If You Leave Without a Word - Chapter 19
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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He seemed quite displeased with the scene before him. It was understandable, as he valued the family’s reputation above all else. Knowing well that his mother’s eccentric behavior had been passed down to his younger brother, Christian took the opportunity, each time Stella lost her temper and acted irrationally, to deliver sharp remarks and help her regain her composure.
His actions were not driven by affection for his troublesome cousin, who was prone to causing disturbances in the household. To him, Agatha was nothing more than a troublesome thorn in the family’s side.
So, when he had been wary about being excessively harsh with Lady Kristin, it was only out of an extreme concern that the fact might become known outside and tarnish the family’s reputation.
Even now, Christian did not turn his head towards the moaning Agatha on the floor. He remained fixated on his mother alone.
“What are you doing, come out.”
“But, Christian…”
“Come out, I said, Mother.”
“Christian.”
“Why are you wielding a whip in front of so many eyes like this?”
“You too, Christian, if you knew what Kristin had done, you would be just as angry as me.”
“No, Mother. People finding out that we brought our only niece home and whipped her would be a much bigger blow to our family’s reputation than anything Kristin has done.”
“…”
“Please, put it down now.”
Even though she behaved so cruelly towards Agatha, she couldn’t defy her son’s words. Stella, who had clenched her teeth and rolled her eyes in various directions, eventually dropped the whip as Christian had instructed.
“Well done, Mother. You should go downstairs and have a drink or something.”
As she walked out, Stella gave one more spiteful look at Agatha sitting on the floor. It was a look that said they would stop for now, but there would be more retribution later.
“Oh, tell Kristin to prepare for an outing. We have to go see the Princess.”
After instructing the servants to prepare Agatha for the outing, Stella left the bedroom, and Christian followed her. The stormy moment had passed, leaving behind only the acrid smell and scattered drops of blood.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
“Oh, dear Lady. Oh dear…”
Frail Liana rushed to Agatha, tears streaming down her face. Agatha clenched her teeth to bear the pain but still kept a wary eye on Liana’s fussing.
“Don’t make a sound or you’ll provoke Stella even more.”
“Is that really important? If I was punished just for shedding tears over your pain, I would gladly take a hundred or a thousand lashes. Oh dear, how can people be like this…”
She was grateful for Liana’s concern.
She was always kind and lovely, Agatha’s faithful servant. Agatha considered her more like family than anything else.
During the nine years Agatha had spent at the Calvino estate, everyone except Liana had been driven out, their reputations smeared, and they were expelled from the mansion.
Agatha couldn’t afford to lose Liana as well.
She forced her unresponsive body to stand.
The servants began to clean up quickly.
Cleaning Agatha’s wounds, applying ointment, changing her clothes, and replacing the bloodstained floor mat took only half an hour. After disposing of the bloodied fabrics and tidying up the whip Stella had haphazardly thrown aside, they also cleaned and organized it.
The efficient movements of the maids were a testament to how frequently such incidents occurred.
Stella was usually lenient enough to allow Agatha some rest after a whipping, but today was different. Without giving her any time to recover, she immediately ordered her to prepare for an outing. The maids hastily dressed Agatha in fresh clothes, even though her wounds had only been treated with ointment.
The whipping, inflicted once again on Agatha while her wounds from the previous beating were still far from healed, had reopened the festering wounds. When they added a corset over a thin bandage, agonized moans escaped from Agatha’s lips.
“How can we dress you over these wounds? We should call a doctor for proper treatment…”
Upon seeing blood seeping inside the corset, Liana shook her head in distress. However, the maids casually added another bandage inside the undergarments without any consideration for Agatha’s pain.
The unkind hands caused her to sway, but the maids seemed solely focused on completing Stella’s orders quickly. There was no courage or reason for the servants to treat someone who had been subjected to the Countess’s cruelty with kindness. After all, she was just a powerless lady, whether she suffered or not.
