Zhuo Yue’s breath caught in his throat, and there was some unbelievable panic in his eyes.

       They both knew the significance of kneeling.

       Deep down in his heart, he always felt that he should be different, at least different from the slaves of men before him. He tried to convince himself that the man just wanted to help him get out of his phobia. Even if he established a formal master-slave relationship, he would not really make him a slave who lost his personality.

       But now, his expectations were shattered.

       Fang Mingyan was serious.

       Zhuo Yue stood where he was for a long time without moving.

       The atmosphere in the room became extremely depressing for a minute as the two looked at each other.

       “I told you, I’m not very patient.” The man stood up, grabbed his wrist and walked out.

       Zhuo Yue staggered a few steps after him. Only when he stepped onto the stairs did he realise he was taking him to the fourth floor, and he suddenly started struggling in panic. However, the hand holding him was as hard to break free as an iron pincer. He was dragged up by the man, stumbling like a broken puppet.

       “No…I don’t want to go, Fang Mingyan…” In panic, he called out the man’s name, and his voice was helpless.

       The dark and heavy door was in front of him. Zhuo Yue’s whole body began to tremble. He grabbed Fang Mingyan’s nightgown sleeves tightly and cried out in panic, “Master, please… please, Master… ” He was almost dragged up by force. At this time, he was unsteady and fell to his knees on the ground.

       In front of the door on the fourth floor, the man finally stopped. His voice was cold and almost ruthless, “Let go.”

       Zhuo Yue loosened his hand on the man’s sleeves with red eyes.

       “In this house, everything about you is no longer important. All your messy thoughts, shame, and humiliation are worthless in front of me. There is only one thing you have to do—please me.” Fang Mingyan said as he looked condescendingly at him, “I don’t have the patience to teach you slowly. If you can’t learn to be obedient, I will put you in a cage and let those cameras teach you. Do you understand?”

       Zhuo Yue glanced at the door closed with fear and replied stiffly, “…I understand.”

       “Open your knees as wide as your shoulders, put your hands behind your back, straighten your waist, and show me your body.” The man ordered, “Lift your head and look at me.”

       Zhuo Yue did as he was told, and his entire body flushed a peach colour from shame. He knelt stiffly, looking up at the man who had caused him pain and uneasiness.

       Fang Mingyan entered the cage and took out a black riding crop. He stood in front of him and said calmly, “Tell me who you are.”

       Zhuo Yue was stunned, his face flushed, and he said in a low voice, “A slave.” After saying that, he was whipped on his shoulder, and Zhuo Yue took a breath in pain. His shoulders were burning. He didn’t expect that the other party would attack without warning, and he felt a little aggrieved in his eyes.

       “Tell me who you are,” the command repeated, and it was clear that the first answer did not satisfy his master.

       Zhuo Yue thought for a moment and replied in a pitiful voice, “I am…your slave, Master.”

       “Tell me your rights.”

       The question was changed, so it should be a pass. He breathed a sigh of relief, recalled what the man had said, and replied, “My rights come from what you gave me, Master.”

       “Tell me your duty.”

       “My duty is… to please you, Master.” He looked away in embarrassment and avoided looking at him.

       “Very good; keep these three points in mind.” Fang Mingyan’s whip stopped at the knot of Zhuo Yue’s throat and slowly picked up, forcing him to look up at the man, “Reflect on what you just did to make me unhappy.”

       This humiliating feeling of complete loss of sovereignty made Zhu Yue’s ears turn pale red. However, resistance meant more terrible consequences. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, “Just now… I didn’t complete Master’s order, which made you angry…”

       “Think clearly.” The man nonchalantly moved the whip down little by little until it reached the secret place covered with thick grass between his legs as if teasing the sensitive genitals. “If the answer does not satisfy me, the punishment will be doubled.”

       The rough texture of cowhide rubbed against the sensitive tip, and an indescribable feeling rushed to his head, making Zhu Yue shudder for a moment, but he did not dare to move. His body trembled slightly, and he said, “There… is also the fact that I have just called you by your name.” Then he hastily added, “I was wrong, Master…”.

