The official version spread among the filo-North faction of Eastern young fighters and Riddle family, is that Christoph was captured in a night attack from an enemy faction while he was resting in his camp with the soldiers.
What the soldiers found the next morning, was just some drops of blood on the ground, not far from where the medic was resting, and to that, the guys could only see two possibilities: either he was captured to be tortured for information or he was killed and his corpse had vanished already. They credited the first option because of the very small amount of blood. they guessed there would be quite some more if he had been killed there.

What happened that night.

Christoph was indeed resting after a rather hard day. They were attacked in their previous camp some hours before and he got a rather ugly wound caused by a sword cutting him. Nothing serious nor deadly though, his only worry was that it could get infected, given the fact they had barely any medical supply beside what he brought with him, which was enough for barely 1 day in there.
It was just the third day he was there and it was pretty clear to him that he would not be going back home. He was close to be killed that day and the enemy seem to target him for first in their attacks. But he didn't complain nor he spoke with the others.
He wasn't sent to the main "army", just a secondary group and most of the guys there did not even speak common language close to enough to be understood. Which -he didn't know- was at the base of the very fact he was there, bad communication skills.

Anyhow, after tending to his wound as he could, he tried to have some rest that night. No easy task, knowing that probably some attack will occur before dawn.
Just as he was about to fall asleep though, he hears something totally unbelievable considering the place. The crying of a little girl, begging for help. It got him up immediately and started to look around in the camp, noticing that all of the others were in deep sleep, except from the patrol guy who was nowhere to be seen.
Curious and worried, he went out of the camp, towards the place where the voice came from, pretty dumbly indeed. As a matter of fact, as soon as he went close enough from the camp, a man fully clothed in black and with covered face jumped on him, immobilizing him in no time and breaking his arm. He tried to struggle, but everything happened so fast he found himself unable to react effectively.

Before he could even think, the other teleported them to another area, completely different from where they were, more isolated and close to a river. Despite it was late night, the sky so starry and shiny gave pretty much enough light to see. Without a word, the man who kept holding his arms behind his back, started to push him towards the abandoned, half burned house in the place and once inside, he forced him to walk downstairs, to a totally dark room which smelt like no good.

Guessing -wrongly- what his abductor's intentions were, despite the broken arm, as soon as he was pushed away, he rushed at the mysterious figure and aimed to steal his sword, unsuccessfully. He was harmed and definitely no match for someone of the experience of the other. To that, the man hit him hard in the chest and grabbed him by hair and -broken- arm to keep him stiff. «Don't force me to harm you any further. Please?» To that, he slowly let him go and uncovered his face.
Christoph almost froze to hear that voice, recognizing it immediately even before Sao uncovered his face and he literally looked at him with shock, confused beyond measure. He never knew much of him, other that he is the uncle of Xiu and that he lives with them in Edward's mansion, so a thousands thoughts started to run in his mind, thinking he was a traitor and a threat for their family and the entire North. But before Christoph could say anything, Sao approached a desk and turned a few candles on, lighting the place a little. Clearly, a place used for nothing good. Dried blood everywhere, chains, knives, nothing reassuring.

«You are a man of science, someone rational, I know it. But you also were tortured so your fear doesn't make you lucid now.» Sao said calmly to him while sitting on a chair by the desk.

Christoph gasped and recoiled till reaching the wall, where he held his broken arm with his hand. He didn't know what to reply to his words, so he just waited for him to proceed, after all, he doesn't have much choice at the moment. The place is of course protected from magic thus he can't teleport. Sao is not a fool.

