Chapter 23: Injured
"You bastard."
The words had just left Lin Anning’s mouth when the guard holding the sword suddenly grabbed a handful of her neck and yanked her closer to him.
She felt pain shoot through her scalp so sharply that her vision blurred for a moment.
"You truly don’t know when to shut up. Do you?" The man asked coldly.
It was always shut up this, shut up that. It wasn’t even her fault that she was being treated like this.
"Why should I shut up? When you keep harassing me?" She blurted, wincing slightly.
The man standing behind her grabbed her by the arm and spun her around so she was facing him and then—
SMACK!
His hand came crashing across her face. At first, she couldn’t believe it. But the violent ringing in her ear and how she couldn’t hear anything coming from the maids beside her told her... she had really gotten slapped.
Again, huh? At this point, they might actually make her go deaf.
She ran her tongue over her now bloodied lips, just as the guard leaning against the pillar stood upright and said, "For someone in your position, you speak too much."
He paused, his eyes leaving Anning’s face and slowly trailing down her body.
"That accent of yours... You’re definitely not from around here." He muttered, eyes narrowing slightly.
Anning’s breathing grew uneven, fear slowly crawled into her chest but she stubbornly forced herself not to show it.
"Why do you care where I’m from?" She snapped, glaring at them. "Does everyone in this damn place walk around threatening people with swords? Are you trying to kill me?"
The guard with the blade stepped forward once more, making Anning take a step backwards. But he instantly pointed his sword at her, the tip pressed right against the front of her neck. Anning stiffened instantly.
"You still think talking back would help you?"
Anning swallowed hard. Her hands trembled slightly beside her body but even with that, she still reached up, grabbing onto the man’s wrist in an attempt to shove the blade away from her neck.
"Get this thing away from me."
The moment she touched him, the guard’s expression darkened.
Sure, he did pull his sword away but he slammed his fist directly into her stomach.
Anning let out a loud gasp, pain enveloping her abdomen. The force of the punch knocked air out of her lungs completely and before she could even recover what had just happened, she fell to the floor.
She coughed violently, her body curling violently while she desperately tried to breathe.
"You still won’t give up?" The other guard muttered in amusement.
Anning pushed herself up with shaky hands, the fury burning in her eyes looked even scarier with the tears welling up in them.
"You think hitting a woman would make you feel..."
She froze, a sharp burning pain slowly spread on the front of her neck.
It wasn’t possible. This was probably just a dream, right?
No, it wasn’t and she confirmed that the moment she looked down. The guard had actually injured her.
The wound wasn’t deep enough to kill her... but enough to make her bleed to death. A soft sound escaped her lips as she slowly reached to touch the cut.
The moment her fingers touched the wound, warm blood splurted out of it and that was enough to make her heart skip a beat.
She felt her legs give out under her, making her collapse to the floor. She brought her trembling hand back down, there was blood on her fingers.
Her blood. For a second, the hallway and people around her began to sway. Cold sweat formed on her forehead and her breathing turned uneven again.
She stared blankly at the blood coating her dress while a thousand thoughts passed through her head all at once. Was this it?
Was this truly how she was going to die... For the second time?
Without falling in love. She had not even found out if this was the afterlife... Ah, the irony.
The guards stared down at her with expressions that both held annoyance, amusement and even pity?
"At the end of it all, you’re all bark and no bite." One of them mocked.
"I expected more from someone who kept acting all fearless and sassy."
Anning stared at the floor. Even now, she still refuses to cry in front of them.
Using the wall beside her for support she tried to stand up again but her arms shook violently beneath her weight. The moment she managed to get up halfway, her legs gave out under her and she crashed back onto the floor.
At that moment, a lone tear rolled down her cheeks.
"You should’ve just listened." The guard that had injured her said under his breath.
Anning’s head felt unbearably heavy, she couldn’t breathe well and her vision had already started turning black. Still, she forced herself to glare up at them.
"Go to hell..." She muttered weakly.
And just like that, everything went black.
ִֶָ𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆🌷͙⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ
"Ahhhhhhh!"
A scream left Anning’s mouth as she sat upright. Her chest rising and falling quickly as she gasped for air, her eyes darted wildly across the unfamiliar room she was currently in.
For a moment, she couldn’t even remember where she was. All she knew was that her entire body hurt.
The side of her face throbbed painfully, her stomach ached and the burning sensation on the front of her neck made her feel sick. She pressed a trembling hand against her forehead while trying to calm her racing heart.
"Am I dead?" She whispered hoarsely and yet, she didn’t get an answer.
The only thing she could hear was the sound of rushing water echoing faintly through the room. Anning blinked once and then, finally forced herself to look around properly.
The room she was currently in was dark and damp. The walls had been built with old bricks that were now covered in dew and moisture, making the room feel cold and suffocating. A single weak fire torch was attached to the wall, casting eerie shadows across the floor.
Even the air smelt like rotten flash, why?
Anning frowned slightly as she finally remembered what had happened earlier. Those guards that had humiliated and even dared to harm her. The arrogant and conniving mistress of hers and those maids that stared at her with pity.
Wait. Wait...the water dungeon?
Anning’s stomach sank instantly as she finally remembered the most important information.
"So they finally brought me here. To this damned dungeon!" She screamed, her voice echoing through the dungeon.
She pressed her palm against the floor and attempted to stand up, but the moment she stood on one foot, a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over her.
Then, she fell back into the cold ground. "Shit."
Anning winced softly and was just about to try again when she suddenly felt something cold slide up her leg.
She didn’t move for a moment, but when the thing moved just a bit... Her eyes went wide.
It felt soft, slimy and definitely, definitely long!
She held her breath as her gaze traveled little by little down her leg. At first, she couldn’t process what she was seeing.
"S-snake?! A fucking snake?!"
