3

“Caius, I…”

Before Vera could finish speaking, Caius suddenly grabbed her by the neck.

“Vera, this is the last time I’m warning you. Don’t say my name again. Hearing it from you disgusts me.”

After that night, Caius never allowed her to call him by his name again.

The only way she could address him was “teacher.”

“Teacher, I didn’t purposely get into your bed. She was the one who drugged you, and she was also the one who sent me to your bed. She admitted it herself…”

“Me?” Ophelia instantly put on a helpless expression. “It was me? No… not me…”

“Sister Vera, what should I even say? If you mean that I told you to drink the contraceptive medicine and not throw the bowl, then fine, I admit that part.”

Just a few simple words from Ophelia completely destroyed the explanation Vera tried so hard to give.

“Why didn’t you drink the medicine?”

Caius looked at the broken mess on the floor, his face dark with anger.

“That wasn’t contraceptive medicine. What Ophelia gave me was pregnancy preparation medicine. She admitted it herself just now…”

“Enough!”

Caius cut her off with an angry shout. “Vera, when are you finally going to stop causing problems?”

That single sentence completely blocked every explanation Vera tried to make.

The truth had been so close, and only then did Vera realize she had ignored the most important thing.

Caius loved Ophelia, not Vera.

Caius trusted Ophelia, never her.

“Bring over all the boiled medicine.”

After hearing his order, Ophelia poured the remaining medicine from the half-filled clay pot in the kitchen into bowls and carried them over.

Caius tightly held Vera’s chin with one hand, forcing her to lift her face and open her mouth.

The medicine tasted extremely bitter, but Vera didn’t struggle.

Because resisting only brought something even worse.

He forcefully made her drink two full bowls of medicine. After swallowing everything, Vera fell onto the floor and stayed there for a long time before recovering.

Before leaving, Caius coldly dropped one sentence behind.

“Clean this place up. For the next two days, no one’s giving you food or water. If you did something wrong, then accept the punishment.”

After that, only the cold sound of the door slamming shut remained.

Vera bent down to pick up the broken bowl from the floor, but her finger got sliced before she could grab it.

Drops of blood fell into the medicine, slowly spreading red through the soup.

She had already become used to this kind of punishment.

In the beginning, she resisted and kept trying to escape. The first time she broke out of confinement, Caius publicly brought her back and shut her inside for one whole month.

The second time she tried running away, Caius tortured her through three full days and nights during the full moon. By the end of it, she couldn’t hold on anymore and ended up in the hospital.

After that, she started behaving quietly. Resistance was pointless, so she gave up fighting back.

Caius only punished her in one way, by locking her up.

Because only while she remained alive could Caius continue living, he never dared truly harm her.

Vera had already suffered even longer periods of confinement before. Although she had just gone through a miscarriage surgery and her body felt weak, she could still survive two days and nights.

Caius finally let her out on the third day.

After eating a little food, Vera went straight to the laboratory.

As soon as she opened the laboratory door, Vera stood there stunned.

The worktable, the cabinets, even the incubator room… everything was in complete disorder.

All the test tubes had fallen onto the floor, the laboratory equipment had been smashed apart, the incubator room door stood wide open, and a revealing red lace underwear even hung from the door handle…

“Sister Vera, why are you standing there blankly? Did you finish the work Caius asked you to do?”

Ophelia walked inside from outside the room, and the smug look in her eyes was almost impossible to hide.

“After you finish your part, don’t forget mine too. Last night wore me out badly. My waist still hurts, and I don’t even have the strength left to work.”

4

The entire place had become chaotic. Vera didn’t waste time paying attention to Ophelia’s mocking words and rushed straight into the incubator room.

Once she noticed the undamaged incubator resting in the corner, she quietly sighed in relief.

Caius’s medicine was inside.

Only five days remained. After five more days, she could finally escape.

Vera’s emotionless response made Ophelia feel even more annoyed.

“Vera, this is just the beginning. One after another, I’ll hand you all the wonderful gifts I prepared.”

Ophelia stepped closer and seized the front of her collar.

Even then, Vera still showed no extra emotion.

If she resisted, the punishment would only become worse, so she remained quiet.

Ophelia always talked about taking revenge on her. There were only five days left now. Maybe it would happen once she was gone.

At that point, she would leave the medicine behind, leave this place, and never let anyone disturb her again.

After speaking, Ophelia glared fiercely at her before turning around and leaving.

The disorder around the room also carried the unpleasant scent left after their intimacy.

After Vera moved the incubator into a more hidden spot, she carefully cleaned the room.

She hadn’t taken the “special gift” Ophelia talked about seriously until that evening, when “Vera's nude photos” suddenly reached the trending searches.

The video from three days earlier, showing her painful struggle on the bed that night, was directly displayed on the huge screen at the national competition hall.

That clip suddenly popped out from a regular opening science video used in Ophelia’s competition entry.

And that same project had been stolen from Vera’s hands.

At the livestream venue, Caius smashed the projection screen with an ugly expression on his face.

