Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight! novel Chapter 589

"Come to daddy, Florian."

The voice seeped into the darkness like poison.

A faint light spilled across the cold stone floor as the heavy door creaked open, and a familiar silhouette stepped inside.

Ten-year-old Florian looked up—small, trembling, eyes swollen from crying.

He didn't know how long he'd been locked in this room.

Hours? A day? Longer?

Time didn't exist here.

Only the cold.

Only the ache.

Only the silence.

And him.

But Florian knew what he had to do.

The same thing he always had to do after being punished.

The ritual his father expected.

Florian sniffled, swiping at his tears with shaky hands. His body felt too heavy, too hollow, but his father was waiting—watching.

'I don't want to…'

God, he didn't want to.

But he forced his legs to move, step by trembling step, until he was standing before him. Asher's face was lit by the lantern in his hand—softly smiling, almost gentle.

As if he hadn't just thrown his son into a dark freezing room for "misbehaving."

Florian looked up at him.

His father looked down.

Silent.

Expectant.

Florian drew a breath that hurt, then slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around his father's waist in that empty, rehearsed embrace.

He felt nothing.

Well, he felt gratitude.

He had been trained to feel nothing but gratitude.

But his father—Asher Obsidian—wrapped his arms around Florian's small body with practiced ease.

And like always, one hand slid into Florian's hair.

Florian shut his eyes tight.

He braced—

And the pain struck instantly.

His father yanked his hair from the roots, pulling so hard Florian's back arched and the air was knocked from his lungs.

He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't even scream at first.

"I've been teaching you all your life," Asher murmured, voice low and cold against his ear, "and yet you still make mistakes like this? Dearest, stop disappointing me so I can stop punishing you. Do you think I like this?"

Florian whimpered, head throbbing, vision blurring. "N-No…"

"Indeed, I don't."

Another sharp tug, brutal and deep.

"You're the one forcing me to do these things. So stop making me the bad guy. Understand?"

Florian gasped, but no words came out—only pain, only fear.

Silence.

And that silence made Asher's patience snap.

He jerked Florian's hair harder, ripping another cry from the boy's throat.

"A-Ah! F-Father, please—I—I—"

"I asked," Asher hissed, "DO YOU understand, Florian?"

"Y-Yes! Yes, I understand!" Florian sobbed, the words ripping out of him in pure desperation. "I understand, Father!"

Only then—only then—did Asher loosen his grip.

But the relief never came.

Because the pain didn't leave with his father's hand.

The pain stayed.

The fear stayed.

It always stayed.

Asher exhaled softly, almost fondly, and stroked Florian's hair with the same hand that had just been used to hurt him. His touch now was gentle—tender even.

And that made it worse.

"I only hurt you because I love you," Asher whispered, voice low and serene, as if explaining something beautiful. "Remember that, dearest. I train you because you will be someone's obedient husband someday."

Florian's breath hitched.

Those words—he had heard them all his life.

They no longer shocked him.

They carved into him, shaped him, rewired him.

He swallowed the sob caught in his throat and forced his voice steady, soft, obedient.

"Thank you, daddy," Florian whispered, gratitude coating every syllable.

Real gratitude.

It was conditioned, but real.

If he thanked him, he'll stop hurting Florian.

If he thanked him, he'll hug Florian.

If Florian was a good boy, his father will be nicer.

So yes—he was grateful.

He was terrified, but he was grateful.

Because this was the only time Asher ever held him gently.

After the punishments.

After the pain.

That wasn't just a memory. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

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