Chapter 22
The week was nearly over.
Ian and Henry had mostly recovered by now. They insisted on getting discharged.
“Ruby, we’ve prepared a huge surprise for you,” Ian said mysteriously, his eyes shining with excitement.
Ruby regarded them coolly. “What are you guys trying to pull this time?” she asked mockingly.
Henry’s gaze softened gently. He said in a deep voice, “Ruby, come with us. From now on, we won’t disappoint you ever again.”
After a moment of silence, Ruby nodded.
She knew that this ridiculousness wasn’t over yet.
Moreover, she also wanted to see what else they were going to try.
Soon, she learned what their surprise was.
They were preparing a livestreamed public apology.
What a formal and sincere show of remorse! When word got out, it shocked everyone in their circle.
At the venue, the dazzling overhead lights shone down on the stage. There, Ian stood in front of the camera with Henry, Anna, and Christopher.
Their faces were wrought with exhaustion and agony, and their gazes showed an indelible look of regret.
Standing in the center of the stage, Ian said in a low and hoarse voice, “We stand here today not to seek sympathy but to express remorse to a certain someone–my sister, Ruby Lynch.”
Hiss voice could be heard worldwide through the live stream. Many people fixed their gazes on their screens with bated breath, waiting to hear his next words.
“Ruby, we know that no matter what we do, it will never make up for the hurt we caused you. Nevertheless, we still want to tell you that we know we made a mistake,” Ian said, getting choked up. His eyes flashed with pain.
As soon as he finished speaking, his knees suddenly crumpled, and he knelt before the camera.
“Ruby, we owe you an apology.”
His voice was so quiet that it was nearly inaudible, but the microphone amplified the sound far and wide.
The audience below the stage broke into a frenzy, and the viewers watching the stream were also astounded.
Ian—the haughty son of the Dalton family–was kneeling in public, begging for someone’s forgiveness.
Then, Henry stepped forward with a whip in his hand.
“Ruby, I know that expressing remorse with words is far from sufficient. Therefore, I will atone for my wrongdoings by getting whipped ten times,” he said raspily but resolutely. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in his eyes at all.
Having said that, he raised the whip into the air and violently lashed it against his own back.
The sound of the whip striking flesh came as clear as a bell. In an instant, there was a bloody gash on Henry’s back. His face immediately turned ashen, but sweat beaded on his forehead.
However, he merely gritted his teeth, determined to not make a single pained noise.
“The first lash is for how I had treated you with indifference.”
“The second lash is for the hurt I caused you before.”
“The third lash is for how I had ignored you.”
Lash by lash, Henry’s back slowly turned into a bloody mess. His body was trembling, but he never stopped.
The audience was shocked, and the online viewers held their breaths. No one could believe what they were seeing.
Standing off to the side, Christopher and Anna couldn’t stop their tears from falling.
“Ruby, we know that we owe you a lot,” Anna said, sounding like she was on the verge of a breakdown. “This is a gift that we got for you back then; it’s your favorite doll from your
childhood…
“Also, here are the photos of the good times we had when you were younger…”
Shaking, Anna pulled out a stack of photos and an old doll. She continued, her voice cracking, “In these past years, we missed you every single day. We lived with regret every single day…
“Ruby, if you’re willing to forgive us and come back to us as our daughter again, we’d be willing to do anything..”
