Chapter 48

Chapter 48

T/W: Mentions of abuse, violence

“Please, let go…”

“What’s wrong with you?”

The strength of the man’s grasp tightened. He seemed unwilling to let Tessa go until she answered the question. Still, Tessa tried as hard as she could to get her hand out. Please please… She gasped and even begged. Hert stared at Tessa with a hardened face.

“Speak. What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

“…….”

“Are you not going to tell me again?”

At Tessa, who had now completely shut her mouth, Hert shot coldly in a subdued voice. Everything was frustrating.

He just wanted to talk. He can’t go on and on and keep everything covered.

Hert was as patient as possible and called for Tessa once more.

“Tessa.”

‘You b*tch!’

Tessa closed her eyes tightly as she heard the hallucinations again. Her heart thumped at the sound of the unforgettable voice. No, don’t… Please stop… The floor covered in shadows was swallowing her up. Into the gloomy darkness, he constantly pulled her and covered her mouth. Her legs were barely holding on and were shaking badly.

‘Sure, kick me. If you can yell, try it. I don’t know if anyone will even hear.’

The hallucinations were getting clearer. A sarcastic, childish tone pierces her ears fiercely. Her mouth was dry.

‘Tell me, tell me, tell me…’

“I, I…….”

Suddenly, Tessa shed tears in silence. Not even faint cries came out of her.

Let’s be honest.

It’s not that she didn’t want to say it.

It’s that she couldn’t.

‘You dunce, you need to know your place.’

Actually… It was a pure lie to say that she had shut her mouth about being abused. Tessa said it over and over again. Howling as if vomiting her blood, she shouted several times. But no one listened to her cries.

Tessa’s voice did not reach anyone.

So it became something she never said.

‘Help me! Somebody help me, aack!’

The first day the Young Marquis grabbed her hair and dragged her away, Tessa begged for help and tried to cling onto anyone she passed by. But the reply was utter indifference and disregard. No one helped Tessa as she was dragged away by Ferdale. Dragged into the room, Tessa was beaten until she fainted for the first time.

She didn’t even know why.

‘Let, let me go…! Help me… Ahk! I—I don’t want it!’

‘Say it again. What?’

‘I don’t want it! That, stop—’

‘You don’t want it? You Dare to reject me? Say it again, you b*tch!’

In the beginning, Tessa rebelled against the Young Marquis. He bashed her head in, kicked her stomach and broke her nails, but she didn’t just stand still. She shoved the Young Marquis and she equally swung her arms and screamed, struggling tirelessly to escape out of the door. There have been several occasions where she managed to escape. She also inflicted several wounds on Ferdale’s face.

But that wasn’t the problem. After that was a problem.

Even after she ran away, she had nowhere to go. There was nowhere else that would welcome her in the Jutert Castle.

People avoided Tessa and dare not give up a single space of their own. Tessa had to roam the expansive grounds in search of shelter, shedding her blood in her ragged clothes. At the end of the day she was caught by the servants sent by the Young Marquis and dragged away, and she was beaten again.

It was not easy for her to escape.

‘Help me! Please!’

‘Didn’t I say that shouting like that is useless? How many times have I told you! There’s no one here to listen to you, you stupid b*tch!’

Tessa did not give up easily. She shouted over and over again, if only she could raise her voice. Please help me, please help me.

But every time, no one came forward for her. Everyone condoned the Young Marquis’ actions. As if they were very familiar, they knew everything but were busy pretending not to know or that they did not see.

‘Just once, just once…’

Though she fainted from being beaten, Tessa continued to call out. She begged someone to save her from this brutal violence and to stop him. Even if it’s just once, please don’t let the Young Marquis hit her…

But still, no one stopped the Young Marquis. Tessa began to wear out as she thoroughly realized that she was alone.

‘We are going to get kicked out of here after helping you. Let go of me!’

‘I’m sorry. It’s not something I can get involved in.’

‘Hey, go away! We don’t want to incur our master’s wrath!’

‘You were sold anyway. This is also on you.’

It wasn’t that people didn’t understand it at all. Ferdale was the steadfast heir of the Jutert family, and no one could stop him from doing so, except for his father, the Marquis.

How can people living in the Jutert estate rebel against the Young Marquis of Jutert? Judging by his temper, he was a man who would do more than punishing three generations for disturbing him.

At some point, Tessa stopped shouting for help. Anyway, she realized that it would result in a more severe beating. Running away was also pointless. If she had to do it anyway, it was better to get hit right and finish it all at once.

It was then that Tessa stopped rebelling.

