Lucinda snorted.
Finally, the girl felt some modicum of fear.
âYou will be sent to the countryside tomorrow, along with my trusted men.
You will stay with a retired servant of the family, and you will help them with their farm work every day.
When the sun sets every evening, you will get ten lashings, after which you will kneel in their yard and read the Prajna Sutra to repent for your sins.
You may rest only once you finish reading the scriptures.
This is how your days will go.
How is it? Iâm quite lenient, donât you think? Especially considering how you tried to murder me several times!â
All the color drained from Valerieâs face.
She had heard of the Prajna Sutra.
Apparently it was thousands of pages long.
If she were to read it from cover to cover, she doubted that she could finish it in a single night.
Talk about torture!
âYouâre a heartless bitch, Lucinda!â Valerie spat out, her eyes burning with hatred.
Lucinda huffed and raised an eyebrow.
âPlease.
You were the one who took advantage of my sympathies, drugged me and then pushed me into the water.
Donât you find that heartless? Werenât you heartless when you hired so many assassins to target me?
You even tried to use a biochemical weapon against me! You used Melody to sabotage me at every turn, and egged Florrie on to push your own father down the stairs.
You faked the paternity test results and forced Graham to side with you, and for what? To rob my inheritance from me?!â
Unexpectedly, this litany of crimes only made Valerie smirk.
âItâs so satisfying to know just how much Iâve ruined your life over the years.
â
Then she added, âThere are a lot of things that Graham is unaware of.
Donât hurt him.
He has nothing to do with most of these matters.
â
Lucinda was unfazed.
âYou will pay for your crimes.
And I wonât forgive him, either.
She whirled around and sat back down next to Nathan.
âLock her up in the basement tonight,â Lucinda ordered as Leon pulled Valerie to her feet.
âTake her to the countryside first thing tomorrow.
â
âYes, Miss Simmons,â he nodded.
âWill we need to pack some of her belongings?â
âNo.
She wonât be needing all those jewelry and fancy clothes anymore.
â
Valerie slumped against Leon and Sonny, and they all but dragged her downstairs.