The Wicked Mrs. Gastrell (English version)

Only now did I realize that I shouldn’t blame anyone but the Asturias for all that happened to me. I didn’t have to point a finger at fate because it was that evil family who did this to me just because they don’t want their most prized princess to get hurt.

They love differently in their own wicked ways. They don’t care if they have to hurt and sacrifice others for their own happiness. They don’t care if they step on someone.

But just like them, I don’t mind killing just to give justice to my loved ones. A massacre if the need arises. I want them to feel pain and torture and think about me all the time for causing it. I want them to keep on cursing my name for inflicting the unendurable agony.

Ymir took my father from me. His family killed my brother and Elizabeth… she murdered my son, Errol.

They took everything from me.

What would be the best way to take out my revenge other than to take their own kind too, right?

Eye to eye. Tooth to tooth. Flesh to flesh. Blood on blood. They took my life, so their life will be paid in return. It’s the infamous Hammurabi Code.

But unlike them, I’ll do it in my own simple but creative way.

The door opened and Elizabeth entered, looking like an angel again in her white dress and white high heeled shoes. She really is acting the part of being the kindest human being that has walked the earth.

“What are you doing here, Karina? What is it this time? Aren’t you tired of do-”

Elizabeth stopped talking behind me when she saw the posters and pictures sticking to the wall of her office. She automatically turned white when she saw the shots. She dropped his bag and covered her mouth with her hands.

“W-Where did you get it?! Take that away from here!”

Without emotion, I stood up from sitting at her table and pouted my lips.

“Why? Are you embarrassed? But it’s your greatest achievement.”

I turned to the pictures of her car and the CCTV shots of her escape from the crime scene.

“Besides, what is there to get angry about? I see nothing wrong with that. It’s just your beautiful car, Elizabeth. Nothing else. Unless you committed a crime using that? Oh my golly cow! Did you perhaps do something illegal like running over a mother and son and then fleeing away like nothing happened? Is that why you’re so furious and fearful right now?”

“Stop it!” she shouted and ran to the wall.

With trembling hands, she tore apart the photographs and ripped them one by one. I walked to the other end of the office, grabbed the boxes of pictures and started pasting them.

“Why are you bothering to do that Ma’am Elizabeth when you have all your personnel to do them for you? Do you want me to call them for you? Hmm? Maybe it’s because you’re getting tired. You shouldn’t be tired and stressed because you might go back there. Your family doesn’t want that to happen, right?” I said while continuing to put the pictures on the wall.

“No! Karina, stop that!”

She ran to me and started taking the pictures out I had pasted. I sighed and just scattered the ones that were left all over the room. She began gathering them together and shredding them using her dainty hands.

I folded my arms as I watched her kneel on the floor while hurriedly putting the pictures in her trash bin. She looks so determined to finish the task.

Shrugging, I grabbed the other boxes and scattered the entire contents around. It rained photos of her crimes and the carpet was barely visible. She was stunned and just stared helplessly at her entire office that was almost covered with papers.

“Here, Elizabeth. Here,” I said while spreading it with my feet.

“Faster! What else are you waiting for? Collect them all and throw them! Maybe someone will see and know the real you. Or worse, Cholo might visit you anytime soon and he might see these pictures.”

When she hears that, she goes back to tearing up the papers again. Tears were already falling from her face while biting her lips.

Her white clothes are also dirty. I searched my heart to see if I felt any pity for her. Nothing. What I felt for her right now is anger. Nothing but anger. I walked around the room with my folded arms.

“I have something in mind. What if Cholo finds out that we had a baby? What if I tell him that you killed our son? I’m curious about what he would do to you. The election is already next week and we both know that Cholo’s cousin will be declared as the new mayor. By then, he will have no reason to be with me. He will divorce me and marry you. That is if he will not hate you after learning what you did to his son.”

I knelt down and grinned at the pale Elizabeth who was looking at me in tears.

“I’m dying to know what will happen by then, Elizabeth.”

“No! Please Karina, no.”

With a trembling hand, she reached for my hand and held it tightly.

“Don’t tell Cholo, please. I’m begging you, Karina. He will hate me. I can’t imagine that Cholo will be angry with me. I love him so much. He’s my life, you know that. Even though it kills me every day to know that he is with you, I agreed because that was what he asked me to. Please, don’t tell him. I didn’t mean that to happen! It was an accident! You know that!”

My eyes widened at what she said. Without a warning, I raised my hand and gave her my hardest slap. Which was followed by another one and another one and another one until my hands were numb and I was sweating. Elizabeth’s cheeks were teary, she was dumbfounded, and her face was swollen but I didn’t stop.

Blood. I wanted to see her blood. I wanted to see what it looked like.

Is it as red as the blood of my brother or my child?

“It wasn’t just an accident! You did it on purpose! You saw us crossing! You even let us remember?! But why did you run us over? Is it because of Cholo? Don’t you already have him? He’s all yours, Elizabeth! Cholo loves you. Your family is complete! You’re rich, educated, and beautiful so why do you have to take the only reason why I’m living? Why do you have to take what was left of me?! Why?!”

I grabbed her hair and forced her to kneel, then I took my cell phone and took a video of her.

“Go, Elizabeth. Clean up all the mess. You can do that!”

I sat in front of her and firmly grabbed her chin and forced her face to the camera.