       “Learn well.” Fang Mingyan curled his lips and swept the whip across the sac, causing the man to shiver.

       Zhuo Yue, who was kneeling at the moment, had all his attention focused on the man, his eyes looking at him with watery fear and trepidation and some shyness and embarrassment.

       “Because of your unconventional behaviour just now, I will punish you next. Six lashes on your back. After each lash, I ask you to count and admit your mistakes. If you make a mistake, the count will start from the beginning.”

       The night was as silent as the sea.

       There was no sound in the room. In the deep darkness, only a small night light left in the corner of the room gave off a soft yellow light, like a lonely hanging star about to be swallowed up by the night, and like a fish drifting in the deep sea, trying to attract the attention of someone.

       The rug was made of thick wool, soft and warm. Zhuo Yue, who was lying on it, moved, and the change in posture caused pain in his spine. He frowned, endured it, and slowly sat up. Insomnia plagued him, and even though he was tired, he couldn’t sleep.

       He had just endured eight lashes of the whip. He couldn’t bring himself to say ‘I was wrong’ the first two times but eventually had to succumb to the pain and count off his apologies as commanded by the man, time and time again. His fingers traced over the slightly swollen marks left by the whip on his back.

       Fang Mingyan skillfully controlled the force to the point where it was painful enough to cause trembling without blood. What’s even more outrageous was that he was the one who caused all the pain, yet he was so gentle when applying the medicine, whispering softly, and hugging him tenderly, making Zhuo Yue unable to hate him at all.

       Zhuo Yue looked at the figure sleeping peacefully on the bed and sat quietly for a long time. He touched the soft leather collar around his neck, and the slight tightening made him feel a little uncomfortable. The collar was tied by the man and it used a fingerprint lock, which he couldn’t open. It served both as a mark of possession, reminding him of his subordinate status, and as a restraint, linked to the bedpost by chains. However, what surprised him was that the ring was not locked due to the other party’s negligence.

       After easily untying it, he stood up and grabbed a nightgown, quietly opened the door of the master bedroom and walked out, stopping at the entrance on the first floor.

       In front of him was the door that locked him in this strange world.

       Just get out…

       He put his hand on the door handle and pressed lightly. After a crisp ‘click’, the door opened. The cold wind from outside flowed in through the cracks, and the slightest coolness seeped in through his skin, causing him to shiver.

       There seemed to be two voices arguing in my mind.

       ──No matter how slim the hope is, we must fight for it. Only by taking this step can we have a chance to leave here… Those ridiculous games of masters and slaves are simply perverse. You can’t stand it…

       ──Don’t go out, you can’t escape. It will be very miserable once you are caught. Think about those cameras… You know what the consequences will be. Don’t try such a dangerous thing…

       ──What if those security guards didn’t see you? As long as you can run to another villa you may be rescued. Besides, isn’t it dangerous to stay here? How painful are those whip marks on your back? Fang Mingyan is just a pervert, and he wants to turn you into a slave without personality!

       The two thoughts grew crazily like vines, twisting and twisting into a ball, almost bursting his head. Zhuo Yue held the door handle tightly and shook his head in confusion and pain.

       ──It’s deteriorated to this point; you can’t rely on drugs anymore. You should try his methods… He promised to cure you; haven’t you always trusted him?

       ──He’s violating human rights! Whip you, and make you kneel down! Who knows if he will make you lick his shoes like a dog tomorrow!

       ──He won’t do that.

       ──How do you know?

       ──I know…

       ──You don’t know!

       ──I know! I know…he wouldn’t do that. No reason, but I know it.

       “…I know.” Zhuo Yue murmured and repeated these words like a mantra. He looked back at the dark living room, right next to the sofa where they had practised acting and kissed; he had rescued him at the c0cktail party and brought him into his sphere of influence; he had helped him walk through it. The endless darkness of the hotel corridor; he once held him and told the story of the Doll Knight…

       The hand holding the doorknob loosened, and with a click, the door closed.

       As if his heart had stopped at a fork in the road, with so many directions to go in, he couldn’t even take a step. Zhuo Yue squatted down at the entrance, buried his head on his knees, and curled up into a ball.

