Ch. 41..50
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 41
“If you haven’t done anything to betray me, then what are you afraid of?” Rickard grabbed her by the wrist and subdued her firmly within his arms as cold and stern words escaped between his thin lips. “I’ll never let anyone deceive me or hide something from me, so you have to go through the test whether you like it or not!”
“You bastard!” Hesper cursed at him exasperatedly, and the walls of the mental prison that had been used to contain and suppress the grievances within herself finally crumbled at that moment.
Her clear eyes welled up gradually and tears blurred her vision. Hesper could only hate herself for not finding out that he was such a person before this.
“Rickard Duval, this relationship between me and you cracked a long time ago, and we didn’t file for a divorce only because of your family. If you dare treat me like this, I’ll never forgive you!”
Hearing this, the level of Rickard’s anger skyrocketed.
‘She just seems to love to bring up the fact that our relationship is non -existential, doesn’t she? Then I’ll have her see how I make the things. that I want to happen a reality!’
Soon, the car stopped at the entrance of the hospital.
Rickard, who was surrounded by a subzero aura, got out of the car
first.
“Get out here!”
“No! I haven’t done anything, so what makes you think you have the right to insult me like this?!” Hesper curled in on herself in the car, and her aggrieved eyes were bloodshot.
‘I’m obviously the victim here, and he’s obviously the one who’s been
@
covering the matter up deliberately. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for him.
‘It’s him, Rickard Duval. He’s the one who’s been turning a blind eye toward the matter over and over again. It’s his intentional connivance that made things become what they are today.
‘If I were to be dragged into this hospital and get my integrity verified through a bunch of tests, wouldn’t it be a blatant announcement to the world that I, Hesper Rivera, almost got raped?
‘Why, why should a victim testify for herself through such an insulting way?
‘No, no one can make me do this, not even Rickard!’
“I’ll make myself clear right here and now. I haven’t done crap, so I don’t need to prove myself to anyone! If you really can’t trust me, then show me some evidence. As long as you can prove that I’ve indeed done something to betray you, I’ll kill myself just to apologize to you!”
However, Rickard was not in the mood to listen to a word she said. All he could think of at that moment was the scene where she staggered after being drugged.
‘She looked so defenseless, so delirious, and she was found with a stranger. Who can be completely sure that nothing really happened?’
Rickard said indifferently, “Since you keep saying that you’re innocent, then go in there and prove it to me! Your resistance will only make others think that you’re guilty.”
He ordered someone to forcibly drag Hesper out of the car. There were quite a few passers-by at the entrance of the hospital, and he proceeded without any regard for her reputation.
Hesper was hauled out and fell to the ground, but the bodyguards were still tightly grasping onto her wrists. She lifted her head, her vision fogged by her tears. “Rickard Duval, do you really want to do
this your way?”,
“Yes,” the man replied without any hesitation.
Hesper’s heart hurt so much that it was already numb at that
moment.
She thought she would never feel sad ever again, but she did not realize until then that there was no such thing as the worst feeling, a something worse would always be there, waiting for its turn!
“If you really insist, once my innocence gets proven, I won’t forgive you until the day I die. Even so, you still won’t change your mind?”
Getting stared at by her teary eyes, Rickard hesitated for a split second.
However, Madam Duval’s words kept echoing in his mind.
‘I have to run the test in order to be at ease. What’s more, it’s just a test, and it’d also restore her innocence and stop the public from gossiping, so why not?’
“I don’t care what you say. Just. Do. It.”
–Hesper stopped struggling all of a sudden. She stared at him soullessly as tear beads gushed down her cheeks. “Okay, then I’ll do whatever you want, Mr. Duval!”
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 42
The group of people entered the hospital, and the doctor who attended to them was the one from last night.
She was about to leave the department to look for some files, but when she saw Rickard dragging Hesper into the hospital as soon as she opened the door, she was taken aback for a short moment. “Mr. Duval, what’s happening here?”
“She got drugged last night. Examine her for any possible injuries.”
The doctor was a smart person, so she understood the subtext of the conversation as soon as she heard it.
She was there when Hesper was brought in last night, so she knew that Hesper was sober back then. But this was not the time to turn away from this situation, as she had been bribed by Madam Duval.
“Mr. Duval, I’ll have to get some tools prepared for the physical examination. If you really want to do this, I’ll go ahead and get it ready.”
Rickard looked indifferent. “Okay, just do whatever is necessary.”
“Okay, please give me a second.”
The doctor grabbed her cell phone, hurried to a corner of the hospital where no one was around, called Madam Duval, and informed her
about what was happening.
“They actually went to the hospital?” Madam Duval paced back and forth in the villa. She never thought that Rickard would actually want Hesper to prove her innocence.
‘But this is great too. This should be more than enough to make Dick give up on that b*tch for good this time around!’
“Since I paid you to do something about the situation, you just need to act when an opportunity presents itself. As for what to tell my son, I don’t have to spoon-feed that to you, do I?”