«I know this is not the most reassuring place. If you could trust me, you would realize that this is the safest place you could be, though. No one will come here. Nothing should go wrong and with your luck, I really can't risk.» Sao said with a low and slightly thoughtful tone while taking off his gloves and throwing them on the desk. Afterwards, he stood up and started to walk towards him, raising a hand as to reassure him.
«I know that as a man who was tortured, your mind is not letting you be lucid but I will try tp explain the situation. Your freedom to believe or not.
There is a civil war going on here and this is what you know already. A few opposite factions are fighting each other to steal the throne. What we are keeping secret is that one of these faction is being secretly backed from the North, indirectly, because we want this faction to be in charge. We want Choi Li-Huang on the throne, because we know he will make things change and set the bases for a durable peace and cooperation between our Realms.
I am a spy, using my contacts with nobles and generals to provide important information to the North and to make sure our faction will win this war, while thinking I am their enemy. It is deadly essential that my reputation here stays unchanged, and you know what my reputation is, so you can agree with me I can not just let you run back to your camp or home, after I volunteered to come getting you. Not before the right precautions will be taken in the other side.
You weren't meant to be here, no one of the previous medics was, either. We were unaware of it, even, because the people who asked for medical support was meant to ask for medical supplies. Who sent that message wasn't good eough at speaking common language, we can't blame them though, they are ignorant young sons of farmers, fishers.
It would be the dumbest thing to ask for, honestly. No wonder your predecessors were killed so fast. A single northern among eastern, will always be the first target even without knowing it's a medic.
When I heard you were sent here for this, Khai investigated and I came to the man who "hired" me, General Khan, in order to get my hands on you before them. I told him I would take care of the new medic and I came for you. They are by now sure you are dead. And it's what they must keep believing. I'll refer them some fake information I "obtained" from you.
What is really essential is that no one here will hear otherwise. For this, I can't let you back to the North until we shut every possible rumor and press up. You really best never set a foot back here until the war is over, when Choi Li-Huang will be Emperor.
So, for about two days you will have to stay here, your family will have to think you are still captive of who knows who, then Khai will come here, take you back and pretend he rescued you from somewhere. I'd much prefer if you didn't mention the truth to your family either. Edward knows already and that's enough. They can survive two days of worries.» He spoke calmly and clearly. He found it of utter importance that no unnecessary person heard of this, because his role in the East was still of extreme importance and he could not let everything get ruined because of this.
«I am aware you probably don't trust me yet. But I warn you, if you try to run away or make some mess, I will be forced to harm you and chain you. So, be quiet and calm, try to relax and think that in two days you'll be back home. Also, don't ever try to touch the sword of a Master of Shadows again, it could really be the last thing you do in your life.» He approached a chair to him in case he wanted to sit, but Christoph instead, sat on the dirty floor. He was confused and not trusting him much yet. Too many words.
Sao just sat on the chair himself, close to the other. «I wonder...have you ever raped a woman?»

Christoph gave him an almost shocked look at his question. «Of course no!»

«Tortured an innocent? Harmed kids? Offended the Gods?» Sao kept asking, but Christoph's answer was always a rather bothered "no!" as of course he never did anything like that.
«Then it's not the Gods to be causing all this to you. I have to admit that your bad luck have caught my attention, as it has little of natural in it...» He pondered, suspecting always more that he could be under a curse of some sort. Though, he already asked both Lydia and Bart if they cursed him or paid someone to do so, and both honestly said to never have done such thing. He gave Christoph a glance, noticing his black shirt was getting "wet" on a part, on the side of his belly. «Are you wounded?» He asked seriously, while standing up and kneeling beside him. Without waiting for his answer, he tore off his shirt to uncover the part, noticing the nasty cut he had. The wound was clearly infected. Sao swore in his language at the sight of it, as it seemed pretty serious. «You can't help yourself with that...and neither can I.» He stood up again and gave him a last glance. «I am sorry for this, I must call him. I can't let you die.» Referring to Edward. Said that, he left, teleporting away, locking him inside, for his own good, for real. (To be continued).

The day after the concert, few hours after being summoned by Rujha, he rushes to Timm as he must warn hum about this and what is going to happen for the next 3 months.

He is noticeably shaken and dreaded by this, he has a deep feeling he won't be coming back.

Reached Timm's mansion, he knocks on the door, waiting for someone to open.

What Sao showed Benjamin in that evening at the club? The whole scene in Edward's mansion, from when they arrived to when they left.

