Chapter 4

When she returned to her bedroom, a servant soon came in with the thick genealogy.

The Marsh family had been around for centuries, and the genealogy was nearly a hundred pages long.

Violet propped up her feverish, dazed head, endured the pain from her wounds, and started copying it.

When she had finished copying a particular page, she froze.

She could see that Nina’s name stood beside River’s, while Violet, despite all the suffering she had endured, the torture she had survived, and the fact that she was River’s real wife, had no place in the genealogy at all.

But the former butler’s daughter was included in it.

She felt a sting in her throat and could not breathe. But she blinked back her tears and continued copying the genealogy.

When she finished, she felt drained, and she called Alan over. “Put the genealogy away and ask the family doctor to come for a visit.”

The bed of nails had hurt her deeply, and her fever had still not subsided. She was barely hanging on.

“Alright,” Alan said and left.

Violet lay back on the bed, but the doctor never arrived.

In her daze, she heard the whispers of the servants. “Dr. Lakefield actually arrived early in the morning, but Mr. Marsh told him to go to see Nina. Apparently, she was traumatized and needs to be treated.”

“I did ask him if Dr. Lakefield could come and check Mrs. Marsh, but Mr. Marsh said that it was too late and told me we could ask the doctor to come back tomorrow.”

A scorching hot tear slid down Violet’s cheek.

What a joke!

She was dying from fever and covered in wounds, but he would rather obey the family rules instead of saving her.

But if Nina was traumatized even the slightest bit, he broke the rules and got the doctor for her. He really doted on her in every aspect.

These were the ironclad family rules he spoke of.

Fortunately, she was soon going to leave.

The next day, she was able to wake up because a servant had snuck in some penicillin for her.

Her phone rang. It was a call from her father.

“Violet, you didn’t answer my text. I made some pork stew for you and am at the entrance of the residential area. The security guards won’t let outsiders in, so could you come out to get it?”

Her father’s voice was gentle but troubled.

Violet felt a sting in her heart.

It had been five years. The Marsh family had never accepted her parents as family. When they visited, they had to make countless appointments. Without prior notice, they could not even step through the gate.

There had been countless times when she stood behind the gate and begged the security guards to let them in. She had even called River to make an exception just once, but he only said, “Be more considerate of the family rules.”

Those words had trapped her for five whole years.

She pushed her feeble body up and applied a faint layer of lipstick in front of the mirror to mask her sickly appearance.

She could not let her father see how pathetic she looked because she did not want him to worry.

As she walked to the entrance to the residential area, she saw something annoying.

River’s car was parked at the entrance, and the window was rolled down. Nina sat in the front passenger seat while smiling brightly.

She thanked him sweetly, “Thank goodness you made an exception to pick up my friend. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to come in.”

River’s voice sounded very affectionate. “Your friend’s my guest.”

The moment he finished speaking, the car headed into the tightly guarded residential area. No one stopped them.

Violet looked away and fixed her eyes on a spot not too far away from the entrance. The sun was shining especially brightly on that spot.

Her elderly father had ridden an old e-bike to visit, and his skin was tanned from the sun. He stood in front of the majestic gate, looking flustered. Her father stood out like a sore thumb, painting a meek and heartbreaking picture.

Upon seeing her, her father immediately put on a gentle smile and strode forward. “Violet, come! Your mother made this early in the morning. Have it while it’s still hot.”

He never spoke about how he had been prevented from entering because he was worried that speaking up would cause trouble for her and make her suffer even more in the Marsh family.

Violet’s nose burned, but she held back her tears and said softly, “You don’t have to bring food for me here anymore, Dad. I’ll come home soon to eat Mom’s cooking.”

Soon, she would escape from this place and return to a normal family full of warmth.

Once she took the thermos, she told her father to be careful on his way back, then watched her father ride away before she turned and walked back into the mansion.