The Devil's Betrothed novel Chapter 120

Chapter 120: They Will Pay For What They Did

Arlan was in his study even though it was late in the night. He had dismissed his servants and was sitting in his chair while staring at the moonless sky outside the window. He was still distressed with what happened with Oriana and could not come to calm his mind.

’Is she sleeping well?’

Their chambers were on the same floor. Earlier, his senses caught her sharp gasps of pain whenever she moved the wrong way. When she mumbled it hurt, he could imagine the scene of the pot-bellied count kicking her small kneeling form.

Perhaps because it was his own imagination, Arlan tried to visualize her pretty face scrunching in pain, despite her unyielding gaze. Oriana was a consistent troublemaker, the type of person to offend a noble for a pregnant deer and the kind of busybody who would help out a stranger with a sick daughter from being scammed.

If Arlan came to that chamber a second too late, the sword held by Count Milton would have...

At that thought, his jaw clenched and the grip of his hands tightened on the armrests. For the first time he had an urge to use his power and destroy them but he was still sane to not do so. He would deal with humans in human way.

’They will pay for what they did.’

He stood up from his chair, and not thinking twice, he went out towards the direction of Oriana’s chamber. The urge to see her face—to confirm her alive and breathing, to look at her face not scrunched up in pain—was overwhelming.

However, he dropped the idea.

Even if Oriana was his servant and they were in his own residence, Oriana was still a woman. Arlan had morals. No gentleman would sneak inside a woman’s room uninvited in the middle of the night.

’Seems like she is sleeping peacefully,’ he rationalized after hearing no sounds of movement from her chamber.

Arlan wanted to go to her and check on her, but in the end, the Crown Prince of Griven returned to his room filled with thoughts of the most satisfying retribution to those audacious Miltons.

The next morning, Oriana woke up to the sight of her room flooded by the morning sunlight. She jolted to a sitting position.

"Ugh!"

The sudden movement caused her to curl like a shrimp. She belatedly remembered the Count kicking her twice last night. She didn’t even get to enjoy the act of waking up from a good sleep as panic rose within her.

"The sun is out?!" She rubbed her eyes to make sure as it was not a dream. "This can’t be. No, no, no! I cannot sleep this late."

She dashed out of her bed in a hurry, only to crouch down at the pain racking her body.

"Ah, damn it." She put her hand over the most hurting injury around her ribcage and walked towards the washroom. "I need to get ready fast, or else I might get punished."

Attendants had to wake up by the crack of dawn. They should be waiting outside Arlan’s bedchamber even before their master woke up, but on her second day on the job, Oriana was late. She was not sure how she would be punished for this.

The consequences of yesterday’s excitement came crashing on her today. Her muscles were sore and her body ached, the delayed pain indicating that she pushed herself harder than usual last night.

Though Oriana’s pain tolerance was high, simple acts like bending down to pick a fallen item or lifting her arms to remove her clothes brought her pain. While she readied herself, she found the task of tying her long hair to be the most difficult task— lifting her arms would pull at her bruises time and time again.

"I really should cut my hair. It takes too much time to arrange. Ugh! I will find a time to cut it as soon as possible."

Staring at her image in front of the mirror, she found her left cheek slightly swollen.