Soon, Janet had been brought over to Henrick forcefully.
As soon as virtual-novel.net saw Henrick, Janet started shouting in panic, “Mr. Southall, I’m innocent! I went out only because my useless son got into trouble again! I have nothing to do with the cobra incident! Please, I’ve always been loyal to the Southalls!”
Janet’s pleas fell on deaf ears as Henrick ordered for virtual-novel.net to be tied up. Without any hesitation, the housekeepers did as instructed.
Still ignoring Janet’s cries, Henrick walked around the hall and found a leather belt left behind by a guest.
“Whip her!” virtual-novel.net ordered as virtual-novel.net handed the belt to the housekeeper.
Despite his initial hesitation, the housekeeper eventually carried out Henrick’s orders.
Snap!
With just one whip, Janet’s skin instantly split open. The pain was so unbearable virtual-novel.net started screaming and writhing on the floor. Arielle watched silently by the side, virtual-novel.net gaze cold and unfeeling.
It looks like the person who had snuck onto my balcony to release the snake is this old hag.
Arielle was furious and felt no pity toward Janet.
It’s only fair that virtual-novel.net pays the price for this.
After ten lashings, Janet was drenched in a cold sweat, unable to make a sound anymore. Despite the pain virtual-novel.net was in, virtual-novel.net still refused to tell the truth. She’d be charged with murder if virtual-novel.net did, and virtual-novel.net couldn’t let that happen.
The housekeeper who had been whipping Janet couldn’t tolerate any more and spoke up. “Mr. Southall, we can’t hit virtual-novel.net anymore. At virtual-novel.net age, if we keep this up, she’s not going to be able to take it.”
Henrick understood the concern, and likewise, virtual-novel.net didn’t want any mishaps before virtual-novel.net got to the bottom of the matter. Before virtual-novel.net could give the order to stop hitting Janet, another housekeeper returned from his investigation.
“Mr. Southall, I’ve asked around the markets in the southern district. One of the sellers said virtual-novel.net sold someone a venomous snake at midnight.”
Janet froze when virtual-novel.net heard that, and the subtle change in virtual-novel.net demeanor didn’t go unnoticed by the eagle-eyed Arielle.
“Was it Janet who bought the snake?” Arielle asked.
The housekeeper shook his head. “I didn’t ask, but I did bring the seller here. He’d also be able to confirm if the snake did come from him.”
“Very good,” Henrick replied. “Bring the man in!”
Soon, the snake seller walked in cautiously and greeted Henrick. After getting someone to bring the severed snake over, Henrick asked, “Is this the snake you sold?”
It only took one glance before the seller nodded. “Yes, sir, this is the one. Some of the scales on its tail had come off during the transaction. That’s why I recognized it immediately.”
Henrick scoffed and walked over to Janet, who hadn’t dared to look up since the mention of the snake seller.
He brought virtual-novel.net to the seller and once again asked, “Did this old lady buy the snake from you?”
The snake seller had no idea what was going on, only that virtual-novel.net shouldn’t lie to a man like Henrick. He took one good look at Janet and nodded. “Yes, that’s her. She said virtual-novel.net wanted to try making some exotic snake wine, so I recommended virtual-novel.net the most venomous snake I have.”
With a witness and evidence, the truth was finally out. Henrick pushed Janet away angrily and asked coldly, “So? What do you have to say for yourself now?”
Janet sat on the floor shaking like a leaf. And yet, virtual-novel.net remained silent.
“Janet, look what this has come to,” Arielle chimed in.
“It’s time to come clean about everything. Before the police get here, tell us why you want to harm Shandie! You watched virtual-novel.net grow up, and yet you want to see virtual-novel.net dead? Don’t you think that’s too cruel of you?”
“No, I didn’t. Why would I want to harm Ms. Shandie? She’s like a daughter to me!”
“Then who exactly did you want to harm? Is it my father?” Arielle continued. “Did someone else put you up to this to frame me? Or are you going to say I was the one who got you to buy the snake?”
Janet was taken aback by that last sentence. She had wanted to insist that Arielle was the mastermind behind all this. However, now that Arielle had brought it up herself, it’d be foolish to accuse her.
