It wasn't until Rosalind arrived shortly after that his expression softened slightly.

"Mr. Thorne, since the mistress is here, let her follow me and learn. Live instruction is a rare opportunity."

June refused. "I don't want to watch."

Xavier didn't listen; he still agreed with Rosalind’s suggestion. To ensure June "learned" properly, he specifically had her tied to a chair in the room and had her eyelids held open, forcing her to watch the entire process.

She watched how Rosalind entertained Xavier’s close friends, how a woman acting like another man's wife navigated the group of men, and how Xavier lost himself in an entanglement with another woman...

Nauseating! Absurd!

Her nails dug deep into her palms, and she bit her lip until the taste of blood filled her mouth.

Xavier, in three days, when the videos of tonight's debauchery are presented as a gift for your mother’s sixtieth birthday... since you care so much about etiquette, let all the guests see the "rules" of the Thorne family!

Chapter 6

After the gathering ended, Rosalind demanded that June take care of the drunken Xavier alone.

After she finished cleaning up the vomit and washing the man, she helped him to bed. As she turned to leave, he grabbed her wrist. The light traced his pained expression as he murmured over and over, "I’m sorry..."

She was straightforward, and he was reserved. In the past, whenever they argued, neither would back down. Several times she had cried secretly at night in a sulk. When he found out, he would intentionally get drunk and use his drunken ramblings to apologize and coax her until her heart softened.

"You came here alone for me," he used to say. "I can't bear for you to suffer even a little bit of grievance."

They would play and laugh together. Back then, he was gentle and tender, but it was fleeting. She thought that after five years of love, he at least felt some guilt in his heart.

The pain and hatred in her heart began to blur, but then Xavier’s voice became clear: "I’m sorry... Rosalind, don't go... I'll make her obey..."

She froze. The voice in her ear suddenly sounded like a snapped tape, leaving only the throbbing of her heart.

How ridiculous. He didn't feel sorry for her for a single moment. Instead, he felt sorry for the person who had hurt her. The past in her memory was something he had long forgotten.

Xavier used his strength to pull her tightly into his arms. Smelling a familiar scent, the man suddenly opened his eyes and pushed her away in disgust, avoiding her as if she were a venomous scorpion.

"June? You haven't earned enough points yet. You can't do this."

The corners of her mouth twitched into a sudden laugh. "Is a rule like Rosalind’s actually right? Why must you listen to her?"

But just one word of rebuttal acted like a slander against Rosalind, sparking his anger.

"She is the descendant of a noble family. She has rules and upbringing. She cannot be wrong."

His devotion was laid bare for all to see. How could she not see it clearly?

"Intimacy requires 100 points, remember? You’re acting out while I’m drunk. This is very cheap."

When love is gone, even his touch feels disgusting...

"So, the blisters on my fingers for a kiss, twenty flawless galas for an embrace, and crawling up a thousand steps for a night together... were all things I shamelessly begged you for..."

On the day Rosalind began her instruction, they were separated and forbidden from being close. Xavier hadn't kissed her for half a month and was so desperate he acted like a voyeur, finding a chance at the corner of the stairs to steal a kiss.

He had dropped his noble mask and pleaded in a low voice:

"June, I can't sleep a single night without you. I’m going crazy missing you. I want to kiss you, I want your company. For my sake, just work a little harder, okay?"

She had suffered so much, painstakingly saving points, only for it to be viewed in his eyes as her throwing herself at him, a one-sided obsession.

He turned his back, creating a chasm between them.

"The rules cannot be broken. June, go and accept your punishment."

She knew that resistance would only bring more pain. She could only resign herself to kneeling at the door of Xavier’s bedroom with a copy of The Precepts for Women on her head.

The passing servants whispered among themselves.

"Mr. Thorne got tired of her long ago. Now the caged bird is being kicked out even when she tries to climb into his bed. How hilarious."

"Faking the merit points and acting all dignified, but the wild woman is actually desperate for a man."

"Poor thing, saving point by point, not knowing Mr. Thorne loves Teacher Vane to his very core. In comparison, a pheasant is just a pheasant. Who would look at a country bumpkin like her?"

...

Some laughed, while others intentionally placed heavy objects on the book. June struggled to keep her head up, swallowing all her grievances, telling herself to endure just a little longer. After midnight, there would only be two days left.

Rosalind’s footsteps stopped behind her. The woman knelt down to help her up, looking more like the mistress of this house than she did.

"Mistress, Mr. Thorne drank too much today. It was a special circumstance. You are not at fault. Stop kneeling and get up."

June felt suspicious, but then she smelled a familiar scent. That scent belonged to that person!

But before she could react, Rosalind suddenly let go and rolled directly down the stairs. Thirty steps, one by one. She was covered in injuries.

"Something’s happened! Murder! The mistress pushed the instructor down the stairs!"

Chapter 7

The door to Xavier Thorne’s room burst open. He rushed downstairs, knocking June Rivers aside so hard she staggered.

"Rosalind! Rosalind!"

He pulled Rosalind into his arms, his eyes filled with such heartache and anxiety as if he were the one injured, pleading repeatedly for her to be alright.

It was only when the woman slowly drifted back to consciousness that he let out a sigh of relief, his eyes glistening with tears.

"Thank God you’re okay."

This scene stabbed deeply into June’s heart. Five years ago, when they were trapped in the cave, his prayers and vows had never been this soul-stirring. Now, his joy at her "recovery" made him beam like a child who had recovered a lost treasure.

The woman struggled to create distance between them.

"Mr. Thorne, I don't dare come near you again. I saw that the mistress had made so much progress lately and kindly told her to go rest, but she thought you and I... I truly want to leave."

He practically roared, "You aren't going anywhere!"

"Mr. Thorne, I am merely an instructor who has failed in her duty..."

"June is stubborn; I’ve let you suffer grievances during this time. I will certainly give you justice."

He didn't want to hear a single word about Rosalind leaving, so he grew frantic to use June to appease her.

"Xavier, I didn't push her. She fell on her own."

With every word she explained, Xavier’s face grew a shade darker.

The woman wiped the blood from her face and struggled to stand, only to fall heavily back to the ground while continuously pleading for June.

"Mr. Thorne, I only hurt my leg, but I don't want to pursue this. Let's just say I lost my footing and fell."

The more she spoke, the more furious the man became. "She must pay the price for the wrongs she has committed."

June felt her eyelid twitch. Xavier, shrouded in a chilling aura, walked toward her and cornered her against the wall.

She shook her head instinctively. "No... please, no..."

"Everyone merely praised Rosalind for being tall and having long legs, and you became this jealous? A jealous woman ruins a family. The first thing a mistress of the Thorne family must learn is magnanimity!"

He swung a wooden cane from beside the wall and smashed it against her ankle.

The bone snapped with a sickening crack. Intense pain, like a red-hot iron rod thrust into her flesh, drowned her scream in her throat. She could only curl up on the floor in agony, her body drenched in cold sweat.

Once, he had said that the way she ran was like a dancing butterfly, making it impossible for people to look away.

He had said the dances of her homeland were breathtakingly beautiful—the dance was lovely, but the person was lovelier.

But now, she would never be able to dance or run again.

As her consciousness blurred from the pain, she clearly saw the smirk at the corner of Rosalind’s mouth.

She suddenly understood. At dinner tonight, she had been wearing a cheongsam. There were always ill-intentioned men staring at her legs, causing her to lose focus several times while toasting with Rosalind.