Just as he was about to speak, Eleanor edged up behind him, right on cue, and opened her mouth.

"Neville, don't be angry with Celia anymore."

"It's all my fault. That's the only reason she threw me out of the room."

"Celia, I know you did nothing wrong. It was all me."

"Let me kneel down and apologize to you properly, all right?"

Even now, she was still putting on a show.

But the pain was so bad I couldn't get a single word out.

All I could do was glare at her, shaking with fury.

If I could, I would have torn that mask off her face and made Neville see.

See exactly what kind of vile creature Eleanor really was. Catching sight of me, filthy and broken inside that dog cage, she curled her lips into a cold little smile where no one else could see.

Then, in front of everyone, she really did drop to her knees in front of me, every gesture pure performance.

She even bowed her head to the ground in apology.

"Celia, it's all my fault."

"Whatever you're upset about, take it out on me."

"I know I'm a divorced single mother. I deserve to be hated and resented and thrown out of the house."

"Since you can't stand having me around, I'll leave right now. I won't be an eyesore to you anymore."

"I only beg you, don't be angry with Neville over this. Please?"

Eleanor knelt before me, tears streaming down her face like rain on pear blossoms.

At the sight, what little tolerance Neville had left for me vanished in an instant.

He helped Eleanor up, then settled her into a chair.

When he turned his head back toward me, there was nothing in his eyes but boundless disgust.

"Celia, you really are vicious!"

"All this time I thought you were kind and sensible and considerate. I never imagined you could be this poisonous behind closed doors."

"I told you, Eleanor just had her baby. She's still weak and fragile. I asked you to take better care of her."

"And instead you threw her out of the house, and nearly caused her to hemorrhage. She almost died."

"I truly regret ever falling for a hypocrite like you!"

"And now you won't forgive her, and you keep up this stubborn act!"

"Fine. Today I'm going to make you pay. I'll teach you exactly what it means to get what you deserve."

With that, he raised the whistle again, about to blow it.

In the crowd, there were plenty of women who couldn't bear to watch, and one after another they spoke up to plead for me.

"That's enough, isn't it? Look at her, the dogs already stripped her bare and shredded her clothes, and she's covered in this many wounds."

"Her face is so pale, and her belly's a little swollen. She really does look like she's pregnant."

Hearing that, Neville's hand froze just as he was about to blow the whistle.

And in the moment he wavered, undecided.

Eleanor, right beside him, crumpled to the floor at exactly the right time.

Neville rushed to gather her into his arms.

"Eleanor, are you okay?"

Eleanor shook her head and, right in front of me, made a show of leaning into Neville's embrace.

"Neville, I'm fine. It was my own carelessness that made me fall and start bleeding."

"None of this has anything to do with Celia."

"Just forgive Celia this once, please."

Wounded tears slid slowly down Eleanor's cheeks at precisely the right moment.

Seeing her like that, the faint trace of forgiveness Neville had felt toward me an instant ago was wiped away completely.

This time, he didn't hesitate for even a second. He turned toward the two mastiffs and blew the whistle.

"Carelessness, my foot. If she hadn't shoved you, how could you possibly have bled like that!"

"Celia, since you did wrong, then you'll take the punishment you've earned."

"Bite her hands! Crush them!"

“I'll make you understand what regret really means.”

The words had barely left his mouth before the two mastiffs behind him fixed their eyes on my hands, teeth bared.

I tried to swat them away.

But my hands were nowhere near fast enough.

Seeing that I wouldn't submit, one of them clamped down on my calf, quick and brutal and exact.

The pain came fast, ripping a scream out of me.

At that, the other lunged for the back of my hand and bit down hard.

The flesh tore away in an instant, and the agony nearly dragged me under.

Yet the pain didn't stop there.

Once I stopped struggling, the two mastiffs turned on my hands together.

Every bite was like plunging my hands into a vat of boiling oil and being made to turn in it.

The pain and the searing heat across the backs of my hands were unbearable.

Before long, the flesh there had been torn off and swallowed, piece by piece.

And at the same time, blood began to seep slowly from my lower body.

It wasn't just blood.

It was the child I had once longed for with everything in me.

And now, its own father had killed it with his own hands.

