The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 44: Punishment (1)

Chapter 44: Punishment (1)

The hours of the day expeditiously passed by for everyone. The sun was starting to set below the horizon, and the sound of riding carriages, including the chattering of civilians staying in the upper East quarters continued to lessen on the street as the clouds above gradually turned darker.

It signals the beginning of night time, and a sign for everyone to return back to their various homes. A more reason for that was when the clouds above rumbled lightly, indicating it was about to rain very soon, and the passersby quickened on their steps to avoid meeting the rain.

After returning home and treating themselves to a quiet dinner, Cassian was in the mood to take a peaceful stroll through the garden. It was quiet and breezy. The lanterns were burning brightly, and the orange-yellowish light settled on Cassian’s handsome features. A sigh that didn’t fit the peaceful moment could be heard, and he stopped walking.

After everything that has happened so far, his mind was currently mixed up, and the image of the bloodied note kept sinking into his head. There were so many tasks he had to fulfill while making sure his secret remained hidden. He had duties that needed to be met whether or not he liked it. He had come this far to even think about quitting on his main goals, and no matter what happens from here on after, he’s going to keep striving to achieve them in the end.

One by one.

"I should have requested for a cigarette." He hissed out when his head started to hurt from overthinking. The sound of rumbling thunder made him look up to see the dark clouds rolling into view. The wistful breeze shook the lanterns and caused them to swing side by side, their lights flickering, and the flowers dancing to the direction of the wind.

Turning around and having the intention of going back into the house in order to avoid the rain, a mocking voice made him stop in his tracks.

"She followed father today." He heard a familiar voice say from a distance up ahead. "She must be delighted that father decided to take her instead of you. Such a shame though, I wonder how it feels to stand in the presence of wives when she’s nothing more than a mistress to father, no different from a slut. To be more respectful, a legal slut."

Cassian’s Amber-brown eyes instantly darkened like the cloud storm above when he heard his mother was being addressed as a slut. It felt like his nerves got snapped in two, and the rage that came with it held no delay. Turning around to look at the idiot who disrespected his mother, he wasn’t surprised to see Abbot and Juliana taking a walk through the passage of the garden, but had come to a stop at the dried up silver fountain in the middle, not too far from where he stood.

Juliana laughed lightly at her son’s description of Elaine, but she made sure to keep her tone discreet. "She should be lucky the Duke even decided to marry a local woman like herself. If it wasn’t for the help of the Duke, she would be wandering the street by now, probably as a beggar since she had nothing when the Duke met her. That must be the reason she got pregnant for your father, so she could use it to her advantage and come into our lives!"

"Hasn’t anyone told you that only a harlot recognizes another harlot when they see one?" Cassian intruded on their conversation when Juliana had pulled the last chord that held his resistance. His unprompted voice startled Abbot and Juliana who weren’t suspecting another presence in the garden, but after seeing it was Cassian, Abbot’s face gradually wrinkled with disgust.

"If it isn’t the illegitimate son." Commented Abbot. "I don’t remember inviting you to our conversation."

"What can I say?" Cassian tilted his head, finding Abbot’s annoyance very amusing. "Don’t say to others what you don’t like being said to you. Respect your elders’ absence or I’ll shove grass into your mouth hole."

"I see, your intolerable manner of speaking will never change, will it? Show some respect to the next Duke of Carmarthen." Juliana ordered, but that only earned a mocking snort from Cassian, but it felt like an insult to Juliana.

"I’ll dig a hole in the ground and bury myself alive if he becomes Duke." Cassian only found it funny that Juliana still believed her son was capable of ever becoming Duke. "Forget about becoming Duke, I won’t even let you clean the bottom of my shoes, and you know why? Even shoes deserve a good shoemaker."

"You bastard!! How dare you_" Abbot had the intention of charging at Cassian when he insulted him in such a degrading manner, but as usual, his mother had stopped him from doing anything that’ll render him reckless in front of his father’s eyes.

"Let him be." Juliana tsked. "What can we expect from the son of a slut?"

