Chapter 5
780 Words
William crouched down until they were eye to eye, his voice so cold it was terrifying.
"Greta already told me everything. You poured soapy water on the stairs and made Henry fall. He rolled all the way down, split his head open, and he's still unconscious. Freya, you really had me fooled these past few days. If you didn't want to look after them, you could've said so. But the one thing you should never have done was lay a hand on my son."
A sharp pain stabbed through Freya's chest. “I didn't…”
But William refused to hear any explanation.
He rose to his feet and left her with nothing but a cold, distant back.
"Take Mrs. Judson to the punishment cell. She stays there until Henry wakes up."
The punishment cell in Judson Manor was in the basement.
It was a tiny brick room, barely two square meters, so small a person could not even lie down properly inside it.
"No... please, no!"
Tears burst from Freya's eyes at once.
"William, I swear it wasn't me! I was in the backyard looking for something. You can't do this to me! You can't frame me like this!"
William's steps paused for a moment, but he never turned back.
"I only believe that my son's mother would never lie to me."
Under Freya's despairing gaze, he got into the car and said in a low voice, "To the hospital."
At the same time, two bodyguards rushed forward, pinned Freya down, and dragged her into the basement by force.
At that moment, Freya suddenly remembered their first year of marriage.
Back then, she had only casually mentioned once that champagne roses were beautiful.
William had immediately arranged for the finest variety to be flown in from overseas and had the entire garden planted with them.
That day, Freya had been so touched her eyes turned red.
With her head lowered, she had asked softly, "Mr. Judson, why are you so good to me?"
William had wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her as if she were the most precious thing in the world.
"You treasure them, but you are the only one I treasure. From now on, call me 'honey'."
But now, the roses stained with her blood were being trampled and snapped beneath the bodyguards' feet without mercy.
Just like their marriage, they had long since rotted away in this very soil.
Freya did not know how many days she had been locked up.
She only knew that she was starving to the point of nearly losing consciousness.
Leaning weakly against the door, she tapped on it again and again.
"Let me out... William... please give me something to eat..."
After a while, a bodyguard's voice finally came from outside.
"Mrs. Judson, Miss Lennox said that as long as you kneel and kowtow to Henry to admit your fault, she'll keep it from Mr. Judson and send you some food."
Freya was truly on the verge of starving to death.
She could not afford to care about anything else. Curling up, she dropped to her knees and slammed her forehead against the ground again and again, each thud heavy and dull.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have caused Henry to fall down the stairs. I was wrong!"
In the next second, a harsh beam of light cut through the c***k in the door.
Freya instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes.
But right then, several snakes were thrown directly onto her body.
She screamed in terror.
"Ah! Snakes! Let me out! I'm going to die!"
Greta's shrill, unhinged laughter rang out from outside.
"Ha! Freya, aren't you the one who climbed into William's bed and used your body to get where you are? These snakes have been starved for days. I'd love to see where they'll burrow once they get hungry enough! You can get ready to go join your ridiculous parents!"
The snakes slithered all over her body.
Freya felt her scalp go numb and her whole body turn cold.
Soon, she felt their fangs pierce her skin, venom slowly seeping into her body.
As her consciousness blurred, she thought she saw William kicking open the punishment cell door in a panic, gathering her into his arms, and rushing her toward the hospital.
'Dad, Mom... this must be a dream, right? Am I... coming to join you now?'
When Freya opened her eyes again, everything before her was shrouded in a grayish-white haze. She could not see anything clearly.
She vaguely made out William waving a hand in front of her, his voice carrying a rare note of panic.
"Freya, how is it? Can you see?"
- Writer