The onlookers watched, drawing sharp breaths.

Ignoring the pain in my hands, I forced the words out at Neville through gritted teeth.

“Neville, you killed my child with your own hands. I will never let you off so easily!”

“Just wait. When my father gets here, I'll make you pay for my child with your life.”

Neville had still been smirking, his lips curled.

Until his gaze dropped to the ground beneath me.

A pool of blood lay there now, silent and dark.

His pupils shrank, and he took a step back, his face unreadable.

“How……how is this possible……”

He spun around and bellowed at the butler behind him.

“Where's the butler? Bring me the key to those cages, now!”

Before the butler could even turn.

Eleanor stepped forward, faster.

“Celia, how can you say something like that? This is probably just your period.”

“Besides, if you really were pregnant, why say nothing until now? Why wait until this exact moment to tell Neville?”

“Don't tell me you're using an excuse like this to get Neville to forgive you for what you did before.”

“If so, you really have disappointed us.”

To stoke Neville's anger, Eleanor kept going.

“Neville, you've been so good to her, so patient with her.”

“And she actually says something this vicious, this heartless, to you.”

“Even I can't bear to listen to it.”

“If it were me, I'd never bring myself to let you get hurt.”

Eleanor's words quickly convinced Neville that he had spoiled me far too much.

And convinced him, too, that the miscarriage was a lie.

He stared at me, the disappointment plain on his face.

Then his eyes filled with anger he made no effort to hide.

“Celia, how much longer are you going to keep lying to me?”

“You really have disappointed me.”

With that, he gave a sharp whistle, ordering the mastiffs to go for my belly.

I curled in on myself, trying to shield it.

But a tearing, shredding pain ripped across my back.

The agony forced me to twist slightly to one side.

And in that gap, the mastiff in front of me threw itself at my belly.

Its sharp claws raked down without mercy, again and again.

Before long, a wide spread of blood began pouring from my lower body.

The crowd watching outside broke into screams.

"Whether it's her period or a miscarriage, how can anyone torture a woman like this?"

"Let her out, hurry! She's lost too much blood—she'll die!"

The voices around me, the shouting, were faint against my ears.

By then, I had already slipped into unconsciousness.

Seeing me collapsed in the dog cage, motionless,

Neville shot up from his chair and rushed to the front of the cage.

When he saw how pale I'd gone from the blood loss,

he finally panicked, ordering the dogs to stop and shouting at the butler to bring the key at once.

In the moment the butler turned away to fetch it,

Eleanor, standing behind him, let a small, triumphant smile cross her lips.

Ten minutes later, the butler finally ambled back, and the key to the dog cage was nowhere in his hands.

"Mr. Pruitt, the key to the cage seems to have gone missing somehow."

Neville frowned, glaring at him in displeasure.

"You're the one who's always kept that key. And now you're telling me it's missing?"

Sweat poured down the butler's face.

His eyes drifted, almost without thinking, to Eleanor standing behind Neville.

At that, Eleanor stepped forward at once.

"Neville, maybe Celia hid the key herself."

"She threatened me before."

"She said if I didn't get out of your marital home, she'd lock me in the dog cage."

"She even said she'd already thrown the key away, that even if you came, you couldn't save me."

I forced my eyes open, staring weakly at Neville, and I never imagined he would choose to believe Eleanor yet again.

Five years of feeling between us, gone in that single instant.

"Celia, I'll give you one last chance."

"Kneel down, apologize properly to Eleanor, and I might consider forgiving every mistake you've made and letting you out."

My cracked lips curled into a cold smile.

"Neville, you want me to apologize? Keep dreaming."

"When my father gets here, I'll show you exactly what regret feels like."

Hearing that, Neville's voice came out thick with impatience.

"Celia, you're still talking big, even now."

"I looked into it long ago. There's no so-called heiress in the Gilbert family of Northport."

"Right now, your only choice is to kneel down, apologize, and beg for mercy."

The words had barely left his mouth when the iron gate was flattened by a tank.

Behind the tank came a row of armored assault vehicles.

A passenger door swung open, and a man in tactical gear appeared in front of him.

"I'd like to see who dares make the eldest Gilbert daughter kneel and beg for mercy."