Chapter 142: Punishment

It was dark outside when Cian and his knight left his study after the prince wrapped up some paperwork. Although he was tired, work was not yet done. His last schedule for the day was to visit the prison where criminals who have committed crimes against the crown and the royal family were held captive, the very place where he had imprisoned the traitors who helped Hatha and Thevailes in his abduction, the assassins who killed the royal knights and hung their mutilated bodies inside Seren's garden and the perverted men who tried to molest his little sister in the marketplace.

At the entrance of the underground prison, the two knights guarding the door bowed to Cian. "We greet Your Highness, Prince Cian!"

"Are they still alive?" Cian asked.

"As per Your Highness's order, they are being tortured but we didn't let them die," one of the knights informed him.

Cian entered the prison and walked through a long dark corridor dimly lit by lamps and torches. Grim-faced guards were stationed in front of the prison cells and chambers, and no one was talking, showing how strict the security was inside.

As he walked through the passage, he came across prison cells on either side that had shackles and chains attached to the walls. Gaunt dirty faces could be seen inside the occupied prison cells, most of them criminals punished with life-long imprisonment. The terrible living condition inside could be seen through the long iron bars, and the deeper Cian went, the worse the situations in the cells looked.

As he continued to walk ahead, he soon heard painful cries and begging voices accompanied by the sound of a whip.

It did not take him long to reach the torture chambers, where the latest criminals were kept separately in multiple cells. The torturers inside wore black clothes instead of the official royal guard uniform, using the color black to mask the red blood that spilled on them. When they saw the Crown Prince, the torturers silently paid their respects and stepped aside to give way to him. Cian walked towards the cells and looked at the prisoners with no sympathy in his eyes. Instead, those sapphire blue eyes looked enraged, as if he wanted to kill them all at that very moment.

The men behind the iron bars had huge blood patches in their ragged clothes and multiple wounds could be seen on their skin. Despite their dirty appearances and broken bones, no one was injured to the point of hovering between life and death.

Seeing Cian, those men started to beg. "Your Highness, please forgive us..."

"We have families. If we die, who will look after them?"

"We won't do it ever again."

"Forgive us, Your Highness!

Their cries continued but there was no effect on Cian. Instead, their begging only made him look even colder and more merciless.

"Get them all out," Cian instructed and went towards the huge empty space on the opposite side of the torture chamber where a knight arranged a chair for him to sit.

One by one, those criminals were brought in front of him. The guards made them stand in the line but their pleas and cries still continued.

"Too noisy," Cian said.

His personal knight, Eliot, went ahead and hit one man with the handle of his sword in the stomach. The man fell on the ground, whining in pain.

Seeing Eliot turn towards them, the others complied to shut their mouths and simply waited for what Cian had in mind for them.

"The traitors who have helped in my abduction, keep them on one side," Cian said and Eliot instructed them to step forward.

Two disfigured men obeyed the orders. They were part of the few who didn't beg for mercy because they knew their lives would never be spared. The moment they betrayed Abetha, they had long accepted there was no turning back. Looking at their bloody bodies, no one would have imagined they were once proud knights who belonged to the knight brigade under the direct command of the Crown Prince.

Looking at the two traitors who stood with their heads lowered, Cian had no change in his expression, but Eliot Fletcher could not hide his rage. The tall and robust-looking knight similar in age to Cian looked like his father, Sir Berolt. Eliot was the leader of Cian's personal knights and he failed to spot these traitors. It was a slap to his face. If he could, he would have killed them the moment they were brought to Abetha, but he had to wait for his prince's order.

"Eliot!" Cian called.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Arrange for their public execution and strip off the noble titles of their families," Cian instructed with a cold face.

"I have received your orders, Your Highness."

Those two traitors could barely stand with their heads lowered. They knew their former leader would personally execute them. They could only hope that their corpses would be allowed a burial.

Cian then turned his attention towards the commoners from the marketplace and those assassins.

"Those assassins, skin them alive and hang their bodies on the tree on the hillside where everyone can see them," Cian ordered and those assassins felt terrified.

"Your Highness, just kill us right away! Behead us as well!"

The guards held them to their places so that they wouldn't step towards Cian.

Hearing the pleading from the assassins, the commoners started to plead again. Some even went to their knees.

"You are all still alive to this day because of my sister. If not for me giving my time to her, you would already be cold corpses right now. You should thank her for letting you all live a few days more," Cian said mockingly as he glowered at them. "My sister, such an innocent young lady, how dare you all try to harm her?"

"Apologies, Your Highness! We were blind…"

"The day after tomorrow is her wedding and I don't want any stinking garbage to be in this palace during her wedding."

"Your Highness—"

"Eliot, crush those hands that dared touch the Third Princess."