Chapter 8 Teach Michael a Lesson, Beat Him Until He Spits Blood
Emma quickly got up and walked to the door.
She lifted the curtain: "Mr. Hamilton, Miss Hamilton hasn't changed or washed up yet. You can't come in!"
Before she finished speaking, Michael burst in angrily and knocked her stumbling backward.
Just as she was about to fall hard to the ground, Cressida kicked a chair behind Emma, catching her steadily.
Cressida's movements were extremely fast, taking only a moment, before Michael had fully entered.
When he showed his face, something sharp flew past his ear at an angle.
Michael froze, turned to look, and saw it was a piece of cutlery, deeply embedded in the doorframe!
"Cressida, you disaster, how dare you fight back?" He was even more furious.
Michael was now seventeen years old, but had already become a member of the Guard Office - quite an achievement for someone so young.
Although he was doing city patrol work, the next step up would be Doyle's palace guard team. If he kept climbing and became the commander of Doyle's guard team, that would make him close to the emperor.
Ordinary kids couldn't get into the Guard Office at all. Even to take the exam, you had to pass all three martial tests.
Michael had been taking the martial exams since he was fifteen, failing repeatedly.
After Cameron died and Patrick was honored, Michael was immediately recruited by the Guard Office through special consideration.
He wasn't home yesterday because he had gone to report to the Guard Office.
Cressida still sat quietly at the table, her cold phoenix eyes showing no emotion.
"Watch your mouth. If I'm a disaster, then what are you?"
"How dare you compare yourself to me? Mother told me everything - you came home and turned the whole house upside down. Yesterday I wasn't at the mansion, otherwise I wouldn't have let you act so arrogant."
Cressida was completely dismissive.
The disdainful expression on her face provoked Michael's defenses.
"What, you think I'm bluffing? I'm warning you, Cressida, you can come home, but you're not allowed to let Rose suffer even the slightest grievance."
He crossed his arms, ordering: "From today on, you keep your head down in this house, don't cause trouble for Father and Mother, or don't blame me for getting physical."
"Just you?" Cressida held her spoon, drinking porridge, completely unfazed.
Michael was thoroughly enraged, his young, hot-blooded face filled with dark fury.
"Disaster, you really are arrogant!" With that, he swung his fist at her.
Cressida didn't dodge at all, just lightly raised her arm and blocked his full-force strike.
Then, using his force against him, she punched the back of Michael's hand, actually making him stagger backward repeatedly until his lower back hit a protruding cabinet corner, instantly breaking out in cold sweat from the pain!
Cressida wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin: "Too slow. With these skills, how did you get into the Guard Office?"
He was no match for her at all.
Michael's eyes turned red with rage. He drew the sword from his waist and thrust it at Cressida.
His moves were vicious, targeting her heart and abdomen.
Cressida calmly stood up and dodged, using the round table to her advantage so Michael couldn't get close to her.
Michael got anxious: "Coward! If you've got guts, come over here and let's really fight!"
Cressida ignored his shouting and pulled with one hand, bringing down the tablecloth.
Surprisingly, the bowls and dishes that were on the tablecloth landed back down safely.
Cressida tossed the tablecloth out, and like a net, it covered Michael's head.
He struggled desperately, but before he could break free, Cressida had wrapped him up like a cocoon.
Cressida showed no mercy, her fists raining down on Michael's abdomen like raindrops, using only fifty percent of her strength.
After seven or eight hits, she stopped. Michael fell to the ground and coughed up blood.
"Disaster! You dare hit me, Father and Mother won't let you get away with this!" He screamed hoarsely.
Cressida stood in front of him, looking down, mocking in a low voice with a casual tone: "With skills like yours, in a military camp, you'd be a punching bag."
Michael's eyes widened.
"You, you dare to be so arrogant about your achievements? You think you're so great! Back then, if I hadn't been too young, it wouldn't have been your turn to serve in Father's place. The one with nine generations of merit would have been me!"
Emma's face went pale with fright. She rushed forward and stuffed a handkerchief in his mouth.
Cressida looked at her approvingly: "Throw him out."
Emma dragged and pulled Michael out to the courtyard.
Soon, two or three servants came through the courtyard gate one after another and carried away the cursing Michael.
Emma lowered the curtain, a bit nervous: "Ms. Cressida Hamilton, Mr. Patrick Hamilton and Mrs. Clio Hamilton will definitely be angry."
Cressida had already sat back down, slowly drinking her porridge.
"No rush, I'll wait for them to come."
You eat food one bite at a time, and of course you handle things one at a time.
But she noticed her hand was shaking, she couldn't even hold the spoon steady.
Cressida opened her palm, looking at her trembling fingertips.
Just now, she had really wanted to kill him.
Her killing intent was too strong. She had just used all her willpower to restrain herself from taking Michael's life on the spot.
Otherwise, that piece of cutlery wouldn't have been embedded in the doorframe, but inserted into Michael's skull.
She never missed, unless she showed mercy.
Cressida clenched her fingertips and took a deep breath.
No rush, take it slow. Letting him die like this would be too easy for him.
In her past life, after she came home, Michael had also called her a disaster over and over.
At first she didn't understand - when she left home at fourteen, Michael had cried and said he couldn't bear to see Cressida go. How had he come to hate her so much?
Later she learned it was because Rose kept telling Michael that he wasn't as good as Cressida.
If he had been capable, what would Cressida matter?
Rose created opposition, planting a seed of competition in Michael's heart.
The higher Cressida's achievements, the more hateful she became to Michael.
He hated that she was an insurmountable mountain, hated that she brought glory to the whole family, hated that despite being a girl, she was more outstanding than him.
Emma went to pull out the cutlery. Using both hands with all her strength, her face turning red, she finally pulled the cutlery embedded in the doorframe out.
After eating, Cressida calmly practiced calligraphy.
Practicing calligraphy could cultivate patience. Her killing aura was too heavy - she needed to learn to restrain and hide it. Taking things slowly was the best strategy.
Around noon, Clio sent Jade Marie with a message.
"Ms. Cressida Hamilton, Mr. Patrick Hamilton and Mrs. Clio Hamilton want you to come to the main courtyard."
Emma looked back at Cressida by the table. She was still practicing calligraphy, completely ignoring what was happening outside.
Thirty minutes later, that same young maid Jade came to request again.
This time she knelt at the door crying: "Ms. Cressida Hamilton, Mr. Patrick Hamilton and Mrs. Clio Hamilton said to have you come over. Please go just this once. If I still can't bring you over, Mr. Patrick Hamilton will take my life!"
The door curtain lifted, and Cressida stood at the door in a light blue dress, looking cold and aloof.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Jade Marie..."
Cressida remembered this name. Jade was a servant in Clio's courtyard.
In her past life, when Cressida refused to marry into Silverpeak City, when the servants in the mansion gossiped about it, this little girl had stood up for Cressida and spoken on her behalf.
Later it reached Rose's ears, and within a few days, Jade died mysteriously in a well.
Cressida had Emma help Jade up, then walked toward the main courtyard.
Jade wiped away her tears and quickly followed, carefully reminding her in a low voice: "Ms. Cressida Hamilton, Mr. Michael Hamilton is coughing up blood, Mr. Patrick Hamilton is so angry he smashed his teacup. You must not talk back to Mr. Patrick Hamilton."
Cressida said nothing.
Entering the main courtyard, they heard Clio's hysterical crying.
"She must be a cursed star here to collect debts. Our whole family has never wronged her, yet she attacked Michael so viciously!"
Patrick's voice rang out: "When she gets here, I'll break her legs!"