He hugged him again.

“You are like a son to me too. Do you know why I stopped loving you then?”

“Because I became dirty.”

“No, I thought so. But with Nik, I realized that I love dirt. Yes, unfortunately, I love dirt. I stopped loving you because you did not obey me!”

“No, I always listened to you!”

“You didn’t listen well. You don't understand what it means to obey properly. Nik more or less understands… not completely, of course, he also needs to be educated much more, but at least he is trying to obey me as needed. Maybe you will try too?” Kors gently ran his fingers over the tightly closed lips of his prince, slightly pressing his not-cropped nails on his lower lip.

“No!” Arel said, dodging.

“Arel! That’s why, that’s why I stopped loving you! I love obedience. And you infuriate me with your obstinacy! You just piss me off!”

Arel turned away in frustration, but Kors, moving closer, tried to turn him around and kissed him on the temple.

“You will try, Arel, try, and you will succeed.”

But Prince Arel was stubbornly silent, and Kors, knowing his character, decided to change the subject for a while.

“Do you want me to help you? I will make it as painless as possible for Valentine.”

Arel shuddered and turned sharply to Kors:

“No! Don’t dare! It will be over between us forever if you dare to touch him without my permission. Don’t you dare harm Valentine!”

“Okay, okay,” Kors shrugged his shoulders, offended, “I wanted to help you, but since you don’t want… but no problem, Arel! Let your slave be taller than you, this is very… hmm… original! But you have always been not like everyone else, it is not for nothing that you were nicknamed “stupid handsome prince.”

Valentine, all this time kneeling in front of them, sobbed, unable to restrain himself any longer, and tears flowed from his eyes; and from a thorn covered, and from an implanted unclean eye. Arel, oddly enough, didn’t get angry.

“Valentine, I will bring you to the Black City and give you to my half-brother Vil. There are three of us.”

“Father had three sons,” Kors whispered softly and grinned.

“Vil will take care of you, he is very kind, and I will go with Nik and Vitor to the Demon World.”

“No, please, Master, don’t leave me! Take me to the Demon World too! I will serve you there, sir, when you become a Demon! Please!”

“No, Valentine, you will be fine in my Castle. You have nothing to do in the Demon World.”

Valentine continued to cry, smearing tears on his dirty, scarred cheeks. Kors looked condescendingly at what was happening, he was clearly bored; both this situation and crying Valentine at least a little entertained him and distracted him from the endless worries about his son, who went for a walk. Kors now could not control him and therefore was very worried.

“No, he’s pretty cute,” Kors remarked, finally returning to discussing Valentine. “Chester was far from ugly, and that little slave must have been pretty too. Pleasant appearance. Only you, Arel, don’t know how to handle your slaves. Valentine is dressed too expensively, you allow him to have long hair, you don’t really limit anything, you don’t follow him. He walks where he wants, does what he wants…”

“He never leaves our cart,” Arel objected.

“Are you sure about that? Have you seen how well-bred slaves behave in my house? The cook is in the kitchen, the groom is in the stable. And the slave in the entertainment room. Everyone is in his place and does not hang around anywhere.”

“Yes. All are distributed as in the cells in a prison.”

“Arel!”

And Kors already out of habit, not at all restraining himself, just as he spanked Nik, gave Arel a box on the ear; and he, like Nik, only shrank slightly and swallowed it without answering.