After dinner, Yeva showed up in the study room with Leah.
Sawyer Norah had designed the room to his taste, quaint but comfortable. On one side of the wall was
a shelf filled with books.
There were a lot of antique vases and Victorian paintings in the room. Yeva and Leah had seen these
accessories in their fathers’ room, but they were never allowed to go near or touch them.
Sage was flipping through a book while Yeva started reciting the house rules.
Yeva did not put much time or effort into memorizing the rules. Yeva had reluctantly tried to memorize
some of the rules because she knew she had to face Sage today. However, as there were hundreds of
them, she had not lasted a minute. Yeva could not remember them all.
“You’re done?” Sage looked up from her book slightly when Yeva suddenly stopped reciting.
Yeva nodded. “I’m sorry, Sage. I wasn’t able to finish memorizing all of them, but don’t worry, I will be
sure to stick by all the rules.”
“Good to know. Now tell me, how many did you leave out?”
Yeva was stunned when she saw Sage reach for the ferrule. She had thought that Sage had been only
trying to intimidate her. She did not think that Sage was serious about hitting her.
“Sa… Sage…” Yeva instinctively put her hands behind her back and stuttered, “you’re… not going to
hit me for real, right?”
Sage looked at her. “If not? Did you think that I was joking?”
Yeva’s face hardened as fear gripped her.
Leah, who was standing behind Yeva, felt her chest tighten. She noted how much Sage had changed.
The friendly and warm cousin that she had known had been replaced by a cold and intimidating
woman.
“A total of a hundred house rules, you recited seventy of them but left out thirty. Plus, you made
fourteen mistakes in total. You’ll need to get beaten forty-four times.”
Without any changes in her expression, Sage said cold-heartedly, “Put out your hands.”
Yeva was reluctant, but she knew that Sage was firm in her decision. Hence, she could only watch as
Sage hit her palms with the ferrule until her palms tumed from red to purple. They started swelling.
Feeling the buming pain spread across her palms, Yeva finally burst into tears.
The pain was excruciating and unbearable.
“Go put some ointment on them.”
Returning the ferrule to Yeva, Sage added indifferently, “I’ll test you again tomorrow night, and the
same rules apply. If you think that the pain is bearable, feel free to do it half-heartedly.”
She then turned to look at Leah. “Leah, the same goes for you. You need to play by my rules if you
want to stay at my house. Come with Yeva tomorrow to recite the house rules.”
“Okay,” Leah replied right away. Lifting up her hand carefully, she added, “Sage, L. already finished
memorizing them.”
Sage and Yeva turned to look at her. Shock and disbelief colored Yeva’s face.
“You finished memorizing all of them?”
Yeva tried to catch Leah’s eye to try and stop her from doing anything impulsive. Sage was no longer
the friendly and doting cousin to Yeva. She was now the cruel and ruthless tyrant.
Leah though acted as if she did not get what Yeva was trying to hint at her. With her big, round eyes,
she looked at Sage innocently.
“I was with Yeva while she was memorizing the rules.”
Sage nodded and sent Yeva away before having Leah start reciting. “Let me see what you’ve got.”
Picking up the book, Sage continued reading where she had left off.
Calming her nervous heart, Leah started reciting the house rules one by one, until she finished reciting
all one hundred of them. She read them without error.
Compared to Yeva who was stuttering right from the start, Leah did well.
“Not bad.”
Sage complimented her. “I remembered that you’d always done well in your studies and had even got a
full scholarship for your college studies. You majored in jewelry design, right?” Leah nodded her head
frantically. With her eyes lit up, she replied, “Yeap, you actually remembered!”
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