"It's been three years. How has Vera learned manners? Anyway, bring her back tomorrow for mom's birthday banquet." Those were Callum's exact words.
When the servants from the Holden Family came to fetch me, I was washing clothes for a group of soldiers.
I had to endure washing all the sweat-stained clothes, batch after batch, for three days. That was quite tiring, but I had no choice. It was what I should do.
It was December, in a cold winter season and the surroundings were too cold. If I hadn't washed quickly, the water would have already frozen, so I had to immerse my hands in cold water all day long. My hands were already covered in frostbite, swollen and painful.
Even if I kept on working tirelessly all day long, the sergeant, Henry Sanders, who supervised me here, kept on cursing and yelling at me as if I was not doing anything at all.
"Who do you think you are, acting like a princess here?! You're just a condemned woman, so you better work, or else you'll suffer! You chose it!" Henry always shouted at me that way.
Three years ago, Callum had sent Henry to supervise me. He instructed him to be tough on me.