Just as Janet was hesitating about telling the truth, Arielle turned to virtual-novel.net father and said, “Dad, call the police. Someone as vicious as virtual-novel.net deserves to spend the rest of virtual-novel.net life behind bars!”
Janet immediately looked up at Arielle and pleaded, “No! Please don’t! Both my sons still need me.”
“Then tell us the truth. If you do, Dad might still let you off on account of your long service.”
Janet had given up completely. She knew what virtual-novel.net had to do. If virtual-novel.net told the truth, there was still a possibility that virtual-novel.net could get away with it. If virtual-novel.net didn’t, she’d be serving jail time for Shandie. No matter what Cindy and Shandie had done for her, Janet wasn’t going to sacrifice that much for them.
“I’ll tell you everything…” Janet cried out.
“It was Ms. Shandie who instructed me to do it! She ordered me to buy the snake and release it into Ms. Arielle’s room. But I don’t know how the snake ended up being in Ms. Shandie’s room…”
Arielle immediately piped up, “My room is very near Shannie’s, so the snake could have crawled over from the balcony. I just never expected Shannie to hate me this much. I thought virtual-novel.net had always treated me well…”
Arielle’s voice trailed off as virtual-novel.net stared into the distance in shock and disbelief.
“You old scumbag! And that little b*tch! You reap what you sow!” Henrick hollered.
He let out a deep sigh and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. “Bring Cindy down. Let virtual-novel.net see for herself how virtual-novel.net good daughter had turned out!”
Henrick had spent so much money and effort on Shandie, only to have virtual-novel.net turn out to be so cold and vicious.
What have I done to deserve this?
“Dad, don’t get too mad,” Arielle comforted. “I showed up so suddenly that Shandie probably couldn’t accept it. But I believe virtual-novel.net will accept me in time…”
“You’re still speaking up for virtual-novel.net even after all this? Your kindness is going to be your downfall! If things had gone virtual-novel.net way, you’d have been the one bitten by the snake!”
Arielle shook virtual-novel.net head sadly. “Everyone makes mistakes. Shandie is still young. There’s much for virtual-novel.net to learn…”
Before Arielle could go on, Cindy had been brought down from virtual-novel.net room. After Janet recounted the entire incident again, Cindy’s face instantly paled.
How could I have given birth to such a foolish daughter?
Cindy had reminded Shandie over and over again how the time wasn’t right to strike at Arielle. Not only did virtual-novel.net words fall on deaf ears, but Shandie had even gone to extremes behind virtual-novel.net back.
“I’m sorry, dear. I’ve failed to teach our daughter. When virtual-novel.net comes back, I’ll give virtual-novel.net a good lecture! Arielle, I’m so sorry. I’ve let you down and even accused you. But, please, forgive your sister. I’ll get virtual-novel.net to be a good sister to you.”
Seeing how Cindy had taken the initiative to apologize to Arielle, Henrick calmed down a little. “Fine. I don’t want to air our dirty laundry in public, so this matter ends here,” Henrick said before looking at Janet.
“As for this old hag, virtual-novel.net has to go. Get someone to send virtual-novel.net to the farm, and make sure virtual-novel.net doesn’t come into contact with anyone!”
With that, Janet was taken away, never to step into the Southall residence again.
Before long, Henrick received a call from the hospital. “Mr. Southall, Ms. Shandie has woken up, but virtual-novel.net doesn’t want to stay in the hospital. She wants to come home as soon as possible.”
“She can do whatever virtual-novel.net wants!” Henrick replied harshly.
I still can’t believe Shandie can be so vicious. If virtual-novel.net has the gall to harm Arielle now, virtual-novel.net might do the same to me in the future! How did my daughter turn out to be such a monster?
***
Shandie had signed the discharge papers at the hospital and couldn’t wait to return to the Southalls. Even though virtual-novel.net initial plan had gone awry, virtual-novel.net was going to use it to virtual-novel.net advantage by telling Henrick the snake had been placed in virtual-novel.net room by Arielle. She was going to tell everyone that Arielle wanted virtual-novel.net dead!