The morning arrived riding on the golden rays of the sun, but today it didn't bring any hope or joy for Sylvia. She was still sitting in the corner of the room with a blanket wrapped around her.
She didn't feel warm when those sunrays fell on her. Her body didn't shake in tremors now, and tears didn't slide down her cheek anymore.
Her gaze was empty, just like the bed she had been in last night. But there was a whole hurricane swirling behind those dark orbs resembling the one she had survived last night.
She didn't know when Favian left, nor did she care. Spending another hour in the same position, her back ached. She blinked for the first time in a while. A shuddering breath made her shoulders jerk before she pushed herself up on her feet with the support from the wall she was leaning on.
Shuddering breaths left her lips as her whole body ached. Walking a step forward seemed like a difficult task. Yet she pushed herself forward and entered the bathroom.
Sylvia stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection, which didn't look like her at all. Tears ran down her red cheeks that wore multiple handprints.
Her lips were bruised and torn. A shiver ran down her spine as the previous night flashed in front of her eyes.
With much courage, she let go of the blanket she held around herself. The blanket fell with a light thud on the floor, but Sylvia's heart shattered thunderously as she took in the signs of torture she had endured last night.
There was not a single inch on her skin that was untouched and clear of any remnants of what that heartless man did to her.
She begged him to stop and put up a fight, but in the end, she couldn't overpower him. He was stronger than her.
That was when she realised how weak she was without her wand, her magic. She couldn't even protect her dignity without her magic. She had lived a sheltered life in both Larnwick and Malvadogar. She didn't know that the outside world could be so dark, cruel and dangerous.
And she never thought that she would get to experience it first-hand.
Now that she had lost her most precious thing, she regretted her decision of leaving Warthford Island. She should have gone to Reznor and asked for his help.
But she was too proud to do that and thought it was her opportunity of experiencing the world.
"I was wrong! I was wrong all along!"
A loud sob rocked her body, and she fell to her knees, crying her eyes out.
Her cries came to a sudden halt, and she quickly grabbed the blanket she had dropped earlier to cover herself when she heard someone walking inside the bathroom.
"So you are awake. Good!" Gianna commented as she walked over to fill the bathtub with warm water.
Sylvia only stared at the woman, dumbstruck. Didn't she notice in which state Sylvia was? Didn't she know what happened to her last night? Did she not care at all?
"My Lord has arranged some dresses for you. I have put them on your bed. Once you get yourself clean and ready, I will serve you breakfast.
Then I will take you to show around the villa and tell you what work you are supposed to do in the days. Because now you have found what you have to do in the nights."
Sylvia's anger overshoot through the roof, and she found herself standing on her feet despite the soreness between her legs.
Glaring at Gianna, Sylvia thundered. "What a shameless woman you are! In spite of being a woman yourself, you stand and support this heinousness?!
Unbelievable!
You should be ashamed of yourself as a human. You don't even deserve to be called a human."
Sylvia didn't know what reaction she was expecting from Gianna, but she certainly didn't expect the woman to just ignore her and walk out of the bathroom as if she didn't hear a single word Sylvia said.
Sylvia followed her out of the bathroom and grabbed her arm to turn her around.
"I am talking to you. If you have any trace of conscience left in you then help me to get out of this hell. I have lost everything already but I do not wish to stay here and endure it for the rest of my life."
Gianna pursed her lips, her gaze falling to where Sylvia held her arm. She freed her arm from Sylvia's grip and guided her to sit on the bed.
Sitting beside her, Gianna said, "Let me make this situation clear for you, Sylvia. Lord Favian is the richest landlord in the whole region. He is a widower as all four wives he took met with the same fate."
A chill ran down Sylvia's spine as she heard it.
"He is a lonely man, Sylvia. He needs someone to fill his life with colours of love, and he has chosen you for that. Now all you can and should do is comply with his every word.
You keep him happy, he will keep you happy. It is as simple as that."
Sylvia opened her mouth to say something, but Gianna continued. "Before you protest or threaten to run away from here, let me warn you that you are not the first one who has shared this bed with Lord Favian.
I am not going into the details. You look like a smart woman and can put your mind into imagination. Now you will get up and take a bath. Lord Favian prefers his women to be neat, clean and obedient."
Could this get any worse than it already was?
Gianna stood up to leave when Sylvia stopped her.
"I... I understand. Erm... can you tell me where are my belongings?"
The middle-aged woman turned around to face Sylvia.
"That dirty dress and a wooden stick?"
Sylvia's heart thudded. She nodded her head.
"Your things are with Lord Favian."
"Can I get them back?"
"Depends."
"Huh?" Sylvia was confused.
"It depends on how you please Lord Favian and win his heart. If he feels like giving your things back then he will."
Gianna left without another word. Sylvia remained sitting on the bed, the blanket still wrapped around her naked body. Her mind was a chaotic mess.
She couldn't do anything without her wand. Even if she tried to run from this place, she couldn't do that before getting her wand back.
A raven hammered its beak on the glass of the nearby window. Sylvia rushed to it and opened the curtain. She tried to open the window, but it was closed. She used all her force, yet it didn't budge.
Sylvia placed her palm flat on the window glass, looking at her raven helplessly. At least she used her wise brain and kept the manuscript with her raven. What she would have done if Favian had got his hands on that manuscript?
That very thought made her nervous.
But now, she had to think and act wisely. She couldn't be reckless and impulsive. She first need to get her wand back, and then... then she would teach that old moron a good lesson for stealing her innocence and all the atrocities he had done against her.
If only she could survive until then!
Sylvia shook those thoughts out of her head and went into the bathroom to take a bath. She was desperate to wash off that man's scent, his touch, the remains of his saliva on her skin and... the seeds that he had sprouted on her.
Sylvia went to the sink and emptied her stomach. The acidic taste of bile soured her mouth, and her eyes stung with tears. She wanted to scrape off her whole skin and purify her soul to wipe out every reminder of the last night.
Tears streamed down her face as she pledged.
"You will pay for this, Favian. I will make you pay for this!"