Christoph ran all the way there, following his son and brother, in panic.
As soon as they arrived, Edward led Bart to the basement where he chained him. Christoph followed down and kept begging Edward to not do it, without purpose. So, Christoph asked to have a few words in private first and that was granted to him.
He tried one more time to beg Edward to spare his son from it, that he would make his son understand and regret his mistakes, but to that, the brother simply turned around to head back down. He stopped only at Christoph's next words, begging him to take him instead of Bart, saying he claimed his punishment on himself.
At first, it was clear that Edward was not pleased. He shut his eyes for a couple of seconds and tried to discourage the younger brother from doing it. But it was pointless, it was clear that Christoph could not bear the idea of his son being tortured. It would hurt and affect him more to know his son being tortured than to be tortured himself, which is the main reason why Edward was forced to accept. It was Bart the one meant to suffer not Christoph.
Edward finally slightly nodded and walked downstairs again, followed by Christoph. There, he went to prepare his tools while the father stood in front of his chained son, starting to undress himself (just top of course). To that, Bart started to guess something and to panic for real. He had accepted his punishment, he knew he deserved it and it would be a sort of relief to him. But this was not what he wanted.
Bart started to shout to Edward to let his father go,  that this was unacceptable, he started to struggle to try to free himself but everything was vane. The magic chains nullified his powers and drained his strength, he had no way to free himself. To that, his father even tried to tell Edward to not force Bart to witness, but of course it was ridiculous.
Once finished to undress himself, Christoph spread his arms, thinking Edward would chain him to, but he did not, of course. Christoph was here by his free will, if he wanted it to stop, if he wanted to leave he had the right to.
Before starting, Edward gave some last words to the brother "Beg me once and I will stop, with you." clearly letting guess he'd move to Bart then.
Christoph nodded and shut his eyes for some moments. His fear was clearly evident, he was trembling uncontrollably but was determined to keep his son unharmed.
Edward started with his usual injection, of a specific substance of his creation having the effect to sensitise the body extremely, acting on the nerves so that everything hurts hundreds of times more than normal. With that in circle, even a slight touch is felt as painful. And he injected the black liquid straight through Christoph's heart, which alone was rather grim to feel, even though totally painless. But after that, the hell started.
For a few minutes he tried to restrain himself from screaming and showing any sign of suffering. Then in the following hours he screamed to the point that even that was too painful. When he had no longer the breath to scream, he started to cry. He felt humiliated beyond measure by this. But he never begged to stop.
At some point he was so broken he could no longer stand by himself anymore and started to feel that he would faint. He warned Edward that his pressure was dropping, he even gave him some confused advices on what to do to prevent him from fainting, but Edward did nothing. When Christoph felt and did not manage to stand up, he simply helped him and supported him, while continuing to torture him. Meanwhile, Sao forced Bart to watch and told him cruel words on how that was all his fault, he caused his innocent father to suffer so much etc.

After 5 endless hours which felt like a whole eternity, Edward glared at Sao so that he would come to support Christoph and left the brother. It seemed to be over, but there was the final part, the care of the wounds, which with Edward doing, was just another cruel torture.
After thinking it was over, when Edward approached him with a vial containing a very familiar disinfectant, the strongest one, used only on anesthetized patients, as it literally burns like acid on the wounds. At the sight of it, Christoph almost let out a desperate "nooh" but restrained himself, fearing it would lead to Bart living through the same.
He kept crying till the end and only a couple of minutes after everything was over for good, Christoph finally passed out. Which gave Sao some serious and worrying doubts that his terribly bad luck might not be natural. After all, it passed about 1 hour and a half from when Christoph reported the risk to faint soon, before he actually fainted, which did not grant him to be spared from even just the mending of the wounds. And no, Edward was not behind it, Sao did not even need to ask. It was clear he wanted to let him faint, as he did not take any action to prevent it from happening, which increased Sao's suspects even more.
Anyhow, in the end, Bart was freed and told to dress his father up while Sao kept supporting the fainted man. Afterwards, they both were led back to Christoph' s home where Bart took care of his father.

As in Edward style, Christoph's wound were taken care of so that no scar will be left with the exception of one, he leaves on purpose as a true signature. A scar of the shape of two short lines one above the other, like a = a few inches under his chest, on the right side of his body. Which is pretty noticeable (when not wearing top clothes, that is)   
It took Christoph just a day to recover completely, physically. He may never fully recover the trauma, but that will only involve him having some scared reaction to: Edward; syringes; Yiyvt disinfectant. And given the subjects he teaches and his duties of assistance to doctors, they can lead to some slight troubles, but nothing major.

After the two weeks off he took, he finally returned to work full-time as a professor, both in Malicedom and the Academies. Plus some extra services for the hospital, at the moment, he is really not in the position to reduce his income opportunities.
For his luck, this first day of work was extremely quiet. In Malicedom, students were on trip, thus only Tomiel was there (as she didn't even tell anything about it to her parents), so he just had a long private lesson with her which helped him a little to fix the problems she has with him, being it the main source of her bad marks in his subject. He also manages to get her to obtain her first positive mark in his subject this year, a 9/10, which she is still trying to believe to be true.

