The entire ride to Austin's mansion was silent. There was only the clip clopping of horse hooves, the rickety sound of the moving bandwagon, and the chirping of crickets. The atmosphere felt incredibly heavy.

Most of the men hopped off their bandwagons along the way back to Austin's mansion. In a bandwagon of their own, Eva was seated beside Austin. Opposite them were more men who were in charge of keeping watch over her parents, while her parents laid unconscious on the floor of the bandwagon.

The sky was already dark by the time they reached back. 

While the drivers returned the bandwagons to the person who supplied them, the 4 people in charge of Eva's parents brought them to the basement of the west wing that had been prepared to hold them. Austin continued to hold Eva by her elbow and brought her to the second level of the central wing and into a room on the right of the staircase. Nobody, including his dumbfounded butler, understood Austin's intentions or the meaning behind his actions but nobody dared to question him.

Austin took no more than a few steps into the room with Eva before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him without a word. 2 men automatically went to guard the door to Eva's room after seeing Austin enter another room down the end of the same corridor. Those men had voluntarily stayed on thinking that they should guard Eva just as just as her parents were guarded.

Just beyond the closed doors, Eva and Austin stood silently in their individual rooms. Eva with an empty expression on her face, while Austin's cold exterior began to break once again.

Austin stormed towards the wall and started recklessly tearing off all the notes and paper pinned to the wall, cutting his hands in the process of doing so. The shredded pieces of paper floated down to the floor, but Austin felt that it was not enough to quell his rage. His chest was heaving and tears threatened to spill over. All these years... All this years!! They were just there!

He slammed his palms in the wall. If I had been more thorough, if I had been unbiased, I would have caught them so much sooner! All the signs! It should have been so clear! I'm so stupid!

He shouted out in frustration and agony as he roughly swiped at all the daggers that were still embedded in the wall. All of them got dislodged and scattered onto the floor noisily.

He hammered the wall once with his fists then slowly went down to the floor onto his knees. Thin smears of blood from the cuts on his arms and hands were left on the wall. Tears finally left his eyes that were shut tight. The last time he cried was the night when his parents died. Every single time he felt like crying, he would berate himself for it and forbid himself from being weak. The moment he found out about Eva's identity was no different. However, it now felt like a dam broke within him and he could no longer hold his tears back.

His jaws were clenched and he rammed his head into the wall repeatedly. Why? Why? This is the worst... ... ...Why must I feel something for the daughter of my parents' killers...? Why?!

BaoBao could see everything that was going on but felt entirely helpless and lost.

He could not understand Austin's ambiguous behaviour. Matters like the dilemma Austin was facing now were still too complicated for BaoBao to understand.

He also did not what he could say to comfort Eva. He already tried saying things like he was still here for her, and how nothing was her fault, and how she already tried her best. However, there was completely no response from her. Her mind was a complete blank. It was as if she completely shut down and stopped functioning.

Nothing's working! He hated feeling so helpless. This familiar sounding thought rang a bell and led him to a revelation. Is this how Eva felt all the time...? BaoBao started to tear up. Eva...

Without knowing it, BaoBao was learning about what it was like to empathise.

Eva has been standing where she was left at for a long time. Like a still statue.

Eva... Please just rest... It doesn't look like anything else will happen for tonight...

To BaoBao's surprise, Eva started moving. However, she simply sat down where she was at and curled up into a ball.

The bed! Eva! The bed!

However, Eva stopped moving again.

Ugh! BaoBao appeared in the room since he was sure that no one would enter. He led Eva to the bed by her hand. When she followed him wordlessly, he was sure that she was behaving like a mindless empty doll.

Although he tucked her into bed, Eva still did not fall asleep. He recalled how Vlad and LongFei stroked her head before, so tried to do it. However, he soon stopped since it did not seem to be working. Not knowing what to do anymore, he gloomily sat on the bed with his back to her.

The house seemed extraordinarily quiet for that night after the small ruckus from Austin's study settled down.

Austin did not leave his study for the entire night.

Eva laid in bed unable to catch a wink of sleep till day broke.

The servants had a quick and quiet dinner without their master. It was not the first time that he skipped meals, but something about tonight made them feel more at unease than usual, especially with the new strangers in the house. If not for the butler's instructions and reassurance to go about things as usual, they would not know what to do.