“Don’t worry, Madam Duval, I know what to do.” The doctor nodded and then pretended to go and grab the tools required.
In the ward, Hesper sat on the side with a defeated expression. Whenever she glared at Rickard, it looked as if she was eager to see through him.
Her gaze finally managed to irritate the man, and he raised his voice.” Why are you looking at me like that? Are you thinking about going back on your words now?”
“No.” The corners of Hesper’s lips curled upward, giving off a mocking smirk. “Since I haven’t done anything wrong, what’s there to go back on? I just want to brand this expression of yours onto my brain to see how much it hurts when you get smacked in the face when the result of this test is out.”
Rickard’s expression dimmed, but he did not utter a single word.
The doctor returned at this moment, and as soon as Hesper saw the equipment in her hands, her pupils constricted subconsciously.
Before getting onto the bed for the examination, Hesper made her final request, “Rickard Duval, it’s fine by me if you want me to undergo this test, but I want you to promise me that you’ll sign the divorce agreement after this procedure is over!”
Rickard’s brows creased, however, the more frequently she brought this issue up, the more suspicious he became.
He nodded coldly. “Okay.”
“Swoosh–“The curtain was drawn in one smooth go.
The doctor told Hesper unconcernedly. “Take your clothes off and lie
down.”
“All of them?”
“Otherwise, how do you expect me to run the test on you when you’re this densely dressed?”
Hesper’s face turned pale. She had never undergone such a
procedure, and she did not know what would be examined
specifically, but because of the doctor’s words and attitude, she felt somewhat resistant and nervous.
After struggling for a long time, she bit the bullet and did as
instructed, but just as she laid down, she felt an instant pain in her lower abdomen.
“Ahh, it hurts!” Hesper could not help but let out a soft cry.
The doctor sneered coldly. “What’s with the shriek? You’ve already given birth to a child, so how are you still afraid of an examination ?” Hesper did not say anything to refute.
The doctor’s attitude felt a little strange to her, and she only wished to go through the embarrassing examination as soon as possible.
But as the examination went on, Hesper burst into tears of pain. She kept on telling herself that she was experiencing all this because of Rickard, so everything would be fine as long as she managed to
ふ endure the procedure.
After a long time, the excruciating sensation finally disappeared. And as soon as Hesper got off the bed and stood up, Rickard strode in from the other side of the curtain.
“How is it?”
He took a glance at all the equipment present and heard Hesper’s painful cries, so he dashed in immediately, fearing that something. might have happened.
The doctor turned into a completely different person in an instant. She put on a smile, seeming to be extremely keen. “Mr. Duval, please give us a few minutes. The result will be out soon.”
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 43
A minute later, Hesper’s examination results emerged from the slit in front of the printer.
With just one glimpse, the doctor explained to Rickard with a strange expression, “Mr. Duval, we’ve found fluid residual in Mrs. Duval’s vaginal cavity… And the test result shows that it’s not blood nor ordinary vaginal discharge.”
Rickard’s expression turned gloomy instantly.
‘If it’s not blood nor her vaginal discharge, what else could it be?’
“How dare you…”
Rickard’s bloodshot eyes were fixed on Hesper, infuriated.
After hearing so much argument from her before this, he had started to really think that she was innocent. However, it turned out to only be an excuse for fearing that her filthy doing would be revealed!
“Hesper Rivera, you whore!”
“This is impossible, there must be a misunderstanding!” Hesper trembled from head to toe.
She knew her own body inside out. She clearly remembered that the person who drugged her last night did not succeed, and she had never done anything to betray her marriage.
“Doctor, did you make a mistake during the examination?”
“Mrs. Duval, you’d better stop, or I’ll sue you for defamation. I’ve been a doctor for more than two decades, and I always take my patient’s conditions very seriously. I’m only giving you the truth based solely on the test results, so don’t slander me!”
“I don’t mean that, but I really didn’t…” Hesper could not argue
anymore. At that moment, she had already forgotten about the humiliation that she was facing and only wanted to find out the truth.
“That’s enough!” Rickard abruptly let out a hoarse roar and continued with extreme disgust beaming from the bottom of his eyes. “Hesper Rivera, this is it. Just how much longer are you planning to put on an act and resort to sophistry? If I had’t insisted on bringing you here for an examination, would you hide it from me for the rest of your
lifetime?”
“What have I and the Duvals done to deserve such a filthy wife like you?!” He scoffed to himself and exited the room.
“This shouldn’t be the case, there must be a misunderstanding!” Hesper wanted to explain herself; she was not prepared to let others tarnish her innocence.
But as soon as she got close to Rickard, she was pushed to the ground by his bodyguards.
Rickard glared at her as if he was looking at an arch-enemy. “Don’t you dare touch me. You’re as filthy as any human can possibly be!”
Hesper’s pride was hit so hard that she stumbled backward and bumped into a warm embrace.
“Are you alright?”
Having failed to meet up with his contact, Matthew was so annoyed that he got a headache, which was why he had come to the hospital to get his hands on some medicine for his condition. But what he did not expect to see was Hesper getting shoved by someone else.
