He was the beloved, praised husband of the village, yet at night he tied my mother to a wooden horse, whipping her as he abused her. I watched him stagger from the pool of blood, adjusting his clothes after his cruelty. On the day he sold me, he stole a jade pendant—the emblem of the Duke’s family. When my uncle razed the village, I sent my own father to hell. The village cursed my mother as cruel, never knowing the real killer was me.