Chapter 28: Silver’s voice

"Adrian, break her left hand now!" Noli ordered.

Liliana shook her head weakly. "Adrian, don’t! I’m innocent!"

Crack!!!

Adrian gave Liliana no chance to struggle or speak again. Her left hand broke exactly as Noli wanted.

"Ahhhhh!!!" Liliana screamed. Her breathing became ragged, and cold sweat covered her forehead.

"Liliana, don’t do something stupid like this again next time. Noli is someone important to me, Adrian, and Alaric. If you do this again in the future, perhaps it won’t be only your left hand that gets broken," Valerie added with a sinister expression.

Liliana raised her head and looked at her, swallowing with difficulty.

"Valerie... you will regret all of this," Liliana said softly.

Bugh! Alaric kicked Liliana in the face, causing her head to jerk to the side. The imprint of his shoe was visible on her already-pale face.

"You dare threaten our Valerie?" Alaric asked. "A lowly servant like you really doesn’t know how lucky you are. We gave you a good life for three years. And this is how you repay us?" he added.

Liliana’s right hand rose to touch her stinging cheek. Perhaps in the past, she would have fallen into despair, but not anymore. All that remained was deep hatred.

Slowly, she rose to her feet and stared directly into Alaric’s eyes.

"A good life?" Liliana asked mockingly. "Which good life are you talking about, Young Master Beaumont?" Liliana asked with a mocking smile.

"You!!" Alaric pointed his finger at Liliana’s face.

"When you first accepted me, I was assigned as Valerie’s servant. No. More precisely, I was the servant of Valerie’s servants. Did you give me enough salary back then?"

Liliana shook her head again.

"You only gave me ten silver coins every month, which was barely enough to buy ten pieces of warm steamed bread."

"Nonsense," Alaric retorted, refusing to admit it.

"Did you give me a decent place to live?" Liliana shook her head again. "You ordered me to live in a storage shed, right next to a pile of garbage."

"Did you give me proper clothes? Or enough food? What?"

"You only gave me two sets of clothes. First, when I entered your residence, and it was a piece of clothing so large that I had to tie it up just to make it fit my body. And the second was my academy uniform."

"That uniform... the uniform whose skirt was already torn after Valerie didn’t like it. Right?"

"Is this what you mean by a good life, Alaric?" Liliana asked.

Adrian approached.

"You were a servant of our residence. Isn’t it normal for us to give you only that? Without our help, do you think you could be here?" Adrian asked.

"Normal?"

Liliana nodded.

"Yes, this is indeed normal according to you."

"Are you satisfied with taking your revenge on me?" Liliana asked in a hoarse voice. "I’m going back to my room."

Liliana turned around and walked toward the corridor leading to her room. She was truly tired of talking nonsense with them.

Noli frowned as she watched Liliana simply leave without showing even a trace of regret toward her.

She stepped forward and grabbed Liliana’s hair.

"You dare run away?" she asked angrily. "Did I give you permission to leave, Liliana?"

"Ishhhh..." Liliana hissed as Noli pulled her hair at the roots.

"Noli, what else do you want to do? Haven’t I already accepted your punishment?" Liliana asked.

"Kneel and lick my shoes. Have you forgotten this tradition?" Noli asked. "You’ve only been gone for a few weeks, yet you’ve already forgotten how to apologize to me?"

"Tsk!"

Liliana spat in Noli’s face.

"Do you think I’m still your servant, Noli? I’m no longer a dog that has to wag its tail at you like I did before."

Thud!

Noli pulled Liliana, causing her to lose her balance and fall.

"Liliana, as long as I haven’t given you permission to leave, I won’t let you leave. I don’t care what your identity is now. Follow my order and lick my shoes before you dare to leave."

Liliana held her head, which was throbbing with pain. Her hand tried to soothe the sting caused by the forceful pulling of her hair.

"Just do what Noli says," Adrian said. "After that, we’ll let you go. Besides, didn’t you always do it before? Doing it one more time won’t hurt."

Liliana glared at the four people before her. The wolf inside her seemed to rage, wanting to break free. She wanted to transform and destroy them all.

Liliana, take off the earring on your ear. I can make them perish in an instant, Silver’s voice sounded inside her mind.

Liliana’s eyes, which had been black, suddenly turned bright red, but changed back just as quickly. She shook her head hard as Viktor’s face flashed through her mind.

Liliana stood frozen, her thoughts seemingly coming to a halt for a moment.

"Silver," Liliana called in her mind.

Silver did not answer. He was still keeping his eyes tightly closed.

"You dare daydream while we’re talking to you?" Noli asked.

Liliana raised her head and looked at Noli. Fear was clearly visible in her gaze. It was not fear of Noli, but fear of the other voice Liliana had heard inside her mind.

Silver’s voice.

Noli smiled with satisfaction when she saw Liliana’s trembling face.

"Now you’ve finally realized who you should be afraid of?" she asked triumphantly.

She stepped closer, then grabbed Liliana’s chin and forced her to look at her.

"Lick my shoes, Liliana. Do it properly, and then I’ll let you go."

Seeing that Liliana’s fearful gaze still did not turn obedient, Noli began to grow irritated.

"Are you not listening to me?" she shouted.

Noli’s gaze suddenly fell upon the pair of earrings beautifully attached to Liliana’s ears.

"Your earrings are beautiful," Noli complimented. "I’ll take them. Besides, they seem much more suitable for me."

Liliana’s eyes widened. Finally, she realized what was happening as Noli’s hand reached for the earring on her ear.

"Thud!"

Liliana pushed Noli, causing her to fall and crash into Valerie behind her.

"Liliana!!!" Valerie shouted as Noli fell onto her.

Alaric and Adrian hurried forward, trying to help Valerie and Noli stand.

"Are you two okay?" they asked simultaneously.

"Alaric, Adrian, I want you to make sure Liliana cannot take a single step from this place tonight," Noli said sharply. "Break both of her legs for me if you don’t want my father to blame you for letting me get injured at the academy while you were by my side."

Alaric and Adrian frowned but said nothing.

Liliana glanced at them for a moment, then hurried toward the dormitory as quickly as she could. She knew that if she stayed there any longer, she might not survive.

Valerie grabbed Alaric and Adrian’s arms as they still hesitated to move.

"Do you want Liliana to just leave after hurting me?" she asked with a pitiful expression.