From childhood until now, Si Yina had never been as miserable as she had been during this period.
Even when her parents were at their strictest, they only ever tried to persuade her verbally; they had never once laid a hand on her.
Yet lately, it felt as if Si Yina were receiving every beating she had missed in her entire lifetime.
Being hit several times a day would make even the most even-tempered person enraged, let alone the current Si Yina, who was like a powder keg.
“I didn’t expect you to still be able to jump around…”
If it were not for Shen Ruxue’s status, Si Yina would have already erupted like a volcano and incinerated the little girl in front of her.
“Tie her up tightly. From now on, don’t give her a single bite of food or a drop of water without my orders.”
Si Yina glanced at Jiang Lai, who was struggling and trying to come back.
With just a look at the female bodyguards beside her, they understood her meaning immediately.
They hoisted Jiang Lai up.
Four people applied their strength at once, and no matter how much Jiang Lai exerted her entire body, she had no way to break free from their grip.
She was carried toward the room next door.
Although Jiang Lai had no way of hearing the subsequent conversation between Si Yina and Shen Ruxue, the order to withhold food and water alone made her wonder, ‘Is she trying to starve someone to death?’
Si Yina glanced at Jiang Lai, who had already been stuffed into the room, and then lightly grabbed Shen Ruxue’s collar.
“You want to protect her, don’t you?”
“I should have given you a beating the first time we met.”
The first time the two of them had met was on a beach at night, but now Shen Ruxue really wanted to travel back in time to that night and kick the drunken Si Yina into the sea.
“We share a certain fate. I didn’t expect to capture you this time. Although I don’t know why you want to protect her, I won’t hurt her in the future. I will only make her feel happy.”
“You don’t even find yourself disgusting when you say that.”
If Shen Ruxue were not being held up by two people, her body unable to twist at all, she would have lunged forward right then to headbutt this bastard Si Yina until she was bloody and battered.
When she realized that Jiang Lai was her husband, Shen Ruxue had already sworn in her heart that she would absolutely use her life to protect her this time.
She would stay by her side forever to make up for the decades of debt.
“It doesn’t matter. If you find it disgusting, then so be it!”
Si Yina waved her hand.
Saying any more to a girl who had just turned 18 was a waste of time.
What mattered most now was the Jiang Lai next door.
“Though I don’t know how good the soundproofing in these rooms is, if you want to listen, you can lean against the right wall. We will be right in the room next door.”
Si Yina spoke those harsh words triumphantly.
Although she had not caught the person she originally wanted, being able to make it clear that Jiang Lai belonged to her brought her a great deal of pleasure through the thrill of exclusivity.
Even if Jiang Lai kept rejecting her, what did it matter?
As long as she could have the body, the heart would follow sooner or later.
Before leaving the room, Si Yina specifically had the bodyguards carry Shen Ruxue to the corner on the right so that she could press her ear against the wall without any effort.
“You!!”
Shen Ruxue spat out the word through gritted teeth.
Although she had been maintaining her composure just a moment ago, encountering this situation caused even someone as calm and in control as Shen Ruxue to inevitably panic.
Despite her efforts to control herself, her long, slanted eyelashes fluttered at an increased frequency.
Her voice, which was usually as cool as a mountain spring, trembled slightly at the end, exposing her fear and impotent rage.
Currently, her entire body was tied up, and she could not even stand on her own.
She could only place her hopes on her sisters, hoping they would arrive quickly to save her husband — to save their brother-in-law.
After her rebirth, Shen Ruxue had maintained an indifferent attitude toward everything around her.
She had never fought for anything because she did not care about those matters.
She felt that as long as she protected her family well, everything else had nothing to do with her.
She had not even thought about using the opportunity of her rebirth to do things she had never achieved before.
Instead, her heart and mind were entirely focused on her past family.
To Shen Ruxue, family was her everything.
Recalling her past indifference toward everything around her, Shen Ruxue felt a surge of regret.
‘If I had been more concerned with fame and fortune, if I had been a little greedier and more selfish, would the current situation be completely different?’
Shen Ruxue was filled with remorse, but she no longer had a chance.
Heaven had already given her one chance at rebirth, and she knew very well that she had not grasped it properly.
***
“Stop struggling. Don’t let the restraints chafe your wrists. These aren’t as soft as the ropes from before. If your movements are too violent, it will be easy to hurt yourself.”
Si Yina walked into the next room and looked at Jiang Lai, who was already tied to the bed.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she stared wantonly at her face, as if she were going to devour her whole in the next second.
“No one can save you this time. Even if someone arrived outside the estate right now, it would take them over 10 minutes to reach this room to rescue you. That is more than enough time for me to do what I want to do.”
Si Yina walked to the bedside and looked at Jiang Cai, who had her head turned away and refused to look her in the eye.
She clamped her hand violently onto Jiang Cai’s jaw.
Her strength was staggering; Jiang Cai’s cheeks ached from the grip, and she even felt as though her jaw was about to be dislocated.
Jiang Cai trembled from the pain, but in Si Yina’s eyes, this looked like fear.
“Scared now? Where did all that self-righteousness go?”
With her voice rising at the end, Si Yina brushed her right hand lightly against Jiang Cai’s left cheek.
It did not hurt, but the sound was loud, enough to make the victim feel a deep sense of humiliation.
“Are you still not going to look at me? If you won’t look at me properly, then I’m going to do something even more excessive.”
Si Yina kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed.
She looked at the hands handcuffed to the headboard and the legs secured to the foot of the bed with chains.
Unless Jiang Cai could flip the entire bed, there was no way for her to escape.
After climbing onto the bed, Si Yina pressed herself extremely close to Jiang Cai.
Seeing that Jiang Cai was still unwilling to turn her head, she used her hand to forcibly grab her chin and wrench her head around.
She had to admit, Jiang Lai’s eyes were truly bright.
There were traces of tears, but those eyes were like shimmering jewels emitting a dazzling light.
At the thought that she was about to personally extinguish the light in those eyes, Si Yina could not help but feel a surge of excitement.