Chapter 775:
“You’ve hurt Aarya. Isn’t it your responsibility to make it right, to earn her forgiveness?” Jayden retorted, his voice cold.
In that moment, Elyse felt as if her heart were being sliced open. This pain was new, raw, and profoundly deep. With a rueful smile, she looked up at him and said quietly, “The most foolish thing I’ve ever done was to love you. Don’t you agree?”
Jayden’s frown deepened. He took a step forward, his overwhelming presence forcing her to kneel in the cold snow, asserting his control without a word.
Elyse knelt in the snow, clad only in thermal tights that did little to stave off the biting cold. The frigid air seeped into her bones, chilling her physically and emotionally.
Charlie, watching the scene unfold, frowned slightly despite his initial approval. “Jayden, isn’t this excessive? Elyse was my guest. This doesn’t reflect well on us,” he remarked.
Jayden was unapologetic. “She’s the one who has behaved poorly, Mr. Hudson. I’ll handle the consequences,” he assured Charlie before heading back to the greenhouse.
Charlie approached Elyse, looking down at her with feigned sympathy. “I’m truly sorry. I never anticipated it would come to this. Please, don’t hold this against me. I’m just a father, concerned for my daughter,” he said, his voice dripping with false regret.
Elyse, shivering and tired, didn’t even lift her gaze. “If you’re really sorry, you’d let me stand and leave,” she replied icily.
Charlie shook his head, his expression hardening. “I can’t allow that, not until my daughter is ready to forgive you,” he declared, then turned to a nearby servant. “Watch her. She stays kneeling until Aarya says otherwise.”
The servant nodded sharply and stood watch. As Elyse made a feeble attempt to rise, the servant pushed her back down harshly, commanding, “Stay kneeling properly.”
Elyse tried to resist a few more times, each attempt weaker than the last, until exhaustion overcame her, forcing her to remain subservient in the snow. Defeated, she slumped forward, her spirit as frosted as the air around her. She knew Charlie had orchestrated this humiliation perfectly, using her as a pawn for Aarya to unleash her frustrations.
The worst cut of all was knowing that the man she had once loved, the man who was supposed to protect her, was the one who had forced her into this position.
As she lifted her head, looking towards the greenhouse, tears involuntarily spilled over, quickly turning to ice on her lashes—a cold reminder of her frozen state.
Back inside the greenhouse, after calming Aarya down, Jayden glanced through the glass at Elyse, still forced to kneel in the snow. He turned away dismissively. “Seems even this isn’t enough to satisfy you,” he remarked dryly.
Aarya, now somewhat pacified and clearly pleased by Elyse’s predicament, smirked. “What next then? What do you plan to do?”
Jayden instructed a servant to fetch a bucket of ice water. Taking Aarya’s hand, he led her outside to where Elyse was shivering. Elyse, her senses numbed by the cold, looked up dazedly as they approached.
Observing the frozen tear tracks on Elyse’s cheeks, Jayden paused, his expression unreadable. After a moment, he asked sharply, “Do you understand why you’re being punished?”
Confused and slow to respond, Elyse finally murmured, “What exactly did I do to deserve this?”
Jayden didn’t reply. Instead, he took the bucket and, with Aarya watching, doused Elyse with the icy water. The shock of the cold water caused Elyse to collapse, lying motionless on the snowy ground.
Aarya, a hint of concern flickering in her eyes, asked, “What’s wrong with her? Did she… die?”
“She’s just playing the victim. Don’t worry about her,” Jayden dismissed casually, handing the empty bucket back to the servant. He didn’t spare another look at Elyse as he guided Aarya away.