Sylvia laughed, bitter. "You agreed to it all! If you didn't, would I have done it? Even the gift—you said it was her fault!"
"I was swayed by you," Adrian said, unflinching. "Without your schemes, Isabella wouldn't have left. This mess is your doing, Sylvia. I'm sparing you worse."
Her face twisted. "It's Isabella. You still love her. I knew it! She's gone, and you blame me? Everything I did was for you, for Stone Manor! She should've died of her illness!"
Her scream chilled Adrian. "Defiant to the end, Sylvia. You owe Isabella a hundred slaps."
She struggled as guards pinned her. The staff, long resentful, struck hard. Sylvia's screams filled the air, her face swelling and bleeding by the hundredth blow.
Still, her eyes burned with venom. "It's all Isabella's fault! Don't cast me ou
