Chapter 4
“Don’t worry?” Vivian sneered. “I don’t trust you at all. So, before the wedding begins, I’ll personally force you to leave.”
With that, before I could even react, she suddenly turned and leaped into the sea.
A loud splash instantly drew everyone’s attention.
“Vivian!”
Julian’s voice came from the cabin, and then he rushed out, jumping into the sea without hesitation.
I stood rooted to the spot, my hands and feet freezing, as if I had been nailed to the deck.
Julian finally managed to rescue Vivian, giving her CPR.
Vivian coughed several times, weakly opening her eyes, which were misty and pitiful.
“Julian, I thought Aurora had accepted me these past two days. I never imagined she would push me into the sea when I wasn’t looking. Don’t blame her, she…”
Before she could finish, I completely fainted.
Julian sharply lifted his head, his eyes blazing with suppressed fury.
“Stubborn! What will it take for you to abandon your filthy desires?”
I frantically shook my head.
“It’s not like that, Uncle Julian, I truly don’t love you anymore, and I didn’t push her.”
“Is there *any* truth in what you say? You just wait!”
Julian refused to listen further. He scooped up Vivian and swiftly left the deck, rushing her to the hospital.
I stood there, feeling as if my heart had been gouged out.
Watching his retreating back, I murmured, speaking the words I had said tens of thousands of times.
“Julian, I truly don’t love you anymore.”
In the middle of the night, I sat alone on the sofa, waiting quietly.
I knew Julian’s “you just wait” was a promise of punishment.
During my years at The Sterling Institute, I had learned that running or begging for mercy only multiplied the pain.
So I waited obediently, waited for his retribution.
I don't know how long I waited, but the front door was suddenly thrown open.
Julian swept in, bringing with him a storm. “Kneel!”
I obediently knelt on the floor, head bowed, not uttering a word.
Julian paused, seemingly surprised by my compliance.
He pulled a whip from the wall and approached me step by step.
“Now you know how to obey? Too late! Have I pampered you too much, made you so lawless that you think the house rules are just for show?”
With a crack, the whip suddenly lashed across my body!
My body violently flinched, as if jolted by electricity, but I remained silent, as though the whip struck someone else.
“Speak!” Julian’s voice suddenly rose, laced with suppressed rage. “Do you know you’re wrong?”
“I know.”
“You know you’re wrong?” Julian sneered, his whip rising again. “Then why did you do those things?”
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Julian’s voice was filled with suppressed fury, and the whip lashed against my back, again and again.
The first lash.
“Why did you push Vivian into the sea? Do you know I almost died?”
The second lash.
“Why did you have feelings for me? Do you know I’m ten years older than you?”
The third lash.
“Why are you so shameless? Do you know I raised you from childhood?”
…
The fifty-second lash.
“Aurora, why are you so utterly outrageous, so outrageous that you make me…”
Julian’s mind was consumed by rage.
He had lost count of the lashes, and some words almost slipped out.
Just as his voice trailed off, Martha, our housekeeper, rushed over, crying.
“Sir, stop, please stop! Miss Aurora has been pampered since she was little, she can’t take it!”
“Please look, there’s blood everywhere.”
Julian finally stopped the whip and looked down at me.
My back was covered in fresh blood, and a pool of blood had gathered on the floor, even flowing under his dress shoes.
But what shocked him was that I had kept my head bowed the entire time, not shedding a single tear, nor begging for mercy.
He violently pulled me up, only to find my eyes empty and numb.
“Don’t you feel pain? You used to be so good at whining and begging for comfort!”
I looked up, my voice calm, “Because it doesn’t hurt.”
The suffering and beatings at The Sterling Institute were far worse than this.
After saying that, my voice was hoarse, my face pale.
“Are you done hitting me? Can I leave now, Uncle Julian?”
Julian finally noticed something was wrong.
“How can it not hurt? So many lashes, how could it not hurt?”
He pulled open my clothing, and Martha gasped behind me.
His pupils suddenly constricted, his breath catching in his throat!
My back was covered in horrifying scars.
Besides the fresh whip marks, there were various old scars, crisscrossing and interwoven, as if countless tortures had been etched onto my skin.
My entire body seemed to have no unblemished spots, as if every inch of my skin was recounting the pain I had suffered.
Julian stood before me, the whip in his hand falling to the floor with a clatter.
His face instantly turned ashen, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
His fingers trembled, wanting to touch my back, yet he dared not truly touch the scars, as if afraid of hurting me.
“You… How did you get these?” His voice was hoarse, tinged with suppressed rage and heartache.
I lowered my head, a bitter smile playing on my lips.
Did he finally realize? Realize that the so-called “Sterling Institute” was actually a living hell?
But what did it matter if he knew now?
Could the old Aurora, the bright, smiling little princess, ever come back?
No, she couldn't.
Just as I was about to speak, Vivian’s voice came from behind me, gentle with a hint of helplessness.
“Aurora, I’m not even holding it against you for pushing me into the sea, why do you still use such tricks to deceive Julian?”
Julian’s face instantly changed, his voice tinged with uncertainty. “These… are all fake?”
Vivian chuckled softly, her tone dismissive.
“Of course. Didn’t you say Aurora was at The Sterling Institute these three years? That’s the most reputable school in the capital. She was secluded there, how could she have gotten any injuries? Julian, don’t let her trick you.”
Julian’s heart instantly relaxed, but it was replaced by boundless fury.
He violently threw the whip to the ground, his voice cold as ice. “You truly are beyond redemption! You won’t eat a single meal today!”
I simply nodded, no expression on my face.
Anyway, at The Sterling Institute, not eating was commonplace.
Sometimes, when I was starving, I even had to fight with dogs for food.
I whispered, “Okay.”
Then I turned and walked into the room, my back thin and stubborn.
Inside the room, Martha, the housekeeper who had cared for me for many years, walked in, holding an ointment.
When she saw the scars on my back, tears instantly welled up in her eyes.
“Miss Aurora, why didn’t you explain? How can these scars be fake? Weren’t you studying at that school? How did you get so hurt? Why didn’t you tell Mr. Julian? He cares for you so much, he’d be absolutely heartbroken if he knew!”
I lowered my gaze, my eyes empty.
Martha’s words were like a knife, sharply piercing my heart.
Would he care? Perhaps he used to.
Julian really did care for me once.
When boys would give me love letters, promising joyrides in sports cars if I dated them.
Julian found out and immediately sent a garage full of multimillion-dollar luxury cars for me to smash for fun, his voice filled with indulgence, “My little princess, no ordinary man can fool her away.”
When I had a fever, he’d cancel important meetings abroad, flying for over ten hours to rush back and stay by my bedside all night until my fever broke.
When I had period cramps, he’d personally boil brown sugar water, feeding it to me and gently coaxing, “Good girl, Aurora, drink this and the pain will go away.”
Tears slowly gathered at the corners of my eyes.
I gently closed them and whispered, “Martha, I’m tired, I want to sleep.”
Martha wiped her tears and gently pulled the covers over me, her voice choked. “Miss Aurora, then rest well.”
I nodded, slowly lay down, and tears streamed down my temples, soaking the pillow.
Thinking of this, I gradually drifted off to sleep.
In my dream, I returned to the past.
Julian held my hand, taking me to the amusement park, buying me ice cream, and riding the carousel with me.
His smile was gentle and doting, as if I were his entire world.
But those memories were too distant now.
They were all… from the past.