At the Academies, not much work to do either as all of his classes had to be cancelled to allow the students to attend an important conference.
He takes the occasion to do some paperwork, and overall manages to get out of work with some hours of advance.
Once out of the Academy, he heads to the centre of Thylum, to buy food supplies for his daughter for the upcoming day, as he literally can only afford to buy the minimum and for her only. Luckily, Malicedom provides breakfast and lunch to professors and students, which makes things a little easier to him.

(As I've been developing Christoph's story and personality, I find the previous cheap story between him and Bart to not match anymore now. So, going to make some changes which are listed in this RP, including a different version of how things went with Edward.)

¬What the hell did happen that day? All I know is that Tomiel was brought back and Bart captured.¬ Benjamin is quite thoughtful while asking. He has not spoken much for the whole evening.

Richard sighs deeply. ¬I assisted by mere case. I was walking to tge Academy, when I noticed people gathering in the main square. I approached to check what was going on, I had to fight my way to reach the first line...just to see Bart in the middle, holding Tomiel in his arms. For a second I had hope it was all a misunderstanding...but before I could say anything, Jackil and Christoph arrived, at the same time as Edward. Just, the two ran, while he calmly walked.
To that, Bart placed Tomiel on the ground so that she could reach her father. He was not even daring to look at his father...he glanced at Edward, who started to walk away, and silently followed him.
Understanding where that would lead to, Christoph tried to stop Edward, calling him and telling him not to, with a desperate tone. But of course, Edward ignored and proceeded, to which Christoph went after them.
I tried to stop him, instinctively, but he pushed me away and I realized it was right that he followed them...¬He speaks with a low and somewhat sad tone. That scene definitely saddened him and bringing it back to his memory had the same effect.

¬After all that sick shit caused to him, he had even the will to try to cover him when he screwed up the most.¬ Vik grumbles with an annoyed tone.

¬What has Bart done to his father...exactly?¬ Benjamin asks, as he has not involved himself one bit in the matter at the time, despite Bart is his Godson.

Lydia frowns at Vik's words. ¬To what I know, Christoph has not done much to deserve his son's love. He is renown as the "Worst father in the Realm".¬

Meredith, who remained silence till now, decides to intervene. ¬Rumors are always unfair and false, most of the time.¬

¬Mostly when said rumors are spread by someone who hates you and wants to earn general sympathy. .¬ Richard mutters before answering Benjamin's question. ¬Bart has always been at war with his father. I suppose it was because of the fact Christoph was a bit absent in the first years of his life...¬

¬I say it was because he was a disgustingly spoiled and arrogant kid who thought to be who knows who, convinced that everything was due to him.¬ Mema replies with a disappointed tone. ¬To how I see it, Christoph's real mistake was to give and do too much for him.¬

¬His only mistake was to let his sorrow take over him for too long. For the rest, he did sacrifice over sacrifice to make sure Bart would have everything. The best of everything, despite his son kept spitting in his face in return.
He considers Bart his wife's last gift. He would do anything for him, maybe he did not cuddle him or filled him with cutesy words, but Christoph truly did his best to be a good father, I saw that with my own eyes.
It seemed as if Bart's only goal in life was to shame his father and prove him an awful father. But the worst of worst became when he decided to leave school, at his 8th year. Christoph could not let him do such idiocy that would screw his life for good, but Bart didn't give a damn. He started to spread ridiculous rumors about his father, inventing "terrible secrets" about him. He ended up in jail because of his lies but was of course proved innocent.
You can imagine our father's reaction to it...¬ He glances at Benjamin to those words. ¬Anyhow, Bart was doing his best to convince Christoph to deny him. He even openly asked it to him in MY VERY PRESENCE! But of course it would never happen. He was probably convinced that if he had been denied he could turn it againsthis father and possibly turn the whole family agaist him.
As nothing worked, he pretended to have been denied, lying to everyone he knew. But we knew it was not so, Christoph made no request and no document exists to prove it. Bart left home shortly after, without giving any explanation. Christoph tried to look for him for some time, but given it seemed to be what Bart wanted, he decided to let him be and do whatever he wanted.
A week after, Bart set his father's home on fire. I can't say this for sure, but Christoph should have been at home that night. It was a case he was not, only because I forced him to come with me that evening.¬