The competition got canceled right there on the spot.

The event ended at six-thirty that evening. Exactly at seven o’clock, Caius showed up in front of her.

“You’re not going to explain?”

Explain. Those two words painfully stabbed the weakest part of her heart like knives.

“Explain what? Explain why the project I worked hard on for two months ended up being used by Ophelia in the competition?”

“Or explain why someone filmed what happened that night and intentionally played it on the giant screen?”

Vera questioned him emotionally.

“Keep pretending.”

“Continue acting!”

“Only your hands ever touched Ophelia’s project! And you’re the only person living in this house. If you weren’t the one who installed the camera and recorded the video, then who else did it?”

As Vera raised her voice, Caius also became more upset.

His big hand struck the living room table hard, making the glass cup on top fall and shatter.

That single sentence completely woke Vera up.

He still refused to trust her.

The hand that once protected her from everyone had now landed on her instead.

It truly hurt.

“Teacher, stop wasting time. You don’t trust me anyway, and I don’t want to explain anymore. So how do you plan to punish me this time?”

“Lock me up? Or leave me without food and water?”

Vera already stopped caring.

No matter how much she explained or how much proof stood in front of him, Caius still wouldn’t trust her.

Since the ending was always her being punished, it was better to just speak directly.

That word, “teacher,” seemed to light his anger.

Caius grabbed her wrist and pushed her onto the sofa.

With a ripping sound, Caius instantly tore apart her clothes.

“Vera, just because you’re my antidote, do you really think I wouldn’t dare touch you?”

5

When her clothes were ripped open, Vera finally felt real fear.

“Vera, didn’t you release that video because you wanted everyone outside to know you’re my weakness?”

“Wasn’t it because you wanted people to know I can’t stay away from you, so everyone would understand how important you are to me?!”

The more Caius spoke, the rougher his actions became.

Vera wanted to explain, but the pain was too much. Too unbearable.

So painful that she couldn’t even force out one begging word.

Only Vera understood how painfully long that night felt.

After that terrible night ended, Vera was already so tired that she nearly passed out.

This was Caius’s punishment for her. Even if touching her disgusted him so badly that he almost rubbed his own skin raw afterward, he still wanted to torture her until she couldn’t even move properly.

Vera grabbed the torn clothes and tried covering herself, but the second she stood from the sofa, her body froze.

A tiny figure was standing by the doorway, staring at her.

Tears filled the little girl’s eyes as she silently looked at her.

Then Caius walked out of the bathroom, and the little girl suddenly cried out.

“Dad, who is she? Dad, did you cheat?”

“Dad, don’t you love Mom and me anymore? Did you become a bad person?”

“Auntie, Giselle already came here obediently. Please don’t treat Dad like this again, okay? I don’t want Mom and Dad to divorce…”

After saying that, the little girl cried and ran away without looking back.

Caius quickly put his clothes on and ran after her.

Before leaving, he only said one thing. “Vera, even using a child against me, I have to admit your methods are cruel.”

That one sentence completely pushed Vera into shame.

She dropped onto the sofa and laughed bitterly. She also wanted to say those same words to Ophelia.

Ophelia, I have to admit your methods are cruel.

After that day, Caius never came back again. He didn’t lock her up or stop giving her food and water anymore.

Early the next morning, Vera forced herself up and went to the laboratory with her weak body.

During that short ten-minute walk, her personal information was exposed online.

The trending topic stayed online for a whole day and night. Nude pictures of Vera covered the laboratory windows.

Chicken blood was splashed all over outside the laboratory. The second she stepped out of the car, rotten vegetables and eggs were thrown at her from every side.

Getting hit by eggs on the head hurts badly. Vera got out of the car and quickly ran into the laboratory.

She thought everything would calm down after entering, but the moment she saw the destroyed laboratory and the torn experiment papers, she stopped cold.

The table was piled with resignation letters, and two large words were written across the blackboard: “bitch.”

All the hate crashed onto Vera. Step by step, she walked toward the incubator hidden in the corner.

Luckily, nothing happened to it. Four more days, and she would finally be free.

By then, she would leave for a place where nobody knew her, and all this humiliation would disappear.

As Vera stared at the results inside the incubator, a sudden pain stabbed her lower stomach.

Warm blood slowly flowed out. She was bleeding…

She had never felt pain like this before. Cold sweat quickly covered her back.

Vera grabbed her phone and called 911.

But she had no time left. Blood had already soaked through her pants.

Vera forced herself to bear the pain and slowly walked toward the door, but the outside of the laboratory was already crowded with people.

Every one of them came to curse her, blame her, and punish her…

Water could carry a boat, but it could also flip it over.

Only now did Vera truly understand those words.

Back when she stayed beside Caius, nobody dared lay a hand on her.

But now, everyone dared to hurt her.

Vera breathed hard and called the pinned number in her contacts.

Before the call could connect, the laboratory door opened from the outside.

The person on the other end of the call appeared in front of her.

“Caius…”