Nathan’s words stabbed through my heart. He wanted me to kneel to a mistress and give her a promise.
What about my promise? Was it worthless? The boy’s bright eyes flashed in my mind again and again.
“Catherine, I love you. I’ll protect you for life. Anyone who dares bully you, I’ll fight them to the end.” Nathan grabbed my collar, swayed, and shoved me toward Victoria.
“Kneel and kowtow to Victoria and Nathan to apologize.”
“Swear on your late mother-in-law’s name that if you ever dare feel jealous again or scheme against Victoria and her child, may she suffer frying oil and burning fire in the afterlife, never finding peace.”
I stared at Nathan, stunned. Before my mother passed, she treated him as her own son. He used to kneel at her grave, calling her “Mom” over and over. Now, for a mistress, he cursed her so viciously.
I wiped away my tears and straightened my back.
"Nathan, I will never kowtow to a mistress unless I'm dead."
Nathan narrowed his eyes, gestured, and a bodyguard stepped forward, seized my shoulder, and kicked my knee. I fell before Victoria with a heavy thud. Before I could even bow, whispers erupted:
"Look, the dignified Wallace heiress kneels to a mistress! What a shame to all women!"
"Truly, she'd be better off dead. Living like this is humiliating." "If William Wallace saw this, he'd be furious in his grave." I tilted my head, eyes bloodshot, glaring at Nathan.
"Nathan, have you forgotten the vow under the oak tree?" He grabbed my chin fiercely.
"Catherine, I haven't forgotten. It's you who has been ruthless, insisting on driving Victoria and her children away. Today, I must teach you a lesson." Then he slammed my head to the floor, blood trickling down my forehead, seeping into my eyes, blurring everything.
Just as he was about to strike again, a thin figure rushed in and punched him hard across the face.
"Don't bully my sister!" Through my haze, I saw my younger brother, Samuel, trembling as he stood protectively before me.
Nathan steadied himself, wiped the blood from his lip, and glared coldly.
"Move."
"No!"
"Brother Nathan, you can't hurt my sister like this! You promised to protect her forever—why force her to kneel to a lowly woman?"
Nathan’s voice turned icy.
"Samuel, you're young. You don’t understand. This is for your sister’s own good, to stop her from harming others."
"You're lying! My sister would never hurt anyone! You're framing her!"