kowtow and said "Long live Your Majesty" in a row.

Ming Yu never looked up, from the moment his punishment decided he lose all the hope of punishing those who killed his jiejie.

The emperor left and his 'Dragon' guards came to 'take' Ming Yu to the punishment chambers.

[Present*]

Ming Yu cried hoarsely, today was the last day of his one week punishment and his skin was getting tattooed by the burning Iron rod, his hands were tightly restrained by the guards, they were drawing the symbol of the royal family a golden dragon with a black abyss like eyes, on the right side of his chest.

this was one of the most cruel punishment in the empire for the people who started a treason against the emperor or did any crucial crime.

He would have been died many times, if not because the emperor gave order not to kill him. everytime he lost consciousness, an Imperial physician will come to check on his injuries.

The punishment of tattooing the dragon on the body, took the whole night for the tattoo to be drawn successfully because Ming Yu keep on losing his consciousness and in the end, they didn't woke him up and successfully completed the punishment.

The whole night Ming Yu was in executing pain, he wanted nothing more than a death, he will gladly embrace the death if he can be freed from this pain. his whole body feel like it was on fire, the burning pain was too much to handle.

When the punishment was over and Ming Yu was brought out of the underground chambers, his whole body was thin as the plank of a wood, if he was not supported by the guards, he would have been blown away by the wind.

His whole appearance was terrible, the once silky and shiny silver hair turned into dirty red color because of the dirt and blood, his healthy skin turned into unhealthy pale, his eyes were dull full of pain and tiredness, the clothes he was wearing was torn from different places.

The Dragon guards entered in the hall to report the end of the punishment. Ming Yu didn't last long and lost his consciousness in one of the dragon guards arms.

[Xiǎo-er: please feel free to point out any mistake or grammatical error.]

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