The Abandoned and Terminally Ill Lady Married a Monster - Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Ailee glanced at Lane behind her, a silent plea in her eyes, begging him to deny the worst-case scenario she was imagining. Lane, however, simply smiled brightly, seemingly oblivious to her fear.
“Ailee, why is the pendant you said you never touched coming out of your vase?”
Thump. Ailee’s heart plummeted. Everything went black. ‘What is Mother saying to me?’ Her mother’s cold eyes bored into her. It had been a while since she’d received a kind look; this icy stare had become the norm. But never had it felt so piercing, so utterly chilling. Meeting that gaze, Ailee lost herself. Who was she? What was she doing here? All she knew was the suffocating darkness consuming her heart.
Sharp words flew around her, barely registering. “You’re still so brazen, even now, not understanding what you’ve done wrong!”
‘Why is Lane smiling so brightly? Why is Lane’s pendant in Mother’s hand?’ ‘Oh, it’s a lie. It’s all a lie. How could things have gone so wrong so quickly? Why is that thing coming out of my vase, in my room?’ ‘This… This is a dream. It has to be.’
“I’m deeply disappointed, Ailee.”
Every sound became muffled, as if she were underwater. Her head felt like it was splitting in two, her body disconnecting from reality. “You only understand when the whip comes out…”
“A disgrace to this family…”
Ailee stared blankly, time and space distorting around her. The scene felt unreal. Moments ago, she saw no one, and now everyone seemed to tower over her. Her vision swam, so dizzying she wondered if her head could actually be spinning.
As her mind began to clear, figures materialized one by one. She saw her father, then her grandmother.
‘Do you still think you’re not at fault?!’
She vaguely heard her father click his tongue, muttering curses under his breath.
At some point, Ailee realized her cheeks were wet. She raised a hand to touch them, and found she was silently weeping. Lane, with a sickeningly sympathetic expression, stroked her palm. It was red and swollen, yet she felt no pain. She simply couldn’t remember how it had happened.
“Sister, Mother and Father are discussing your punishment.”
Unlike before, colors now appeared vivid, everything sharper and larger than usual. Every corner of the room felt huge, menacing, as if about to impale her. Frozen stiff, she stared at Lane, unable to escape his gaze. ‘What have I done to you?’ She wanted to say something, anything, but her voice echoed internally, trapped within her chest. Each attempt to speak only brought a fresh wave of suffocating sobs. Hic. Hic. All that escaped her were the sounds of her own weeping.
“Sister, aren’t you afraid of the punishment?”
The blurriness in her vision, she realized, was from the tears welling in her eyes. She shook her head at Lane’s loaded question. Afraid of punishment? Was there anyone who wasn’t?
Still dazed, she saw Lizzy suddenly appear. “Apologize now, Sister. Say you’re sorry, and we’ll try to convince them to go easy on you.”
‘Apologize to whom?’ It felt as if her head had been struck; her thoughts were muddled, her brain refusing to function properly. Normally, she would have apologized instinctively, but now, every thought process felt sluggish.
“You might be kicked out if you stay like this.” Lizzy shook her head.
‘Kicked out? Am I going to be kicked out now?’ ‘Where will I go then? Is there anywhere I can go?’ Someone had told her to go somewhere, a fleeting memory amidst the chaos.
‘Oh, Kin.’
Kin had said it. He had asked her to leave with him. ‘Kin, I should have gone with you when you asked. I’m being punished for not going.’
Her mind was numb. Numbness was the only word she could find. ‘I have to apologize so I won’t be kicked out.’
“I’m… I’m sor…ry… hic… sob…” Her breath hitched, distorting her words. She didn’t even know who she was apologizing to.
Lizzy smiled gently at her apology, praising her. ‘Good job?’ ‘For what?’
Her vision blurred again, and more time passed. All she could think about was breathing. She couldn’t see or hear properly, so she focused solely on drawing breath. She didn’t even know when she’d been taken back to the gardener’s cottage.
The sickeningly familiar sight of the cottage made her heart sink further. The vase of artificial flowers lay shattered on the floor, its fragments sharp and jagged. Her face was reflected smoothly in the scattered pieces.
Then, her father entered the small cottage. His large frame cast a long, dark shadow that seemed to swallow her whole.
“You will stay in this house alone for the next month. You will be fed, but you will not leave this house. Reflect on your wrongdoing.”
‘Stay in this house alone for the next month…’
Unable to comprehend his words, Ailee continued to mull them over even after her father left. She repeated the phrase three or four times before it finally sank in. ‘I’m trapped.’
