Chapter 5

The backyard of the Gray residence was a garden.

Inside, Alvina planted all kinds of rare flowers for her perfumery.

She usually tended to them with great care, almost as if she were raising children.

As Alvina rushed downstairs, countless possibilities flashed through her mind.

Could Wendy have resented her for tampering with the perfume and instructed Lily to pick her flowers?

But when she reached the scene, she realized the situation was far worse than she imagined.

Lily had done far more than pick her flowers.

She set fire to her garden.

The rare flowers Alvina spent three years planting had already been swallowed by the flames and reduced to nothing.

Datura, rosemary, black roses, cardamom, geranium, clary sage—everything she could name and everything she could not had turned into charred, withered branches, lying scattered across the ground like the aftermath of a silent massacre.

Lily stood off to the side, wailing loudly.

Through her sobs, she kept apologizing. “I’m sorry, Alvina. I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to burn an egg in the garden and see if any bugs would crawl out. I didn’t know it would turn into this…”

The housekeeper quickly added, “Madam, she said she wanted to play in the backyard. None of us expected her to play with fire. The wind was strong today, and the flames spread too fast. We couldn’t put them out in time…”

The blood in Alvina’s body seemed to run backward, and her ears rang.

Wendy’s shadow flashed through her mind, and all she wanted was to tear that shadow apart.

Lily walked toward her and tugged at the hem of her clothes. “I’m really sorry, Alvina. I…”

“You really didn’t mean it?”

Before Lily could finish, Alvina suddenly shouted.

Alvina had always been emotionally steady and rarely lost her temper.

The sudden sight of her yelling at a child startled even the housekeeper.

Lily cried even harder and did not dare say another word, only sobbing nonstop.

Rage slammed around inside Alvina’s chest like a trapped beast, desperate to tear through her body and break free.

In the end, she forced it down with all her strength.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Then she slowly crouched down and reached out to touch the black rose she treasured most.

This was the most important ingredient she chose for her competition entry next month, a perfume theme called Wild Silence.

She bought this black rose two years ago at a high price from a foreign grower. There had only been two plants at the time, and the variety was extremely rare. She overcame endless difficulties with the climate and soil before finally managing to keep them alive.

Now, they bloomed into rare black roses.

Although their color was haunting, their fragrance was truly intoxicating.

She was confident that she could win the perfume championship with this flower.

Now, all of it had been reduced to nothing.

The branches of the black rose crumbled at the slightest touch, and black ash fell softly into her palm.

She clenched her fist tightly. “Where is Dr. Warren?”

The housekeeper stepped forward and answered, “Miss Warren said she had something to do an hour ago and went out.”

How perfectly timed.

Did Wendy really think that was enough to clear herself of suspicion?

Alvina stood, her cold gaze sweeping one last time over Lily, who was still crying.

Then she instructed the housekeeper, “Call Eden. Tell him the backyard caught fire.”

Eden came back quickly.

After hearing that the backyard had caught fire, he rushed home in a panic.

The moment he entered, he looked around the living room. “Where’s Lily?”

The housekeeper hesitated, then pointed toward the backyard.

When Eden reached the backyard, Lily was kneeling on the ground, her tiny body curled into a small ball.

From a distance, she looked helpless and pitiful.

Her shoulders kept trembling from her sobs.

Eden’s chest tightened, and he hurried toward her. “Lily, why are you kneeling here? Get up.”

Perhaps because he had no children of his own, or perhaps because Lily had always known exactly how to please him, Eden had genuinely grown fond of the little girl.

He felt sorry for her and tried to lift her up.

Lily struggled. “Eden, I accidentally burned Alvina’s garden. I can’t get up. I have to stay here until Alvina forgives me.”

“Be good. It was only a garden. Gardens can be replanted. There’s no need to kneel out here and make yourself suffer. The ground is cold. Come inside with me.”

Without allowing her to argue, Eden picked her up.

When Eden carried the child back into the living room, Lily was still lying against his shoulder and sobbing.

At that moment, Alvina happened to come downstairs.

Eden’s anger flared instantly.

Without asking what happened, he shouted at her in accusation, “It’s late at night, and you made a child kneel outside? How could you be so heartless?”

Only then did Alvina realize that Lily had put on another little act of suffering.

Although she no longer had any expectations of him, a sharp pain still pierced through her chest.

The pain felt like a needle, thin and long, piercing into her chest, passing through her lungs and ribs before finally lodging itself in her spine.

