Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 27
# Chapter 27: He Likes You
Likes her?
This was what liking someone looked like?
He had beaten her into this condition because he liked her. If he didn’t, would he have cut her to pieces?
Anya seemed to read her thoughts. She smiled and continued explaining.
“The Black Wolf has rules when it comes to flogging. A real punishment whip has barbs. One lash can tear away a strip of flesh. After ten, the spine can be exposed.”
Xia Zhiyao shuddered uncontrollably, horrified by the image.
“Yours only looks frightening. There is a little bruising, but no damage to the muscles or bones. He didn’t even break the skin. It just hurt.”
“If he’d truly meant to punish you, the first lash would have crippled you.”
Anya finished dressing the final welt, removed her gloves, and casually pulled a lollipop from the pocket of her white coat. She unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth.
As the base’s chief physician, she had treated too many of Shen Yu’s wounded men.
The men brought to her were always missing limbs, suffering broken bones, or lacking some other part of themselves.
This supposed punishment, all thunder and no rain, administered merely to lay down the rules, was nothing more than Shen Yu’s unique brand of perverse amusement.
Xia Zhiyao had no idea what to say.
She was only nineteen. She had grown up safe and carefree in Huaguo, where the greatest difficulty she had ever faced was a paper failing a plagiarism check. Everything that had happened over the past few days lay completely beyond her understanding.
“I’ll leave the ointment here. Use it twice a day. It’s good stuff and won’t leave scars.” Anya set the tube on the bedside table.
Then she unwrapped another lollipop and handed it to Xia Zhiyao.
“Here, little rabbit. Have something sweet to settle your nerves.”
Xia Zhiyao stared at the shining piece of candy. Her nose stung, and her eyes reddened instantly.
In all the days since she had arrived, this was the first kindness she had received from another person—something beyond false courtesy and violent possession.
She put the candy in her mouth. Its cool sweetness spread across her tongue, yet it made her want to cry.
“Thank you, Dr. Anya…” Xia Zhiyao said politely, one cheek puffed around the candy.
Anya bit down on her own lollipop and studied the pitiful figure curled up on the bed.
Skin as pale as porcelain. Eyes red as a rabbit’s. Clearly terrified, yet still trying her best to remain polite.
No wonder that ancient iron tree Shen Yu had finally blossomed and brought someone home.
In this filthy region, such fragile innocence was the ultimate luxury.
Anya waved a hand with easy confidence. “Don’t mention it. Just call me Anya. Apart from Auntie Mei and the maids, I’m the only woman allowed to come and go freely in this building.”
“Most of the time, though, I’m over at the medical building. It’s a little far from here.”
Looking at Xia Zhiyao’s aggrieved face and her effort to suffer in silence, Anya felt a small protective impulse stir.
“What’s with that face, little rabbit? If there’s something you want to ask, you can tell me. I’m not afraid of him.”
Anya leaned against the back of the chair, perfectly relaxed.
Xia Zhiyao sniffled. Tears pattered onto the pillow.
There was so much she wanted to ask.
But when she opened her mouth, everything dissolved into the most primitive fear.
“I… I don’t dare…”
Xia Zhiyao lowered her eyes, tears still clinging to her long lashes. “I don’t dare miss home, and I don’t dare think about my parents. Mr. Shen said… that was betrayal, and I would be punished.”
“But…”
She looked up, her eyes shattered.
“I only want to know whether they’re still alive… or whether they were tricked into coming here like I was…”
At heart, she was only a sophomore in college.
A sheltered flower that had never known a storm had suddenly been transplanted to the edge of hell’s molten depths. The fact that she had not gone mad was already a miracle.
Xia Zhiyao suddenly remembered something and began pleading in a trembling voice.
“Dr. Anya, please… please don’t tell Mr. Shen. Pretend I never said anything… please…”
Anya watched the poor little rabbit for a moment.
The girl had been frightened into a deep psychological wound.
“Don’t worry. I’m a doctor. Protecting a patient’s privacy is part of my professional ethics.”
She pulled a tissue from the table and handed it to Xia Zhiyao.
“I’m in the gray medical building up ahead. Once you’ve healed, you can come find me.”
Anya thought for a moment, then corrected herself. “Never mind. That control freak Shen Yu probably won’t let you leave this courtyard on your own. And it is a bit far.”
She glanced at the guards patrolling outside the window, a dashing smile appearing on her lips.
“I’ll come visit you instead.”
Anya winked. The gesture instantly brought her otherwise hard features to life.
“In a couple of days, once you’re feeling better and can walk, I’ll take you out for a look around.”
“Go… out?” Xia Zhiyao stared at her, hardly believing her ears.
Those words sounded like an impossible fantasy.
“Can I really? But Mr. Shen…”
“Of course.”
Anya removed her white coat and pulled on the sleek black jacket of the Black Wolf Guard. She straightened the collar and turned toward the door.
At the threshold, she paused and glanced back with a wink.
“I told you. I’m not afraid of him.”
She gave a casual wave and strode away.
The door closed behind her.
Silence returned to the room.
Anya.
Xia Zhiyao repeated the name in her heart.
Within these iron walls, where there was nothing but violence, blood, and fear, the sudden flash of white was like a beam of light piercing the night.
“Go out for a look…”
She whispered the words.
Lying in bed, she turned her head toward the gloomy sky outside.
She had to get better.
She must get better.
Only while she was alive was there any hope of going home.