Mema's eyes widen at his words, clearly in shock to hear it was Bart to burn the house and possibly tried to kill his father. ¬It was...him...?? I knew it was a laboratory accident!¬

Richard snorts and shakes his head. ¬We were together in front of the burning mansion. Me and Christoph. He knew it was Bart and I knew it too. He fell on his knees and said "I should have been in there..".
But when our father called him to explain the happening, Christoph lied, inventing he was working on an experiment, the substance was unstable and it led to the explosion which caused a fire.
That way, he witnessed our father's rage for the nth time and spared Bart from the consequences of his act. Because, I have high doubts he would have the chance to live long, had our father known the truth...¬

¬...If he was my son I would have used his head as a wall decoration and the rest to fertilize my crops.¬ Vik
Emoticon heart
. His words break some moments of silence which followed Richard's tale.

¬...That why he ran away like a coward and did not have the guts to come back to Nortrig for that long...he knew Edward would get him once and for all.¬ Meredith adds.

Benjamin remains silent and even more thoughtful.

¬...and what exactly happened after Christoph followed Edward and Bart that day..?¬ Even though Meredith had already an idea, just not the right one.

¬I don't know...I did not follow them...and Christoph refused to have any mention of it. For a couple of weeks they refused seeing anyone and receive visits.¬

Though, their conversation was being overheard all the time by someone. He could not really help it, he was sitting close and his hearing is extremely fine.
Sao turns around and looks at the people sat at the table nearby. ¬I witnessed what happened, if you feel the need to know the details. It might upset the weak-hearted.¬ Glancing at the women.

¬I can tear off your heart and cook it, if it will help you feel less upset, darling.¬ Lydia replies to Sao's words, which sounded a little offending for a woman as strong as she.

Sao just smirks at her words and sits among them, as they indeed want to know what he has to say.

¬I don't like how this sounds already...¬ Richard mutters, having a feelings that things did not go as they all logically expect.

Sao gives them all a quick glance. ¬As some of you know already, I am Sao Yung, Xiu's uncle. And I live with them, which is why I was there and could witness what happened.
As they arrived to Lord Edward's mansion, he led the pirate straight to the basement, where he chained him to prepare him for his well-deserved punishment. But his father was being a true pain in the side, not wanting to let him do what was right. Edward tried to ignore him, but eventually granted him a word in private.
They went back upstairs where Christoph attempted another pointless plea to spare his son from that. There I showed up, to see if Edward needed me to free him from the crying brother, but my services weren't needed. Edward was already heading back down, suggesting his brother to not witness and to come back the next day. It would have been wise if he had listened.
Anyhow, Lord Christoph was not listening, instead, he asked to replace his son, to take his punishment himself- ¬

¬What?! Has Christoph truly lost his brain?! Edward denied of course!¬ That was Mema's reaction, she is definitely pissed off by what she heard so far.

Benjamin has already guessed and shut his eyes.

¬...If it can comfort you, it was clear that Edward did not want it. He tried to discourage him, but he was stubborn. Given the situation, there was nothing else Edward could do other than accepting.¬ Sao says, clearly being on Edward's side and perfectly understanding why it was the only possible solution.

¬What? Really, now, really? Christoph had to be punished in the place of that sick shit and that other idiot even accepted?¬ Lydia seems pretty disgusted as well.

Sao rolls his eyes, annoyed for being interrupted by the women so often.

¬So, it happened? Christoph got himself tortured and Edward did it...?¬ Finally Benjamin decides to speak again.

Sao nods slowly and seriously at his question. ¬If these...fiery ladies grant me, I can try to make you all understand why it was the only thing Edward could do. Or you can pity, scream at the "monster" and continue happily living as if in life, things were either black or white, only.
The minimum I can say, is that Lord Christoph managed to preserve pride, dignity and honor.¬

Benjamin stands up. ¬Show me...¬

Sao raises an eyebrow. ¬Fine.¬ He shows the scene in Benjamin's mind and as soon as it ends, he just leaves them without a word, looking rather upset.
He watches Benjamin leave, remaining silent, then after some moments he looks at Dorian. «What was I saying before the nth interruption?» He tilts his head.

(Gonna continue the conversation from here, any character could be already at the table with them or nearby, overhearing.)
{They are at the Club.}