Chapter: 05
After getting out of the carriage, Vally was grabbed by the back of her neck by Rina and roughly dragged into the mansion. Thrown carelessly onto the living room floor, Vally slammed her knee hard against the ground with a loud crash.
“Ugh…….”
Though her face twisted from the throbbing pain, she got back up, pretending to be as unaffected as possible.
But before she could even react, her mother approached and slapped her hard across the cheek, causing her to collapse again.
“Ugh…….”
“You’re already so weak that no one even comes to propose marriage to you, and now you meet a man secretly on the terrace without permission? How can you always choose to do such vulgar things!”
Vally’s cheek, turned to the left from the impact, quickly swelled up.
Rina had told their parents everything about Vally being together with Wayne on the terrace.
“We only talked for a moment.”
“Talked? I heard everything about that man taking off his clothes! Is that how you talk to someone? What would have happened to our family’s honor if someone with an attribute other than Rina had seen that scene?”
Her mother shouted furiously, unable to contain her anger. Beside her, Rina looked down at Vally with a triumphant expression.
People who wouldn’t listen even when she told them the truth. Vally was sick and tired of all of them.
“They’re going to sell me off to whoever gives them money anyway, so what does it matter if I look a little indecent?”
“What?! Don’t you understand that raising someone as worthless as you, a Grade 5, this far and even getting you married off is already more than you deserve? Do you still not know your place?”
At this point, Vally could only let out a hollow laugh before answering. At her attitude, Rina crossed her arms and began lecturing her.
“Mother is absolutely right. You should be grateful that they didn’t sell you off the moment they tested your magical power. Without our parents’ great generosity, you’d already be dead.”
At the mention of death, Vally, who had been lying on the floor, clenched both fists tightly and stood up. She glared straight at Rina, putting all her strength into her eyes.
“I’m the one who’s been wronged the most.”
“What could you possibly have been wronged about?”
“Do you think I wanted to be born weak? I was simply born carrying the weak magical power of our parents.”
“Are you blaming our parents now?”
“I’m not blaming them. It’s a fact. If I hadn’t been born weak, you could have been Grade 5.”
“How can you say something so horrible?”
“Horrible? I’m the one who has been living such a life… Ugh!”
Vally couldn’t finish her sentence. This time, her father had approached and slapped her across the cheek.
Smack-!
The force was so strong that the sound of the impact rang loudly through the room. Vally staggered, but she planted her feet firmly and endured it so that she wouldn’t fall.
“Now you’re even blaming your weakness on my family? Not a single person among our ancestors was ever as weak as you. You are the only disgrace to our family.”
“…….”
“Even so, you are my daughter, so I am taking responsibility and arranging a marriage for you so that you can at least live like a proper person. So keep quiet and obey.”
There wasn’t even a trace of love in her father’s blue eyes as he looked down at Vally.
“As punishment for the insolence you showed today, you are forbidden from leaving the mansion for a week. Tsk. I can’t even stand the sight of you.”
After saying that, her father turned away first, followed by her mother and Rina. None of them paid any attention to Vally’s swollen cheek.
Even the other servants merely watched like spectators, seemingly entertained by the scene.
Even though she had experienced this countless times in her previous life, it hurt just as much every time.
A life without love from one’s family was always miserable.
“Lady Vally!”
Edel, who had heard the news belatedly, came running over and checked Vally’s complexion.
“Your cheek……! How can they do this to you every time, Lady Vally……!”
Her eyes reddened as if she herself had been struck.
“Are you okay? Ah, no. There’s no way you’re okay when it’s swollen this much. It must hurt a lot, right? Shall I carry you to your room?”
“It’s not that bad, Edel.”
“How can you say it’s not that bad when your cheek is completely swollen……? Please tell me honestly if you’re in pain.”
Vally gave Edel, who looked as though she might cry even more than Vally herself, a gentle smile to reassure her.
“Let’s go to the bedroom. I want to rest for a while.”
“I’ll help you.”
With Edel’s utmost care, Vally returned to her bedroom.
