Chapter 14: Crystalized Family (Part 5)

*Hans POV*

"My lady, I have brought the perpetrator along with me."

I brought my fellow butler into the throne room and kneel before my mistress.

"Good work, you may join the others now."

Miss Aoi dismissed me.

"Yes, my lady."

I obey her order and walk to the left side and join the other servants.

This evening, miss Aoi issue the order for all of us to assemble here in the throne room.

We line up on the left and right side of the throne room while miss Aoi and her sisters assemble on the throne.

The throne room was huge... as huge as a soccer field, there's more than enough spaces to fit all of us in.

We, servants, stand on the left and right side of the throne room while the young butler stands in the middle for our mistress to judge.

Miss Sakura sits on the throne while the great advisor, miss Aoi, and her sisters stand beside her.

There's a big pink banner with the Sakura Empire symbol engraved into it behind the throne.

Miss Sakura radiates a majestic, exotic, and alluring aura only those of a female ruler possess.

No, that's not right, she's not a ruler.. she's a goddess.

One that's sent from heaven to watch over us pitiful humans with those amethyst color eyes of hers.

"You know why you're here, right?"

Miss Sakura gently asks.

"Y-yes."

The young butler answers and nods while looking down.

"Then do you have anything to say about your crime?"

Miss Sakura asks, giving him chance to give them a good excuse for his action.

"I-I have nothing to say... I never knew that it was a crime to address the great advisor as a child even though she has the appearance of a child."

"I-I mean, how else am I supposed to react to when I saw a child? of course, I am going to call her a child..!" "And no one had ever told me that it was forbidden to address the great advisor as a child!"

The young butler frantically gives his excuse with a weak smile on his face.

He looks left, right, back and forth between miss Sakura and us.

He desperately try to have all of us see his point of view, which we actually did.

But even if we understand where he's coming from, that does not excuse his crime.

And it's obvious that he's desperate.. which makes it hard for us to meet his gaze.

"I see."

Miss Sakura voices her understanding.

"Aunty, your opinion on the matter?"

Miss Sakura shifts her attention to the great advisor.

"I am totally fine with it, it didn't bother me that much being addressed as a child, please give him the lightest punishment possible."

The great advisor proposes to miss Sakura with a smile on her face.

"Very well."

Miss Sakura accepts the great advisor proposal and looks back at the young butler.

"That settles it and now I am going to hand your punishment."

Miss Sakura click her right fingers.

Seconds later, a couple of muscular butlers enter the throne room while pushing in a wooden table with a nail ripper on top.

They keep pushing the table until it arrives next to the young butler and stands behind him.

He begins to panic and he shifts his gaze upon miss Sakura.

"M-my lady, what is this is..?!"

The young butler expresses a deep fear within his eyes.

I am certain by now, he already imagines tons of "things" inside his head.

"It is what you see, a nail ripper."

"I don't know if the myth I heard is true or not, but I heard that in a certain village in japan, they would serve punishment to their people by ripping apart their nails, one for each sin they commit."

Miss Sakura remain calm and tell him the myth behind that nail ripper without changing her expression.

He looks at her in horror, presumably already knowing where this is going.

"We pardon your sins the very first time you address our dear aunt as a "child" but you didn't learn a single thing and repeat the same mistake." "Now, we pardon you once again, but not before you learn the lesson the hard way."

Miss Sakura waves her right hand sideways.

The two newly arrive butlers understand miss Sakura hand sign and push the young butler into the table.

"W-what are you guys doing!? s-stop!"

He shouts and tries to struggle but to no avail.

One butler pin and hold his head and right hand against the table while the other butler straps his left hand and insert his pinky finger into the nail ripper.

"You have committed the same crime twice, therefore we going to take two of your nails, one for each of your crimes."

"Rest assured, we make sure that you can still work even after this."

Miss Sakura said with a stern face and no hesitation.

The second butler slams his right fist against the nail ripper and it rips his nail from his pinky finger.

A loud almost similar noises to cracking noises echo inside the throne room.

The young butler's scream soon joins in the noises and echoes inside the throne room.

Maria lean against my chest and hid her face to look away from the scene.

