I feel the gore that is depicted is PG-13 at worst here, while there is the threat of physical mutilation, there is no depiction of it. Besides with how well the author has set up the story so far I am sure that he will give us a good story based reason for all this torture. At least there is now plot motivation for the girl to start acting, the trauma from her childhood should have long since faded (plot relevance wise) and this is a good kick start for the real story, with the entire duke's family dragged in this time for additional impact.