Love Me Or I Die

CHAPTER 7

The maid stood up. There was a glint of sympathy in her eyes. However, it quickly vanished as a look of contempt replaced it. It was a look solely reserved for a person who had caused her own sister’s death. No matter how kind she was, if it wasn’t for her, their master would have not turned into an unpredictable, moody person like he was now.

The door loudly closed with a bang. Lucia lowered her head. A fog had gathered in her eyes. He could really find ways and means to humiliate her every minute.

Dressed in a maid’s attire, she was a maid in status. She might have married him, but this was his warning to her that she would never be his wife. To him, she was only a servant.

With trembling hands, she took the clothes from the bed and wore it. Her quiet and exquisite face would never find happiness again. Maybe she never had happiness to begin with!

She walked out of the room. The pain from the previous night still lingered between her legs. It kept reminding her every minute of how the man had abused her the night before.

“Madam, from now on, at this timing, you will do all the chores in this house. This was Master’s instruction,” she solemnly said with barely any expressions on her face. Even the maid in the mansion treated her like she was not the mistress.

The maid had addressed her as a madam, but did she really look like she was one?

She nodded her head dumbly and dragged her cumbersome body to begin a new day in her life. Here, her status could not compare to a maid—she was worse than a maid.

She held her swollen hands tight and kept rubbing them together. She hoped it would bring warmth to herself, but soon she realized it had not helped at all.

For half a day, she towed herself away as she worked in the two-story luxurious villa. After a grueling day’s work, she let herself rest. As she looked at the huge villa, it only amplified her emptiness and it frightened her even more.

This was still her newlywed period.

A faint sound rang at the door and her body turned rigid in reflex. As she was about to walk away, she heard a cold and chilling voice.

“Why? You don’t enjoy seeing me? I thought you wanted to marry me to the extent that you would even murder your own sister. So, you do not have the courage.”

He did not leave her any type of retreat as he spat out every word. In his eyes, she was a murderer and nothing else.

“I’m not…” She gently pressed her lips and finally managed a bitter laugh. It didn’t matter whether she was a murderer or not because no one would believe her. They were all convinced that she had caused Sophia's death. Was it because she loved him?

She suddenly felt her jaw snapping upwards. The cracking sound of her bones resounded, and it appeared he had the intention of breaking her jaw. She looked up and saw the blushed red veins in his eyes. She could see the look of pure, unhidden hatred.

He hated her. He loathed her to the core.

“Get in the room,” he sneered. All the while, her body violently shuddered and her face turned a shade of a ghastly pale.

“Don’t you forget, since I married you, it’s your duty to provide your body to me.” He saw the fear in her eyes, and he understood that. It made him sneer even more since smiling really didn’t suit him—it made him look even more heartless and cruel.

He was determined to make anyone suffer, especially the ones he hated.

As she followed him from behind, her steps were very heavy. She gently shut her eyes. Under her pale complexion, a few drops of tears rolled down, but the rest she held them in her eyes. As tears fogged her eyes, she realized they were so close and yet, so far away. If only she could hold him, but she could not even hold on to the corner of his clothes.

Her family hated her and even Daniel loathed her.

********

A few days later, she got better and got discharged from hospital. She went back to Daniel's household. The extravagant villa merely made her smaller. When the maid saw her, she simply cast her a look then, dumped a piece of attire on her.

“Better get to work since you’re back. No time to be lazy.” Those were plain and hard words. Lucia took the attire. She walked into her bedroom and numbly changed into it. Never was she pampered as a daughter when she lived in her family's household. She was just an orphan who lived under another’s roof. Nor was she the young mistress of Daniel's family. Daniel married her to make her his servant.

She picked up the set of the newspaper which was lying on the table. Her eyes reddened as she read through it. On the page was a photo of her at the wedding. She had fallen on the floor in an embarrassing position. It revealed both her legs in shame.

“The wife of the CEO of Daniel's business, Lucia, exposed during her wedding. Unintentional or intentional.”

She put the newspaper down and gripped her hands tight.

“So, she was a slut. No wonder the master doesn’t fancy her. How could she compare herself to Sophia? Her sister was innocent and beautiful while she’s as evil as a scorpion. And to think she had such an innocent face.” The maid stood aside and relentlessly taunted her.

Such dreadful words only caused Lucia’s eyes to tear up, and it had blurred her vision. She was a slut; she was evil. There was nothing good about her. She couldn’t be compared to Sophia.

It was because she was Lucia. Was that why there was nothing good that she could do?

She stiffed her body and walked out of the room, one step at a time. Then, she locked herself up, sprawled on top of the blanket, and allowed herself to cry in bitterness.

She had no idea how long she had cried. There was the sound of the door closing from outside and it had caused her to sit up in a hurry. Daniel reeked of alcohol. He glanced at her in indifference. Then there was the sound of water from the bathroom. Lucia could not stop shuddering as she hugged herself tightly.

Was it going to start? Her hands went to her stomach as if on cue. She told herself she had nothing to lose already, but she had no idea why she did not regret or why she did not hate him. Maybe it was because she knew that he was in greater pain than her.

The bathroom door opened. Daniel walked out without wearing a shirt. He was not skinny nor did he have tightly knitted muscles. However, he had a well-toned body because of the years of exercising.

Lucia took a quick peek, and then she turned her face away.

“Still pretending to be innocent? You had to see it all.” It was another bout of sarcasm. Lucia bit at her lower lip. He was wrong. She had seen nothing. Those two times when he was torturing her, he had not bothered to undress.