"What are you doing?!"
I sat up, about to explain, but she lunged at me, yanking my hair with all her strength.
"You home‑wrecking slut! Who told you to crawl into my husband's bed?!"
Even with Oliver restraining her from behind, she still managed to kick me hard—right in the abdomen.
Holding my head, I stared at her, and saw pure, poisonous hatred burning in her pupils.
A fire ignited in my chest.
I stood up and slapped her across the face—again and again.
"Look clearly, Czarina—you are the one seducing my husband!"
Within the hour, all of us were taken to the police station.
Czarina cried as if her soul were being torn apart. She pointed at me, calling me a mistress with every breath.
To every passerby in the hall, she wailed that she'd caught me in bed with her husband.
People walking by covered their mouths, shaking their heads.
"She's so young... why ruin herself by being a mistress?"
"That vixen face—she must've climbed her way up with her body."
I lowered my head, both cheeks swollen and bruised.
"Enough. Don't say anymore," Oliver said suddenly.
Whenever Czarina had an episode, he always echoed her, no matter what.
And somehow... a pathetic sliver of hope stirred inside me.