Chapter 1254
“Alright.” Ren headed up the stairs for the study on the second floor. He knocked on the door and heard Harold’s deep voice calling out, “Come in.”
When he went in, Harold barked, “Close the door.”
Ren had a bad feeling. He saw the furious look on Harold’s face. It had been a while since he last saw Harold being this angry. “Dad…”
“Kneel!” Harold commanded sharply. Ren froze and stared at his father. Harold did use corporal punishment on him before he turned eighteen, but he was thirty-three now. Why did Harold want to punish him now? What did he do?
Out of consideration for Harold’s age. Ren could only do as he was told. He kneeled on the ground with his back straight and looked up at his father’s seething expression. He only hoped that Harold would not give himself a heart attack. At his age, it was dangerous for him to be this angry.
“What on earth happened, Dad? Tell me,” Ren pleaded.
Harold retrieved a belt from somewhere before standing behind Ren and whipping him on the back. “Ever since you were a child, I taught you that the most important thing is a person’s character. Did you forget everything I taught you? Is that why you’ve become so shameless?”
Harold’s belt landed a second time. Thanks to Ren’s clothing, Harold had no idea that his belt landed exactly on Ren’s wound.
Ren’s face was tightly clenched in pain. His wound was only a week old, and after being whipped twice, the pain was beginning to spread all over his back.
“Your mother introduced you to so many fine young ladies, but you did not take a liking to any of them. Instead, you went after Ruka! How could you do such a deplorable thing?!”
Ren took a deep breath. He finally understood what was going on. Harold was angry because of his relationship with Ruka. The family had kept it a complete secret from him, so someone must have leaked the news to him on purpose.
“I can explain, Dad.” Ren let out an exhale.
“What’s there to explain? You’ve forced Ruka to move in with you. How are you going to explain this to the Singeds and your sister? You… you have no respect for this family!” Harold’s belt came flying down on Ren’s back once more.
The smacking sound was so loud that the servant who came to the door with a tray of tea jumped in alarm. She could vaguely hear the sounds of someone being hit, so she quickly went to look for Charlotte.
Charlotte just so happened to be on the second floor as well. When she heard what the servant said, she immediately flung aside the flowers she had been arranging and rushed to the study.
Once she arrived, she began pounding on the door. “Open up, Harold! What are you doing? Why are you hitting Ren?”
“Stay out of it,” Harold growled toward the door.
Charlotte sent the servant to retrieve the key, and the servant did it as quickly as possible. As soon as the door opened. Charlotte saw her son kneeling on the ground as Harold raised the belt to continue lashing him. She was horrified and immediately stood in Harold’s way.
“Don’t you dare hit him again! What did he even do? He’s thirty-three! How can you treat him like that? Have you gone daft in your old age?!” Charlotte cried out before snatching the belt out of Harold’s hands. Despite his anger, he allowed his wife to take it away from him.