The butler had asked Drey for the details of what went on at Esmeralda's place and was shocked to learn the identities of the culprits that Austin had dedicated almost half of his life pursuing. Edwin was also concerned about how Austin still seemed to treat Eva differently. 

Coincidentally, Drey voiced the same concern. "Why did Duke Austin not put her together with her parents?"

Edwin assumed the role of the perfect butler and defended Austin's decision. "Think a little, will you? From what you told me, her parents would likely kill her if they were put in the same cell."

"Then why not some other small room on the first floor? The rooms on the second floor are grander than the first floor's, right?"

"Duke Austin is someone with reason. It sounds like their daughter was completely uninvolved in their schemes, she's technically a victim in all of this too. Just so you know, although he may not look like it, he's a considerate man." Edwin felt pleased with himself. He felt like he figured out the answer to Austin's behaviour that he considered was odd before. His explanation made complete sense to himself because it would also explain why he would treat Eva nicely as nice as how Esmeralda would.

On the contrary, Drey remained dubious. However, he did not let Edwin know of his suspicions by nodding then silently watching Edwin walk away looking satisfied. Are things really so simple? That girl did not look like she was completely uninvolved... Otherwise, why would she chase after her mother so desperately like that? She even fooled me into thinking she was weaker than she really was. She doesn't look like someone completely innocent.

Drey indeed was the person who held Eva back when she was trying to go after her mother. He was not supposed to be one of the men in charge of her parents, but his curiosity in Eva and her situation led him to ask to swap positions with another person.

The next morning, BaoBao made himself disappear just before the door to Eva's room opened. One of the guards went into the room and placed down a silver tray onto the floor not too far from the door before walking back out and closing the door behind him.

Eva took a long look at what was on the tray.

To BaoBao's surprise, Eva spoke. Is this what it's like to be punished? In the punishment world?

Erm... BaoBao did not know how to answer. Apparently Austin's butler think that Austin is taking pity on you, so is acting based on his master's his good will.

This won't do. I don't deserve this. Eva turned her body away to face the large window instead of the door.

Why don't you deserve it? You've suffered more than enough.

So far I've only reaped whatever I sowed.

Isn't that enough?

Eva stopped responding again.

You do realise that if you starve yourself, you can't die anyway? Who knows what will happen if you try to force your death.

I'm not asking for death.

With BaoBao's reminder, she got up and immediately went to the tray on the floor. Without bothering to move the tray to the table, she ate a bit of the toast, scrambled eggs, and sausages while sitting on the floor. When she was done, she returned to the bed and laid in it without a word.

BaoBao was speechless. It was definitely not enough to fill her stomach. Why did you eat so little?

Not hungry.

BaoBao never knew that time could crawl by this slowly. He thought that he had experienced the worst already but this was a whole other level. Regretting that he took the past for granted, he lamented to himself about how things were far from what he expected even though he got what he wished for.

"Sir, will you be having lunch?" Edwin talked through the closed door. Austin had already skipped breakfast so Edwin started to feel concerned again.

The door to the study finally opened. Edwin skillfully hid his shock when he caught a brief glance of the mess in the room before Austin closed the door behind him. Without needing any prompts, he started on his report of the ongoings and state of the household from the night before. When he noticed Austin frowning at the man standing in front of Eva's room, he helpfully pointed out what he thought Austin was wondering about. "The other one went for his lunch. They'll swap once he's done."

"I don't remember assigning anyone to watch over her room."

Edwin became a little stiffer in nervousness as he quickly tried to correct the issue. "I'll send them away now." He did not want to take his chances by messing up his only job in this whole revenge scheme, especially when Austin seemed to be in a terrible mood.

With that settled, Austin descended the stairs to have lunch.

Over the next few days, Eva continued to eat the bare minimum that was needed to keep herself alive. BaoBao finally figured out that she was punishing herself since she did not feel like she was being punished enough. So he acted on his own as well and decided not to warn her that Edwin has been diligently informing Austin of her well-being.

Austin still could not decide on what he should do with Eva so ended up postponing the decision day after day by burying himself in work. He would leave the house early in the day and come back late at night, only to hole up in his study and bury himself in more paperwork. 

When he heard that Eva was not eating well, he guessed that she was still depressed over her family situation so instructed for Edwin to take care of her properly. Edwin immediately knew what to do without needing the specifics.