       He didn’t know how long it took, but his legs were so numb that he almost lost all feeling. He trudged back to the third floor, took a deep breath in front of the master bedroom, and then gently opened the door. When he sneaked in carefully and wanted to walk back to the bed, he felt something was different from before. When he looked up, he was suddenly startled and froze on the spot.

       The lights were not turned on, the curtains were half-opened, and the bright moon was about to be full. The moonlight filtered in as if a layer of white frost had been spread on the ground. Fang Mingyan stood by the window, facing the light, and the side of his face could only vaguely be seen.

       Zhuo Yue felt his head go blank. He moved his lips but failed to make a sound, so he just stood looking at him.

       “Come here.” The man’s voice remained steady.

       He pursed his lips and walked over slowly. The moonlight melted into tiny streams of colour in those timid eyes, which had a fragile but unique beauty.

       Seeing Fang Mingyan raise his hand, Zhuo Yue trembled, and his whole body tensed up. However, the expected slap did not fall. The other party just took off the silk nightgown Zhuo Yue was wearing from his shoulders and let it slide to the ground. Zhuo Yue, who was naked again, looked at the man in front of him anxiously, not daring to move.

       “Where are you going?” he asked in a low voice.

       “I… just couldn’t sleep, so I went downstairs…” The brain restarted successfully, but Zhuo Yue hesitated for a moment.

       Obviously, it was safer to say, ‘I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water’ than ‘I want to run away’. His eyes moved, and finally, he said the truth in frustration, “I went to the door.”

       “Why go there?”

       “I want to leave.” These four words were said very softly, as if every sound was a young bird that could not tolerate the cold, trembling and curling up into a ball.

       “The door is open, isn’t it? Why did you come back?”

       “I don’t know.” The water in Zhuo Yue’s eyes gradually filled up. “Maybe I’m afraid of being caught, afraid of whips and those cameras, maybe I have nowhere to go, or maybe I’ve gone crazy. Even as I kneeled and being beaten, I still…still believe you can cure me…” The tears in the corners of his eyes couldn’t be held back anymore and slid down his cheeks, “I shouldn’t think about escaping… You can punish me however you want, just don’t lock me upstairs, please…”

       Fang Mingyan listened quietly to what he said, remained silent for a moment, and finally sighed. Under the moonlight, all the tenderness that disappeared in his eyes seemed to have returned, and he stared at the person in front of him in his dark eyes. He wiped away the tears on Zhu Yue’s face with his slender fingers and said, “Look down.”

       Zhuo Yue looked out the window in confusion. He saw a black Mercedes parked outside the courtyard gate with its headlights on.

       “If you had walked out of that door just now, I would have sent you away and continued to live your so-called normal life.” The man paused, “From then on, your world will no longer have any intersection with mine.”

       Zhuo Yue was stunned and slowly said, “You want… to give up on me?”

       He suddenly felt an indescribable discomfort in his heart. He didn’t know what to say, so he just looked at the other party sadly.

       A hint of softness floated in Fang Mingyan’s dark pupils, “Zhuo Yue, I am not a sadist. Unilateral coercion does not bring me pleasure.” Fang Mingyan’s tall figure was covered with a soft silvery light under the moonlight. “BDSM should be a voluntary interaction between both parties. But you are not a natural Sub and have no instinctive obedience to me. So I need to capture all your attention, establish absolute authority, and become your master. Only then can I break your world and rebuild it according to my rules. But I don’t feel good seeing you in pain. I want you to be happy like you were before. If you really don’t want to accept my way, I will let you go.”

       Zhuo Yue looked up at him, with a faint watery look in his eyes, and said in a very soft but unusually firm voice, “I won’t leave.”


Notes:
I’m torn between two versions…
So I’ll just add the ending other version too

       He paused, “Zhuo Yue, when you are incapable of controlling yourself, give that guy to me, okay?”

       Zhuo Yue’s long eyelashes quivered, and he gently leaned his chin against the man’s shoulder blade, closing his eyes wearily.

       “Okay.”


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