Chapter 2

2.

I stumbled into the car. The cabin smelled faintly of expensive perfume, a sharp contrast to the sour stench clinging to my body.

Sienna didn't look at me once during the drive. She just coldly ordered the driver to start the engine.

As the car bumped along the mountain road, Sienna spoke with a tone of ultimate charity.

"I wasn't going to forgive you so soon, but Basil has a kind soul. You're only going back because he begged for you."

"If you're ever disrespectful to him again, don't blame me for being heartless."

My throat felt tight. I wanted to explain, but I felt too exhausted to even try.

This marriage had been a mistake from the very beginning.

Sienna had been drugged at a party and ended up in bed with me.

I knew she and Basil were in love, so I never intended to marry her.

But the elders of the Sterling family looked down on Basil because he grew up in an orphanage.

They used the incident to force the marriage, and Sienna was effectively sold to me.

I had loved her since we were teenagers, so I naively thought it was a dream come true. Instead, it was the start of a nightmare.

Because of one unhappy word from Basil, she and my sister dumped me in these isolated woods for over a year of living death.

I lowered my eyes to hide the bitterness, nodding faintly.

"Mrs. Sterling, I won't speak out of turn to Basil anymore. I won't make either of you angry."

"If it's possible… can we get a divorce once we're back?"

Sienna glanced at me with sharp annoyance. "That's enough. What's with the sarcasm? As if you'd ever actually leave the Sterling fortune."

"Are you trying to make Basil look like the bad guy again? You're truly disgusting."

"No, I'm not. I mean it. I really mean it," I scrambled to explain.

Suddenly, a sharp, twisting pain flared in my lower abdomen. I clutched my stomach, shaking uncontrollably.

Sienna saw me and scoffed. "Doing this once or twice is fine. Any more and it just gets irritating."

My face turned deathly pale. I gritted my teeth and whispered, "Can we… can we pull over?"

"What now?"

"Please, just stop the car for a second…"

Sienna ignored me and closed her eyes, acting as if I didn't exist.

I couldn't hold it anymore. A warm, humiliating liquid ran down my thighs, and a foul odor began to fill the luxury cabin.

I covered my face with my hands, waves of despair and shame crashing over me.

During that year of inhuman torture, I had lost all dignity as a normal human being.

Sienna caught the scent and her high heel slammed into my side.

"Silas! You're filthy! You couldn't even hold it like a civilized person?"

The pure hatred in her eyes was no different from the villagers, but it hurt a thousand times more coming from her.

I curled myself into a tight ball, repeating in a low whisper, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Sienna wanted to keep shouting, but the driver spoke up hesitantly.

"Ma'am, let's just get home. Something is wrong with Mr. Silas."

It was then that Sienna noticed the spot where she had kicked me. Blood was beginning to seep through my thin pants.

She froze, falling into an eerie silence for the rest of the trip.