Chapter 335
At Pidence City, ever since the Osborne family fell from grace, the Queen had been living on tenterhooks. These days, she dared not show her face before the King, terrified of angering him and implicating Fermin. Only after Lizzie’s wedding did the Queen finally breathe a sigh of relief.
One day, Fermin went to the palace to see the Queen. Inside the palace chambers, the Queen and Fermin sat together, speaking in hushed tones. Fermin’s face darkened with fury. He spat, “That bastard Nicolas! To think he was actually a remnant of the previous empire, hiding in plain sight and nearly dragging me down with him!”
The more he thought, the angrier he grew. He couldn’t believe that Nicolas had played him.
Seeing how utterly furious Fermin was, the Queen said coolly, “Why are you still keeping tabs on the Osbornes? Surely you don’t expect Nicolas to come and rescue them?”
“Mother, don’t you know? Nicolas has always doted on Willow and can’t bear to let her suffer the slightest bit of injustice. I don’t believe he’ll just stand by and do nothing while she’s exiled,” Fermin huffed angrily.
The Queen wasn’t entirely clear about the relationship between Nicolas and Willow. All she knew was that Nicolas had been rather protective of Willow.
The Queen scoffed, “He probably just values Willow for her ingenuity. Surely you didn’t expect him to actually fancy her?”
The Queen thought coldly, ‘Feelings are mere illusions. They are intangible and fleeting. There’s no such thing as genuine love. Just like between me and His Majesty. We were head over heels in love back then. But now…’
The Queen’s eyes dimmed at the thought of Arthur’s cold indifference. Arthur hadn’t set foot in her chambers for more than half a month.
Fermin cast a disapproving glance at the Queen, thinking, 'She’s the Queen already, yet she still spends all day obsessing over romance.' Fermin slammed his fist down hard on the table, his face livid with rage. “No matter what, I won’t let that bastard get away with this!”
The Queen cast a cool glance at him and said in a measured tone, “If you’re going to do it, do it cleanly and thoroughly. Leave no loose ends.” She loathed the Monson family to the core since they dared to harbor remnants of the previous empire. She felt that they deserved nothing less than death.
By mid-June, the scorching sun beat down mercilessly. Across the barren wasteland trudged a ragged procession. Men, women, and children shuffled along, their hair matted, faces smeared with dirt, and dressed in tattered rags. Shackled at the wrists, they shuffled forward with heavy steps. They were all hollow-eyed and sallow-faced from hunger, barely clinging to life; it looked as if they might drop dead at any moment and never rise again.
The scorching sun baked the ground, leaving Willow weak and dizzy. Sometimes, Willow wished she could just end it all.
'At least then I wouldn’t have to endure this torment anymore,' Willow thought bitterly. At first, Willow would quietly sob to herself, but after taking several lashes, she didn’t dare make a sound anymore. No matter how unbearable things got, Willow could only grit her teeth and tough it out. One misstep, and they’d be beaten within an inch of their lives. For three full days, they hadn’t eaten anything. Their lips were cracked and peeling, and their throats felt scorched.
“Sir, please, give me some water…” Nona’s parched, hoarse voice rasped weakly beside Willow’s ear.
Willow turned, her eyes burning with a venomous glare at Nona. However, in her pathetic state, she couldn’t muster even a shred of intimidating presence. At times, Nona would even deliberately trip her up, causing her to fall.
Nona shuffled up to the officers, her eyes pleading and her voice trembling with desperation. “I haven’t had a drop in three days. Please, sir, have mercy. Just a sip of water; I’ll do anything you ask.” Her words were so explicit that the officers couldn’t possibly misunderstand her meaning.
Earlier in the journey, as they passed through towns and villages, the officers, wary of public scrutiny, didn’t dare to cross the line. But now, in this desolate wilderness, they cast off all restraint. Nona wasn’t exceptionally beautiful, but she did have soft skin. The officers‘ faces twisted into lewd grins as they sized Nona up from head to toe. One of them purred, “You’re willing to do anything?”
