Becoming A Step-son's Mistress

Chapter 5

Cynthia's POV

I slowly made my way back to my room with bruises all over my body, I live in the deepest part of the castle, behind a wooded area, Mr. Madison disgusted me while letting the servants bully me, but he hated people touching me so much he asked me to keep my virginity all the time, so there was hardly anyone coming to my place.

I was in pain all the way, my wrist was aching like a heartbeat, and the whip wound on my body was not healing, the wound was rubbed by the rough clothing, and every step I took was as if I was walking on the tip of a knife.

I walked very slowly, and now I can only be thankful that I was injured and can not go to work, there is no use if they beat me again, I still couldn't work. Some distance away, I saw Lucy standing anxiously at the door and waving at me when she saw me.

She was shocked to see me like this and hurried over, reaching out her hand and not daring to touch me, frowning and whispering, "Oh my God, oh my God, how could this happen? What's wrong with your hand? Why is there blood on your clothes?"

Lucy was one of the few people on the estate who was kind to me, a widow who was a little older than me, she had a young son, both of whom worked on the estate. She often picked me up and treated my wounds.

I was very grateful to her and didn't want her to worry about me, so I put myself together and shook my head, "It's okay, let me go in and rest."

She helped me into my room, I realized there were a few pieces of cake on the table, should be the leftover trimmings from making the cake, Lucy took the alcohol aside to disinfect me, frowned, and said, "The kitchen rewarded me some leftover cake, I thought you must not have enough to eat so I brought it to you, why are you beaten like this again?"

I don't know how to explain it, every beating I got was not because I did something wrong, but Mr. Madison he just wanted to torture me.

"No, these wounds become inflamed, you must have special medicine, disinfection is not an option." She unfolded my wound, I realized that some wounds were red and swollen, and I would soon be dead if there is no proper treatments.

But I didn't have any medicine ...... The alcohol sprayed on my wound hurt me so much that I turned white and bit my lip to keep myself from screaming out.

Lucy's expression was worried: "You have to use the special medicine, I'll have Adrian sneak out and get it from the doctor, you stay here and have some rest!"

Despite the pain, I immediately refused, "That won't do! If you leave the manor secretly, you will die if you are discovered!"

The servants in the manor must get Mark's permission to leave the manor in case they want to escape, and if they are spotted leaving the manor without permission, the consequences are very serious and they may be exiled.

Lucy's expression was also a bit hesitant, she repeatedly checked my wound, frowning more and more tightly. She had already helped me too much, and I stressed again, "It's really okay, it should be much better after disinfection."

She looked preoccupied and said slowly, "Last week, Mark whipped Fred pretty hard, Fred worked in the kitchen, he walked back with the pain, and when he was found the next day, he was dead already."

My heart was beating wildly, and when I thought about death, I always thought of Jeff, the head gardener, and the shadow of death haunted me for a very long time.

I forced a smile and reassured Lucy: "It's not the first time anyway, I'm fine."

But I actually felt bad, my body hurt like hell and wounds were all over my body, it was painful and itchy, but I had to hold back from scratching. I couldn't let Lucy worry about me, though; she didn't have to risk her life for me.

Lucy patted my hand, I don't know if she listened, but I didn't want to bring up the subject again, I limped over to the cabinet and took a hat out of it.

This hat was made by me in accordance with the recent popular style, adorned with a feather, I picked up this feather by the lake, although it's not expensive, but it looked extraordinarily rustic.

"Lucy, last time you said you wanted a hat, I made one for you, do you like it?" I smiled and gave her the hat, she looked surprised, turned the hat over and over to look very carefully, and kept praising me: "So beautiful! Cynthia, you are a really  handy girl, I like all the small things you made for me."

I was shy with her compliment, I covered half of my flushed face, and said softly, "Thank you… "

Lucy took one of the cloth dolls by my bed and exclaimed, "Oh my, did you make a new dress for this doll? It's strange how such a rough fabric looks so good after you use it to make this dress."

In my limited free time, I would make some clothes for rag dolls, my parents used to have a great clothing business in another county far away, and I grew up loving making clothes for rag dolls.

Only now ......

I couldn't help but sigh as these rag dolls became my last interests.

