Late at night, I stepped barefoot onto the cold floor. In the garden, I saw a car speeding through the rain and mud.
The headlights flashed intermittently, illuminating Cedric's dark and furious face as he stormed into the villa.
Instinctively, I crawled into bed and wrapped myself in the covers. Just as I was about to close my eyes, the door burst open with a loud crash.
Cedric reeked of alcohol as he grabbed my neck, his icy gaze piercing me.
"The Beaumonts refuse to switch the marriage arrangement. Rosemary, what did you do?"
My heart pounded as I gasped for air, my hands clawing weakly at his arm. The edges of my vision began to blur.
Cedric released his grip.
Pulling back the covers, he let his fingers graze my collarbone before withdrawing them.
"So eager to marry someone else? Isn't staying in the Ravenswood estate good enough?"
"If you behave, I won't beat you anymore. I'll treat you better than Daphne. How does that sound?"
My body trembled involuntarily.
Cedric let out a cold laugh. "Ungrateful little brat."
He unbuckled his belt and tossed it aside.
He began tearing at my clothes. Desperate, I struggled against him, his hands like venomous snakes slithering across my skin. For a moment, I wished I could end it all then and there...
"Cedric!"
Daphne appeared at the door, her loose white nightgown slipping off one shoulder. Her doe-like eyes blinked nervously as she looked at him.
"It's thundering. I'm scared. Can you stay with me?"
Cedric snapped out of his drunken haze, his gaze lingering on me for a moment before he let out a scoff and climbed off the bed.
The door closed behind him, but I couldn't stop trembling. I had come so close to death—so close to dying at Cedric's hands.
With shaking hands, I pulled out my phone and opened my messages with James Beaumont. Resolving myself, I typed out a long message and hit send.
---
"Cedric likes you. Have you noticed?"
Daphne sat across from me, sipping tea with an unperturbed expression.
"When you're not here, he doesn't even bother coming home. But the moment you slip out of his control, he loses his mind."
I let out a cold laugh. "If that's love, then how deeply must he love you?"
Daphne shook her head. "His affection for me is just a habit. It won't last. In a while, I'll probably end up worse off than you."
I thought she was delusional and closed my eyes, unwilling to continue the conversation.
But Daphne didn't seem to mind.
Setting down her cup, she spoke gravely.
"Rosemary, I need you to use his feelings for you to get something."
Daphne wanted me to retrieve evidence of Cedric's collusion with the orphanage director in human trafficking.
I stared at her in disbelief. "Are you insane? How could I possibly get into his study?"
"Until last night, you couldn't."
Daphne's tone was icy but calm. "But today, he's undoubtedly wondering why he feels... that way about you."
"Because he's a depraved monster. He'd feel that way about anyone..."
"No."
Daphne shook her head. "You don't understand. He resists these feelings—even hates them. Rosemary, you are the first and only one."
"From today onward, his feelings for you will change."
"But..."
"Rosemary."
Daphne suddenly knelt before me, pleading:
"I have no other choice. You are my only hope. If I can't gather the evidence, the police won't help me anymore. We'll be trapped in the Ravenswood estate forever, at the mercy of that psychopath.
"No matter what, at least try... we need to avenge Laura, those innocent children, and ourselves!"
---
For the first time, Daphne spoke about the truth behind Laura's death.
"She died because of you."
She hugged her knees, sitting in the shadows, her voice hollow:
"That night, the director was drunk and called for you, but you were asleep with a fever. Laura put on your clothes and went in your place. She never came back.
"The next time I saw her, she was a corpse wrapped in white cloth."
Daphne turned to me, her gaze sharp. "Rosemary, you're beautiful—so beautiful that men can't resist taking you. It was the director then, and now it's Cedric Ravenswood.
"Sometimes I wonder... if Laura hadn't gone in your place that night, would that monster have been able to harm you while looking at such a perfect face?"
"Oh, and by the way," she said with a bitter smile, "taking you out of the orphanage wasn't my idea.
"The moment Cedric saw you, he couldn't look away. I just went along with it, giving you a chance."
