Chapter 4181

Chapter 4181

Kathryn looked up at Pedro. “I want to touch your face,” she said.

Pedro’s expression was tense, his features hardened with anger. However, after a moment, he leaned down, allowing her to reach him easily.

She ran her fingers across his face. “Your face is as hard as marble. So handsome, yet so rigid. I don’t like seeing you like this. I prefer when you’re gentle, like jade.”

Pedro’s voice was low and firm. “Miss, I’m not gentle like jade.”

Years of brutal training at the base had transformed him into a hardened soldier. Gentleness was not part of his nature.

Yet, when he was in a good mood, his sharp edges softened.

To her, he was always handsome and polite. To her, he was gentle like jade.

As she spoke, the tension in his face eased.

“Pedro, don’t be angry,” Kathryn said lightly. “Look at me; I’m fine. I still have both my legs, my arms, and my head. They didn’t chop me up and feed me to the fish. I knew their timing. I let them scratch my arm, nothing more. They were first-time killers, inexperienced and mentally weak. They panicked and only managed to scratch me. I screamed on purpose—scared my eldest brother so much that he dropped the kitchen knife.” Pedro was left speechless. With a flick of his fingers, he tapped her forehead. “Miss, do you even hear yourself?”

Kathryn’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “Of course, I do.”

She was aware that her brothers had never killed anyone before.

Neither had she.

Pedro’s gaze turned icy. “They actually planned to chop you up and feed you to the fish!” His voice was cold and sharp. “If it weren’t for your insistence on sparing them, I wouldn’t have let them walk out of prison alive.”

Pedro had methods—many methods to ensure those three brothers never…

She left prison, but Kathryn didn’t want them dead. She offered him a reassuring smile.

“That’s what I mean. They lacked the courage to follow through, Pedro. Let’s put this behind us. My plan worked flawlessly, and I won’t worry about them anymore. Once I recover and Liberty is settled and secure, we’ll leave.”

She exhaled slowly. “I have my own company now. I want to move away from Jensburg. Aside from visiting my mother’s grave during the Qingming Festival, I never want to return.”

Before Pedro could respond, she continued, “Pedro, where should we go? I want to live somewhere warm. Jensburg is freezing. Last night, I thought I would freeze to death. When I was little, no one bought me warm clothes. I had to wear secondhand rags and nearly froze every winter. I survived over twenty brutal winters by sheer luck.” She paused, lost in thought.

As a child, her adoptive mother forced her to wash the family’s clothes by the river—even in winter. Even when the river froze over, she had to fetch water from the well to scrub the laundry. The water was ice-cold, sending pain through her hands every time she dipped them in.

If she hesitated, her adoptive mother would whip her. The pain was unbearable, and yet her mother never showed a hint of remorse. The villagers were the only ones who intervened, stopping the beatings when they could.

After too many complaints, even from the village head and the Women’s Federation, her mother ceased hitting her in public. But the abuse continued behind closed doors. Her adoptive brothers also beat her.

No matter how hard she worked or how much she did for them, the beatings never ceased. Other mothers loved their children, but hers never did. At a young age, she was forced to accept that truth.

harsh truth.