Unfortunately for BaoBao, Eva eventually caught on to Edwin's well-meaning intentions. After all, she studied food and nutrition in her original world. The food she ate tasted great and was packed with nutrition, and its look was increasingly appetising with every passing day. As a result, she ate even less, sometimes only taking a mouthful of food, before placing the food by the window for birds to eat.

Having successfully deceived Edwin, Edwin relayed the message to Austin that she has been eating properly. 

Not long later, Edwin proposed letting her work as a maid in the household to quell the gossips among the servants that were beginning to run rampant in the household. He did not want Austin's reputation to be sullied. Changing out servants would not stop their mouths from flapping. 

Austin gave his approval since it sounded to him like she was doing fine. He dared not check on her himself because he was not ready for it and wanted to think things through without the influence she seemed to have on him.

When Eva was told that she would be working as a maid, she nodded and obediently followed Edwin to her new quarters. The west wing was reserved for the servants. It was where the basement where her parents were kept in was located at as well. Each servant has a room for themselves, except that it was much simpler in design and much smaller than proper guest rooms.

She was immediately put to work and the servants acted appeased in front of Edwin. Yet behind his back, the maids openly dissed Eva, and the manservants looked at and treated Eva lewdly.

"I heard that the ones held in the basement are her parents."

"What's she doing here then?"

"Does she not hear her parents' cries and screams? I'm so spooked from hearing it everyday that I'm starting to dream of it."

"Exactly! There she was, sleeping peacefully in her room in the central wing."

"What do you think she did to win the Duke's favour? I mean, look at her, she doesn't have any assets."

"Her looks aren't that great either."

"Women won't understand men's desires. She looks good enough to sleep with. What sells is probably her skills in bed."

"Hey, want to try and see if she'll sleep with us too?"

"If she can hook someone like the Duke, why would she bother with you shrimps?"

Someone snorted. "Sleeping around and living the life when her parents are suffering down below. What kind of daughter is she."

"What kind of person is she."

"It doesn't matter. It's not like the Duke's with her for anything serious."

"You ladies shouldn't talk about her so badly, after all, she managed to catch the Duke. Look at you." The manservant took the chance to get back them for the earlier jab.

"Humph! If she can do it, so can I! I just have better morals than her."

"Maybe we should try? She was really living quite the life as his kept woman."

"That's true. We held back only because we thought that the Duke was not someone like that."

Arghhh!! Let me at them! Let me at them! I'll rip their mouths off! Bite their faces off! Bite their hands off! Arghhh!! BaoBao could not stop raging. Such talk gradually started to take place even in front of Eva because Eva lacked any response. The manservants also became bolder in their approach and started to touch Eva inappropriately whenever they tried to chat with her. Although it had not gotten to touching anywhere too private, BaoBao was worried that it was only a matter of time before that would happen. He started wishing for someone, anyone, to save Eva from herself.

Whenever he did so, Eva would respond with the same words. I'm sorry. BaoBao, I'm sorry. You should just abandon me as a host. Please don't tie yourself down with me.

And each time BaoBao would refuse to do so. The idea of leaving her when she was so down and out of it did not sit right with him.

One night, the maids decided to bully Eva. They were unhappy that Eva was getting all of the attention. They were tired of seeing her poker face and wished to see her suffer.

After everyone was supposed to be asleep, they quietly created a huge mess in the west wing then roughly shook Eva awake to tell her that she was told by Edwin to clean up the mess. Even though BaoBao told her that it was a lie and that this was a lousy plan that could have backfired on them, Eva went along with it. By the time she was done cleaning, she could only get a mere two to three hours of sleep before waking up early to start the next day.

On the third night that this happened, Eva noticed that she had slight trouble standing up straight. She leaned heavily on the counter where servants had their meals at. Her surroundings seemed to be spinning around her even though she was standing still.

Just then, Drey came walking out of the basement yawning. He had woken up to get a cup of water. Hm? Isn't that...

"Hey." Drey called out to Eva while walking towards her.

However, he did not get a response from her.

"Hey, don't ignore me. I'm obviously talking to you, there's only you here besides me." He frowned as he pulled on her shoulder to turn her around so that she will face him. However, she only staggered backwards as if she lost her balance and fell onto him.

"What the-"

"What are you doing?" A menacing voice suddenly traveled from the darkness of the corridor to the central wing.