Chapter 3
Sharon burst into laughter at my words. “How ridiculous. There’s no way you could know that deity!”
She pointed at the photos in the church. “Look, these are all people who’ve encountered the deity, and not one of them came back alive!”
Those photos showed the ritual brides who had been sacrificed. Among them was a yellowed photograph of someone who looked exactly like me.
But that photo was tucked away in a dusty corner where no one would ever notice it.
Alexander frowned, clearly losing his patience.
“You can’t have me, so you’ve gone crazy with grief? Playing insane won’t help—I have plenty of ways to make you give up
that safe combination!”
I decided to put on a defiant attitude.
Since they wouldn’t let me go, they shouldn’t expect to get my money either!
My fate would be the same regardless!
Seeing my reaction, Alexander punched me hard in the stomach.
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“Bitch! Tell me now!”
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I doubled over in pain, tasting blood in my mouth, but my eyes remained defiant.
Alexander was about to hit me again when Sharon grabbed his
arm.
“Alexander, stop. I have a way to make her cooperate.”
Alexander’s eyes immediately lit up. “Really?”
Sharon smiled mysteriously, pushing him toward the door. “Of course. Go rest for now—I guarantee I’ll make her obedient!”
After Alexander left, I looked at Sharon’s vicious face, feeling an ominous premonition.
“What are you planning?”
Sharon slapped me hard across the face, her nails leaving several bloody scratches on my cheek.
She said through gritted teeth, “You really think you’re prettier than me?”
The blow left me dizzy and disoriented as I instinctively struggled. “Aren’t you afraid of getting in trouble for hitting
me?”
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Sharon grabbed my chin and pulled out several needles, viciously jabbing them into my body.
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“Afraid? Once we get your money, Caleb will take me far away from here.
“Even if the townspeople investigate, you and Alexander will be the ones in trouble–that coward!
“If Alexander had the courage to protect me back then, I wouldn’t have had to debase myself with those men all these Christmases!
“No woman sacrificed to the deity has ever returned alive. You won’t get another chance to fight me.”
With that, Sharon roughly pried open my mouth and shoved a black, wriggling insect inside.
Before I could spit it out, the bug had already slid down my throat.
Being naturally terrified of insects, I felt utterly desperate.
If I hadn’t been unable to bear eating these bugs every day, I wouldn’t have run away from my wedding that Christmas!
Sharon watched me retch and cry with immense satisfaction.
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“Thanks to this bug’s special properties, you can only tell the truth after eating it. Now, tell me the safe combination!”
She had this useful tool all along but didn’t use it earlier—she just wanted to torture me!
Sharon got what she wanted, extracting the safe combination from me.
The bug was powerful—I couldn’t resist telling the truth.
Before leaving, Sharon even slashed my face with a knife.
As soon as she left, a burly man walked in.
“Caleb, didn’t you want to sleep with this bitch? Once you’ve had your fun, we’ll leave this place! You promised you’d take me away!”
Caleb Morgan said excitedly, “Alexander, that coward, could resist sleeping with such a beautiful woman? I’m so lucky!
“Well done. I’ll reward you properly when I get back! With money, we can go anywhere we want!”
Sharon happily closed the door and left.
Blood covering my face, I watched Caleb approach me with barely any life left in me, cursing inwardly.
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If I had known I’d suffer like this, I would have stayed in the mountains with the bugs for company!
To prevent me from making any sound, Caleb stuffed my mouth tightly with cloth strips.
Just as he was about to make his move, Sharon’s voice suddenly rang out from outside: “Caleb! Tom’s coming with people!”
Caleb hastily pulled up his pants and sighed in frustration, then grabbed a burlap sack and threw it over my head.
“What rotten luck. Whatever, once I have money, I won’t lack for women.”
The door slammed shut, and I could hear voices talking outside.
Caleb was Tom’s son. He and Sharon lied, claiming they had already examined my body, successfully sending those people
away.
With my mouth gagged and a sack over my head, I could only make weak whimpering sounds as I listened to the footsteps gradually fade away.
This continued until the third day–the day to deliver the bride to the mountain chapel.
Half–dead from hunger, I was carried onto the wagon with my
head still covered.
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The mountain road was bumpy. I used my last bit of strength to gradually push out the cloth stuffed in my mouth.
If I could just let them see my disfigured face, I wouldn’t have to be sent to the mountain chapel!
The deity only accepted perfect, flawless brides—any imperfection was unacceptable.
My tongue was bleeding by the time I finally spat out the cloth.
I used all my strength to throw myself from the wagon, wanting to scream but only managing hoarse whimpers.
I hadn’t had a drop of water in three days, my infected wounds were causing a high fever, and my throat was extremely sore.
Tom was horrified and ordered everyone to stuff me back into the wagon.
“Good God, bride, stop making trouble! If you get hurt, the deity will be furious! Give up–this is an opportunity others would kill for!”
I struggled desperately, making urgent rasping sounds, and in the chaos managed to tear off the sack from my head.
When my scarred, festering, pus–filled face was exposed to everyone, they all gasped in shock.
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Alexander looked at Sharon in stunned disbelief, but ultimately
chose cowardly silence.
Tom flew into a rage: “Who did this? Who the hell did this? The deity will bring down punishment!”
Someone suggested: “Given the circumstances, we’ll have to find
another bride!”
Everyone turned in unison toward Sharon.
Alexander instinctively stepped in front of Sharon, saying: “You promised you wouldn’t hurt Sharon!”
Tom kicked him aside, saying: “Get out of the way! In this emergency, Sharon has to take her place! Do you want to bear the deity’s wrath for the entire town?”
Alexander, knocked to the ground, went pale and didn’t dare speak again.
Seeing Alexander’s cowardly behavior, Sharon angrily shouted: “I’m not a virgin anymore–I can’t be the ritual bride! Charlotte has to go! At least she’s still a virgin!”
Alexander was shocked.
He grabbed Sharon and demanded: “What are you saying? I haven’t touched you these past two years, and you’ve been with
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other men behind my back?”
Sharon impatiently shook him off and hid behind Tom.
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“Pathetic. I haven’t seen you for two years–did you expect me to wait forever?”
The men around us all wore knowing smiles, and Alexander flushed with shame and anger.
“Today is the day of the ritual. Alexander, do you dare disrupt the ceremony?”
Tom’s gaze swept over Sharon before he reluctantly made his decision.
“Shut up! We have no choice–we’ll send Charlotte to the chapel and complete the ritual first!”
I couldn’t believe my ears and struggled desperately.
They beat me for it. When they hit me, they were careful not to leave obvious marks on my body.
Finally, I passed out and was despairingly covered and loaded into the wagon.
Back at that familiar chapel, I woke to the sound of prayers.
The townspeople didn’t dare linger and quickly filed out.
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But the next second, I was thrown out too, hitting the ground
hard.
A cold snort came from within the statue: “Stop sending women
here. Get out!”
This was the deity’s voice!
The townspeople trembled in terror.
Sharon was the first to react, grabbing a knife and lunging for my throat: “Great deity, please calm your anger–we’ll kill her as a sacrifice right now!”
I didn’t understand why she still wanted to kill me when the deity had clearly said he didn’t want women.
I desperately dodged. The knife pierced my shoulder.
Sharon pounced on me like a madwoman, tearing my thin wedding dress.
On my shoulder, the mark the deity had left with his own hand was exposed to the air.
“You have to die! I refuse to be trapped in this place forever!”
As the knife was about to fall, I closed my eyes in despair.
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Chapter 3
Just then, an incredulous cry came from beneath the statue:
“Charlotte!”
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