Chapter 4

The following day was the royal spring garden gala.

The carriage was packed with Lydia's favorite pastries and several changes of clothing.

There was nowhere left for me to sit.

Mother glanced at me and spoke casually.

"There's no room inside. Sit outside beside the coachman."

Lydia lifted the curtain and leaned out with a smile.

"Rosalind, wait. I can move a few things..."

I tightened my grip on my sleeve and stepped back.

"There's no need. I won't go."

Mother frowned and answered only, "Suit yourself."

As the carriage rolled away, their deliberately lowered voices drifted back on the wind.

"Lydia, I heard the Crown Prince will attend today's garden gala.

"If you catch his attention, it could transform your entire life."

Lydia answered uncertainly.

"But isn't the Crown Princess supposed to be the woman who placed first in the Royal Women's Service Examination?"

Mother laughed softly.

"Silly girl. Rigid rules are for ordinary people. They can't possibly restrain someone like you.

"With beauty such as yours, what man wouldn't surrender the moment he saw you?

"If the Crown Prince favors you, even royal tradition will make room."

Listening to their plans, I found myself looking forward to the absurdity of it.

What expression would Mother wear when the identity of the Crown Princess was announced?

I pushed the thought aside, returned to my room, and began checking the dowry property I would take with me.

When I opened the hidden drawer of my jewelry cabinet, every bank draft that had been stacked inside was gone.

Only a few copper coins remained.

Where had the money gone?

I searched my memory again and again.

Near sunset, I rose to ask Father to investigate.

At that moment, Lydia returned to the estate.

A maid behind her carried a newly commissioned set of jewels.

"Rosalind, Mother had these made especially for me. The workmanship alone cost twenty-six hundred crowns."

My chest tightened sharply.

It was the exact amount that had vanished.

I stared at Mother in disbelief.

"You took my money?"

Embarrassed at being confronted, Mother raised her voice.

"Your food, clothing, and rooms have always been paid from this household's accounts.

"Now that I use a little of your money to support the family, you become unbearably calculating!"

If the household had truly faced hardship, I would have offered everything without hesitation.

But this was beyond absurd.

"That was my dowry fund, not the Hemsworth household treasury!"

Gideon heard me and shouted,

"Rosalind, who gave you permission to address your elders in that tone?"

Edmund frowned as well.

"Rose, Lydia placed sixth in the women's examination.

"You're her elder sister and the eldest daughter of the family. You should have emptied your purse to celebrate her, not complained about a few thousand crowns."

Again. It was always the same.

When I was six, Lydia's tears forced me to surrender my reputation as the gifted twin.

When I was seven, she fell into the ornamental pond while playing, and I was made to kneel for five days.

When I was nine, Lydia developed a sudden fever, and a traveling mystic declared that the twins' spirits were in conflict.

My parents sent me to a remote convent without a moment's hesitation.

They left me among cold stone walls and endless prayers for half a year before allowing me home.

By then, my private sitting room had become a storage room for Lydia's unwanted possessions.

Now I had finally survived long enough to reach marriageable age,

yet the people closest to me remained as partial as ever.

More than ten years of swallowed pain erupted into fury.

I seized the pearl-and-sapphire jewelry set and hurled it to the floor.

Round pearls scattered across the stone.

Mother cried out.

"Rosalind, you've truly lost your mind!

"When you marry, I'll still be expected to add property to your dowry!

"This money merely moved from one family pocket to another, yet you behave as though you've been robbed!

"Under Hemsworth family rules, disrespect toward one's elders is punished by twenty strokes and three days kneeling in the family chapel!"

When the maids dragged me into the chapel, Gideon stood nearby with his arms folded and watched coldly.

Edmund looked faintly uncomfortable, but he never spoke in my defense.

Father arrived after hearing the disturbance and scolded me once he learned what had happened.

"Your mother used only a modest sum, and you threw the entire estate into chaos.

"If society learns how domineering you are, who will ever agree to marry you?"

Supported by Father's approval, Mother became bolder.

She snatched the leather discipline strap from the altar table and brought it down hard.

The first blow struck my palm.

Pain pierced straight to the bone.

"Do you admit you were wrong?"

I clenched my teeth and remained silent.

The second blow fell.

Then the third...

Blood gradually appeared across my palm.

Gideon spoke impatiently.

"Why endure this? Apologize, and it'll be over."

Edmund said lazily, "Rose, this time you truly went too far."

Yet Lydia's allowances, gifts, and bridal property had always been ten or a hundred times greater than mine.

Why did they have to steal from me in secret and then force me to gild a life already overflowing with privilege?

By the tenth stroke, my palm was so swollen I could no longer close my hand.

Blood ran between my fingers and spread in a dark stain across the chapel floor.

Mother paused to catch her breath and looked at me with disgust.

"I'll ask one final time. Do you admit you were wrong?"

I raised my head, hatred filling my eyes.

"I did nothing wrong!"

Mother flew into a rage and lifted the strap again.

Just before it struck my face, a furious voice thundered through the chapel.

"Who gave you the right to abuse my future Crown Princess?"