For an instant, he does not think that he will be able to bring himself to do it. Certainly, this is not how he had ever envisioned Wei Ying seeing his body.
But better to get it over with now, he realizes, than for Wei Ying to discover this under other circumstances. If there is anger, well, they will deal with it. And if Wei Ying is repulsed by the scars, then--
--no. He will not let himself think like that. He will not.
He unfastens his belt, and the ties of all four layers of his robes, then shrugs them all from his shoulders with Wei Ying's help, letting them fall down his back to pool at his waist. As he does, he closes his eyes, and waits.
Three hundred blows with the bastinado would have been enough and more than enough, to break skin and bruise muscle, to crack bone and damage the body. But the punishment had been intended to mark him forever, that he might always remember the crimes committed against Gusu Lan, and so many of those blows had been struck with the discipline whip instead, in order that they might cut to the bone, tearing flesh and leaving deep scars.
He had very nearly died from the wounds and the infection that followed, weakened and grieving as he had been.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2020-10-18 11:25 pm (UTC)But better to get it over with now, he realizes, than for Wei Ying to discover this under other circumstances. If there is anger, well, they will deal with it. And if Wei Ying is repulsed by the scars, then--
--no. He will not let himself think like that. He will not.
He unfastens his belt, and the ties of all four layers of his robes, then shrugs them all from his shoulders with Wei Ying's help, letting them fall down his back to pool at his waist. As he does, he closes his eyes, and waits.
Three hundred blows with the bastinado would have been enough and more than enough, to break skin and bruise muscle, to crack bone and damage the body. But the punishment had been intended to mark him forever, that he might always remember the crimes committed against Gusu Lan, and so many of those blows had been struck with the discipline whip instead, in order that they might cut to the bone, tearing flesh and leaving deep scars.
He had very nearly died from the wounds and the infection that followed, weakened and grieving as he had been.