Nona nodded frantically. “Yes, I am. I’m completely willing.” To survive, she abandoned all dignity. Nona couldn’t wait to bare her delicate arm to the officers. She simpered, “My lords, just look. My skin is still flawless. I was the Marquis’s concubine, once his favorite.”
Kelsey watched Nona’s degrading behavior, her teeth grinding in fury. Kelsey seethed inwardly, 'How could my Michael have taken in such a shameless concubine?'
“She’s brought nothing but shame to the Osborne family!”
The officers exchanged lewd grins, then roughly dragged Nona into the roadside thickets. Not long after, lewd sounds drifted out from within. Kelsey gritted her teeth in fury, shut her eyes, and spat, “Shameless woman! The Osborne family has no place for a woman like you.”
Willow’s eyes went wide with terror, her gaze frozen in sheer horror.
'We’re not even halfway there, and it’s already this unbearable,' Willow thought in despair. 'What will I do if it gets even worse? Sooner or later, those bastards will get tired of Nona. What if they set their sights on me next?'
The more Willow thought about it, the more terrified she became. Hugging herself tightly, she trembled uncontrollably and huddled closer. “Mother, I’m scared.”
Before Willow could react, Kelsey suddenly slapped her hard across the face. Kelsey jabbed a finger right at Willow’s nose and screamed, “You wretched bitch! If it weren’t for the Monson family dragging us down, would the Osborne family have come to this?”
Kelsey’s anger flared; in a violent rage, she lunged at Willow. At first, Willow didn’t dare fight back. But after taking brutal blows, she suddenly spun around and slapped Kelsey across the face.
Kelsey reeled from the blow, spinning around before collapsing to the ground. Kelsey stared at Willow, her eyes wide with utter disbelief. She shrieked, “You actually dared to strike your mother-in-law?”
Willow wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and sneered coldly. “You still think you’re the head of the Osborne family? Still trying to play the mother–in–law card with me? Why don’t you take a good look in the mirror and see what a pathetic mess you’ve become! The Osborne family is finished. Michael is done for. Your noble family is destroyed!”
Kelsey’s eyes widened in terror, her emotions boiling over as she suddenly lunged at Willow. Kelsey suddenly lunged forward, her hands clamping with a death grip around Willow’s throat. Through gritted teeth, she snarled, “You wretched bitch! The Osborne family isn’t finished. As long as Michael is alive, the Osborne family will rise to glory again!”
Kelsey’s hands tightened around Willow’s throat. Willow gasped for air, her eyes rolling back in agony. Fighting for her life, Willow viciously kicked Kelsey in the ribcage, then collapsed to the ground, gasping and coughing violently. Kelsey lay sprawled on the ground, a dull, throbbing pain in her chest. For a long moment, she couldn’t get back on her feet.
Once Willow had caught her breath, she jabbed a finger at Kelsey and spat, “You wretched old hag! Look how far you’ve fallen, and you’re still dreaming of restoring the Osborne family! You should be more worried about whether you’ll even survive the journey to the northwestern wasteland!”
“I must have been blind to ever marry into the Osborne family. My whole life is utterly ruined!” Willow descended into hysterics, howling and shrieking as if possessed.
Kelsey’s eyes went dull with shock, her spirit shattered. She kept muttering in a daze, “No, it can’t be like this. I don’t believe it. I just don’t…”
Suddenly, the sharp crack of a whip split the air. Willow shrieked in agony, curling into a ball as she rolled frantically across the ground. The whip lashed down on her like a torrential rain, each strike splitting her flesh open.
Nona looked at Willow with triumphant malice in her eyes. She said to the officers, “Officers, that bitch is the young madam of the Duke’s estate; I bet she’d be a hundred times more satisfying than a lowly madam.”
Chapter 336