Sacrificial Bride to the Feared Lord Hastings-Chapter 176: Severing ties (4)

"I am your mother!" Cecilia yelled as she inched towards the bathing chamber.

"Which makes it unfortunate that I must imprison you. Examples have to be made regardless of status. You had one too many chances to end your ways, but you buried yourself. You are lucky I have not decided to hang you," Dante said, but he was close to considering it.

It was the bit of love that Dante held onto for Cecilia which saved her life.

Dante didn’t move as Cecilia looked for a place to hide herself. No matter where she tried to go, she would end up in the dungeon.

"I have done so much for you and this family. Do you not see what wickedness has fallen upon you from favouring that woman over your mother? I warned you that the Valthorns sent that woman to bewitch you, yet you didn’t listen to me. Look what has become of you," Cecilia said, disappointed.

Cecilia hoped to talk sense into Dante.

"I fell in love-"

"Love?" Cecilia scoffed, disgusted that he was weak to fall for the enemy. "You didn’t fall in love, son. You don’t know what love is."

"Is that it? Do you think all men in the Hastings family are incapable of love because of the curse? Is that why you never listened when I turned away Victoria’s advances? I am capable of love. If I weren’t, you would have been long dead," Dante confessed.

"I am in love with Ophelia, and her love for me is true. Her love is genuine with no ill intent behind her actions. I fail to believe you hold any love for me when I have told you Ophelia is the reason why I am cured, yet you still want to kill her," Dante said, accepting that Cecilia couldn’t be helped.

"Prepare the cart," Dante instructed the knights behind him.

Cecilia took the chance to run to the bathing chamber and locked the door.

Dante followed Cecilia and placed his hand on the doorknob. He didn’t bother to attempt to open the door after hearing it lock. Instead, he turned sideways and collided his shoulder against the door.

On the inside, Cecilia gasped. She covered her mouth to silence her cries.

Cecilia didn’t want to appear weak, but Dante scared her.

It wasn’t all because of the full moon. Cecilia feared how much Dante had convinced himself he loved Ophelia.

Dante breaking down the door opened Cecilia’s eyes to how serious he was. He was hellbent on taking his mother to the dungeon.

Before Cecilia could look around for a place to hide, a loud cracking noise filled the chamber.

Dante gave one final push to shatter the door.

"Dante," Cecilia wept, hoping her tears could change Dante’s plans. "I am a Hastings. Think of how the town would react to hearing you have placed me in the dungeon."

Dante dusted off the debris from his hand and walked toward his mother. He grabbed her hand to end the game of hide-and-seek.

Cecilia stood tall and looked Dante in the eye. "You underestimate how many people have been loyal to me. They won’t sit still once it comes out that you have captured me."

"Then, I’ll kill them."

Dante’s simple answer drove fear into Cecilia’s heart.

Dante gripped Cecilia’s hand, causing her to wince. "You have not been listening to me, mother. I love her, and you tried to use me to kill her. Do you not realise what you could have done!" Dante yelled, at his wits’ end with Cecilia.

Cecilia refused to acknowledge that he was capable of love, and he had fallen in love.

Dante never asked for anything from his mother. He fulfilled his duties without question, but now, all he wanted was Ophelia. He only wanted one person, but his wish wasn’t accepted.

"I hated what I was for years and didn’t see a long future for myself until she came. You are so fixed on controlling everyone around you that you couldn’t accept what was good for me. I love her, and unfortunately for you, the love I have for her outweighs what I now have for you," said Dante.

Cecilia didn’t want to accept it. She was not to be replaced by a woman whose name, before her mother married into the Valthorns, was unknown.

"Dante!" Cecilia yelled as Dante began to drag her out of the bathing chamber. "Unhand me!" Cecilia commanded Dante. "You will start a war on your land if you imprison me."

Cecilia beat her hand upon Dante’s back in a futile attempt to get him to stop. She purposely fell, hoping it would make Dante stop, but Dante dragged her like she wasn’t his mother. He dragged her as a child would drag an old doll.

Cecilia scratched Dante’s hand, trying to pry herself free from his hold, but it was useless.

Cecilia struggled to get away from Dante, and her heart sank when she was pulled out of her bedchamber for the servants of her mansion to see. For them to look down upon her.

Cecilia cried, embarrassed and ashamed that she was being handled like a servant by her very own son.

Dante didn’t stop despite Cecilia’s pleas and her cries that he was hurting her. She had hurt others over the years, so it was time she felt a bit of that pain.

Being pulled on wouldn’t kill Cecilia, but Dante knew the embarrassment would get to her head.

Dante pulled Cecilia out of her home in her nightdress and handed her off to a knight to place her at the back of a cart.

"Tie her hands, and if she jumps off, tie her hands to the cart to make her walk," said Dante.

Cecilia’s eyes widened. She knew exactly what Dante was doing.

"What?" Dante asked, welcoming Cecilia to challenge his order. "Would it be wrong for me to make you walk back to the castle? It is not a long distance," he said, looking at the path he needed to take. "She will walk from here to the dungeon," he said, changing his mind.

"Dante!" Cecilia yelled and tried to lunge at him to slap him, but she was held back by a knight.

Dante thought the punishment was light considering his mother made Ophelia walk for days. He turned his back to Cecilia, paying her no mind since this was simply the beginning of her punishment. All that she did to Ophelia would be repaid inside the dungeon.

Dante looked back at the mansion, finding it odd that he had not had a glimpse of Victoria. She should have run out by now to question him about Cecilia.

Instead of questioning Cecilia about Victoria’s presence, Dante went inside.

"Find Miss Lowe," Dante ordered the men he still had inside.

Dante returned to the second floor and opened all the doors he walked by. He came to a stop at a door at the end of the hallway, which was locked, unlike the previous doors.

"Victoria?" Dante called as he knocked on the door.

"Help me!" He heard the plea from the other side.