“Who is he? Is he an accomplice of those people from last night?”
Upon hearing the question, Rickard’s eyes narrowed instantly. “How do you know what happened to her yesterday? Are you the one who saved her?”
Matthew still did not know what was happening yet. His expression looked calm and unconcerned. “It’s no big deal. I only lifted a finger.”
However, Rickard waved his hand, motioning his guards to surround the stranger. “So it’s indeed you. Since you’ve presented yourself to us, you can forget about leaving now!”
Matthew’s expression twitched, but before he could say anything, his assistant who was standing next to him responded to the bodyguards ‘ actions. “I must say, you people have some guts. But do you know who this man is? How dare you fence him in?”
Rickard took a cold glance at the man standing in the center of his men for a while; he did not know who he was, but he somehow looked rather familiar.
And within a few seconds, Matthew’s assistant had already notified and summoned their bodyguards who were standing by in the shadows. Soon, the two groups of men were getting ready to confront each other.
At this time, someone whispered something to Rickard right into his ear, and the way he looked at Matthew changed almost instantly.
“I see, you’re Matthew Lane, the infamous young master of the Lanes from Emperion.”
Matthew looked at him indifferently, and there seemed to be a hint of wrath flashing across his eyes. “So, do you still plan to get your men to make a move?”
Rickard pressed his tongue against his upper molars.
‘I’m not afraid of this bastard, but I don’t want to make a huge fuss out of this matter. Otherwise, if word of Hesper having an
extramarital affair with this man were to get out into the public, that’s the end of the Duvals’ reputation!’
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 44
“Let’s go.” Rickard turned around indifferently and left with his bodyguards.
Matthew’s assistant signaled their men to back down too.
The oppressive feeling in the air was instantly relieved.
“Are you okay?” Matthew gazed at Hesper, he had never been a nosy person, but he had met her on three occasions in just two days, and it had managed to get more embarrassing with each encounter.
Such fate had piqued his curiosity.
“What’s the relationship between you and that man from just now?”
“Uh… It’s a long story.” Hesper gave off a wry smile and thanked him again earnestly. “I’m really sorry to have caused you more trouble.”
Seeing that she did not want to share anything, Matthew did not go further with his questions, and his indifferent expression remained unchanged. “It’s no big deal, so don’t worry about it.”
At this time, Hesper suddenly recalled the matter that took place at the precinct last night and hesitated before she said, “Sir, I know this request of mine may sound a little abrupt, but can I trouble you to make a journey to the precinct and testify for me if you’re free?”
She told him the ins-and-out of the whole story, but before Matthew could respond to her request, his assistant who was standing beside him frowned. “Just who do you think you are? Our young master is a busy man. What makes you think he’d have the time to help you with such trivial matters?”
Hesper’s face turned pale. She understood that her request was quite an imposition, but if she did not have any witnesses attesting to her story, the police would never investigate further.
‘If this is the case, the real culprit behind all these shenanigans will continue to be at large.’
“Shut up.” Matthew reprimanded his assistant in a deep voice, then turned and looked at Hesper. “Understood. I’ll make time to pay the precinct a visit later.”
“Really?” Hesper burst into tears of gratitude. “Thank you so much. I don’t even know what to say.”
She did not expect that this man, who seemed to have an
extraordinary background, would be willing to trouble himself for her.
Hesper quickly took out her cell phone. “This is my number. I really don’t know what can I do to repay you for all your help, so if you ever need anything in the future, I’ll surely do whatever is in my power to help you out!”
“Sir…” The assistant wanted to stop Matthew from doing so.
‘How can the young master give his phone number to someone else so casually?’
But Matthew exchanged contact information with Hesper as if he did not hear him at all.
After she left, the assistant could not bear it anymore. “Sir, why would you help her? You even exchanged phone numbers with her?”
‘Everyone knows that the young master is an indifferent and ruthless man. He’s never been a soft-hearted person, let alone showcased so much love all of a sudden.’
‘But when it comes to that woman, exceptions just keep on appearing over and over again.”
Matthew looked at the figure that was leaving the hospital with a dimmed and complicated gaze.
“What would you know? If Rachael is still alive, she should be around that age. I’m helping that woman only because I want to do good on Rach’s behalf. Hopefully, everyone she meets in her life will treat her kindly.”
“I’m sorry, sir, I might be too petty to be able to understand your intentions.”
As soon as the Lanes’ missing daughter was mentioned, everything instantly made sense to Matthew’s assistant, and he bowed his head guiltily.
Matthew continued indifferently, “Let’s go already. Since our contact doesn’t want to show up, go grab me some pills for my headache and we’ll go back to Emperion.”
“Yes, sir.”
Back in the Duvals’ residence.
When Hesper returned home, Rickard was not there, but Madam Duval, Sophia, and Juniper were sitting in the huge living room.
When the three of them saw her, they immediately started mocking her.
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 45
“Stop right there! You just flushed the Duvals’ reputation down the toilet, yet you’re actually shameless enough to come back here?!”