"Say it one more time, and I promise to make you wake up in a brothel." He dared. He doesn’t mind being ridiculed by all of them, but saying such inappropriate things about his mother when Juliana herself was the homewrecker only added fuel to his silent fury. He was only holding himself back since his mother already warned him never to react insanely.

"What are you going to do?" Abbot took a challenging step forward, standing before Cassian who had the same height as him. "What are you capable of doing? Tell me? I’m not a fool Cas, your threats mean nothing to me and I will say it to your face, your mother is nothing but a legal slut, and a husband snatcher."

The air had grown thin, and Juliana was unable to stop her son from testing Cas’s patience.

Cassian only laughed it off while clicking his tongue. He said nothing in return and was turning around to leave, but what Abbot never really saw coming was the blinding slap that landed directly on the side of his face. It sent him staggering backwards that his mother, who was shocked by the sight, had to support him to aid him from falling to the ground.

"What did you say to my face?"

"Cas, leave him alone!" Juliana’s panicked voice added volume when Cassian grabbed Abbot by the collar of his shirt, forcing him to his feet, and one could easily hear the rasp sound of his collar tearing against his tight grip.

Juliana’s cry for help had sent the servants rushing into the garden to see what was wrong, but no one dared to intervene when the commotion happening was based on these two specific Lords. Madeline, Inna, Isabella and Adeline also stepped into the garden, but just like everyone else, they silenced themselves at the sight of the two powerful Lords.

"If you needed a beating so bad, all you needed to do was just ask." Containing his anger once again, Cassian restrained himself from punching Abbot any further and released his shirt harshly, throwing Abbot off balance and leading him to fall on the ground with a light thud.

"You..!!.."

"What is going on here?? Why is the garden crowded?" Richard, who was making his way past the garden after returning from the event, spotted Cassian beating the hell out of his older brother. He had to stop in his tracks to properly address the situation.

Noticing the presence of the Duke, Juliana instantly ran to her son’s side with instant tears dropping from her eyes. The butler who had followed Richard and was helping him hold his coat, was also out of words seeing the young Lords get into a fight in the garden.

"Who started this?" Richard strictly questioned both his sons when Abbot finally rose to his feet. He was looking quite haggard since Cassian had dealt with him, but Cassian on the hand looked untouched.

"You’re asking the obvious, Richard." Juliana pointed an accusing finger at Cassian. "He’s the one responsible, look at what he did to my innocent son, just cause he’s jealous that Abbot might become the next Duke, he hit him without a second thought."

"If he becomes Duke." Cassian interjected. "I will kill him and bring the whole of Carmarthen down with him."

"Stop that attitude of yours Cas, and tell me exactly what happened here. Why did you hit him?" Richard demanded from Cassian who finally shifted his gaze to his father who looked disappointed at the scene in front of him.

"Why do you care?" Was Cassian’s rude response to his father. "In the end, you’ll side with these two clowns, and then what??" He scoffed. "Now I’m starting to regret not hitting that coward hard enough. Come here." He advanced towards Abbot, but was stopped when his father stood in his path, his eyes filled with despondency.

"From your behavior, it’s already clear who started the whole drama." Richard concluded. "Apologize to Juliana and her son."

"I’d rather sleep in a coffin as punishment than apologize to those two freaks!"

"Very well then." Richard agreed to it. "Since you’ve decided to prove stubborn, you’re going to kneel for 24hrs in this same spot until you apologize for misbehaving."

"You.." Cassian was about to spit out something venomous, but held his tongue when Fredrick signaled for him to keep his cool. Offending his father would lead to an even bigger punishment than this, and Cassian was very much aware of it.

Remaining silent, Cassian swallowed his anger and went on his knees. He doesn’t mind kneeling for a week, but asking for Juliana’s forgiveness would certainly be over his dead body. Even his dead body wouldn’t comply with such orders.

Seeing him on his knees, Abbot felt a bit of satisfaction that once again, Cassian had decided to portray another terrible image of himself in front of his father, it was just sad that his mother wasn’t here to see this.

"Until you apologize, you shall remain on your knees for 24hrs."

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