“I’ll bring an ice pack right away. If you keep it on throughout the night, the swelling should go down.”
“Edel, more importantly, I need wilted flowers.”
“Flowers? Wilted ones, too?”
“Yes. Go to the flower market tomorrow and buy some wilted flowers for me. I’ve been forbidden from going out again, after all.”
Naturally, Edel tilted her head in confusion when Vally asked her to buy wilted flowers instead of perfectly healthy ones.
“What are you going to do with wilted flowers?”
“I’m going to train my magical power.”
“Really? You hardly ever used your magical power before because you said there was no point.”
“That’s right. Even if I trained, I’d still be Grade 5. But now I want to become stronger.”
“I understand. If that’s what you want, I should go buy them right away. I’ll be back before the sun even rises tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Edel.”
Vally was grateful that Edel, the only person she could rely on in the mansion, was there for her.
The next morning.
Edel finished getting ready to go out early in the morning and stood before Vally. Vally adjusted her clothes for her.
“One basket should be enough, so be careful on your way.”
“I’ll be back faster than the carriage. And Lady Vally, don’t skip breakfast, and make sure you keep the ice pack on your face.”
“All right. I’ll do everything Edel tells me to.”
“You really will, right? I’ll make sure you’ve eaten your breakfast when I get back.”
Edel continued expressing her concern for Vally until the very last moment before leaving the bedroom, then finally headed out.
Once she was alone, Vally didn’t simply sit around and wait.
“Let’s start with the basics.”
She wrapped her hands around the glass that had been prepared along with her meal. To practice the technique of filling and reducing water, she closed her eyes and slowly concentrated.
“Uuuuugh……!”
She sent the magical power flowing through her veins into her palms and carefully controlled it so that the magical power would also reach the glass she was holding.
She concentrated so intensely that her eyelids trembled. When she guessed that the glass should be full by now, she cautiously opened one eye.
“…It’s not even half full?”
The very first technique that water-attribute users practiced to train their magical power was filling and emptying a glass of water. For those of higher grades, it was a basic exercise they could freely perform within ten minutes.
But even after concentrating with all her might for twenty minutes, Vally couldn’t even fill the glass halfway.
Though she had expected it, she almost sighed at how terribly weak her magical power was. But then she shook her head.
“I just need to practice. I still have two days left.”
‘Revive the flower within two minutes and reduce its recovery time to one hour within three days.’
Whenever Vally became anxious, she remembered Wayne’s words and steeled her resolve.
She continued training without rest until she became exhausted and collapsed onto the bed, gasping for breath.
Then, without even a knock, the bedroom door suddenly swung open and Rina barged in.
“Huh, what time is it, and you’re still lying down? Honestly, you’re so incredibly lazy.”
The sarcastic tone she used the moment she entered made Vally frown as well.
“I’m forbidden from going outside, so what’s wrong with lying down comfortably when I can’t go anywhere?”
“This is exactly why our parents are dissatisfied with you. If I were you, I would have at least written an apology and begged for forgiveness.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong, so why would I write an apology? If anyone should write one, it should be you.”
“What did I do wrong?”
“You tattled about something that wasn’t even true.”
“Something that wasn’t true? I saw everything myself, so where did I lie—”
“Enough. I don’t have time to talk to you right now, so get out.”
“I don’t want to see your face either. But I had no choice. I came here to deliver Father’s message.”
“Then just say what you need to say.”
Rina crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side.
“You have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
Vally’s eyes widened, wondering if Wayne had come to see her.
“Congratulations. Looks like you can finally get married. A young master who saw you at the party yesterday came here saying he wants to marry you. Father told you to get ready and come downstairs quickly.”
A sense of déjà vu sent an unpleasant shiver throughout Vally’s body.
“Who is he?”
“Go down and see for yourself.”
“Tell me his name!”
Vally, who was normally calm, raised her voice. Rina flinched slightly before answering.
“The young master of Count Bebulth’s family, Vatteri Bebulth.”
