Chapter 6

Seeing Eliza’s face rapidly turn purple and her breathing become ragged and labored, the children finally seemed frightened. They let go, dropped the handkerchief, and fled the room in sheer panic.

“Cough, cough… Cough, cough, cough!”

Eliza began to cough violently as she desperately gasped for air. However, her airway was already swollen, and every breath was accompanied by a terrifying wheezing sound!

Medicine… Her allergy medicine!

She stumbled out of bed, fumbling blindly as she tried to open her nightstand drawer, where she usually kept an emergency allergy inhaler.

As soon as she found it, she pulled out the inhaler with trembling hands, only for the bedroom door to slam open again with a bang.

Leo and Maya had turned back!

Seeing the inhaler in Eliza’s hands, Leo’s eyes went wide, and he rushed forward to snatch it.

“You think you can use her inhaler? No way! You have to suffer to learn your lesson! That way, you won’t bully Sofia ever again!”

“Give it back to me… Cough, cough…”

Eliza clutched the inhaler tightly. Her life depended on it.

In the middle of the struggle, Maya joined in, and both children gave a hard yank. The tiny inhaler flew out of her hands and into the air before dropping squarely into the open toilet bowl with a plop.

“No!” Eliza let out a desperate, piercing cry!

She lunged toward the toilet, but the asphyxiation was causing her vision to go dark, and her limbs were weak. Before her last sliver of consciousness faded, she saw her two children standing at the door, looking at her coldly before turning around and running away without once looking back.

When she woke up again, her throat and chest were still burning with intense pain, but breathing was much easier now.

Standing beside the bed with concern was their servant, Hazel.

“Ma’am! You’re finally awake! You scared me half to death!” Hazel’s eyes were red as she said, “There aren’t even any flowers in the house, so how did you get a pollen allergy? Thank goodness Mr. Hall came back early in the middle of the night and realized something was wrong…”

Eliza closed her eyes and remained silent.

Connor found her? In that case, did he know who had caused her allergic reaction?

“Hazel,” she spoke up, her voice incredibly hoarse, “get Leo and Maya here.”

Hazel hesitated for a moment but went anyway.

Soon enough, the two children dragged their feet into the room and stood a few steps away from the bed with their heads bowed, afraid to look at her.

Eliza looked at them. They were her flesh and blood, the tiny lives she had poured all her love and painstaking care into protecting. At that moment, however, she felt a chill run down her spine.

“Look at me.” Her voice was not loud, but it carried authority.

The children slowly raised their heads, their eyes shifting nervously.

“Do you have anything to say about what happened last night?” Eliza asked.

Leo bit his lip and remained silent, while Maya began to sob softly.

“Why?” Eliza’s voice started to tremble. “I’m your mother! I brought you into this world! I fed you your first sip of milk, taught you to say your first words, and helped you take your first steps! I worked so hard just to give you the best life possible! What on earth did I do wrong to make you hate me so much… that you would use pollen to try to kill me?”

The more she spoke, the more emotional she grew, and tears started pouring out in a mix of heartbreak and despair.

“It was an accident…” Leo murmured defensively.

“An accident?” Eliza suddenly raised her voice, and the surge of emotion triggered another fit of violent coughing. “Holding a handkerchief covered in pollen over my face was an accident? Snatching my inhaler and throwing it into the toilet was an accident? Leo, Maya, you’re only five years old! Who taught you to do this? Was it Sofia?”

“It wasn’t Sofia!” Leo immediately retorted. “We wanted to do it ourselves because you bullied Sofia!”

“Yeah!” Maya cried out loudly as well. “We hate you! You’re always mean to Sofia!”

Seeing them protect that woman and even going so far as to try to kill their own mother, Eliza’s very last shred of hope shattered. She propped herself up into a sitting position on the bed, her body trembling slightly from weakness and fury.

“Fine… Fine! Since you both think I’m so terrible, then today, I’m going to give you a good spanking and teach you a lesson! Hazel, bring me the wooden spoon.”

Hazel was startled. “Ma’am, this–”

“Go!”

Left with no choice, Hazel nervously fetched the wooden spoon.

Eliza held the wooden spoon, looking at the two children whose faces had turned pale with fright. Seeing them like that tore her apart, but she forced herself to stay tough.

“Hold out your hands.”

Leo held his head high and didn’t move, while Maya was so terrified that she hid directly behind her brother.

Just as Eliza raised the wooden spoon, preparing to bring it down…

“Stop!”

Sofia’s voice suddenly rang out. She rushed in, opening her arms wide to shield the two children behind her.

“Eliza! If you want to punish someone, punish me! The children told me everything… They only did it because of me! It’s all my fault. If you’re angry, take it out on me, but don’t frighten the kids!”

Looking at her hypocritical act, Eliza felt disgusted.

“Get out of the way.”

“I won’t!” Sofia shielded the children tightly. “The kids are young and don’t know any better. You can’t treat them like this!”

“I said get out of the way!” Eliza’s patience ran out, and she swatted Sofia’s blocking arm away.

Sofia let out a sharp gasp and took the opportunity to fall backward. Her back hit the corner of the table just as she fell, and the pain made her face turn pale.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Connor’s furious roar exploded at the doorway.

He strode inside, his eyes immediately landing on Sofia clutching her red, swollen arm while crying tears of pain. Behind her stood the two trembling, tear-streaked children. Then, he looked at Eliza holding a wooden spoon, her face ashen and her gaze cold.

“Eliza Lowry!” Connor said her name through his gritted teeth, a terrifying rage burning in his eyes. “Just when are you going to stop these fits?”

Sofia immediately threw herself into Connor’s arms, crying. “Connor, don’t blame this on Eliza… The children did something wrong last night, and Eliza just wanted to discipline them. It was me… I failed to stop them…”

Connor wrapped his arms around her, his gaze turning even colder as he glared at Eliza. “The kids told me everything! They only wanted to teach you a lesson because you hit Sofia yesterday! This was your fault to begin with! If you weren’t so narrow-minded, how could the kids ever do something like this?”

He pointed at the wooden spoon in Eliza’s hand, his tone dangerously cold. “Now, look at you, holding the wooden spoon, wanting to lay hands on the kids? You even beat Sofia up! Eliza, you’ve become completely out of control!

“Fine. You like using punishment, don’t you? In that case, you shall go to the basement and reflect on what you did! Men! Take Mrs. Hall to the basement! No one is allowed to let her out without my permission!”