Chapter 2

2.

Before I left, my maid Faye helped pack my bags.

She sniffled and muttered, "You're leaving. Isn't Lord Bastian even going to see you off?"

I stared blankly at the jade pendant in my hand and chuckled. "He hates me to the core now. There's no need to tell him I'm leaving."

Even if he knew, he would at most throw a few mocking words at me. He wouldn't give me even a tiny bit of sympathy.

"Ever since that incident, he stopped treating me like family."

Faye froze for a moment. Just as she was about to comfort me, the door suddenly opened.

Bastian walked in with a cold face, bringing in the freezing snow from outside.

Seeing him after such a long time, my eyes grew hot, and my knees gave out as I knelt down.

He cast a cold glance at me, his face showing naked disgust. "Cassia, you framed Odette for pushing you into the water. Now you're perfectly fine, but she's suffering from nightmares. How can you be so vicious?"

"Why don't you go kneel outside her room? You can get up when she finally falls asleep peacefully."

I slowly raised my head, and my heart suddenly sank.

I was actually naive enough to think he came to say goodbye.

Faye panicked and stepped in front of me to defend me. "My Lord, Miss Cassia just got out of the Bitter Frost Lake. She has a weak body. How can she withstand the cold wind at night?"

"Moreover, did you know that tomorrow she will―"

"Faye," I interrupted her with a miserable smile. "I'm fine. It's my fault for wrongfully accusing Lady Odette."

During the day, Bastian's fiancée Odette ran into me by the Bitter Frost Lake and brutally mocked me.

"Cassia, Bastian was too pure and got fooled by you. He let you live in this Ivory Estate for hundreds of years. Instead of being grateful, you drugged him and did the same dirty trick as your cheap mother!"

"You are so shameless! You deserve to die a thousand times over!"

She was talking about the scandal that everyone in the kingdom knew. The lowly girl Bastian kindly saved had actually given him an aphrodisiac and thrown herself at him.

I didn't drug Bastian. But when he was burning with lust and kissed me, I truly couldn't control my own feelings and gave in.

For hundreds of years, he had protected and loved me. I really thought he loved me back.

But when he woke up, he furiously slapped me and called me a cheap slut. He even got engaged to Odette the very next day.

I knew I was guilty and couldn't defend myself. But Odette should never, ever insult my mother.

I only argued back a few words, but Odette pushed me into the freezing Bitter Frost Lake.

Bastian happened to walk by as I struggled for my life. But he just held Odette's waist and watched me drown, coldly saying, "You'd use any dirty trick."

Right now, Bastian's gaze stopped on my thin body for a second. Seeing me completely soaked, a hint of pity flashed in his eyes.

But when he saw the jade pendant clutched tightly in my hand, he immediately frowned and fiercely grabbed my wrist. "Cassia, do you still dare to have delusions?"

He used all his strength. I instantly shed two drops of tears from the pain and shook my head desperately. "You are a noble Lord. I was foolish before and had wild thoughts. It will never happen again."

He gave a cold sneer and let go of my hand.

My hand went numb from the pain. That top-grade Celestial Quartz pendant instantly fell to the ground and broke into two pieces.

I stared at it quietly as my tears fell one by one.

Bastian had personally dug out this jade for me from the holy mountain. He spent a whole month carving it under the candlelight.

He did it just because I envied the warm jade Odette's mother gave her.

At that time, Bastian gently tied my hair with his scarred hands. "Cass, you don't need to envy anyone. You will have whatever others have."

He was a supreme Lord. With just a bit of his magic, he could easily turn a rough rock into a delicate pendant.

But he chose to learn from mortal craftsmen and carved it bit by bit with his own hands. Then, he tied it to my waist.

I had suffered for half my life and had never been cherished like that.

I thought that was love.

It was only when Bastian pushed me away in horror and choked me, demanding to know who sent me, that I realized it was all one-sided.

He slammed the door and left. My dress was ruined, and I had to walk back to my room almost naked.

After that incident, Bastian hated my guts. He and Odette were getting married soon, and there was no place for me in the Ivory Estate anymore.

His mother, Lady Genevieve, gave me two choices. I could either be the Kraken Lord's concubine, or go guard the Abyss Tower to repent.

The Abyss Tower was a forbidden place filled with monsters. It was a prison for the worst criminals. A weak and lowly person like me would definitely die there.

But the Kraken Lord's official wife was the High Queen's daughter. She was my half-sister who hated me to the bone. How could she let me live?

I had no other choice but to go to the Abyss Tower.

I wanted to tell Bastian, but Odette pushed me into the lake. He didn't care at all and even thought I was playing tricks to make him feel soft.

The dignity Bastian spent hundreds of years rebuilding for me shattered completely under everyone's mocking eyes.

Now, that jade, carrying my last bit of hope, was broken completely.

Good things never last, just like beautiful clouds and fragile glass.

Bastian looked a bit flustered for a rare moment. In the end, he viciously kicked the broken pieces of jade away.

"If this is the thing giving you inappropriate thoughts, it's better to destroy it early."

That night, outside Odette's room, I dragged my cold, soaked body and knelt for the entire night.

Her room was brightly lit. I could constantly hear Odette's whiny crying. "Bastian, this medicine is too bitter! I can't drink it!"

Bastian comforted her gently, as if coaxing a child. "Be a good girl, Odette. Good medicine tastes bitter. You caught a cold, so how can you not drink it?"

Odette refused and acted spoiled. "Then you have to hold me, otherwise I won't drink it."

Bastian laughed helplessly. "Alright, I'll hold you."

Their flirting words reached my ears without missing a single syllable. My numb knees slowly started to feel a sharp pain.

I touched my chest. My beating heart just felt entirely hollow.

Once upon a time, he used to coax me like this when I was scared and refused to take medicine.

The cold wind blew through my thin clothes, almost knocking me to the ground.

The thirty-two Soul-rending Spikes I had suffered remained in my bones and blood. Whenever it got cold, the spikes would act up and cause me unbearable agony.

Over the years, Bastian tried many methods, but he couldn't completely force the spikes out of my body. He could only protect me well and keep me warm.

Now I was curled up on the ground, pale as paper and shivering violently. The man coaxing Odette inside seemed to have completely forgotten that I couldn't handle the cold.

Odette's maid glared at me and said disdainfully, "Cassia, aren't you good at playing weak to seduce men? Too bad Lord Bastian and Lady Odette are having a cozy time together inside. No one is here to watch your little show!"

I lowered my eyes, my nails digging deeply into my flesh.

Fortunately, I was leaving soon.