Julian Seraphina Cassie NovelThe Rules He Taught Me

She's selling herself.
My adoptive sister, Seraphina Hayes, publicly ripped open my clothes, revealing my body covered in hickeys.
I saw her with my own eyes, on her knees, serving men in a nightclub.
My adoptive brother, Julian Sterling, choked me, roaring, You disgraceful slut!
Three days later, he personally escorted me into a correctional center.
The moment the iron gate slammed shut, he pinched my chin and said, Remember, even if you're completely ruined, I'll make you clean again.
A year later, Julian came to pick me up.
With red-rimmed eyes, he opened his arms wide: Cassie, come home with me.
I smiled and told him:
I've been doing great in there, I've learned so many rules!
Oh yes, especially the rules of serving men

Julian nodded with satisfaction, intending to pull me into his embrace.
I took a step back. He immediately frowned:
Cassie, why are you avoiding me? Were you mistreated in there?
He forcefully pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly.
It's okay now, it's all over. I will take you home right away.
His scent felt foreign and disgusted me.
Then, he stroked my back to comfort me, but through the thin uniform, his hand brushed against a scar.
His hand suddenly froze on my back, his voice filled with shock and uncertainty.
What is this?
My body stiffened at his touch.
I recalled the image of several female instructors pressing me onto the cold concrete floor, savagely whipping my back with a spiked cane.
Their curses still echoed in my ears, That's what you get for being disobedient. That's what you get for talking back. That's what you get for refusing to sing the repentance song.
The raw, bloody pain seemed to seep out from the depths of that scar once more.
I pulled myself out of that dark memory, and in his arms, I suddenly let out a soft laugh.
Julian, this is a 'medal' the instructors left me. Pretty, isn't it?
Julian's body completely stiffened. I could feel the muscles in the back of his neck instantly tense.
Besides, the instructors' bodies were much better than yours. Their abs were hard, not soft like yours, Julian.
Do you have any idea what you're saying?
He pushed me away abruptly, his eyes bloodshot, grabbing my shoulders and roaring.
Faced with his roar, my shoulders involuntarily tensed.
That was the conditioned reflex left from every time the bell rang before an electroshock at the correctional center.
But after just a second, I immediately lifted my head and gave him a bright, yet eerie smile.
That smile choked back all his ready anger, leaving only shock and disbelief in his eyes.
He tried to use his old commanding tone to suppress me, to regain control.
What kind of nonsense are you spouting?
I blinked innocently, the smile fading from my face, my tone returning to its former obedience and meekness.
Wait for me, I'll go pack my things first.
Finally, I carried a few worn-out clothes and got into the car with Julian.
In the car, he began to warn me again:
When we get home, you need to be obedient, okay?
Okay.
I agreed with my mouth, but in my heart, I thought, Axel always said, true rules are always made by oneself.



Back at the mansion, my adoptive sister, Seraphina, greeted me with feigned delight.
She ran up to me intimately, linking her arm through mine, her eyes full of apparent concern.
Cassie, you're finally back. I missed you so much.
Her act was flawless, as if she wasn't the one who had cried to Julian about me earning money by escorting men and ruining the family's reputation.
She pulled out a gift box from behind her back and opened it in front of me.
Inside was a black slip dress with barely any fabric and a bottle of champagne.
She smiled, her voice sweet yet malicious: Cassie, from now on, if you want to wear or drink something, just tell Julian directly. Please, don't go to places like that to degrade yourself again.
Even more sickeningly, as she spoke, she actually reached out to unbutton the gray uniform I was wearing.
She said with disgust, Hurry and take off this filthy outfit, it looks dirty. Cassie, let me help you change into this new dress.
Her sharp nails deliberately grazed a shallow scar on my collarbone.
Underneath that uniform, my body was covered in scars, some deep, some shallow.
Just as Seraphina's hand was about to touch the second button.
I clamped down on her wrist, using a self-defense technique I'd learned in there, twisting it outwards.
Ah.
Seraphina let out a piercing cry of pain, her face pale.
She stared at me in shock, her eyes filled with the horror of how dare you, utterly unable to believe that the pushover she used to bully would possess such startling strength and reaction.
I stepped back, flung her hand away, and created distance between us.
It was then that Julian spoke, his voice carrying clear displeasure and favoritism.
Seraphina was only trying to help you, Cassie. Be good, go change your clothes now.
He paused, his gaze falling on my uniform, and added a sentence.
Don't bring your dirt from outside into our home.
Those words, your dirt, pierced my heart.
My mind immediately replayed the scene at the correctional center, where several female instructors held my head down, forcing me to scrub toilets full of filth and vomit with a toothbrush.
They hosed down my body while laughing wildly.
Clean up. Wash all that depraved filth out of your bones.
That revealing slip dress, Julian's cold words, instantly triggered my most humiliating memories.
Flashes of being tied tightly to a chair because I refused to admit to those baseless mistakes crossed my mind.
Icy electrodes clamped onto my temples, powerful currents coursing through my body, the agonizing pain making me almost bite through my molars, convulsing uncontrollably.
And Julian's assistant would appear at the visitation window every month.
He would ask me the same question, expressionless: Miss Sterling, have you admitted your wrongs? As soon as you do, Mr. Sterling will take you out immediately.
Just as I was punished with three days without food, my stomach cramping from hunger, cowering in a corner, almost fainting.
A man in an instructor's uniform, during his patrol, found a blind spot in the surveillance and tossed me a piece of bread from his pocket.
His voice was cold, yet it was the only decent words I heard in that hell.
Eat it, don't let anyone see.
Cassie, why aren't you happy? Don't you like the dress I gave you?
Seeing my prolonged silence, Seraphina rubbed her reddened wrist and provocatively waved the dress at me, trying to irritate me.
I didn't break down or yell in anger as she expected.
I simply, slowly, picked up that expensive bottle of champagne from beside the gift box she had offered.