I was caught by surprise a little by it, but I let Maria be and focus on what's in front of me.

What's happening right now might be too much for her to handle, the same goes with many others here as well.

They couldn't help but to look away, some even cover their ears.

The young butler keeps on screaming over and over again, crying, and wimping in between.

"...You have your rest..? continue."

Miss Sakura give the order.

Just like before, there's no trace of hesitation in her voice.

All there's confidence and mightiness.

The second butler grabs his hand and inserts his ring finger into the nail ripper.

"W-wait!! n-no more..!" "Please forgive me!!"

The young butler begs for mercy and retaliate.

"We have already forgiven you for your crime, all there's is for you to pay the price of your forgiveness."

Miss Sakura answer his plea.

The second butler raises his fist and slam the nail ripper, ripping apart his nail.

He screams yet again, this time from the depth of his very soul.

His very soul screams from the immense pain his body receives and damage his mind.

As a last-ditch effort to save his mind from collapsing, his brain decides to shut everything down and he unconsciously collapses on the table with a giant thud.

"Good work."

Miss Sakura praises the two butlers for their job.

"Now we want all of you who currently present here to turn our judgment today as a lesson as to not repeat the same mistake in the future." "If we ever heard of this ever again, then know that our judgment today is nothing more than an example... we won't be so merciful the next time."

Lady Sakura said with a stern face and serious, sharp tone, sharp enough to send chills and instill fear in each of us.

What we saw today is nothing but an example... if they wanted to, our mistress can go further and there's no limit to that cruelty of them...

"That will be all, all of you is dismissed."

Miss Sakura dismiss all of us.

"Maria, let's go."

I look down and told Maria to move.

"Y-yes."

Maria moves away from me and we begin walking.

I take one last look at the young butler and saw him being released from the table and getting carried over the shoulder by one of the butlers.

And that's the last time I saw him for the night.

...

.....

........

"Are you alright now, Maria?"

I ask Maria.

"Y-yes, thank you for your concern, Hans."

Maria answers me with a weak smile on her face.

After the judgment, we're on our way back to the dorm, we walk the same street we take on our way to the mansion.

"For your own good, you better start thinking that there are no bounds of what our mistress is capable of and what are they going to do next."

Vert advises us without minding his word.

"Vert-!"

"I have been working here for at least a year and I have seen my own portion of what our mistress is doing." "Needless to say, not all of them are so white."

I try to warn Vert but he ignores me and keep on talking.

When he put it that way, there's nothing I can't say.

Vent sounds so serious and the look in his eyes tells a lot of story.

I have no idea what Vent has seen, but for him to make such a face and talk like that...

"Yeah, thank you for your advice, I will be sure to keep it in mind, Vent." "And thank you for worrying me, Hans."

Maria forces a smile on her face.

"..You're welcome."

Vent said while slowly closing his eyes.

Without I notice it, we have arrive on the crossways that split the male and female servant dorm.

"Then we split here, I see you tommorow, Vent, Hans."

Maria waves and big us goodbye.

"Yeah, have a good night's sleep, Maria."

I nod and wave back at her.

Maria slowly turns around and walks away.

I keep watch over her until she disappears from my sight.

"Let's go, we need to get our own rest as well."

Vert gently pat my right shoulder with his left hand and walk ahead.

"Yeah."

I slowly follow him from behind.

That's the end of the day for me and it's already one hell of a day.

I can't really imagine what I would experience and see while working here.

But I do have a rough idea...

Our mistress is the deity that was sent from heaven to watch over us puny humans and it was our job to worship and do their bidding.

There are no bounds of what they are capable of and there's no telling of what they would do next nor how far they're willing to go to get to their objective.

I can see how people would disagree with our mistress way of doing and thinking, but I firmly believe that it's only appropriate that they act and think like that.

When you running a country and in charge of millions of lives and responsible for their livelihood, there's no real black or white on board.

If our mistress relent on every single action and decision, all of us would have been starved to death and the Sakura Empire won't last.

They are carrying the lives of millions of people including us on their back.

I couldn't help but feel amazed and feel that it's only appropriate for me to worship them.

I will serve them forever and ever, until the very last dying breath of mine.