Chapter 46 They Are Heartless and Unrighteous, She Wants to Kill the Whole Family!
Before Rose could confess, Clio immediately said, "Rose, just tell the truth. To treat Mr. Hamilton's leg, we need an expensive and rare medicinal ingredient!"
Rose looked up with teary eyes, staring at Clio in bewilderment.
Patrick's confused gaze swept over, "What ingredient?"
Clio said, "Tiger bone. Ordinary pharmacies don't carry such expensive medicine. Rose, take the money now and go to the pawn shop. Someone must have pawned tiger bone there. No matter how much it costs, we'll buy it."
Rose understood and quickly stood up, "I'll go right away."
She hurried off. Michael said he would escort Rose, but Clio said it wasn't necessary.
Instead, Clio had another trusted maid accompany Rose.
Before Patrick could speak, Rose's figure had already disappeared into the distance.
Cressida quietly composed her expression.
At this moment, Della came in carrying a bowl of medicinal soup.
Clio immediately became alert, "What's this?"
Della replied, "Mrs. Clio Hamilton, this is a pain-relief remedy, a family recipe. Mr. Patrick Hamilton is in such pain, he can drink this first."
Clio was about to scold her when Patrick, who had already lost his reason from the pain, immediately reached out, "Give it here!"
He drank the entire bowl in one gulp, not leaving even the dregs.
Whether it truly worked or not, fifteen minutes later, Patrick went from screaming in pain to gradually looking better.
Cressida looked at him, "Father, are you feeling better?"
Patrick nodded, "This medicine Della gave me really works."
"Della has done well this time - not only getting Father out of the fire immediately, but also relieving his pain."
After Cressida mentioned it, Patrick looked at Della, "You've done a great service."
Clio said coolly, "She's a servant of the household. It's her duty to help her master. What service is that?"
Cressida countered, "It concerns Father's life, so of course it's a great service. The commander of the King's guard once blocked an assassin's arrow for the King, and the King valued him highly. Why didn't the King say that was just the commander's duty?"
Clio was left speechless by her words, feeling stifled.
But Patrick nodded at this moment, "Cressida is right. The King has always been clear about rewards and punishments. Naturally, I should follow the King's example."
He looked at Della, "What's your position in the estate?"
Della kept her head lowered, "Mr. Patrick Hamilton, I was the head of the kitchen, but because I made tonic soup for Mrs. Sable Hamilton, Tatum took away my badge of authority. Now I'm just doing odd jobs."
Patrick suddenly frowned, remembering what Sable had said.
Clio scolded Della, "Why would a servant doing odd jobs happen to be in the courtyard when the fire broke out? The kitchen isn't close to Sable's courtyard either."
"Are you ever going to stop?" Patrick suddenly shouted angrily.
Clio's expression froze, "Mr. Hamilton?"
Patrick was furious, "You're the lady of the house, yet you can't get over a mistress's tonic soup. That's one thing - I never blamed you for it. But Della saved my life, and you're still finding fault here."
"Do you wish I had died in that fire? You vicious woman!" He began coughing violently in anger.
Cressida stepped forward, gently patting his back, "Father, you still have your leg injury. Don't get angry."
Clio looked at Patrick with red-rimmed eyes, "Mr. Hamilton, is this what you think of me? You're injured, and I'm the one who's most worried!"
"Get out!" Patrick pointed at the door. "All you think about is asserting your authority as the lady of the house. You don't care about my life at all. Get out!"
Being a martial artist, his cursing was even more rough and crude.
Clio left heartbroken and disappointed, taking her people with her.
Michael wanted to say something to Cressida, but feared getting scolded if he spoke up now.
Michael could only bow, "Father, I'll go wait for Rose at the estate entrance."
Before leaving, Michael gave Cressida an ominous look.
After they all left, Cressida said, "Father, you can't be without someone to serve you. Let Della be the head of the kitchen, to work for you and prepare your medicine."
Patrick nodded wearily, "I'll leave it all to you to arrange."
Della immediately knelt on the ground, "Thank you, Mr. Hamilton! Thank you, Ms. Hamilton, for your recognition!"
Cressida gave instructions methodically, handling everything in perfect order.
Patrick looked at her and said with deep emotion, "Cressida, if only you were just a simple girl, I wouldn't have to worry so much."
"When you marry in the future, just be a good lady of the household. That's better than anything."
His words were vague. Others might not understand, but Cressida understood clearly.
Patrick had never truly considered the military achievements she earned as honor.
