The world is cruel, it always was for him because world never showed him no mercy. There was no pity, there was no chance of survival because he will always be hunted.
After getting hit, Estefan was taken to the lower dungeons. He was beaten up by the knights of his own family. They would use sticks, iron bars and brass knuckles. But they specifically avoided striking his face, aiming for his back, abdomen, crotch, buttocks, feet and hands.
The intentions were clear, to give him pain to the fullest and they did their best job in torturing him.
Estefan woke up with pain, He couldn't lift up his hand because they were beaten so badly by them and after that cuffed for to prevent him from moving around along with his legs. There was no room for movement as well, he was put inside an underground hole which was specifically made for the worst criminals of the Duchy.
He didn't understand why he was put inside, the last thing he saw was Erika and he saw her in the worst position.
Estefan tried to move but he suddenly heard some words "You hear? That rapist Estefan is gonna get the death sentence." More voices were heard "Woah, would the Duke give his son a death sentence?" The response shocked Estefan "Yes, he is after all a rapist and tried to murder the girl as well." Those words completely shattered him because he did not do such a thing to her, after all he shared something special with her.
Estefan began to understand that it was the punishment she was given for being too friendly with him, they took the one thing which gave him joy. His relationship with her and now he is being blamed for a crime he never committed.
After some hours later, the door to the hole opened up and he was pulled out, they made sure to ensure he felt pain in every action they made.
They even beaten more inside the carriage "This is for touching a girl like that you bastard." One of the men said before stomping on his crotch before spitting on his face while another kicked on his abdomen which made him feel suffocation for a moment.
He knew it, he won't escape here alive. They will make sure to kill him but he wished to see her for the last time at least to know what happened.
Estefan held back from screaming but his tears dripping out from his eyes, slowly dropping down on the floor. He was kicked out of the vehicle, hitting his back and then he saw it was the Royal Court and there were many people present there.
Estefan realised that such a large crowd gathered their to watch him suffer, to ensure he will be a rotten criminal in the common people's eyes.
They forcefully made him stand and pushed him forward, Estefan could look down to avoid any eye contact because it was obvious since all of them hated him.
He could hear it,
"Go kill yourself."
"You animal, how could you do something to a child."
"You are a devil, you should be burnt."
"Repent and kill yourself."
All Estafan could hear was people telling him to "Die." That's all he could hear and his tears, he did his best to hold back but they still came out.
He wanted to close his eyes but his ears were cuffed, for a ten year old boy such a moment would be extremely painful and scary.
The doors were opened, inside there were many important and key figures of the Duchy but his stepmother and step brothers weren't present, that was rather suspicious since they would be the most excited ones knowing what was about to happen to Estefan.
Estefan was told to stand at the center, where he could hear the spiteful words from everyone who all saw him as something which should die. But suddenly silence swept across the room and he saw it, the father who never bothered to meet him.
An announcement was made "Gerin Angeras has arrived, the court meeting shall begin to judge the crimes of Estefan Angeras." The Duke was the Judge and Jury of the territory.
The Duke was wearing the formal attire, his looked proud in it. His brown facial hair and those grey eyes, along with brown hair which were the hereditary appearance of the Angeras household which Estefan lacked since he mostly looked like his mother.
It was the normal rule of the Kingdom where the Nobles can exercise powers of judiciary inside their territory. No matter what, what the Nobility says is the rule inside their land and anyone who opposes them is seen as a traitor to the country.
The Duke who never bothered to meet his eldest finally made eye contact with his son "So, for the first time in the history of my family. A member of Angeras household is forced to stand in front of a Household head for a crime. Not just any crime but where one committed one of the worst atrocities known to man... How dare you?" His words were cheered by those around Estefan.
It was as if everyone wanted to put the crime on him, without even hearing him out on what happened.
But Duke continued "There is no need for such a meeting to occur. The victim already gave testimony against you. Estefan, all you have to do is plead guilty and accept the punishment unless you wish to show more acts of honourless animals." But Estefan stood there silently because they stomped on his jaw which made it hard for him to speak.
Estefan wanted to scream, he wanted to scream to the world what happened but what broke him mostly is the fact that Erika gave a testimony against him. He thought that they shared something special or was it a forced testimony.
