Must a Villainess Be Punished? - Chapter 7

Even if Chu Ruoqing hadn’t barked for me, I wouldn’t have done anything outrageous during the short holiday.

Not because I didn’t want to.

Because I didn’t dare.

The great demon Jiang Shechuan was home.

In public, I called him “my brother” at every opportunity and used his name to threaten people every few days.

Our relationship wasn’t actually very good.

When I was five, my biological mother married into the Jiang family and brought me with her.

She was a Beta, but an extraordinarily capable one. She had the head of the Jiang family wrapped around her finger.

Even after she eloped with her true love and abandoned me with the Jiangs, Father Jiang continued to treat me as his own. I never suffered the slightest grievance growing up.

Rather than feel insecure about living under someone else’s roof, that unique devotion made me wildly arrogant.

So arrogant that I even framed Jiang Shechuan, the family heir, in an effort to monopolize Father’s love.

He was seven years older. When I barely reached his knee, I already stole his things and accused him of hitting me.

Later, I framed him constantly. I claimed he smoked, dated in secret, raced hovercars—the list went on.

There were no fools in the Jiang family. My petty schemes fooled no one.

Yet Father never punished me. He humored me every time and gave Jiang Shechuan a token scolding.

Of course I was delighted to be indulged without limits.

What I didn’t understand was that Jiang Shechuan allowed me to frame him not because he was generous, and certainly not because he feared my schemes.

He was busy taking over the family business and simply hadn’t had time to discipline me.

The morning he became the true head of the family, he took one sip of the milk I had spiked with mustard and walked calmly toward me.

Oblivious to the danger, I was still tattling to Father.

“Why won’t Brother drink the milk I poured? Does he not like me?”

Jiang Shechuan reached me, expressionless, and lifted me onto his lap.

Then he caught my chin and forced me to drink the entire doctored glass.

The mustard made me burst into tears. I smeared tears and snot all over his suit jacket.

He didn’t care. He merely held my chin and asked, “Will you do it again?”

I wailed, “Dad, look at him! He’s bullying me!”

Father couldn’t bear it, but one look from Jiang Shechuan made the retired President Jiang raise both hands in surrender.

“Calling for Dad won’t help. If he keeps spoiling you, you’ll be ruined.”

Jiang Shechuan’s voice wasn’t loud, but his words sounded like a death sentence.

“I’ll be responsible for disciplining you from now on. If you’re afraid of pain, behave.”

I was afraid of pain, but I was even more afraid of losing face.

So although I knew better than to provoke Jiang Shechuan, I never learned. I bounced across every boundary he drew.

It was also to provoke him that I ran wild and made Chu Ruoqing—whom Jiang Shechuan had praised many times—my kept canary.

That time, the man who usually settled for mild punishment became genuinely furious.

He pinned me across his lap and spent half the night whipping my backside with a belt.

My howls shook the villa.

“Jiang Shechuan, you’re bullying a child! Have you no shame?”

He brought the belt down again, face cold.

“What child keeps another person?”

I bared my teeth through the pain, still fearless enough to curse him.

“Just you wait! You’ll regret this! One day, I’ll make you beg me in tears!”

I delivered my threat beautifully.

The great demon gave me several extra lashes for it, and I nearly screamed my voice apart.

“You’ll regret this! You perverted old Alpha, bullying a high schooler—ow!”