A porcelain mug was thrown at Hesper’s feet, and the expression on Madam Duval’s face looked vicious and spiteful.
Sophia immediately seconded her mother’s disapproval. “That’s right. If I were to have committed such a shameful act, I would’ve jumped straight off a building and ended my disgraceful self long ago. Please enlighten me, just how did you muster the courage to bring yourself to the precinct and launch a police report? You even had the
confidence to come back and roam freely around your in-law’s house as if nothing’s happened?”
Hesper stared at the mother and daughter without making a single noise.
She knew very well deep down that those two men would not have made her a target out of the blue for no reason.
‘Those bastards were most probably instigated by these two. And judging from the morally righteous tone that they’re adopting while accusing me, they make it seem like they’re 100 percent sure that they own the moral high ground here. But anyone who’s not blind and knows them should know that they’re just two whores who are putting on a show to stay out of this whole farce.”
“Are you done?” She glared coldly at the two of them, and her piercing gaze actually looked rather deterrent.
She then scoffed and continued, “You two and I, we know very well what the truth looks like behind all these righteous accusations of yours. Is your conscience really as crystal clear as you’re making it out to be when you’re putting up such an act? Aren’t you two afraid
that you’ll be sent straight down to hell when your times are up?”
Madam Duval had always been a religious person, so she had always taken karma and the afterlife very seriously.
Hearing this, her expression dimmed in an instant.
Wanting to defend her mother, Sophia stepped forward immediately to give her a slap her in order to teach her a lesson. “You, shut your trap! You can’t even remember who you slept with and you actually have the guts to talk back to mother and me?!”
Hesper reacted instantaneously, grabbing her tightly by the wrist and stopping her from getting any closer. “You keep on claiming that I slept with some random man, but I know for sure that I didn’t! As for you, what makes you think that you’re in a position to rebuke me on this matter? You’re just a woman who’s been in and out of countless relationships and has been upholding a private life that’s no less than chaotic. I bet you’ve gone through several abortions in quite a few of the local hospitals, haven’t you? So you might think you have the
moral high ground here, but do you really have the ground to criticize me?”
“Nonsense! What are you talking about?!” Sophia was shocked.
‘Those are all my private affairs and I’ve made sure that all information related to these matters is very well hidden, so how did this b*tch know about them?’
However, there was no way that she would admit her doings. She gnashed her teeth and raised her voice. “Do you still plan to pretend that nothing’s happened? We already know about the results of your physical examination. The doctor already mentioned that they’ve found a foreign fluid sample of unknown origin in your body! Yeah, you hear me right, a fluid sample of unknown origin!”
Sophia deliberately placed a lot of emphasis on her tone while
uttering the last sentence, as if she was trying to imply something.
Hesper still could not figure out what had gone wrong with the test results, but looking at Sophia’s arrogant expression, she could not help but feel that something seemed fishy.
“How do you know my test result?”
‘It’s obvious that Rickard hasn’t come back home, and even if he had, he would never disclose the news to his family members. No one knows better than I do just how big that man’s ego is.’
“I… Isn’t it obvious that Dick is the one who told us about it?” A hint of trepidation flashed across Sophia’s eyes.
However, Hesper was not someone who would be easily fooled. “Is that so? If that’s the case, I’ll give him a call and ask him about this now.”
“Don’t you dare call him!” Sophia panicked and forcibly snatched her cell phone from her palm.
Seeing that the mother and daughter still could not get the upper hand after all the attempts, Juniper taunted Hesper. “Why are you doing this? Everyone knows what you’ve done now, so even if you try. to talk back to Madam Duval and Sophia, you’re not fooling anyone. I think you should stop putting up a fight and admit your mistake. Maybe Madam Duval and Sophia will let this matter slide for the sake of your baby.”
“Can you stop being such a b*tch?” Hesper had tried to ignore her for as long as possible, but she could no longer bear it anymore.
“This is the Duvals’ place, not the Wights’. So you, the young lady of the Wights, just came back from abroad after such a long time, but instead of staying in your own home with your family, you’ve been staying here at the Duvals’ shamelessly all day, every day. Please don’t tell me that you and Sophia are such close friends. Or are you staying here because you wish to run into someone else more frequently?”
“You…”
“Am I wrong? I’m not done with you! Even if Rickard and I are going through a harsh period now, I’m still the rightful hostess of this villa. So, let me make this clear once and for all, you are not welcome here! So get out of here!” Hesper did not even give her a chance to speak at all.
Juniper did not expect that she would do this all of a sudden, so her
cheeks flushed.
“So this is it, this is it. You’ve finally shown your true color!” Madam Duval, furious, pointed at Hesper’s face and yelled, “Just who do you think you are? How dare you address yourself as the hostess of this household? You’ll never be such a thing as long as I’m here, so get
out!”
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 46
Madam Duval was ruthless and did not show her any respect.
Ignoring her words, Hesper took a glance at everyone present and went upstairs without uttering a single word.