Although he enjoyed the prestige Cameron brought, deep down, Patrick's male chauvinism meant he couldn't accept that his daughter Cressida's accomplishments always surpassed his own.
Especially since Patrick had been mediocre for over thirty years, yet in his forties became a rising star in court and society thanks to Cressida's achievements.
When alone, he was probably quite annoyed and resentful.
Completely forgetting that when Cressida fought on the battlefield, she shed blood and tears, facing life-and-death dangers multiple times.
Cressida's expression didn't change, "Father, you're tired. Sleep for a while."
Patrick was probably truly exhausted, or perhaps it was the medicine's effect - he gradually closed his eyes and fell asleep, breathing evenly.
Cressida left two of Patrick's trusted servants to watch over him.
Because Rose probably wouldn't be able to get the medicine back anytime soon.
She took Emma and the others back to her own room.
Behind closed doors, no lamps were lit in the bedroom. Cressida stood by the table, looking at her solitary shadow in the moonlight.
For ten years she had fought bloody battles, facing crises multiple times - enemy encirclements, the secrecy of her identity - none of it had made her think of retreating.
This was because she knew that if she didn't persist on the battlefield, her family would have to go.
She would rather endure such dangerous fighting herself.
But all of this, in her family's eyes, hadn't earned even a bit of gratitude.
A figure climbed in through the window - Verity had returned.
"Ms. Cressida Hamilton, I followed Rose's carriage and watched her enter a courtyard deep in Pinecrest Drive."
Emma was surprised, "Pinecrest Drive? I heard from Della that a witch lives there. Some medicines can't be brought out into the open. Why would Ms. Rose Hamilton go there?"
The room was very quiet. Cressida seemed to only hear her own heartbeat.
Her figure stood straight.
"Verity, you just saw my father's leg. Did he look like he had an old injury?"
Verity hesitated, then shook her head, "When I helped move Patrick, I felt his bones. Usually people with old leg injuries, even after healing, have slightly misaligned bones. But Patrick doesn't."
This meant that perhaps Patrick hadn't been injured back then.
Emma was puzzled, "If he wasn't, why would Mr. Hamilton lie?"
Cressida thought of Patrick's panic when mentioning his old injury flaring up - it didn't seem fake.
He probably didn't know himself that his leg had never been broken.
"Unless," Cressida's voice was very soft, "he was also set up back then."
Verity and Emma suddenly fell silent.
This meant that when Patrick was ordered to face the enemy in that crisis, but the enemy was too powerful and Patrick's abilities were truly mediocre.
Someone knew he would only be going to his death, so they found a way to make him stay without disobeying the royal order.
Who could this person be?
Cressida immediately had an answer in her heart.
Her mother, Clio.
Back then, Michael was young and Cressida was a girl. If Patrick died, Clio would be a widow with orphans, with no status in the Hamilton family.
As a wife, Clio couldn't let Patrick die on the battlefield, and wouldn't allow herself to live alone with two children.
The Hamilton family didn't have much power then. Once Patrick died, Clio probably wouldn't even have anywhere to go.
So Clio also schemed, just like tonight, making the whole family mistakenly believe Patrick's leg was broken.
It was that night, seeing Patrick's agony and hearing Clio's desperate crying, that Cressida resolutely disguised herself as a man to join the army in Patrick's place.
Cressida was willing to risk her life for family, but in Clio's eyes, Cressida's life was cheap, only valuable in that moment when she could die in Patrick's place.
"All along, Mother has treated me with disgust. It's never changed." Cressida's voice was very soft.
Emma looked at her worriedly, "Ms. Hamilton."
Suddenly, Cressida raised her fist and smashed it hard on the nearby table.
The rosewood tabletop cracked under her fist.
Verity and Emma were shocked and rushed forward.
"Ms. Hamilton, your hand is bleeding." Emma cried out softly, hurrying to get medicine.
Verity examined Cressida's finger bones and said seriously, "Ms. Hamilton, even if you feel General Hamilton was wronged, you can't hurt yourself."
Verity didn't know about Cressida's disguise as a man, and thought Cressida was upset on behalf of her brother Cameron.
"I'm fine," Cressida's heroic face was as cold as a deep pool. "Now that I know the truth, I'll live even better - live for myself."
She turned to look out the half-open window at the vast night, the moon's shadow swaying.
Clio was heartless, Patrick was without virtue. This family was cruel and unjust - she, Cressida, should kill them all!