Chapter 9

Natalie’s heart pounded with alarm. “Vivian! What the hell are you doing?!” “What am I doing?” Vivian let out a wild, crazed laugh. “I’m giving you a big gift you’ll never forget!” With that, she actually rushed into the family chapel, swept the ancestral portraits and holy family records off the altar, and grabbed a lighter she’d brought with her. In the next instant, she lit the heavy velvet tapestries. The dry fabric went up in flames at once, fire spreading fast. “You’re crazy!” Natalie tried to run in and stop her, but smoke choked her, making her cough over and over. Vivian watched her, a twisted and gleeful smile on her face. Then, catching Natalie off guard, she grabbed a heavy brass candelabrum from the altar from nearby and slammed it against the back of Natalie’s head. Everything went black. When Natalie woke up again, she found herself and Vivian kneeling side by side in the center of the Bennett family’s grand hall, their hands tied behind their backs. Margaret sat at the head of the room, her face ashen with rage. “Speak! Who set fire to the chapel?!” Vivian immediately burst into tears and pointed at Natalie. “It was her! Mother, it was Natalie! I saw her do it with my own eyes! She hated that you pushed her to have a child. She resented Ethan. So she set fire to the chapel!” Natalie looked at Vivian’s self-righteous act and felt nothing but disgust. She raised her head. Her voice was rough from the smoke, but she was strangely calm. “I don’t have much to say. There are cameras in the chapel.” When the family matriarch heard this, she turned to the housekeeper. “Go! Pull up the security footage! I want to see which one of you dared to do this!” Vivian’s face went white as a sheet at the mention of cameras. She glanced desperately at Ethan, her eyes begging for help. Ethan caught her look. He stood silent for a moment, then suddenly stepped forward, cutting off the housekeeper who was about to leave. “No need to check.” Every gaze in the hall shifted to him. Ethan met Margaret’s eyes. His tone was steady and sure, not a trace of hesitation. “I just passed by the chapel and saw the whole thing myself. The one who set the fire was Natalie.” Natalie’s head jerked up. She stared at him, stunned. She’d thought that, faced with solid evidence, he’d at least tell the truth this time… She never expected he’d side with Vivian so openly, framing her for something this serious, right in front of everyone! “Ethan…” Her voice trembled. “Say it again. I want to hear you say it.” Ethan lowered his gaze, avoiding her eyes. His voice was still calm, but each word cut her to the bone. “I said, I saw it with my own eyes. You set fire to the chapel.” “You wicked girl!!” Margaret exploded with rage, her finger trembling as she pointed at Natalie. “Natalie! You have no regard for any rules! If you dare burn the family chapel now, what’s next—robbery? Murder?!” “Someone, drag her outside! Tie her up in the courtyard! She’s to kneel for a whole day and night! No one lets her up without my orders! I want to see if she’ll dare act so outrageously again!” Natalie was roughly hauled out, tied to a freezing stone pillar in the courtyard. The early winter wind bit through her thin clothes, cold enough to pierce the bone. Wounds on her back, arms, and legs—still not fully healed—were torn open again by the ropes and the cold, sending waves of searing pain through her body. From the brightly lit hall, she saw Ethan gently comforting a frightened Vivian. He was so careful, so soft… And here she was, treated like a criminal and thrown out like garbage, left to bear a punishment that wasn’t even hers. Her consciousness, battered by the cold and agony, slowly slipped away… Eventually, everything went black, and she passed out again. When she woke up, she was in a hospital bed. Ethan was sitting right beside her. “This should be a lesson to you. Next time, learn your place. Don’t make our mother angry again.”