Chapter 3

After the police left, Father interrogated Leo:

"Tell me, who put you up to this?"

Leo gritted his teeth and said: "No one put me up to it."

Father waved his hand, and the servants dragged Leo to the outer courtyard.

Soon after, the sound of punches and kicks mixed with Leo's wails echoed in the courtyard.

I had been raised on the estate since childhood and had no friends. Only Leo, who was the same age as me, was willing to play with me.

I cried and begged Father not to beat him, but Father coldly pushed me away.

I rushed into the courtyard, trying to shield Leo with my small body, but Rose forcibly carried me back into the house.

A boy not yet seven years old was beaten to death like this.

Two young lives, gone just like that.

Just because they were born humble, their lives were as cheap as grass.

This resentment pressed on my chest, enough to make a child breathless, and enough to make a child grow up in an instant.

The swimming pool was filled in.

Many blooming flowers were transplanted to the estate.

The hundred-acre estate became even more beautiful than when Mother was alive.

After Leo was beaten to death in public, no servant dared to mention Mother's matter again.

Mother disappeared from this world without a sound, without a trace, as if she had never existed.

In the blink of an eye, another six years passed.

I learned to hide my hatred and learned how to survive in the Turner family.

One day when I was twelve, I was alone in the flower garden, fiddling with the white chrysanthemums that Mother loved most in life.

Suddenly, I overheard a conversation between Rose and Father.

"I've been with you for ten years now. When are you going to give me a proper status?"

Ten years?

It turned out that even before Mother passed away, someone had already coveted the position of the Turner family's mistress.

Father pinched Rose's fat bottom: "Tonight, okay?"

This scene stung my eyes.

It seems that being two-faced is a hereditary skill of Turner men.

Soon after, I really did have a new mother.

Rose, having turned her fate around, became the mistress, her triumphant expression obvious.

Even her tone when speaking to me was no longer as gentle and patient as before.

She eagerly took possession of Mother's jewelry and even secretly wore Mother's clothes, forcibly squeezing her stout body into the form-fitting dresses.

When the dress split, she angrily tore the entire wardrobe of dresses to shreds.

I happened to see it and wanted nothing more than to tear her to shreds as well.

But a second before she noticed me, I quickly suppressed my hatred and hugged Rose's thick waist like I used to when I was little.

"Aunt Rose's tummy has so much meat, it's so soft and comfortable. Not like my mother who died early, she was like a willow branch, trembling in the slightest breeze."

Rose, upon hearing this, suddenly pushed me away, put on her loose clothes, and stormed off in a huff.

At dinner, I deliberately put oily braised pork in Rose's bowl.

"Aunt Rose, this is delicious."

Rose swallowed: "I'm not eating it."

Father glanced at her: "No appetite?"

I laughed out loud: "Aunt Rose burst Mother's dress today, her butt was showing. Auntie must not be eating meat because of this, haha!"

Father glared at me: "How can a young lady speak so rudely?"

Grandfather hurried to support me: "A child her age is straightforward. Why bother arguing with her?"

I stuck out my tongue playfully.

But as soon as I said that, everyone unconsciously glanced at Rose... and the fat around her waist.

Rose's face, which wasn't very fair to begin with, became even darker, but she didn't dare lash out at me because of George's presence.

Seeing her frustrated look, my appetite grew, and I didn't forget to sweetly please Grandfather.

"Grandpa, have some vegetables."

George was so happy that he drank a few more glasses of wine.

When I was sending him back to his room to rest, he suddenly grabbed my hand.

Staring blankly at my face, he murmured softly: "Yvonne..."

I froze.

Yvonne had become a taboo word in the Turner family over the years.

If George hadn't suddenly mentioned it, people might have forgotten that it was my mother's name.