When she came to the baby’s room, she immediately locked the door, took out the voice recording pen she had prepared before entering the villa, and held it tightly in the palm of her hand.
After being treated unfairly so many times, Hesper had learned to prepare herself for such situations at all times. She deliberately provoked them only because she was waiting for them to blurt out
the truth.
Although the mother and daughter did not mention any actual
evidence during the whole conversation, their tone and attitude were already enough to prove just how miserable her life was in this
household.
“Baby, mommy will definitely obtain concrete evidence to prove them wrong.”
Hesper hugged the child tightly in her embrace, left the room, and made another copy of the recording on another recording pen, leaving one of the pens in Rickard’s study.
However, the news that Juniper had fallen ill reached Rickard’s ear before he found out about the recording pen.
“Dick, this is bad. Hesper humiliated Juni earlier in the evening, causing Juni to run back home in the heavy rain without leaving a message behind. Because of that, she fell ill on her way back and fainted on the side of the road. Thank God one of our servants found her and brought her back here.” 2
Sophia’s voice echoed in the living room. Hesper did not hear what the person on the other end of the phone call said, but judging from the speed at which Sophia hung up the call, Rickard must have
promised her to come home immediately.
She glanced at Sophia coldly, and the two exchanged gazes; a war between the two seemed imminent.
“Hesper Rivera, just you wait. Dick won’t let you off so easily this time.” When they crossed paths at the stairwell, Sophia threatened her and continued to go upstairs to take care of Juniper.
Soon, Rickard’s car appeared and stopped in the yard.
“Where’s Juniper? How is she doing?” Before the man entered the villa, everyone in the building could already hear his voice.
Rickard hurried into the living room with a gloomy and cold aura.
Sophia had been waiting for his arrival for a long time. As soon as she saw him, her eyes turned bloodshot, and she called out, “Dick, Juni is…”
Judging solely from the expression that she was giving off, anyone’ who did not know the details of Juniper’s condition might think that she was so sick that she was about to die.
Rickard was taken aback, and his brows were creased. “What happened to her?”
“It’d be better for you to go to her room and see for yourself…”
Sophia cried and shook her head vigorously. Rickard could not figure out what she was trying to say, so he rushed toward the guest room with her.
Hesper glanced coldly at the brother and sister and followed them to the guest room without saying a word.
She wanted to know just what kind of play those women would put forward this time around.
In the guest room.
Juniper’s cheeks looked flushed, her cheeks and forehead were covered with beads of sweat, and although her eyes were tightly closed, her whole body could not help but tremble as if she was being mentally haunted by a nightmare. She kept on murmuring, “No, I didn’t…”
Rickard leaned closer to listen, but did not hear anything. He then turned to ask Sophia, “What is she talking about? What didn’t she do?”
Sophia immediately dramatized the details, pinched her sleeves, and continued to explain aggrievedly, “This is all Hesper’s fault. She was afraid that you’d do something to her to vent your anger after she came back from the hospital, so she deliberately slandered all of us. She even claimed that Juni is the one who planned the whole incident. to frame her. She also said that Juni has chosen to stay here because she wants to seduce you and added that she’s even more shameless than a whore.”
“I don’t think anyone who gets slandered like this could bear such grievances, let alone Juni. So she ran out of the house despite the heavy rain and fell and fainted. According to the doctor’s diagnosis, Juni might be severely depressed. That’s why she’s still in a coma.”
“Hesper Rivera…” Rickard gnashed his teeth and uttered Hesper’s name repetitively. He then swept his keen gaze across the room and saw Hesper standing behind the crowd.
He strode over and dragged her out of the crowd, confronting her. Tell me, is it true?”
Hesper responded calmly and answered quickly, “No.”
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 47
But her calmness infuriated Rickard. He clenched his hands tightly, so much so that his knuckles gave off cracking noises. “Juniper has fallen ill because of you, and you still have the guts to deny everything?”
Hesper laughed out loud abruptly. “You’re the one who’s asking me if
I did it. I’m telling you that I didn’t, but still, you choose not to believe me. Must I be the person who’s caused her to fall sick? Do you really think that I have such great capabilities that I can lay a finger on the regal Ms. Wight?”
A hint of hesitation flashed across Rickard’s face, but at that moment, two women entered the room, supporting Madam Duval.
“You slut, how dare you lie in front of so many witnesses! So many servants in the villa saw with their own eyes how you talked back to me and humiliated Sophia and Juniper!”
With snot and tears dribbling down all orifices on her face, she cried- as she complained to Rickard, “Dick, she also said that even though she slept with another man, she’s still your legitimate wife and the hostess of this household, so she can do whatever she wants here! She even chased Juniper out and prohibited her from coming here again.”
“…Hesper Rivera, how dare you?” Rickard was furious.
‘How dare she say so?! After betraying our marriage, she’s still shameless enough to go around the house humiliating my family members?’
The man stood up in a split second, and the merciless aura
emanating from his body made everyone present tremble as if they had just seen a devil.
