036 AN EYE FOR AN EYE

036 AN EYE FOR AN EYE

Lilleo hesitated. Why couldn't the servants just retrieve the kite? Still, he was used to being lonely, and the thought of playing with his cousins, even briefly, was tempting. Maybe this time, things will be different.

He climbed onto the chair, wobbling slightly as he stretched toward the kite. It swayed just out of reach.

"I can't get it," Lilleo protested.

"You're almost there! Just try harder," Lillrune encouraged, his voice edged with impatience.

Balancing on his toes, Lilleo reached as far as he could. His fingertips brushed the kite's edge, and finally, he grasped it.

"I got it!" he shouted, his voice bubbling with joy.

"You can come down now," Lillrune said.

The next moment, Lillrune kicked the chair out from under him.

Lilleo fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Pain shot through his leg, and a scream tore from his throat.

"Arrrggghhh!"

Lillrune and the other children erupted into laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

Lilleo clutched his leg, his vision blurred by tears. His cousins' laughter echoed around him, mingling with his cries of pain.

Footsteps approached from the far end of the garden. People were coming.

"I'll kill you if you tell anyone about this," Lillrune hissed, his face darkening with malice. Then, with the others in tow, he fled, leaving Lilleo behind.

A group of maids arrived, their faces pale as they saw Lilleo lying on the ground. They carried him back to his room, where he remained in agony, his leg broken and his heart heavier than ever.

When his father, Lillye, returned from his trip, he rushed to his son's side.

"What happened to you, Lilleo?" Lillye asked, his voice tight with concern.

"Lillrune and the others pushed me off the chair," Lilleo sobbed.

Fury burned in Lillye's eyes. He summoned his brothers, Lillwo and Lillann, to the room, along with their sons.

"My son says Lillrune pushed him, causing him to break his leg. Did this happen?" Lillye demanded.

Lillwo turned to his son. "Did you do this?"

"No, I didn't," Lillrune replied smoothly. "He fell on his own."

"It's Lilleo's word against Lillrune's," Lillann said. "How can we know the truth?"

"Ask the others," Lillrune said confidently.

The other children and servants were questioned, and they all told the same story: Lilleo had climbed up the tree himself and fallen by accident.

"Well, that settles it," Lillwo said.

Lillye stood frozen, disbelief etched on his face. "They're lying," Lilleo cried, his voice breaking. "Lillrune kicked the chair!"

But his protests fell on deaf ears. Even his own father refused to believe him.

"Rest and heal," Lillye said coldly as he left with his brothers.

As the door closed, Lilleo was left alone again, his leg throbbing in pain, but worse was the ache in his chest. His family had betrayed him, his father had doubted him, and he had never felt more isolated.

From the hallway, Lillrune glanced back. He smirked, his expression filled with smug satisfaction, and then he mouthed, Serves you right for telling.

Years later, in a distant basement cell, far from their family's protection, the tables would turn. Lillrune's smug grin would be wiped away, and he would pay for what he had done.

-----

[Back at the basement cell of Bagnio la Pleasure]

"You bastard! You remembered that all this time?" Lillrune screamed, his voice trembling with both pain and disbelief. "We were only seven or eight back then!"

"That was just the beginning," Leo replied coldly, his voice devoid of mercy. With a flick of his hand, magical stones surged forward, striking Lillrune's elbows with a sickening crack.

"Arrrghhh!" Lillrune's agonized screams echoed through the chamber as his arms hung uselessly at his sides. "What… what is this for?" he managed to croak between shallow breaths.

"This is for the time your servants broke my arm when I was twelve," Leo said, his tone matter-of-fact, as though reciting a ledger of debts long overdue.

Lillrune's face twisted with defiance despite the pain. "I should have killed you then," he spat.

Leo's gaze darkened. He turned to the soldiers. "Bring the hammer. Make sure his joints never heal."

The guards exchanged uneasy glances, hesitating as the weight of the order sank in. One of them turned to Kasshyek, silently pleading for intervention, but Kasshyek remained silent, his face pale.

They were all in too deep now; backing out was no longer an option.

Reluctantly, the soldiers fetched the hammer. With grim resolve, they followed Leo's command, smashing Lillrune's ankles and elbows one by one. The sound of bone shattering reverberated through the room, each strike punctuated by Lillrune's heart-wrenching screams.

By the time they finished, his limbs were mangled beyond repair. Even if he survived, he would never regain use of his arms or legs.

"Is that enough?" Kasshyek asked, his voice trembling. "You've already broken his arms and legs. Isn't it enough?"

"No," Leo said, his voice low and seething with unresolved fury. "Not nearly enough. There are still debts to settle."

An Eye for an Eye.

Yunyun, who had remained silent until now, stepped forward, her expression neutral but her eyes probing. "What else did he do to you?" she asked, her tone laced with curiosity.

Leo's jaw tightened. His voice, when it came, was laced with a venom that made the room feel colder. "He poisoned me," he said, his gaze locking onto Lillrune's bloodied face. "He bloody killed me and left my body in the forest to feed the wolves."

Gasps rippled through the room. Kasshyek and the soldiers looked at each other in disbelief. This was no petty rivalry. Murder was involved. The true depth of the grudge between Leo and Lillrune was finally becoming clear.

"I… I didn't know," Kasshyek muttered, his voice weak.

"I survived," Leo said, his voice filled with quiet, simmering rage. "Now it's his fucking turn—and his ass of a father's."

Yunyun narrowed her eyes. "Is that all?" she asked, her tone suggesting she already suspected there was more.

Leo's lips tightened into a grim line.

For a moment, he didn't speak, the silence thick with tension. Then he continued, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "He and his father didn't just try to kill me. They poisoned me to make sure I would lose my fertility. So, I could never sire an heir to challenge them."

The room fell into stunned silence. Kasshyek and the soldiers stared at Lillrune, with shock and disgust. The sheer malice of Lillrune and his father's conspiracies against Leo was beyond anything they had imagined.

No wonder Leo's vengeance was so unrelenting. Now, even Kasshyek and the soldiers could see the justice in his cruelty.

"What are you going to do?" Yunyun asked after a moment. "You said you still have two more grudges to settle with him."

Leo's eyes burned with determination as he turned back to his broken foe. "Tomorrow, he will die, that's one," he said, his voice steady and resolute. "As for the other grudge…" He paused, a faint, chilling smile playing at his lips. "You'll see."