Chapter 15

Somebody must have specifically instructed the butler to use excessive force on Sally. Anyone could have seen that.

The butler's hand froze in the air when Elijah said that.

A while later, he put his whip down. "I obey the Sire."

Lucille rolled his eyes. "We are enforcing discipline on this degenerate, lustful woman. It's not your place to say anything, you blind, uneducated orphan!"

Elijah had always kept his mouth shut in similar situations. Lucille was not happy at his sudden interjection.

"All of you are bullying my wife. Of course I have to say something," Elijah said softly.

Sally could hear from his tone of voice that, just like what he told her, he did not have any position or authority in the Moses family. They treated him as though he was a nobody.

"You've married a wh*re, yet you act as though she's someone precious."

Lucille grunted and turned to look at Grandpa Moses. "Father, we'll have to teach this Sally girl a lesson. Otherwise, she won't learn.

"However, since she's already married into the family, I don't think we should be too harsh on her. We'll stop as soon as she admits that she is wrong. Don't you agree?"

Lucille sounded like she was forgiving, though she knew that Sally's stubborn attitude would keep her from admitting fault.

Grandpa Moses lowered his frightful gaze and looked at Sally. "Do you admit that you are wrong?"

"I don't admit it."

Sally straightened her back. "I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not going to admit any fault."

Grandpa Moses waved his arm impatiently.

Thwack!

The butler landed another lash on Sally's back.

"Do you admit fault?"

"No!"

Thwack!

"Are you still going to be stubborn?"

"I didn't do anything wrong!"

Thwack!

The butler brought the whip down once again on Sally's back with all his might.

Sally could not straighten her back because of the pain. She gritted her teeth and braced for another lash. Surprisingly, she heard the crack of the whip but did not feel it on her body.

"Elijah!"

Grandpa Moses sounded utterly shocked.

Sally turned around and realized that Elijah had somehow gotten off his wheelchair. The lash landed on his back.

"Why did you beat him?" Sally yelled at the butler. Her fists were tightly clenched.

"Are you blind? Why did you hit him and not me? Don't you know that he has a weak body?"

The butler did not expect that Elijah would take the lash for Sally, much less that Sally would yell at him because of Elijah.

She did not make a sound when she was whipped earlier.

However, she reacted so violently after Elijah was whipped just once.

"I'm fine." Elijah lifted his head and looked weakly at Sally. "I'm just… a little dizzy."

"Send him to the hospital!"

Grandpa Moses was distraught that his grandson was hit.

Then, he glared at the butler. "Stand aside and prepare for your punishment!"

The butler could only curse his luck and retreat to one side.

A while later, other servants came to bring Elijah to the hospital.

"Don't touch him!"

Sally yelled at the servants. She propped Elijah and sat him in the wheelchair. "He is my husband. I'll take care of him!"

After that, she pushed Elijah's wheelchair and left the chapel.

Grandpa Moses remained standing in the middle of the chapel. He felt oddly at ease as he looked at the long, bloody gashes on Sally's back as she pushed Elijah's wheelchair away as he stood in the middle of the chapel.

"Just look at this mess."

Elijah might be the most unloved in the Moses family, but he was nonetheless Grandpa Moses's grandson. Lucille knew that better than anyone else.

She laughed awkwardly. "I didn't expect that Elijah would block the whip for her…"

"That's enough. Don't pretend to be sorry."

Grandpa Moses glared at Lucille. "I've already disciplined Sally. This will be the end of the matter. Do not mention it again!"

He turned to glare at Wendell. "Did you have a good reason to go to Sally's university?"

Wendell had been enjoying the drama on the sidelines. He did not know how to answer the abrupt question. "I… I…"

"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking, and don't think that I don't know you're not as innocent as you claim to be."

Wendell's face turned pale.

"Don't pull any of those tricks behind my back again. Otherwise, you won't receive a cent of my inheritance!"

…

In the hospital.

Sally breathed a sigh of relief as the nurse dressed Elijah's wound. "That shouldn't hurt anymore, right?"

The nurse nodded. "This painkiller is very effective."

Another nurse glanced at Sally's back. "Should I treat your back as well, Madam?"

Evidently, her injuries were much more serious than her husband's.

The nurse's reminder brought Sally's attention to the pain on her back.

Her back felt like it was burning.

She lay face-down on the bed as the nurse carefully snipped her T-shirt away. The nurse applied antiseptic on her back, which caused so much pain that her face was drenched in cold sweat. Eventually, she passed out from the pain.

Elijah felt sorry for Sally as he looked at her from the bed next to her.

"How long would her injuries take to heal?"

"At least a week, I guess.

"Your wife looks quite frail, but I didn't expect that she could endure the pain from such serious wounds. Any other woman would have passed out, but she managed to remain conscious for so long."

Elijah sighed. "Yeah."

His wife was strange like that.

Grandpa Moses's intention was clear. She could be spared the punishment as long as she admitted fault and apologized.

However, she would rather suffer the cruel whipping than admit something that she did not do.

For someone who had faked his disabilities for more than ten years, Elijah could not understand why Sally was so stubborn.

However, her behavior earlier had shocked him.

There was nothing else for him to do after his wound was dressed. Elijah got Ol' Joe to admit them to the hospital.

He did not want Sally to go home after receiving those injuries.

"I didn't do anything wrong."

She remained unconscious throughout the night. However, she occasionally shouted in her sleep.

He felt sorry for her.

Elijah got out of his bed and onto hers. He carefully hugged her in his embrace.

"You did nothing wrong."

'It's just that your husband cannot reveal his true self yet.'

He gradually closed his eyes.

Ever since his sister perished in the fire when he was ten years old, he told himself that he had to pretend to be impassive and pliant. He had to keep a low profile so he could avenge his parents after he grew up.

That was why he had remained submissive for so many years.

That was the first time in many years that he had the urge to shed his disguise. He wanted to stand up and protect Sally when the first stroke of the whip landed on her.

"I don't admit it…"

The woman in his arms trembled.

"You don't have to."

Elijah took a deep breath, taking in the fresh fragrance of her hair. "I won't let you wait for too long.

"All the people that bullied you today. They will one day… kneel in front of you and beg for your forgiveness."