C12 'i'll Bear the Consequences If I Get into Trouble!'

The voices within the Song mansion couldn't penetrate the walls, but they grew louder in frustration. "Oh my God, Lydia, you're really pushing it too far, way too far!"

The servants, unaware of the truth, witnessed the scene and their looks towards Lydia shifted, becoming tinged with suspicion.

Some even began to whisper and point at her.

Yet, Lydia faced it all with a serene expression.

She approached Mildred, her smile polite but her eyes glinting with an unspoken challenge. "Aunt Mildred, I didn't lay a finger on you. How can you accuse me of such a thing?"

Mildred, her lips a deep crimson, licked them nervously. She felt cornered by the question and, desperate not to lose face before the onlookers, clung to her accusation. "Heh... Hehe, don't try to play innocent. Do you expect anyone to believe I'd just fall down without cause?"

"Aunt, you know the truth better than anyone," Lydia said, her smile fading as she locked eyes with Mildred.

Mildred's gaze wavered, and she found herself speechless, unable to muster a coherent defense.

Lydia, tired of the back-and-forth, rose to leave.

But as she turned, a stinging slap landed across her face—

Pow!

Willian, having just returned from parking the car, had heard his wife's cries and rushed over. Seeing Mildred with a bleeding knee, old grudges surged, and he lashed out in a fury.

Lydia's left cheek throbbed with pain, a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth.

"Wu... Sis, are you okay?" Viola's voice cracked with concern as she eyed the angry red marks on Lydia's cheek, but beneath her worried facade, Lydia saw a flicker of schadenfreude.

Lydia gave Viola a cold look. "I'm perfectly fine," she said, before turning to face an irate Willian. "Uncle Willian, there are legal consequences for assaulting an innocent person. This time, for the sake of the friendship I once shared with your daughter Maria, I'll let it go. But... you owe me a sincere apology."

Willian was taken aback by Lydia's composure, but he quickly recovered, spitting at her feet in contempt. "Pah, as if you deserve one!"

"In that case, let's let the police handle this," Lydia said coolly, pulling out her phone to dial for help.

Mildred's heart lurched at the sight before her, acutely aware of her own guilt and desperate to avoid involving the police.

Scrambling to her feet, she lunged for the phone in Lydia's hand without a second thought.

"Don't you dare call the police. You might not care about your reputation, but the Woodward family does! We have no intention of being dragged to the station and humiliated alongside you."

"Then apologize!" Lydia dodged Mildred's grasp and demanded icily.

"Ugh!" Mildred scoffed, undeterred, and continued her attempt to wrestle the phone away.

Unable to reach the phone, Mildred deliberately stomped on Lydia's foot with her high heel.

Lydia winced in pain, her body bending slightly, and in that moment, Mildred snatched the phone from her grasp and shoved her triumphantly. "You're the trash that should've been run over and killed!"

Lydia stumbled and fell, her head striking the wall by the door with a sickening thud, blood spattering the surface.

Overwhelmed by the sharp pain, she gasped for air, a sheen of cold sweat beading on her forehead like soybeans.

Perhaps the pain was too much, for she remained slumped on the ground, motionless.

From the second-floor window, Reece's eyes darkened at the scene.

The shift in his demeanor was slight, but Gideon, the butler, noticed it nonetheless.

"Mr. Tillman," Gideon began cautiously, "perhaps I should go down and assist the young lady."

"She's made her bed; now she can lie in it," Reece said flatly, his gaze fixed on the woman below, her face ashen.

One must learn to shoulder the consequences of their actions, whether it's the immediate fallout or the enduring hardship that serves as penance for past misdeeds.

Reece withdrew his gaze from the woman's defiant face and turned to head back to his room.

Just then, Lydia, who had been sitting on the ground, closed her eyes and collapsed.

Reece's pupils dilated at the sight of her crumpled form on the cold floor.

How on earth did she just faint?

In the next instant, Reece was out the door, rushing to her side.