Transmigration: The Tyrant General Can Hear My Thoughts-Chapter 28 - Twenty Eight

There was complete silence for a moment. Then, a sharp, terrible pain shot up from her right foot all the way to her knee.

Isabel let out a loud, piercing scream. "Ahhhhh!"

Her voice echoed across the wide, paved courtyard. It scared the horses waiting by her carriage. The horses neighed and stepped backward, pulling against their leather ropes.

Standing by the carriage were her personal driver and her footman. They had been waiting patiently for their Lady to finish her visit. When they saw her tumble down the smooth marble stairs and heard her terrible scream, they dropped what they were doing. They ran as fast as they could to help her.

"My Lady! My Lady!" the footman shouted, rushing to her side. He fell to his knees on the hard stones.

"It hurts!" Isabel cried out loudly. Tears of real pain burst from her blue eyes and ran down her cheeks. Her face was completely pale. She grabbed her right ankle with both of her hands. "It hurts so much! Do something!"

The driver, an older man with gray hair, kneeled next to her. He had seen many injuries in his life. He gently reached out his hands to look at her foot. He carefully moved the thick layers of her pink dress away to see her shoe.

As soon as he touched her ankle, Isabel screamed again and tried to pull her leg away. The area just above her shoe was already starting to swell. It looked red and angry.

The driver looked at her with a very worried expression. He spoke softly, trying to calm her down. "I am sorry, My Lady, but it seems you sprained your ankle. It is a very bad twist. You landed on it wrong when you fell."

Isabel stopped crying for a second. The word "sprained" made her incredibly angry. A noble lady like her was not supposed to fall down the stairs like a clumsy servant. She looked up toward the top of the stairs.

Camilla was still standing there, leaning casually against the large wooden door frame. Camilla was looking down at her with a blank, calm expression.

Seeing Camilla watching her humiliation made Isabel’s blood boil. Her embarrassment quickly turned into deep arrogance and stubborn pride. She refused to look weak in front of the woman she hated so much.

"I did not sprain anything!" Isabel snapped at the driver. Her voice was harsh and mean. "Do not touch me with your dirty hands! I am perfectly fine!"

She pushed the driver’s hands away. She tried to stand up. She gritted her teeth. She wanted to stand up straight, brush off her dress, and walk into her carriage like a proud queen. She wanted to prove to Camilla that she could not be broken so easily.

Isabel began to force herself to stand. She put her weight onto her left leg and pulled hard with her arms.

Up at the top of the stairs, Camilla watched the foolish girl struggle. Camilla shook her head slowly. She knew exactly how human bones worked. If a person put heavy weight on a freshly sprained ankle, it would only lead to a much bigger disaster.

Camilla actually felt a tiny bit of genuine pity for the girl’s stupidity. She spoke out loud, meaning to give simple advice, but mistakenly cursing her instead.

"You should really stay on the ground," Camilla called out smoothly. "I hope you do not break your leg from being too aggressive. Just let them carry you."

Isabel heard Camilla’s voice. It only made her push harder. "Shut up!" Isabel yelled back.

She violently forced her body upward. She slammed her right foot down onto the hard stone to support her weight.

CRACK.

It was a loud, sickening sound. It sounded like a thick, dry branch of a tree snapping perfectly in half. The sound was so clear that even the driver and the footman jumped back in fear.

Isabel froze. Her eyes widened until they looked like they were going to pop out of her head. All the color completely drained from her face, leaving her looking as white as a ghost. She looked down at her right leg. It was bent at a very wrong, unnatural angle.

The sprain had weakened the joint. The aggressive force of her standing up had pushed the bone past its limit. The bone had snapped completely.

The pain that hit Isabel next was ten times worse than the sprain. It was a blinding, hot agony that stole the breath from her lungs.

Her screaming increased instantly. It was no longer a cry of pain; it was a shriek of pure, absolute torture.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! My leg! My leg!" Isabel screamed at the top of her lungs. She collapsed back onto the hard stones. She held her broken leg and sobbed wildly. She tossed her head back and forth, completely losing her mind from the intense pain.