Even Hesper was a little frightened at that moment.
She took two steps backward subconsciously. “What do you plan to do to me?”
“Smack–“The only response that she got was a slap that the man standing in front of her wielded at her with all his might.
Rickard was exasperated. “Hesper Rivera, have I been showing you too much leniency over all your time here? So much so that it’s caused you to act so recklessly around my family! From now on, you’re to kneel in the yard until the moment Juniper wakes up!”
The force of the slap pushed Hesper to the side.
She fell onto the cold floor, and the only thing that she could see at that moment was Madam Duval and her daughter’s insolent expressions as they witnessed the whole incident go down and the servants’ mocking gazes. All those expressions just showed her that she, Hesper Rivera, was just a piece of garbage that anyone in this villa could kick around as they liked!
She was infuriated.
She had never been this enraged.
Hesper bit her lips tightly, and her sharp nails dug into in her palms, to the extent that she was about to pierce her flesh with her own nails. She roared with bloodshot eyes, “Why would I do such a thing? I’m a human being, not some piece of garbage. What makes you think that you can do whatever you want to me? I’ve brought divorce up more than once, and you’re the one who refuses to divorce me! You’re the one who’s trapping me in this cage and making me suffer all kinds of bullying from your family members, and now you actually want to punish me?!”
Seeing that she was still talking about the divorce at such a moment, all of Rickard’s sanity was engulfed by pure, wrath. He sneered. “Okay,
you want a divorce so badly, don’t you? Today, I’ll help you make this dream of yours come true!”
He pushed everyone out of his way, strode to his study and, from below stacks of documents that were laying on the desktop, pulled out the divorce agreement that he had prepared a long time ago.
However, because of his rage and overwhelming strength, he accidentally dropped the recording pen that was laying on all the documents. The recording pen fell to the ground and rolled along the side of the wall.
At that moment, Rickard was not in the mood to care about a tiny item that fell off his desk, so he walked out of the study without looking back.
“Open your eyes and look at this carefully. This is the divorce agreement that you think about all the time! Who do you think you are? Do you really think I won’t divorce you?”
“Swoosh–” The man lifted his hand and the divorce agreement scattered from his hands, smacking directly onto Hesper’s face.
A sharp edge of one of the sheets of paper cut her pale and delicate skin, and a single, tiny droplet of blood seeped out of the slit immediately.
Hesper remained motionless as she stared at the papers slicing through the air and falling to the ground.
‘He… He actually handed me the divorce agreement that I’ve been asking him for all this time.’
Hesper felt that she should be laughing with joy at that moment, but she could not for some reason. Because no matter what she had said in the past, the man just would not let her go, but now he was doing so willingly only because of another woman.
‘Just… How much more ironic can this be?’
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 48
In the crowded guest room, Hesper knelt on the floor and picked up the divorce agreements sheet by sheet and compiled them.
‘This is my ticket out of the Duvals. It’s also a turning point in my life where I get the fresh start that I deserve, so no matter how humiliating this is, I can’t let it slip through my fingers.’
“Thank you for the agreement. I’ll sign it and hand it back to you later.”
Hesper then stood up and turned around, ready to leave without saying a word.
Rickard was fuming. “Who gave you permission to leave!” There was not even a trace of warmth in the reprimanding tone. “I’ve made it very clear that you’re to kneel in the yard to apologize!”
“Rickard Duval, you’d better not push your luck.”
“Is that a no?” He gave off a malevolent smirk. “If you don’t want to kneel, that’s fine by me. However, if that’s your choice, you’ll be deprived of your rights to visit your son from today onward!”
Hesper gritted her teeth in anger. “Aside from threatening me, what else could you do?! Rickard Duval, are you even a man?”
Rickard’s expression looked cold and stern. He did not care what she had to say; all he wanted was to force her into submission.
‘If she’s willing to admit her mistake and apologize now, and stop bringing divorce up all the time, I can consider taking my words back at any moment.’
However-
“Alright, I’ll kneel! But Rickard Duval, you’d better keep your promise!”
Hesper exited the room and knelt in the middle of the yard under all
the watchful eyes of the Duvals and everyone who was working in the villa.
Nobody knew when it started, but the rain started to get heavier and heavier as soon as she started kneeling out in the open. It managed to completely drench her clothes in under a minute.
When Madam Duval and Sophia saw this scene, they could not help but reveal mocking smirks through the corners of their lips.
‘At this point, it’s impossible for Hesper and Dick to reconcile their relationship. Plus, the divorce agreement has already been signed, so she’ll soon be driven out of the Duvals and no longer be part of the family.’
Seeing that her long-standing wish was finally going to be actualized, Sophia was so exhilarated that she could hardly conceal her
emotions.
Rickard glanced coldly at her at that moment, causing her to panic instantly. She could not retract her smirk in time, so her expression. became very awkward-looking.
Fortunately, Rickard was not in the mood to care about her at all and left the room angrily.
In the courtyard.
