Chapter 277: Beneath Still Waters

Sophia didn’t wake all at once.

It came in pieces.

A slow awareness first—like her mind was climbing up through thick water, every thought heavy and dragging. Then the faint recognition of cold against her skin. Not the sharp, biting cold of snow or wind, but the kind of cold that crept along damp stone and lived there forever.

Her lashes trembled.

Her eyes opened, and she took in the room.

The ceiling above her swam, a blur of pale shapes and shadows. It took a few seconds before it focused enough for her to recognize it—the same wooden beams, the same faint crack that ran across one corner like a fracture frozen in time.

She was still here.

The same room.

The same bed.

For a moment, she simply lay there, staring.

A thin layer of sweat coated her skin despite the chill, clinging to her like another sheet. Her breathing was shallow, shaky, as if each breath had to be bargained for.

And then she noticed it.

The quiet.

Not the normal quiet that came with this room.

This quiet felt... wrong.

The air felt heavier.

Empty.

That calm presence—that strange, grounding feeling she had grown used to, like a hand on her back even when no one touched her—it wasn’t there.

Her chest tightened.

He wasn’t near. If he wasn’t here, then the woman would come. She was going to come, and Sophia could only imagine what the woman would say because she still wasn’t well.

She turned slowly towards where the man usually sat. There was this feeling in her bones; this wasn’t the feeling she normally had when the man was around. This was similar to the one she had when the woman was around.

She turned slowly, and the figure staring back at her made her heart skip a beat.

Someone was there. She had suspected already, but it was like seeing the figure staring at her was enough to wake her up from whatever fantasy she had about the woman not being there.

Sophia still couldn’t quite make out the woman’s face. It was blurred, like looking through fogged glass. But she didn’t need to see her clearly to feel the anger radiating off the woman in waves. It was suffocating, and it pressed tightly against Sophia’s chest.

Her heartbeat increased. The woman was here. She was here already. There was no escape at all.

Sophia watched with her heart in her throat as the woman leaned forward.

"You are finally awake. I thought you were going to sleep for years," the woman told her coldly.

Sophia swallowed, her throat dry.

The woman reached out and placed a hand against Sophia’s forehead.

Her touch was cold.

Her palm lingered, longer than necessary, as if she was measuring something.

Then her hand dropped immediately.

"Your body is still extremely hot. I can’t even place a finger on you without almost combusting," the woman said, disgust in her voice.

Sophia blinked.

"I... I..." Her voice came out cracked and weak.

She had no idea what she wanted to say, only that she had to tell the woman something. Something to calm her down, but it seemed there would be no chance for that after all.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. "Why are you still sick?" she snapped.

Sophia flinched from the venom in the woman’s voice.

"I..." She swallowed again, trying to wet her throat. "I—I don’t know."

The woman scoffed. "You don’t know?" Her mouth twisted. "You don’t know?! Are you kidding me? You mean to tell me you have no idea why you are still sick even after it’s been a week?"

Sophia shook her head weakly. "I... I can’t control it... it’s not..."

Her words seemed to irritate the woman further.

In a sudden, sharp movement, her hand raised and came down hard on Sophia’s cheek. The sound cracked through the room.

Sophia’s head snapped to the side from the force. A sting exploded across her cheek, her skin burning.

Her breath hitched.

"You better know who you are talking to. Don’t think stupid excuses like the one you just gave will work on me. There is a reason you are still sick. Are you doing this because of the task I gave you? Is that it?" the woman asked Sophia. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"No," Sophia cried out. "I’m not doing anything. I’m not trying to remain sick. I don’t like it..."

The woman slapped her again.

"You are lying. I know you are doing something to remain sick. There is no other explanation. That’s it. You are doing something," the woman said.

Tears poured from Sophia’s eyes as she turned to the woman, trying to explain once more.

The woman didn’t care though. She stood up abruptly, grabbing a fistful of Sophia’s hair.

Pain seared through her scalp as the woman yanked her forward, dragging her from the bed where she lay.

Sophia cried out.

"Please—!" Her hands automatically flew up, trying to loosen the grip. "You’re hurting me!"

"Good," the woman spat. "Maybe it will make you stop being such a burden to me."

She dragged Sophia away.

Sophia barely had time to gasp before her body hit the floor, her knees scraping painfully against the hard surface as she was pulled across it.

"Let go!" Sophia cried, tears already blurring her vision. "Please! I’m really not doing this on purpose. I can’t control it. Please let me go, it hurts."

"It doesn’t hurt enough. Maybe the pain will make you know you are supposed to be better, that you are not supposed to be in bed, sick, not when I have given you something to do. Not when there are things for you to do," the woman told Sophia.

Sophia still had no idea what task the woman was talking about. She only knew the woman had told her to do something, and it was something very important. But instead of doing it, Sophia had gone and gotten herself sick.

The woman pulled her toward the back of the room.

Toward the large wash basin.

Water gleamed faintly inside it, catching light from the small window. The water was cold. Sophia hadn’t even had her bath in days. She hadn’t had her bath since the nurse came. She wondered what the woman was doing, dragging her to the large wash basin.