Every time she moved, it drove another inch deeper.

Her husband, the man she once loved for her entire youth, offered no comfort and concern after she lost the garden she poured her heart and soul into growing.

Instead, for the sake of a child who was not even related to him, he rushed in and condemned her without knowing right from wrong.

Alvina wanted to laugh.

Lately, so many things struck her as absurd.

“Let her say it herself. Did I make her kneel?”

Alvina’s cold gaze fell on the child.

Lily looked up and immediately shook her head hard. “Alvina didn’t make me kneel. I did something wrong, so I should be punished.”

Only then did Eden realize he had misunderstood his wife.

He put the child down, and a trace of apology appeared in his eyes. “Sorry. I didn’t understand what happened.”

“Now that you do, how do you plan to handle this?”

Alvina had never expected him to give her justice.

Eden had already heard the general situation over the phone.

He reached out to put an arm around her shoulders, wearing a placating smile. “All right. Lily is still just a child. She didn’t do it on purpose. Why bother holding it against a little girl?”

“Don’t you know how important that garden was to me?”

Eden knew.

He simply thought what mattered to her was worthless.

With that same dismissive tone, he said indifferently, “What’s the point of spending all day playing around with those ingredients?

“Do you really think you’re going to become some master perfumer one day? Stop dreaming. Just stay home and be Mrs. Gray.

“Once my condition is cured, we’ll have a child. Taking good care of your husband and raising our child well will be the greatest honor of your life.”

Alvina listened to him calmly.

She thought back to when they were dating, when he said, “I’ll take care of you.”

Back then, she thought they were words of love. She had been too young and too in love to mistake possession for devotion.

Only now did she realize those words had been a prophecy.

He meant to cage her in the routines of home, then turn around and applaud another woman’s dreams.

Alvina laughed.

Her unusual reaction inexplicably unsettled Eden.

His tone changed, and he began coaxing her again.

“Fine. If you like perfumery, then keep doing it. But those flowers already burned. Don’t make things difficult for Lily over this. I’ll have someone ship another batch from overseas for you.”

“So that’s it? A child makes a mistake and can’t be held responsible, but shouldn’t the adult at least owe me an explanation?

“A child doesn’t misbehave without someone failing to teach her. Shouldn’t her parent at least come out and offer me a sincere apology?”

Alvina’s gaze swept toward the doorway.

She knew Wendy was standing there.

Wendy stepped out from the shadows.

She walked straight up to Alvina, then calmly glanced at her daughter. “I heard everything that happened.”

“So, Dr. Warren, are you here to apologize to me on your daughter’s behalf?”

Eden frowned. “Alvina, don’t push too far just because you’re in the right. Didn’t I already say I’d get you another batch of flowers?”

“I spent three years growing those flowers, and they were destroyed in one night. How is asking her to apologize pushing too far?”

Alvina shot back sharply.

The words Eden had been about to say caught in his throat.

A few seconds of silence passed.

Then he gave Wendy a look. “Dr. Warren, apologize to Alvina. Those flowers really weren’t easy for her to grow.”

Wendy did not apologize.

Instead, she reached out and pulled her daughter in front of her.

Then, without warning, she raised her hand and slapped Lily hard across the face.

Lily burst into tears on the spot.

Only then did Wendy speak calmly. “I’m sorry, Alvina. Even if you hadn’t said anything, I would have apologized. I truly failed to discipline my child. This was my fault.”

Eden snapped out of his shock and quickly pulled the sobbing child into his arms, his heart aching for her.

He said angrily, “I told you to apologize. Why did you hit the child?”

Wendy glared at her daughter.

“Today, she burned down a garden. Tomorrow, she might tear this whole house apart. That slap was to make sure she remembered the lesson, so no one points at her in the future and calls her badly raised.”

Eden’s heart ached terribly.

When he saw the red finger marks rising on Lily’s face, he reached out to touch them.

Lily took a step back, desperately holding back the tears in her eyes. “Eden, it’s okay. I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt. It really doesn’t hurt…”

She said it did not hurt.

But the tears kept spilling down her face no matter how hard she tried to hold them back.

The mother and daughter’s little performance finally had Eden exactly where they wanted him.

Eden shot to his feet in fury. “Alvina, are you satisfied now? Is this the result you wanted? You can’t even tolerate a child. How did I ever choose you back then? I must have been blind.”