Chapter 2

The day after sending the letter, I gathered our few belongings, ready to flee with my father.

But I searched everywhere and couldn't find him.

A patrol soldier told me, "Your father was taken by the General's personal guard."

I ran to the command tent and found my father on his knees before Edward, hands bound.

Isabelle stood beside Edward. When she saw me, her eyes flashed with pure venom.

"You filthy stable rat," she hissed. "You actually thought you could catch the General's eye?"

My father, trembling with remorse, pleaded, "General Hawthorne, the fault was mine alone! My daughter is innocent. Please, spare her."

Edward's expression was unreadable. "You drugged your commanding officer. The penalty is death."

I threw myself to the ground, forehead pressing into the dirt. "I will take my father and leave this camp forever! General, I beg you, spare his life."

When I said we would leave, Edward went very still. His face gave nothing away.

Isabelle smirked behind her hand. "Facing death and still lying? You think you can just walk away?"

She turned to Edward. "They were clearly in this together. A little persuasion will make him talk."

Edward gave a slight nod to the guards. "Make him talk."

The guards dragged my father outside, ripped his shirt away, and brought down a water-soaked whip.

A single lash split his skin. The pain was so vicious that he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

But the whip kept falling, blow after blow, relentless as a downpour.

I threw myself over him, using my body as a shield, sobbing my pleas to Edward. "He's an old man! Punish me instead. Let me take his place."

Isabelle's lips curled into a vicious smile. "You brought this on yourself."

With that, she signaled her men to haul in a massive iron cauldron.

A foul, metallic stench rose from it. The smell of blood and rust. My stomach twisted.

Suddenly, it dawned on me. This cauldron was made for one thing: boiling people alive.

I'd heard the soldiers whisper about it before. Any prisoner who refused to surrender would be tossed in and boiled alive.

I'd always been too scared to see it myself, but now, standing right in front of that cauldron, I couldn't help but feel a surge of fear.

The guards piled up the firewood, and soon the water in the cauldron was boiling, clouds of steam rising from the rim like mist.

I instinctively took a few steps back.

Isabelle's tone was icy and merciless. "Throw her in!"

Two guards dragged me up onto the platform. As I looked down at the billowing steam rising from the cauldron beneath me, my knees turned to jelly.

"Wait," Edward suddenly called out.

Everyone's eyes turned to him, and Isabelle grew agitated. "Edward, are you still standing up for her?"

Edward strode up to me, his eyes cold. "Are you going to confess? Still won't admit you drugged me? You wanted to seduce me, didn't you?"

I clenched my jaw, glaring at him. "It wasn't me. Not in my previous life, and definitely not in this one! I refuse to be tied to you ever again."

Edward gripped my chin hard, his eyes blazing with fury and wounded pride. "Still mouthing off when you're about to die? Torture her!"

Just as I was about to be thrown in, one of Edward's men rushed over and reported, "General Hawthorne, we hunted down a black wild boar in the woods."

Edward paused for a second, then something seemed to click for him. "Bring the boar here."

The huge black wild boar was carried in by five or six strong men.

My eyes widened in shock, and I started shaking uncontrollably.

Last time around, Edward used this exact boar to publicly disgrace me in front of everyone.

My knees buckled, and I dropped to the ground, unable to stand any longer.

Edward grabbed me by the collar and dragged me down from the platform.

He deliberately tossed me in front of the wild boar, yanking my hair so I was face-to-face with the beast, shoving my face right up to its snout.

I shut my eyes tight in agony, refusing to look.

Edward, like a fiend straight out of hell, leaned in and hissed in my ear, "Bet you remember, huh? The way I tormented you last time around?"

Barely able to speak, I choked out, "Just kill me."

Edward gave a chilling laugh. "I'm not letting you off that easy. One last chance. Was it you who drugged me?"

That was when it finally hit me. Something was seriously off.

Did it really make any difference to Edward whether it was my dad who drugged him or me?

Why was he so obsessed with this?

I lifted my head and stared him down. "You don't seriously think I'm into you?"