Samuel kicked him again—not hard enough to cause permanent damage, but hard enough to reinforce the ssage.
"And if you dare to utter even a single word about what really happened here tonight, or if you ever go near that girl again, I will chop you into pieces."
He paused, then added with chilling casualness: "And you know I’m not joking, because—" He pointed toward the garden area. "—that garden over there looks like it needs so good fertilizer. Bone al works wonderfully for flowering plants. I wouldn’t even need to bury you very deeply."
He patted Driver Li’s cheek with his fan—a gesture that was sohow more nacing than a slap.
"After all, no one would particularly care if a known drunkard suddenly vanished, would they? People would just assu you fell in a river or got eaten by wild animals while wandering drunk."
Driver Li was trembling from the inside out.
Who would have thought that coming here for so easy money and a bit of "fun" with a servant girl would result in getting beaten so badly—twice in one night!
And what the hell was wrong with these two people?!
Samuel was known throughout the household and village as a scholar—a cold person, yes, but fundantally gentle and fair, especially toward servants. Most people said he was a good young master, respectful to those beneath him in status.
But tonight he looked like an absolute devil. His eyes were cold and rciless, his threats delivered with complete sincerity.
And as for that supposed "weak servant girl" Seera—wasn’t she supposed to be timid and helpless?! How the hell had she beaten him so thoroughly?!
Driver Li felt like his body was broken from the inside. He wasn’t wrong about that assessnt—six of his ribs were cracked or broken, three completely fractured. His stomach muscles and internal organs were so badly bruised from that brutal throw that he would literally need a full year of rest and dical treatnt to recover properly.
But right now, he couldn’t even feel most of that pain—because when a devil is standing in front of you, threatening to turn you into fertilizer, you don’t dare to even breathe too loudly, let alone complain about injuries.
He nodded frantically at Samuel’s threat and then scrambled away, literally crawling on his hands and feet in his desperate rush to escape.
---
As Driver Li disappeared into the darkness, a shadow detached itself from the deeper darkness nearby.
A personal bodyguard appeared beside Samuel—a man who’d been silently observing everything—and asked quietly, "My lord, are you sure about protecting this servant girl? Is it wise to get involved?"
Hearing that question, Samuel looked toward Heena’s closed door and said with a small smile, "What is there not to be sure about? I’m genuinely curious about this girl. She’s far more interesting than I initially thought."
He added: "Find out everything you can about her background. I want to know who she really is."
Hearing that order, the bodyguard nodded and said, "I already have, my lord."
Hearing that, a broader smile spread across Samuel’s face. He looked at his guard with approval and said, "You’re always prepared, aren’t you?"
The guard nodded seriously. "Of course. If soone becos important to my master’s interests, I need to be ready with information imdiately."
Samuel asked, "So what did you find?"
Hearing that question, this ti the guard’s expression beca uncertain. He hesitated, then said, "My lord, I found that this girl—Seera—ca to this household about a year and a half ago. Granny Wang was the one who brought her here initially."
He continued: "It’s said that she was sold as a servant by soone, though the details are unclear. But here’s what’s strange: when she first arrived, she apparently had no mory of her past. She couldn’t rember who she was, where she ca from, or what her family background was."
The guard frowned. "But there were many people who comnted at the ti that she looked like so kind of noble woman when she first arrived. She had no calluses or work injuries on her hands—they were soft and well-cared-for, like soone who’d never done manual labor."
He added: "At that ti, she was apparently very bad at household work too—clumsy, inexperienced, as if she’d never cooked or cleaned before. And witnesses say she was extrely timid and silent—a person who stayed quiet all the ti, barely spoke, seed terrified of everything."
Hearing that description, a knowing smile spread across Samuel’s face.
He rembered the scene on the mountain just days ago, when Heena had literally argued back at him about respecting the dead—standing there covered in dirt from digging a grave, speaking her mind fearlessly, challenging his cynical worldview.
*Timid and silent? That woman?*
The contrast was so extre it was almost laughable.
He looked at his guard and said dryly, "I asked you to find information about her *past*—her origins, her family, where she ca from. Not just details about her behavior since arriving here that anyone in the household could tell ."
Hearing that mild rebuke, the guard lowered his head and said with genuine regret, "I apologize, my lord. We cannot find anything about her past before she arrived here. It’s like... it’s been deliberately erased by soone. Or hidden so thoroughly that normal investigation thods can’t uncover it."
He explained: "We’ve checked with rchants who travel through the region, asked contacts in neighboring towns, even investigated the slave markets and debt-sale records. Nothing. It’s as if she simply appeared out of nowhere a year and a half ago with no prior history."
Hearing that mysterious absence of information, Samuel’s interest only deepened.
He said thoughtfully, "Mm. So it looks like our dear lady Seera is quite difficult to trace, doesn’t she? Soone with resources and skill has gone to considerable effort to hide her origins."
Hearing that assessnt, the guard lowered his head further and said, "I apologize for this failure to find complete information about her background, my lord."
Hearing that apology, Samuel just shook his head and said, "No, it’s fine. You’ve actually given very useful information—sotis what you *can’t* find is just as revealing as what you can."
He looked back at Heena’s closed door one more ti, his mind working through possibilities.
*A girl with noble-looking hands and no work experience who suddenly appears with no traceable past. Who acts timid and broken for a year and a half, then suddenly starts showing intelligence, fighting skills, and a sharp tongue. Who buries abandoned infants in the forest when she thinks no one is watching. Who can apparently defeat a grown man in hand-to-hand combat.*
*Either she’s been pretending this whole ti and is far more than she appears...*
*Or sothing fundantal changed about her recently.*
*Either way, she’s valuable. And Maya’s desperate attempts to eliminate her only confirm that value.*
He smiled to himself and said quietly to his guard, "Keep watching her. I want to know her daily routine, who she interacts with, what she does when she thinks no one is observing. But don’t interfere—just observe and report."
"Yes, my lord."
"And find out exactly what arrangent Maya made with Driver Li. I want proof of the conspiracy, docunted evidence that could be used if necessary."
"Understood, my lord."
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