After being hit hard by Riven, Hagrid lay sprawled across the wooden floor while clutching at the side of his face, as panic continued spreading through him with every passing second while he desperately searched for some way to regain control of the situation.

"Have ye lost yer damn mind, boy?" Hagrid demanded, as a mixture of fear and anger twisted across his face while he struggled to push himself upright.

"How dare ye raise yer hand ath me? Do ye even know what happens to slaves who strike their masters in Ashfang?"

He continued, as his voice continued to grow louder while he attempted to cling to the authority that had always protected him throughout his life.

"Ye won’t be given a simple death, boy. They’ll nail ye to a wooden plank and make ye bleed outh through a thousand cuts."

Hagrid warned, as although he tried to sound threatening, the tremor creeping into his voice made the fear beneath his words increasingly difficult to hide.

"Buth ith’s noth too late yet. Help me escape and I’ll save ye. I’ll tell them ith wasn’t yer fault. I’ll tell them ye were trying to protect me."

He offered, as the threats slowly gave way to bargaining while desperation began seeping through every word.

However, throughout the entire exchange, Riven remained completely silent.

Slowly stepping forward, he lowered his gaze toward the cripple before reaching down and unfastening the leather belt from around Hagrid’s waist, as the old man immediately stiffened while watching the familiar strip of leather slide free from his clothing.

Then, without saying a word, Riven calmly wrapped the belt around his palm once before testing its weight.

*SPACK!*

The leather snapped against the wooden floor with a sharp crack that echoed throughout the room, as Hagrid visibly flinched while every muscle in his body tightened.

"By the way, there’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for the past nine months."

Riven said in a calm voice as he slowly raised the belt above his head, causing Hagrid’s eye to instinctively follow the motion while his breathing became noticeably faster.

For a brief moment, neither of them moved.

Then a faint smile appeared on Riven’s face.

"What I wanted to tell you was that it was me."

He said quietly.

"I’m the one who silently poisoned your food for months and turned you into the cripple that you are today."

Riven revealed with glee, as for a moment, Hagrid simply stared at him in stunned silence while the meaning behind those words slowly settled inside his mind, causing the color to gradually drain from his face as the fear already present within his eye deepened into something far uglier.

Countless small details that had never quite made sense before suddenly began connecting together all at once, from the unexplained sickness and growing weakness to the numbness in his limbs and the gradual loss of control over his own body, as everything that had happened to him over the past several months abruptly ceased feeling like a cruel twist of fate.

Instead, it began looking like the result of a deliberate plan, as the horrifying possibility that the slave boy standing before him had orchestrated his downfall from the shadows slowly took root inside his mind and refused to leave.

"Wha—?"

Hagrid began, as disbelief flooded his expression while his mind desperately searched for some other explanation, when suddenly....

*SPACK!*

The belt crashed across his midsection, as the leather bit into his flesh while a scream immediately escaped his mouth.

"Two."

Riven counted calmly, as despite relishing every second of this torture, he did not allow the satisfaction spreading through his chest to reach his voice.

"Ye lying little bastard!"

Hagrid screamed, as shock and panic mixed together inside him while he desperately tried to reject what he had just heard.

"N-No... tha’s impossible..."

He muttered, however even as the denial left his mouth, Hagrid found himself instinctively believing every word, because deep down he immediately knew that Riven was telling the truth, as the revelation explained far too much for it to be a coincidence.

The mysterious sickness that had appeared out of nowhere, the gradual weakness that no healer had been able to explain, and the slow loss of control over his own body suddenly seemed to fit together with terrifying clarity, as what he had spent months convincing himself was simply bad luck now appeared to be something far more sinister.

As that realization settled inside his mind, disbelief rapidly gave way to horror, because Hagrid finally understood that he had not been crippled by fate or illness at all.

He had been hunted.

And the person responsible had been standing inside his own brothel the entire time.

"Ye did thish to me?"

Hagrid asked, as his voice trembled uncontrollably while he stared at Riven with bloodshot eyes, no longer looking at him like a slave but rather like a monster that had quietly lived beneath his roof for months.

"Ye ruined my life..."

He muttered, as months of bitterness, frustration, and helplessness suddenly found a target.

"Do ye have any idea whath ith felt like watching my own body stop working? Do ye know how many healers I paid? How many sleepless nights I spent wondering why thish was happening to me?"

He demanded, as the horror inside him gradually transformed into rage.

"I should have beaten ye harder. I should have whipped ye until there was nothing left. If I’d known ye were capable of thish, I’d have cut yer throat the day ye arrived!"

He snarled, as hatred flooded every corner of his face.

"And if ye kill me today, boy, I swear I’ll come back and haunt ye. I’ll follow ye into yer dreams and make sure ye never know a moment of peace for the rest of yer miserable life!"

*SPACK!*

The third strike landed before he could continue, as the leather wrapped around his side and tore another scream from his throat while his body instinctively curled inward from the pain.

"Three."

Riven counted in the same cool and collected voice, as though Hagrid’s threats had never been spoken at all.

"AAARGHHH!"

Hagrid screamed, as his remaining hand clawed desperately against the floorboards while the pain radiating through his body only seemed to fuel his hatred further.

"FUCK YE!"

He roared.

"FUCK YE AND FUCK YER DEAD WHORE MOTHER TOO!"

The insult left his mouth almost instinctively, because even now he desperately wanted to provoke Riven into losing control.

*SPACK!*

The fourth strike followed moments later, as the leather slammed across his stomach with enough force to drive the air from his lungs.

"Four."

Riven said.

The calmness in his voice frightened Hagrid far more than the belt itself, because throughout the entire beating there was no anger in his expression, no rage in his eyes, and no satisfaction visible on his face, as he simply continued delivering punishment with the same detached focus that a hunter might show while skinning an animal.

"Please..."

Hagrid finally muttered, as for the first time since the beating began, genuine fear overwhelmed his pride.

"Please, boy..."

*SPACK!*

The fifth strike arrived almost immediately afterwards, as the leather snapped across his ribs while another scream escaped his mouth.

"ARGHHHHHH"

"Five."

Riven counted calmly, as he looked down at the cripple sprawled across the floor while Hagrid finally began to understand that this was no longer a confrontation he could control, bargain his way out of, or intimidate his way through.

The slave he had spent years tormenting had come to collect a debt.

And the count had only just begun.