But he saw it, her father was there at the side who also showed him care like Erika but he did not looked like he was forced, in fact he too gave a live testimony against him claiming that Estefan always chase Erika, would act like a pervert towards her and that Erika's father had to shoo Estefan away a lot of times.
Hearing those words made Estefan understand that it was truly a betrayal and that he got abandoned by them or maybe they never cared for him in the first place.
Duke sighed "How despicable? You are not even willing to plead guilty for a crime you committed. There is no escape for truth is too hard for one to escape. The servants inside the Palace have revealed that you have been a lustful deviant. Yesterday, you visited an event but you were forced to leave after misbehaving towards one of the organisers who was apparently a male... Shameful.." Duke's words were only making the people inside the room shout "Death."
It was obvious at this point, even a ten year old boy figured out that he was about to be killed and made to look like a criminal while doing so.
But suddenly the Duke said "Mercy... You are my son, my blood... I will revoke your status as the heir and also temporarily suspend you from the family." Hearing those words surprised Estefan where he thought for a moment that he wasn't abandoned, that his father indeed loved him.
He was smiling a tad bit because of a false hope that his father loved him until he heard "You will be banished to the western borders." All of a sudden that smile vanished before the realisation hit him hard.
He could see it, the grin on the face of all who stood there and sat there because they all knew about this decision.
Because such a decision meant that he would be killed and they don't have to dirty their hands at all, because removing him would make his stepmother happy and if she is happy then so is her brother the King.
The Angeras lived in the western part of the Kingdom of Ikarus. And the western borders were plagued with incursion of demon creatures due to the holy war happening inside the continent. The Angeras lost one of their cities called Rammstein along with the lands around it at the western border.
The City was lost under the period of Duke Gerin, Estefan's father who couldn't defend those regions.
To reclaim it, Angeras under Duke Gerin deployed its military to create a preliminary wall across a grey region with many villages with humans inside. Those humans were sacrificed to slow down the Demons while Duke Gerin sent criminals inside the grey zone to kill the Demons.
It was said that no one returned after entering the grey zone to defeat the demons. Some were even killed by the Villagers for committing atrocities against the surviving villages because the Duke's forces abandoned them making the villagers defend their home.
To do this, they send a ten year old boy towards the border to face demons was of a more cruel fate than to be executed immediately or rotting in the prison.
Because the demons do not kill immediately, they would take the humans, torture them and eat them slowly while ensuring the human remain alive. Then bring the human back as in healing and regeneration through hellish magic just to repeat the same torture over and over again as long as they find in joy to do it.
Duke continued to speak his verdict "The victim was allowed to choose a punishment and she chose to send her rapist to have the worst fate ever. But I see this as a chance to repent and prove that he did not commit this crime. If he manages to retake the lost territories including the City Rammstein.. in under ten years, he shall be welcomed back to the Family and given his status as the heir to my position as the Duke." The hall was filled with applause.
The Duke felt satisfied, Estefan could see it, the Duke never even bothered to look at his eyes even now, but the Duke was rather enjoying the moment where he is seen as a saviour, a true justice maker since he punished his own son.
Estefan wasn't given a proper chance to prove his innocence, he was denied justice and betrayed by those who he treated nicely.
But he heard the voice of the person who hit him down "I shall take you to the vehicle which shall bring you to the border immediately." Estefan's eyes widened...
It was the Duke's right hand, his mouth gasping because it was the Grandmaster of Angeras knights... The man who his father keeps close all the time, the most loyal warrior of Duke Gerin.
Grandmaster Mason paused a bit but he too understood the reason behind the reaction of Estefan when he got closer to Estefan's ears "Don't blame me... It's your fault... You shouldn't have been born... Enjoy your slow death." He whispered and then looked at Estefan while smiling gently as if nothing happened.
Estefan was dragged while he stared at their faces with rather shock because he couldn't believe it, everything happening there was pre-planned by his father.
The very being who is the reason for his birth was also the reason behind his soon to happen death.
There was no escape, Estefan was thrown inside the carriage. Hopeless and abandoned, Estefan was learning some valuable lessons.
He wasn't even allowed to cry, they slapped him everytime he tried to cry telling him that he did not have a reason to cry. But he was about to die, there was no chance because he was truly abandoned by everyone.
The fate of a young master of a Ducal House.
Hopeless, abandoned and lonely, drifting closer to his inevitable death but he hoped for a chance to have his revenge but it seemed rather bleak.