Chapter 192: Chapter 192: After the Apology

The only people who can enforce this law are the Bureau of Female Protection or the official Enforcers.

And coincidentally, all the guards in her family were personally trained by Caleb Shaw.

Heath Vance was completely stunned.

He looked up at her, his lips slightly parted, momentarily at a loss for words.

She... is serious?

She’s not trying to scare him?

"I didn’t mean it..."

He mumbled softly, his voice almost squeezed out from between his teeth.

"I apologized, isn’t that enough?"

It was just a sniff, he didn’t actually do anything, was it necessary to escalate it to legal matters?

But as soon as he spoke, he realized it was inappropriate and immediately added.

"Please forgive my mistake."

Selene Kane didn’t even turn her head.

She turned around and left, her skirt gently swaying in the wind.

"If apologies worked, what would we need laws for?"

Her voice was as cold as ice.

"If you feel wronged, go see Your Majesty right now. I won’t say a word."

Heath’s hands suddenly clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white.

He knew she was telling the truth.

If this got to the imperial court, he wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

This kind of thing had happened before.

A prince from the Prince’s Palace took a liking to a female and insisted she dismiss her other husbands.

The female refused, and the prince forcibly took her into the palace.

It wasn’t until after she had given birth that the Emperor learned of it through secret reports.

And what was the outcome?

The prince was stripped of his title and placed under lifelong house arrest.

The female’s family, however, was heavily compensated and moved into the inner city.

He knew that on this land, the status of females was supreme, and those who crossed this red line would never meet a good end.

Everyone thought this matter could be suppressed, but what happened?

The Emperor announced a court assembly on the spot, his anger like a dragon’s fury, showing no mercy.

Before civil and military officials could react, the edict was issued, and the prince was brought before the court.

In front of all the ministers, he was flogged a hundred times, one lash after another, without any mercy.

Immediately after, with imperial decree, he was stripped of all his titles and lands, demoted to the lowest rank of a side chamber.

Even his basic living expenses were cut to the bare minimum, surviving daily on the leftovers and scraps given by others.

What did he do?

I only reached out and touched Selene Kane’s wrist and softly said "I’m sorry."

From a legal standpoint, maybe there was no actual harm done.

But even so, compared to the prince’s gross offense of deceiving the monarch and disgracing the royal family, his transgression was trivial.

Heath released his grip, his eyes flickering.

"I... I didn’t mean to offend."

Before he could finish, Alza, who had long harbored grievances against him, suddenly waved his hand.

"Still daring to argue? Take him away!"

The guards understood the cue, and two swiftly stepped forward, their iron boots lifting heavily and kicking hard at the back of Heath’s knees.

"Bang!"

His hands instinctively reached forward to support himself, his fingertips brushing the ground, just managing to stabilize his body and avoid falling completely.

The silver-framed glasses still sat firmly on his nose.

But this facade of calm composure didn’t last long.

Because the first lash already tore through the air, accompanied by the sound of wind, striking his back hard.

The whip, like a venomous snake, slashed through, and the burning pain exploded instantly.

Heath gritted his teeth, pressing his lips into a pale line.

For a male, what’s this pain?

During his training in the Enforcers, he had once been lashed with steel wires all night, bloodied and silent.

Those people used specially treated whips that could tear skin to the bone with one strike.

But the ones these guards used were just ordinary leather whips.

Though the sound was terrifying, lashing red marks appeared in succession on his body.

Visually scary, but it didn’t damage the sinews or bones, leaving at most some bruises.

Yet this humiliation was harder to bear than a knife cut.

It burned his ears like fire, spreading to his entire face, scorching and numbing.

He knew the personal guards stood behind him now.

Born into a family of power and wealth, his father was a great General, his mother from a noble lineage.

He was raised with privilege, never having suffered such public humiliation.

He wanted to resist, to stand and argue, to loudly question the fairness.

But reason bound his limbs like ropes, forcibly suppressing his impulse.

He knew any resistance now would only make the punishment more severe.

After fifty lashes, the guard executing the punishment withdrew the whip and stepped back.

Heath was already trembling all over, his inner garment soaked with cold sweat, his knees buckling under him, unable to bear his body’s weight.

With a heavy "thud," he knelt hard on the ground.

He was panting heavily, his chest heaving intensely, his breath broken and short.

Alza grasped the bottle of medicinal liquor in his hand, his knuckles whitening, his eyes already red, tears welling up in his eyes.

He knelt down carefully, gently massaging the bruises on Selene Kane’s wrist.

"Alright, alright."

Selene Kane smiled weakly, her voice soft yet comforting.

"Don’t cry; it’s really nothing. Look at these bruises, they look scary, but they don’t hurt at all."

She was indeed a peculiar person, with very sensitive skin.

Even a slight touch would cause large bruises on her skin.

Thus, despite the earlier light touch, a large bruise had immediately appeared on her wrist.

Alza puffed his cheeks, saying nothing.

But inside, he cursed furiously.

What kind of thing was that male?

Relying on being a close servant to the Emperor and daring to be so presumptuous?

Nothing but an unappreciated, unbacked lonely spirit!

All pretentious, with an air of aloofness, but when trouble arose, he showed no spine, even stuttering an apology!

"Female Master, this is too lenient!"

He finally couldn’t help but raise his head, speaking indignantly.

"By the law, any male who dares touch a female without consent should be sent to the Celestial Prison, not to be released for three years! This is a clearly written rule in the ’Royal Guard Regulations’! How can we just let him off like this?"

Heath Langdon fluttered his wings on the beam overhead.

"This fox is right! Sounds reasonable, I second that! We cannot condone this kind of behavior! Otherwise, who will care for the safety of females in the future?"

While yelling, he paced back and forth, his claws scratching the wood.

"Quickly bring that load back!"

Alza wiped away his tears, his voice suddenly rising.

"Our Female Master was bullied, and he’s just running around aimlessly like a headless fly looking for clues! What part of him looks like he could be a husband? Absolutely irresponsible!"

"The load" was a nickname Little Butterfly gave Caleb Shaw, after Caleb casually tossed him outside like a bundle to brave the rain and wind, not even allowing him inside.

That time, Little Butterfly cowered under the eaves, trembling, but he remembered this grudge meticulously.

He held onto this resentment until now, seizing every opportunity to bring up old scores.

Every time he saw Caleb, he would flutter his wings and circle him three times.

"The load! The load! Don’t think wearing a skin makes you less cold-blooded!"

Although Heath Langdon shared Little Butterfly’s memories, able to perceive those fragmented scenes and emotions.

But every time he reverted to butterfly form, his consciousness seemed to be swept by some instinct.