Coelestin stood on his feet on a pedestal, and in front of him was a masquerade ball where all rich businessmen and their escorts stood with masks over their eyes and wine glasses in their hands.

Coelestin's hands were tied up behind his back in chains. Everyone looked at him and suddenly heard footsteps. X walked towards him from the other side of the room with Veronique beside him and stepped on the pedestal with a knife.

He grinned as he looked at Coelestin who had made a public appearance after one month. He had been kept inside a dark cell for that one month, away from sunlight or human interaction, with no food. His clothes were disheveled, his bangs covering his forehead but his eyes still held the same pride of a prince.

"Ladies and gentlemen," X turned towards his audience, "I present in front of you, fifteen year old, Prince Coelestin Huldrych Dionisius of Switzerland, ruling the entire world,"

Everyone clapped.

"But he is a prince no more," X pressed the knife on Coelestin's fine white garment, dragging it on his skin forcefully and shredding it to pieces. Blood dropped down his arms as the straight line made by the knife slowly turned from white to red.

Coelestin bit his lips but looked straight ahead. "I swear in the name of my Kingdom, one day, I will kill you with my sword and bathe in your blood,"

X scratched out all the ornaments from his body, leaving behind scratch marks. His pale skin was soon full of purple bruises and red blood.

"X, he is fifteen, we should stop," Veronique appealed. He glared at her and she was silenced then and there.

Coelestin was stripped before the entire senate but he looked right ahead. Everyone looked at him, Veronique looked away and closed her eyes.

"You're gonna kill me anyway, why must you publicly humiliate me like this?" Coelestin looked at him.
"But you don't seem as if you feel humiliated, your highness. Is standing naked in front the entire senate a kink, perhaps?" X asked Coelestin.

Coelestin chuckled and his skyblue eyes pierced through X's deep blue eyes, "You don't seem as if you feel humiliated either by surfacing your borderline pedophilia in front the entire senate,"

X smirked,
"I see, so there's still some pride left, huh,"

Coelestin was mentally strong, but his body was slowly giving up. X looked at him,

"On your knees, Coelestin,"
"I'd rather die on my feet, than live on my knees," Coelestin said and everyone was suddenly hellbent on bringing him to his knees. X brought his knife between them,
"Now that there are no clothes to cut, do you want me to cut your dick next?"

Coelestin looked into his blue eyes.

"Get. Down."

Coelestin looked at the floor and slowly got down on his knees. Everyone laughed as he looked down at the floor. His mind was blank, his eyes were in shock.

"Now, your highness, why don't you try crying for a us a bit, you know, to show how much pain you're suffering from?" X asked.
Coelestin continued casting his eyes downwards.

"CRY!"
"The pain you give me is nothing,"
"Oh?" X narrowed his eyes and pressed his leg on his bare crotch until it was bleeding. Coelestin groaned and clutched his eyes tightly, "Are you in enough pain yet?"

Coelestin bit his lips as a tear drop fell down his eyes, "LOUDER!"

He burst out crying, "Please stop it," He cried, "Please kill me now, it hurts,"
Veronique looked sad. She took a step forward to help him but Loan held her hand. He signaled her to not take a step further. Coelestin's cries resonated through the halls of the ballroom.

Once he stopped crying, X patted his head,
"Good boy, Coelestin. See, you're just a fifteen year old boy after all. You can drop the tough act now,"

X looked at the spectators, "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, let the bidding began. Who'd like to keep prince Coelestin as a slave for the rest of his life?"

Veronique looked at the door.
"Three hundred million!"
"Six hundred million!"
"One billion!"
"Two billion!"
"Two point five billion!"

Coelestin sat on the pedestal

His worth was broken down to numbers by his own people. People he trusted, had fancy luncheons with, had friendly games of chess with.

'X'

"One hundred and ten billion!"

'You hurt me so much that...'

"One hundred and eleven billion!"

'The pain'

"One hundred and twelve billion!"

'Lost'

"One hundred and thirteen billion!"

'Its meaning'

"One hundred and fourteen billion!"

Coelestin lost consciousness.

Suddenly, the doors of the ballroom sprung opened wide and a tall, young, albino man walked in with a white masquerade and a white suitcase in his hands. He threw the suitcase at X and he caught it.

"Fifty-five hundred billion dollars," He said and everyone went quiet. X looked at him and so did Veronique.
"Is that the final bid?" Loan asked and nobody replied.

"Alright then, SOLD!"
Veronique ran towards Coelestin and covered him with a white blanket.
A few men carried him to his car and he drove away. He drove the car towards an apartment and waited in the parking area. Veronique walked towards the car and sat inside it.

"Good work, Lupin," She smiled. He removed his masquerade and looked at her, it was lupin.

. . .

Last night, Lupin and Veronique had a chat about this;

"Tomorrow, they'll sell Coelestin," Veronique said as she and Lupin were having their dinner.
"What is that?"
"The prince of the world,"
"Wait–Selling a human? That's counter progressive,"

"I know. I have to save him, he is the last light in this darkening world. I can't let X do what he wants anymore. This is too far considering the prince was always kind to us,"

"But doesn't that mean that you're betraying him?"
She smiled, "I've committed some of the greatest crimes with him, it would be delusional of him to think I won't commit those crimes against him,"

Lupin looked at her,
"I need your help. I want you to buy Coelestin. I'll give you the money,"
"Okay, I'll help you, but I want something from you in return too,"

She blushed, "You wanna have sex again?"
He laughed, "No, I want you to help me find someone,"
"Oh, who?"

"You must have heard of him, Evelyn Benjamin,"
She looked at him, "I know where he is. If everything goes well with his highness, I'll take you to Ben,"

"Alright,"
"After that,"
"Hmm?"
"Can we have sex again?"

He laughed, "You horny motherfucker,"
"Is that a yes?" She asked.
He looked into her eyes, "Yeah,"

. . .

Veronique picked Coelestin in her arms and walked into the lift. They carried him to an apartment and closed the door. She lay him on the bed, "Take care of him till I'm back, X must be looking for me,"

"Okay," Lupin said and she moved closer to him. She kissed his cheek, "Take care," She whispered.
She jumped out of the balcony and flew into the sky.

He looked at her go and then looked at Coelestin. He picked up a medical kit kept at the shelf and wore his surgical gloves, "It's been a while since I've done this out of the profession,"

Lupin's grip at medicine had improved from two years back since he had been practising it and learning more about it.

He remembered the last time when Ben accompanied him to treat Jimmy. That really motivated him to continue his medical degree, and now he was working as a medical professional at a hospital. Though, he did help out his neighbours with their computers and software numerous times, given to his love for computers.

Lupin gently worked through Coelestin's wounds. He looked down at pelvis and the blood-smeared there.
"...This is gonna be a bit difficult," He mumbled, "The pain will be unbearable, it will lead to nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness, huge swelling in the scrotum that is agonising to touch, and it will continue hurting until the damaged testicle is removed,"

Coelestin opened his eyes, his sky blue eyes turned towards Lupin, "Oh hey, nice timing, can I remove your testicle?"

"Huh?"

-To be continued

Prince Coelestin Huldrych Dionisius
5500 Rebellion