I was really in pain so I said a few words, after that I had a headache and was weak, my eyelids were so heavy, I guess this may be because of the injury, my body needs to heal itself, that's why I was so tired.

Lucy saw how tired I was, and shook her head, she comforted me with a few words and then left.

I was so sore and tired that I couldn't even wash my face before I fell asleep in bed.

Arther's POV

I was sitting in my mother's room, half an hour ago, when Mark, who must have taken my hint, was much more attentive to me and sent someone to clean my mother's room carefully. I didn't really care his attitude, I just wanted to make it difficult for everyone around that old man.

Compare to his most trusted Mark, that stepmother of mine, should also be one he cared about.

Speaking of that woman…

My mind couldn't help but flashback to her miserable white face and the tears contained in her eyes. I snickered, this woman really knows how to use her advantage very well, she was beautiful when she was crying, that's why she put on that kind of look in front of my father, right?

You know, when I held her wrist, I didn't use that much force at all.

I don't know why, but her crying face always flashes in my mind I can't help but be a little suspicious all of a sudden.

…Is her acting skills that good? She really looks like she had been badly injured, and the ghastly whiteness on her face doesn't seem to be faked.

The more I thought about it, the stranger I felt, knowing that this prostitute had a lot of tricks, but still I couldn't quite convince myself.

I let Chris in, and he checked out some of the estates for me before I came back. I coughed softly and always had an indescribable, subtle oddity when I asked about the woman: "How did you get on with the things I asked you to check out?"

"I found something, but in most cases Mr.Madison asks Mark to do things for him, so not much information can be found out, but about that stepmother of yours, she is living in the manor…" He seemed to be hesitant to say this, and as if he was choosing the proper words, he paused for four or five seconds before continuing: "She lives a bad life in here, Mr. Madison would beat her for fun as long as he was unhappy, just yesterday, she was first bullied by the servants, they dislocated her wrist, and then at night Mr. Madison took her to the study and beat her, now she should be in a poor health condition."

I frowned, in a slightly irritable mood.

She was so petite that I could hold her waist in one hand, and if she had been injured twice in one day ...... No, she had brought this on herself, if she wasn't a vicious woman, how could she offer to marry my old, dying father as a wife?

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, trying to ignore the irritation in my heart, two thoughts fighting with each other in my head, finally, I sighed and ordered, "Go get a bottle of special medicine for wounds."

I sat in my mother's room, she always taught me and want me to be a gentleman, if she knew that due to my outbursts of anger, I had made this woman's injuries worse, she would have blamed me for it.

Consider it for my mother's sake, I'd… Go check it out.

Chris quickly got the special medicine, I instructed him not to follow, and not let Mark or others find my whereabouts, then I walked to the woman's residence.

The more you walk, the more remote you feel, I can feel my brow furrowing, this damn woman lives in this place? Why does she live in such an isolated place? If I wasn't familiar with the manor, I might have needed someone to show me the way!

I don't know how long I walked, but the cabin she lived in finally appeared in front of me. I took a look at the cabin, it was a utility room, rather than a room to live because it was so small and it looked like it was leaking, I don't know how she got through the winter.

I held the medicine and suddenly something occurred to me.

How am I going to give her this bottle of medicine? This woman wouldn't think that I was showing her kindness, would she? I thought about it, and I was not very willing to give her the medicine. In the end, it would be better if she die, right? This dead old man doesn't even have the leverage to threaten me anymore.

But… I shook my head and pushed her miserable little face out of my mind.

How about just leaving it at the door, it depends on herself to choose to eat it or not.

I took a few steps forward and suddenly heard some movement, I didn't really want anyone to know I was here, I subconsciously took a step back and stood in the shadow of the leaves. No one should be able to see me.

Not far away there was a barefoot teenager running this way, he was about fourteen years old, wearing servant's clothes, probably in a great hurry, he was even running with his shoes in his hands. But he actually looks very good, black hair and black pupils, a bit like a mix of Eastern and European, the features look less impactful, look more soft and handsome.

I took a closer look and found that he was holding a bottle of medicine in his hand.

…Well.

I smiled coldly, suffering so many injuries and still not dead, because there are men to please her?

I looked at the teenager's face with a critical eye and had even more disdain for the woman.

This teenager is not very old, she seduced people, but very tactful.