‘This is not the first time I’ve been asked to kneel as a form of punishment. That bastard has used my baby to threaten me multiple times in the past.
‘I’ve had enough of being slandered and bullied by the family members without any evidence. The quality of my life here at the Duvals’ is, without a doubt, worse than being in hell.
‘Perhaps our marriage was a mistake from the very beginning. I shouldn’t have kept my hopes up high that Rickard would fall for me someday.”
Her heart was cold, but the tears streaming down her cheeks were
warm.
Under the heavy downpour, Hesper could only weep silently.
She wept for herself and also for those countless days and nights when she got no concern from anyone living in the Duvals’ residence.
“Mr. Duval, do you really want Mrs. Duval to continue to kneel like that out there?”
In the study, Benji stood behind Rickard with a worried look. Located directly in front of them was a huge French window, through which one could clearly see Hesper kneeling in the rain.
Benji continued to persuade him. “The young lady is very weak. If she were to continue to kneel in the rain, she might not be able to bear it. Maybe you can consider allowing her to get up and come back in?”
“Benji, since when did you become so soft-hearted?”
Rickard’s gaze looked unforgiving. He walked up to the wine cabinet and poured himself a large glass full of red wine. Raising his head, he drank it in a gulp while letting off a hint of ruthlessness through the corners of his eyes.
“I want to let her in too, but do you think she looks like someone who knows she’s at fault in this matter? She’s the one who got drugged and slept with some random man, but she still has the courage to humiliate Sophia and Juniper. Who does she think she is, and who gave her permission to betray me and our marriage?”
Benji did not follow him to the hospital earlier, so he did not know the details regarding the matter, but he heard the result from the others during the showdown in the guest room. Hence, he hesitated for a bit, and his tone sounded rather cautious.
“Mr. Duval, is there any misunderstanding here? The young mistress
really doesn’t seem like someone who would cheat on you. You
should know her feelings for you over the years better than anyone else.”
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 49
For a short moment, Rickard pinched the wine glass tightly.
‘Hesper’s feelings for me? That was a long time ago, and judging from what she’s been doing recently, I can no longer believe in her.’
“If you feel so sorry for her, you can go down there and kneel with her!” Rickard said coldly, shutting Benji’s mouth immediately.
The two continued to stare at Hesper silently. She remained in a straight posture from the beginning to the end as if it was the only thing she could do to protect her dignity.
A long time went by, and the sky slowly darkened.
Hesper was tottering in the rain when a pair of spotless leather shoes. appeared in front of her all of a sudden.
Hesper slowly lifted her gaze, and the first thing that entered her vision was Rickard. He was standing in the rain with a black umbrella, staring at her indifferently.
“Do you know what you’ve done wrongly?”
Hesper opened her mouth, felt a burning sensation on her lips as if they were being torn apart from each other, and said with difficulty, “I
I’ve done nothing wrong.”
The man’s expression dimmed instantly.
Benji persuaded her anxiously. “Mrs. Duval, please just give in to Mr. Duval! It’s raining cats and dogs now. Your body won’t be able to take this any longer. If you were to fall sick later on, you’re the one who would suffer!”
Hesper turned a deaf ear. After kneeling in the rain for so long, her mind was already a haze, causing her to not be able to think quickly.
However, the only thing that she still knew at the moment was that the Duvals were the ones who did her wrong!
Seeing that she was so unrepentant, Rickard finally lost his patience.” Okay, since you wish to continue kneeling here, then I’ll grant you your wish! No one is allowed to help her up or let her in without my order!”
Hesper gave off an extremely sarcastic smirk.
Soon, the yard was quiet again. The only sound that Hesper could hear was the sound of raindrops crashing against the roof and ground.
Everyone else hid from the rain in the villa as they watched Hesper, the former young lady of the Duvals, kneeling in the courtyard in such a state of embarrassment.
Finally, Hesper could not hold on any longer. Just when she was on the verge of blacking out, a phone call brought her back.
“Ms. Rivera.” Matthew greeted her while he was on his way to the airport.
Having recalled Hesper’s request before leaving the country, he had been to the precinct and was giving her a call. “I’ve done what you asked me to do, so all the best with the rest.”
“Okay… Thank…” Hesper opened her mouth with extreme difficulty but in the next second, her body tilted to the front and she fell straight onto the ground.
Hearing a loud thud, Matthew paused for a split second, pondered, and asked, “Ms. Rivera? Are you okay?”
Hesper’s cheeks lacerated against the ground, and her hands and knees were all flushed and swollen. Half of her face was laying
against the wet ground; this was her first time getting so close to the ground.
Hesper gave off a wry scoff. “Mr. Lane, I might have to trouble you again…”
Hesper could no longer get up after losing balance and falling to the ground. Benji could not help but tell Rickard about the situation that Hesper was in.
Just as he finally decided to go out and take a look at her, a limited edition Rolls-Royce suddenly rushed into the courtyard and stopped in front of everyone.
Matthew came down from the car with an umbrella. He took a few steady steps toward Hesper and finally stopped in front of the person who was laying on the ground in the rain.
