As soon as the subject of the marks on his back are bought up he seems to grow quiet, a little sullen perhaps and definitely withdrawn. The smile fades from his lips and his eyes all the same and he averts his gaze back to the clearing and the gap they were heading for. It was all he could do not to reach around and touch the marks and keep his composure, looking straight ahead to the gap in the trees and the wall beyond was enough to distance the reminders from his mind a little. Despite his discomfort on the subject he waited, as he always did, until the fae was finished speaking and then he took a deep breath, stopped walking and leaned himself against a tree, sinking to his knees to be nestled between it's roots. 

"It is very hard to spy on a man you're body guarding Rei, I don't mind." He stated first of all, his eyes briefly cast to the ground and his knees drawn up so his elbows could rest upon them, "I would have you sleep in my room if it did not set the staff a gossiping." Which would lead to more caning no doubt, "As for...my Father, my mother, My Brother when he was alive, god rest his soul, my teachers, the house carl, the weapons master, the meister, the cook once, though she was beaten and thrown out afterwards." He leaned his head against the trunk of the tree, "Most of these are before my brother died, when I was nothing more than a second son. Though I honestly do not think my father much cares if I become crippled, he'd find a way to make one of his bastard sons the legitimate heir, or produce another." Alessandro spoke with a vague disconnection rather than the usual animation in his words and voice. 

The beatings hurt of course but the reality of them, the ruthlessness behind them, that hurt more and for longer. For a while his father had loved him, they'd been close but the boys hair weighed on him year after year and the beatings began when it was clear the colour would not change. The yelling began, them uttered words and accusations. The idle comments one thought a child would miss, 'I should have strangled him as soon as he came out of me.' Or 'we should have thrown him into the water and let the river choose his fate.' Far worse besides with is brother calling him bastard before the boy even knew what the word meant. For a time the Meister was his friend, he dabbed the wounds and cleaned him up, even took him on as an apprentice for a while but even the old man had cause to beat him when he dropped a vial or misplaced a book. When his brother had died everything was a lot worse and his little sister was the only one who looked at him without the eyes of disdain. More than once he caught his mother weeping in her rooms 'why not take Alessandro, why did the gods take [b]him[/b].' Sometimes he often wondered that himself, surely it would have been better for all involved but he'd not been allowed on the battle field that day, if he had perhaps he'd not be sitting here with a fae feeling sorry for himself. 

Shaking his head he rose and brushed off the grass, the smile took a while to reach his face again and the light in his eyes was dimmer but he tried his best. "It would be rather funny to see you discipline my family of course but probably for the best if you don't." He offered a wink and stretched slowly, hesitating a moment before continuing on towards the clearing. "I can be a handful so it's not like I don't deserve it some of the time, I like to fence, I like to see the country side, sometimes I go to the local tavern and just sit and listen to the people talking, they never recognise me without the wig. Of course a Prince shouldn't be associating with their people like that, they shouldn't be out taking the air like some woman and fencing isn't the way of our household. Then there's the times I'm late, oh they really don't like that." A slight amusement sparked in his eyes as he thought about all those times he'd been too busy to remember his lessons, or hadn't concentrated as he was thinking on other things. "Still, like you said, everybody has their suffering right?" A genuine smile flashed from his lips then, "Come on, if I'm late I'll get another lash or three and I don't intend to spend another uncomfortable night on my stomach."