“But do you know what you have to clean up? It’s your conscience! How can you manage to sleep at night knowing you killed someone? How can you be an angel outside and live off being a monster inside? You’re a murderer! A big-time liar and a two-faced person. Just so you wait, one of these days, everyone will know everything that you have done.”

“N-No, no.”

She shook her head while covering her ears with her hands.

“You can’t do that. Cholo can’t know this. He’ll hate me. He’ll hate me for the rest of his life. No, no. You can’t do that, Karina. Please, don’t. I will do everything you want. You want to slap me? Here. Hurt me! Slap me! Or do you want me to do it myself? Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll do it myself.”

She slapped herself causing the edge of her lip to crack open as it was hit by the stone of her ring. I just stood there looking at how she self-destructed. Even if I didn’t want to, I saw my old self in her. Well, it’s a good thing. At least I know it will end the way I’ve been dreaming it to.

I stood up to get a tissue and turned back to the woman who was still hurting herself. I stopped her hand and wiped the blood from her mouth.

“You said you’ll do anything for me, right?” I asked her in a gentle voice while carefully pressing the tissue on her wound. She quickly nodded.

“Y-Yes, I’ll do anything you want me to. Anything. I’ll do it, just don’t tell Cholo about it.”

I smiled at Elizabeth then wiped her tears.

“Well, because I’m nice and kind unlike you, I’ll give you my consideration. This thing I’m asking you is so easy. You can do it in just a snap. I want you to stop the acquisition of lands by your brother in Monte Vega. I don’t know how you’ll do it. Go threaten some people. Hurt them, force them, kill them if it’s needed. You can do it, Ely. Remember, you’re an Asturia. Being a killer runs naturally in your blood. Can you do that for me, Ely? In exchange, I’ll keep my lips sealed about what happened. What do you think?”

She closed her eyes and bit her lips, the blood gushing out from his lower lip but she didn’t seem to mind the pain. I think she’s not even aware of what mess she has become now.

I no longer see the Elizabeth Asturia that I’m so insecure about. All I’m seeing now is a helpless woman on the verge of insanity. Her trembling hands with chipped nail colors are on the floor grasping the strewn photos.

“Cholo will be devastated. He planned this project for a long time. If I do that, it’s like killing him too.”

I raised my eyebrows at what I heard.

“So you are refusing? So it’s okay for me to tell him about your crime? That you killed our son? He will be more devastated if he found out the truth.”

“Your son is already peacefully sleeping, Karina. Let him rest in peace. He’s dead. I… I can’t do something that will hurt Cholo.”

“How dare you talk to my son like that!”

I stopped holding myself. I slapped her again countless times until my hand hurts. But I can’t feel the physical pain anymore because my heart is bleeding. It’s been bleeding for eight fucking years which felt like forever.

There’s no rest. There’s not even a single moment in my life where I felt happiness because I stopped feeling joy. I became numb. I forgot how to function anymore. They sucked me dry. They got me crazy until I decided that being crazy is all I needed to be to extract my revenge.

“My son, my father, and my brother will never be able to rest in peace because I am still not able to give them the justice they deserve! You’re still alive! Your big brother and your whole family are still alive so they haven’t had a good night’s rest! So how dare you say that in front of me!”

My hand was shaking as I raised it in the air again.

“Karina!”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Ymir’s voice echoed throughout the room. I looked up at him before giving the last slap for his beloved sister.

Ymir came to us in an instant, confused about what to do first. He’s torn between strangling me to death like what he loves to tell me or to help his pale bloodied sister on the floor. He chose the latter while killing me with those eyes.

“I swear I will kill you with my bare hands, woman!”

He gathered his sister in his arms and stood up still glaring at me. If only looks could kill then I would be long dead. But I remained fearless.

“Now how does it feel to see your beloved sister whom you never hit once get slapped countless times by me? Does it hurt, Ymir? Does it make you feel like Satan? Now think about this. Did you even imagine for a second how I would feel when your men killed my brother right in front of me?! Have you ever wondered how I coped with that every second, minute, day, and year that passed? If you didn’t then I guess I have to kill your sister in front of you to give you a demonstration how sick it feels. Maybe you’ll feel a little bit of remorse in yourself. But I bet you won’t, you rotten evil.”

I opened my arms and smiled at him sweetly.

“So expect some more things in the coming days, Ymir.”

The tendons in his neck moved and his face became even redder with anger.

“There will be no more days for you, Karina. I will deal with you now. I will never let it slide.”

He looked at the men at the door.

“August! Get Elizabeth away from me. Elixir, bring me the gun.”

“What? Are you going to kill me too just like what you did to my father and brother? Then give me the gun now. I will kill myself. Just a heads up, if I don’t get out of this building alive within an hour, everyone in the town will know the deepest secret of your sister.”

“Please, no. Don’t hurt her. You will not do anything to her. She… She knows kuya. She knows everything,” Elizabeth sobbed uncontrollably.

I grinned at Ymir who was also stunned by what he heard.

“Well? What will you do, Ymir? What Elizabeth wants, Elizabeth gets. So I really need to say bye now.”

I came to him and whispered in his ear.

“Thank you. Thank you for saving me that one rainy night. If not for you, I would not be here enjoying how the two of you wallow in misery. So pitiful.”

And with one last look, I waved my hand and saluted them before I walked out of the door, not letting them see how crumbled my walls have become.