The driver and the footman panicked. They did not know what to do. The footman quickly reached his arms under Isabel’s shoulders. He was about to carry her up and place her onto the soft seats inside the carriage so they could rush to a doctor.

Hearing the terrible screams, Camilla decided to walk down. She carefully picked up the edges of her dress and walked down the smooth marble steps one by one. She made sure not to step on the part that had caused Isabel to fall.

Camilla reached the bottom of the stairs. She walked over to where Isabel was lying on the ground. She looked down at the ruined pink dress, the messy blonde hair, and the wrongly bent leg.

Camilla tilted her head. She asked in a calm, flat voice, "Are you okay?"

It was a very simple question, but to Isabel, it sounded like the ultimate insult.

Isabel stopped screaming for a brief second. She looked up at Camilla through her thick tears. Her blue eyes were burning with intense hatred. She blamed Camilla for everything. She blamed Camilla for the divorce failing, for Damon’s coldness, and now for her broken leg.

"You..." Isabel hissed. Her voice was shaking with rage and pain. "You witch!"

With a sudden burst of angry energy, Isabel ignored her broken leg. She lunged the top half of her body forward. She reached out her hands, curling her fingers tightly. She wanted to claw at Camilla’s face. She wanted to scratch her eyes out.

Camilla saw the hands coming. She did not panic. She just took one simple, easy step back.

Isabel’s clawing hands hit empty air. She missed completely and fell back down against the footman’s chest, groaning in pain from the sudden movement.

But Isabel did not stop screaming. She opened her mouth wide. She started yelling every bad word she knew. She yelled about how she was going to ruin Camilla. She screamed so loudly that it started to give Camilla a headache. The noise was terrible. It echoed in the courtyard and hurt the ears of everyone standing nearby.

Camilla rubbed her temples with her fingers. She was incredibly annoyed. She liked quiet spaces. They helped her think better. She absolutely hated loud, screeching noises.

Angrily, Camilla looked down at the screaming girl. She spoke with deep annoyance in her voice.

"Can you just be mute?" Camilla demanded sharply. "You are disturbing the peace of the entire environment. My ears are ringing from your noise. I hope that happens soon. I hope you just lose your voice. When you get home to your own house, you can talk as much as you want. But right now, just be quiet. Jeez."

Isabel’s face turned red with fury. How dare this woman tell her to be quiet! Isabel opened her mouth wide. She took a deep breath of air into her lungs. She wanted to retort with the loudest, meanest word she could possibly think of. She wanted to tell Camilla to go to hell.

She pushed the air up her throat.

But nothing happened.

There was no sound. No scream. No words.

Isabel tried again. She pushed harder. She moved her lips, her tongue, and her jaw. She shaped the words perfectly. But her vocal cords completely refused to work. Only a soft, empty breath of air came out of her mouth, like a gentle wind blowing through an open window.

Isabel stopped moving. Her angry expression melted into a look of pure, absolute terror.

She brought her hands up to her own throat. She squeezed her neck. She opened her mouth again. Help me. She tried to scream.

Silence.

She looked at her driver. She looked at her footman. She looked up at Camilla. Her eyes were wide and frantic. Isabel was struggling to speak with all of her might, but words simply could not come out. The sound had been completely stolen from her throat.

She looked like a fish out of water, opening and closing her mouth in complete, terrifying silence.

The driver and the footman looked at their Lady in deep confusion. "My Lady?" the footman asked softly. "Why are you moving your mouth like that? Does your throat hurt too?"

Isabel grabbed the footman’s shirt. She shook him wildly. She pointed to her open mouth, but she could not make a single sound to explain what was happening. She was completely trapped inside her own silent body.

Camilla watched the silent struggle. She did not look surprised. She just looked relieved that the terrible noise had finally stopped. The courtyard was peaceful again.

Camilla turned her attention to the confused footman. She spoke in a very polite, commanding voice.

"The pain of her broken leg must have been so unbearable that she lost her voice from the shock," Camilla explained smoothly, making up a perfectly logical medical excuse. "It happens sometimes. The body just shuts down."