Chapter 2

Fortunately, a strong wind happened to blow from outside at that moment, so she wasn’t discovered. But that did nothing to calm Vivian’s pounding heart.

‘Me and Peter getting married? But I don’t love Peter! You’re supposed to marry someone you love!’

Of course, Ron and Mary’s real intention was that once Vivian became an adult, they would no longer be able to act as her guardians, so they planned to marry her to Peter and swallow up the Lambert family completely. But Vivian was still too young to understand that.

All she knew was that the possibility of marrying Peter was absolutely horrifying.

‘Ugh.’

Without realizing it, Vivian stepped backward. She felt like she might scream at any second.

If she got caught, they would definitely accuse her of eavesdropping like a little rat and lock her in the attic.

After returning to her room, Vivian gasped for breath.

She didn’t even know how she had managed to make it back. Suddenly, she gagged.

“U-urgh.”

In the fairy tales her father used to read to her, princesses always kissed the prince when they got married.

“Blegh. Haa, haaah.”

The moment she imagined kissing Peter, she felt sick enough to throw up.

Peter’s creepy smile from earlier that day flashed through her mind.

Did Peter know about this plan too?

‘Doesn’t he hate the idea of marrying me?’

He always acted like he couldn’t stand her, so she was certain he disliked her too.

In truth, Peter didn’t hate Vivian. He had actually liked her since they were very young. But Vivian never recognized the boy’s twisted way of showing affection, nor did she have any reason to.

If he liked her, he should have treated her nicely.

Anyway, with tears welling in her eyes, Vivian buried her face into the pillow stuffed with straw that rustled noisily.

‘I-I don’t want to marry Peter!’

But even if Vivian hated the idea, there was no way Ron and Mary would say:

“Oh, is that so? We’re terribly sorry for raising our son poorly. Then let’s forget about the marriage.”

‘What should I do? Who can I ask for help?’

But there was no one in this village who would help Vivian.

Another village? Vivian had never even left this village in her life.

There was a vast forest between villages, and people said wolves and bears lived there, eating anyone who got lost.

“Sniff… hic…”

No matter how hard she thought, there was nowhere she could run.

Exhausted from crying, Vivian fell asleep and dreamed a nightmare where Peter chased her around endlessly with his lips puckered out.

Vivian greeted the morning with swollen red eyes. She looked so pale and haggard that even Mary flinched in surprise when she saw her.

That didn’t mean Mary let her rest from work.

As usual, Vivian washed dishes, dusted furniture, scrubbed the floors, and finally received a single piece of bread.

“Phew.”

Since she had worked so hard doing laundry yesterday that her hands nearly froze, there was nothing left for her to do today until dinner time.

Originally, Mary had intended to make Vivian prepare meals too. But Vivian was catastrophically untalented at cooking. In the end, Mary temporarily gave up because she wanted to eat edible food.

So, whether fortunate or not, Vivian had some free time.

She headed upstairs to return to her room—the only place where she could somewhat relax in peace.

Or rather, she tried to.

“Hey!”

Until Peter appeared.

“Where are you going? Trying to shut yourself up in your room alone again?”

“……”

“Want me to play with you? Playing with a pitiful kid is a good deed, you know?”

“I don’t need it.”

She had to marry a guy like this?

Vivian barely held back a sigh, but she couldn’t stop herself from glaring at Peter with utter disgust.

And that irritated him.

“What’s with that look when I’m trying to play with you!”

“I-I don’t need it! Who said I wanted to play with you?”

Peter approached with a threatening expression. Vivian instinctively backed up several steps up the stairs.

“What did you just say?”

“D-don’t come closer!”

Every time Vivian climbed two steps, Peter climbed two after her. She felt like prey being hunted by a beast.

“You shouldn’t act like this. You’re gonna marry me anyway. You should listen to me, Vivi.”

Peter, having accepted Ron and Mary’s words at face value, spoke casually. Vivian’s body trembled.

“W-who said I’m marrying you? Go away!”

“You think you can refuse just because you don’t want to? You should behave while I’m still being nice—”

“I said I won’t!”

Thud.

Unable to endure Peter continuing to threaten her despite her repeated warnings, Vivian shoved him.

Normally, it would’ve been a ridiculous attack.

Vivian was far smaller and frailer than children her age because she rarely ate properly.

Peter, meanwhile, was two years older than her and well-fed, making him much bigger.

The problem was that Peter was in the middle of climbing the stairs. One foot was still in the air, and Vivian pushed him at the exact moment his balance became unstable.

Crash! Bang!

Peter tumbled down the stairs with a loud racket.

“P-Peter!”

“Waaahhh!! Mom!! Mooom!!”

Mary, who had been resting in the drawing room, rushed out in shock at the noise and her son’s cries.

“Peter! Good heavens! What happened here… Vivian?”

“Waaah! Mom, I was only trying to play with Vivian because I thought she might be lonely. Hic. But Vivian p-pushed me!”

“My poor son! Honey! Ron! Come here quickly!”

“Why are you yelling? Goodness, what happened to Peter now?”

Ron, who had been dozing in the study, came out at Mary’s call. Vivian’s legs were shaking so badly now that she could barely stand.

“Vivian pushed him down the stairs! Hurry and take him to the doctor! I’m going to properly punish this child.”

“Down the stairs? Dear me.”

As Ron’s gaze turned toward her, Vivian hurriedly lowered her eyes.

“Waaah, it hurts! It hurts!”

“Oh dear, Peter! Boys shouldn’t cry. Daddy will take you to the doctor, so stop crying now!”

Ron carried away the sobbing Peter on his back. Mary watched her son with concern until he disappeared from view, then suddenly whipped around toward Vivian with a vicious expression.

“Vivian! How could you do such a thing? Where else would you find a boy as caring as Peter!”

It was such an absurd thing to say, but the terrified Vivian couldn’t answer back.

“A nasty child like you needs to be disciplined. I should take back the bread I gave you earlier! Maybe starving for a day will teach you what you did wrong!”

“I-I’ll starve.”

“What?”

Her eyes, once clear like the blue sky, clouded over, and soon large tears rolled down her cheeks.

Her mouth, sealed shut from fear and sorrow, finally opened. Once the tears started, everything she had bottled up all day burst out too.

“I’ll starve… I-I’ll listen well and work hard around the house too. Sob. B-but I don’t want to m-marry Peter.”

“Marriage? How did you—”

“Waaahhh! I don’t want to get married! I don’t waaaant to!”

“So you were eavesdropping on that too. Honestly.”

Seeing such a tiny child crying might have softened someone’s heart.

But Mary only hardened hers further.

Right now, Vivian was young enough to only cry, but who knew what she might do once she grew older?

She might demand her rights and try to throw the whole family out. Better to crush that behavior now.

“What’s wrong with marrying Peter? If you marry our son, you’ll be able to live here forever!”

“Waaahhh!”

Mary’s rough hand seized Vivian’s arm. Vivian nearly stumbled several times trying to keep up with the adult woman’s long strides as she dragged her away.

“This won’t do. Until you come to your senses and fix your attitude, you’ll spend some time reflecting alone in the attic.”

“N-no! The attic has r-rats in it too…”

“If you don’t want to be locked up, then reflect properly!”

The moment Mary opened the attic door, settled dust flew into the air. She shoved Vivian inside as though throwing her away, then stared coldly at her.

“If our Peter’s leg is broken, you’ll stay locked in there for a whole week.”

“No! I-I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

Vivian begged desperately, but Mary mercilessly slammed the door shut.

Bang, bang.

Vivian clung to the door and cried over and over for it to be opened, but it never opened again.