Tessa was starting to get eaten up like that.

‘Are you shutting your mouth now? If you’re still asking for help, then your head is really empty. Yes, remember this carefully. No one here will help you. There is no one to listen to you.’

What the Young Marquis said was correct. As he said, there was no one to listen to Tessa. No matter how much she shouted that she was being abused, no one came here. When just the echo returned, nothing came back to Tessa. It was hopeless.

Since then, she has been unable to utter the word abuse, ask for help, or say anything.

She knew that it was useless and her mouth did not open at all. It wasn’t just that. In front of people, her body naturally withdrew. When a strong man like Ferdale appeared in front of her, she trembled without raising her head properly.

‘Huuh…’

Tessa shut her mouth and crouched down. And she waited impatiently for the terrible moment to pass.

It was only after Janet became the seventh wife of Marquis Jutert that things began to improve little by little.

‘Oh my God, what is all this? Who the hell…’

‘It’s… It’s nothing. Don’t mind me, Madam.’

‘No, how can you not care when someone is in such a mess! Who did it? Tell me I’m going to—’

‘I’m fine. Anyway… It’s no use.’

‘How do you know if it’s useless or not? Tell me quickly!’

When Janet persistently urged her, Tessa eventually forcibly opened her lips and confessed that it was the Young Marquis’s abuse.

It was painful because the voice, which had been quiet as if it had swallowed a knife throughout the conversation, did not come out well, but because there was someone who listened to her for the first time, she was able to speak up with courage.

‘Thank you, Tessa. It must have been difficult to say.’

After that, miraculously, Janet appeared and saved her whenever Tessa was taken away by the Young Marquis.

Of course, Janet’s help didn’t always work, but the frequency of being beaten by the Young Marquis was definitely reduced. Relatively, the beating grew harsher with each dragging, but she could breathe with that.

But that didn’t last long either.

Slap! The sound of flesh getting hit resounded. And the screams of the maids that surrounded it.

‘…….’

As the situation unfolded in front of her, Tessa felt her breathing tighten again. It was Ferdale who had never touched any of the other wives except herself. On the contrary, he even seemed to be polite. But he slapped Janet on the cheek, who has now protected Tessa. Although he seemed to be embarrassed after breathing her too.

‘This, this! That’s right, keep on intervening! It’s all because you covered for that b*tch!’

At the end of those words, the Young Marquis ran away in a hurry.

Tessa’s heart pounded loudly at Janet’s face, which quickly became red and swollen. The fact that the innocent Janet was beaten because of her weighed heavily on her chest. It was the moment when she faced her foolishness once again.

Tessa wept and apologized to Janet.

Janet was becoming unhappy because of her. She closed her mouth as long as she could stay still and carried the misfortunes on her own.

‘Stupid b*tch.’

The words of the orphanage director come to mind again. Tessa trembled heavily. Her hand reflexively stopped the mix of screams and weeping from coming out. Someone whispered to her.

Swallow it. Misfortune ends on your line. If only you shut up and live like you’re dead, everyone can be happy. So you have to swallow it all. Don’t hurt others. you stupid b*tch.

Tessa bit her mouth. She vowed never to make the same mistake again. It was then that she began to secretly avoid Janet, who was trying to help her.

So if he asked her why she wouldn’t tell him…

“Nothing…”

All she could say was this.

Tessa looked at the man’s hand, which was still holding her. A hand that was still large and warm enough to cover her entire hand. Her tears keep falling. Tessa smacked her lips. Again, she can never say it because Hert was the one who had now regained the right to be happy. She hoped that this misfortune would not pass on to him.

‘Her, I don’t want to make you unhappy anymore.’

Stupid b*tches were like that.

Tessa swallowed her misfortune.

“It’s nothing…”

* * *

Late at night, a dim light was coming from a carriage that had stopped in a corner. The man who had just returned to the carriage found the Marquis leaning against the window and staring intently at something.

“Lee. What are you looking at?”

“Would you like to see it too? It’s a pretty interesting story.”

Beatrice handed the document to the man she was looking at. The man looked into it out of curiosity, then frowned lightly, and gave a brief impression.

“It’s unfortunate.”

“Right? After all, everyone always has at least one circumstance.”

“Is it that knight?”

“Yes, my dog.”

Taking a cigar out of her arms, Beatrice responded lightly. The man took out a match and lit her cigar.

“Still, it’s too bad. How unfortunate. Being sold into slavery against his will…”

“Because he had no power. That’s why he suffered.”

After that, Beatrice laughed as she exhaled smoke.