I don't remember how I got home. The journey was a blur.
Eyes followed me as I entered the Ruan estate, but I ignored them. I felt numb. Empty.
I went straight to my room and sat in silence, staring at nothing.
At some point, night fell. The once-bright day had turned into a cold, endless darkness.
A knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts.
"Miss," a maid called hesitantly. "Madam and Master have summoned you."
I closed my eyes. Of course, they did.
"Tell them I'll come soon," I replied dully.
The maid hesitated. "No, Miss. They ordered me to bring you immediately."
I sighed and stood. The maid flinched at my appearance but said nothing. No one in this house cared about me.
I walked to the hall where they waited. As soon as I arrived, Baroness Ruan greeted me with a slap across my face.
"You wretched girl! You humiliated my daughter!" she screamed.
I barely felt the pain. "I humiliated her?" I repeated.
Rose sobbed dramatically, clinging to our mother. "Mother! Now who will marry me? I was exposed in front of the servants! Huhuhu!"
The baroness hugged her tightly. "Don't cry, baby. She's the one who should be ashamed."
A bitter laugh escaped me. "Shouldn't the one who stole another's fiancé be the ashamed one?"
"You dare slander my daughter?" the baroness shrieked.
Then the beating began.
She grabbed my hair, dragging me to the floor. Slaps rained down on my face. A belt cracked against my back.
Not once did Baron Ruan stop her. He merely watched in silence.
By the time she was done, I was trembling, my body covered in bruises and cuts. I had no strength left to cry.
And in the end, Ronal was declared Rose's new fiancé.
I had lost everything.
Or so I thought.
Because that night, as I lay in my cold, dark room, something inside me changed.
If this world had no place for me…
Then I would carve my own.