“Ms. Rivera?”
“Yes, it’s me.” She let off a feeble smile. Her face looked as pale as death as if she was about to die at any time now.
Matthew frowned. “How did you get yourself into such a situation?”
“I’m really sorry to have troubled you again.”
Every part of her body was in excruciating pain. Her head hurt so much that she felt like it was already on the brink of exploding.
Hesper did not want to die here, so during the call from earlier, she asked him to take her away from this hell on Earth.
At first, Matthew only came over to take a look out of curiosity, but he did not expect the situation to be this grave.
He picked her up bridal style. “Stop talking already. I’ll take you with me.”
A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 50
Seeing Hesper being picked up and carried by another man with his own eyes, Rickard’s gaze turned gloomy.
“Stop right there.” He dashed forward so quickly that Benji, who was holding the umbrella for him, could not even react in time and keep up with his pace.
Before anyone else present could react, Rickard had already rushed into the rain and stood in front of Matthew, blocking their way.
‘He’s the man who made things difficult for Hesper in the hospital earlier today.’
Matthew remembered Rickard; he had never had a good impression of men who liked to bully women.
“Step aside,” he said as his black windbreaker rattled in the cold wind.
“Over my dead body!”
The atmosphere between the two men was tense. Rickard grinned ferociously. “Do you know who I am? The woman that you’re holding in your arms is my rightful wife! And you’re asking me to step aside?”
A hint of astonishment flashed across Matthew’s eyes. He then lowered his head and stared at Hesper.
‘Judging solely from how they’ve been interacting with each other, it’s almost impossible to tell that the two of them are husband and wife.’
Hesper leaned weakly in Matthew’s arm and said apologetically, “I’ll explain it to you later. Please take me away from this place now.”
“Hesper Rivera!” Exasperated, Rickard instantly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. “Is there any sense of shame left in you? You’re still one of the Duvals and I’m still your husband! And you’re
telling me that you’re planning to leave this place with another man?”
“That’s enough-
Hesper had never felt this fatigued before. The freezing rain had drenched her inside out, and the bone-piercing cold and lethargy seemed to emanate from the core of every single cell within her.
She stared at Rickard and uttered one word after another. “I… I’ve signed the divorce agreement; it’s in the nursery room. If you don’t believe me, you can get someone to go and check it out. So no matter where I want to go or who I want to go with, you no longer have the right to interfere.”
Rickard’s body swayed and almost lost balance.
‘I remember it now. I saw her entering the nursery room before she came out here and started kneeling. I originally thought she was worried about the baby, but I never expected her to secretly sign the agreement in the room!
‘Pfft, she really doesn’t want to waste any more time here, not even a second more.’
“Alright, with that being said, can you step aside already?” Matthew’s tone sounded extremely cold, not because he wanted to go against Rickard, but because he could feel Hesper’s body getting colder and colder.
‘If her condition continues to deteriorate, this woman might freeze to death.’
Rickard was still as stubborn as he usually was and refused to give in. He continued to block their way indifferently and ordered Benji to go inside and grab the agreement.
After a long time, he proceeded to say, “Even though the agreement has been signed, we haven’t undergone the official divorce procedures yet. So legally speaking, we’re still husband and wife.
Thus, you’re not allowed to leave this villa without my permission!”
Hesper’s gaze dimmed. “Rickard, why do you insist on keeping me here? What’s the point?”
She took a glance at the villa coldly; she really wanted to vent all the anger that had been accumulating within her for a long time.
“The feelings that we once had for each other are long gone, and since day one, I’ve never cared about the privileges that I can get as Mrs. Duval. I’ve also accepted and carried out all the punishments that you imposed on me. Now all I ask of you is to please not show up in my life ever again! Can you do that?!”
Madam Duval and Sophia, who arrived at the scene at that moment, pointed at Hesper angrily and shouted, “Dick, since she wants to leave, just let her go! She’s left her signature on the divorce agreement and handed it back to you, so she’s no longer one of us!”
“What’s more, she’s now cuddling with another man right in front of you, so who knows just how many men she’s been with behind your back!”
Juniper held onto his sleeve tightly, comforting him and coughing at the same time. “Rickard, just let her go. It’s time for you to let yourself go too. This marriage between you two was a mistake from the very beginning. Plus, you’ve never loved her, have you? So now that she wants to leave you, we can take this opportunity to start over. Back then, didn’t you say that you’ll always love me?”
A trace of struggle flashed across Rickard’s expression.
Hesper took one last glance at him, turned her head around, and laid back in Matthew’s arms. “Let’s go.”
Hearing that, Matthew strode away immediately.
When they were passing by, Rickard stretched his hand out but, in the end, put it down.
In the heavy rain, Hesper lifted her head and took a glance at the man who was still frozen in place, not knowing what was going through.
his mind.
However, Juniper suddenly lost consciousness and fell onto Rickard. He supported her and disappeared from the yard immediately.
“Don’t cry anymore,” a man’s voice came from above.