Chapter 16: Good Girl

A ‘well-behaved’ child.

I… I’m a bad child.

The summer breeze drifted in gently.

Silver-petaled flowers bloomed around the clay-brick cottage, their sweet fragrance from the unopened buds filling the entire village street.

Everyone in the village knew that the Eve family had a daughter as beautiful as a spirit.

Her name was Eve Aurora.

As the eldest daughter, Aurora wasn’t just beautiful—she was kind-hearted and mature beyond her years.

She helped out at the family tailoring shop, always wore a gentle smile, and earned the admiration of many young men in the village.

Many families had brought their sons to propose marriage, but Aurora turned every offer down with polite grace.

However, beauty couldn’t change poverty.

A new baby had just been born a few months earlier, adding even more burden to their already struggling household.

To improve their circumstances, Mr. and Mrs. Eve had only one option left: Aurora.

They told her that a nobleman had taken a fancy to her beauty and wished to take her as his wife.

At first, Aurora reacted as she always did—she was about to decline.

But Mrs. Eve, almost as if she’d anticipated it, quickly spoke up:

“If you marry into that house, Aurora, our family can finally live a good life!”

Her voice was trembling with excitement.

She looked at Aurora with eyes full of unspoken expectation.

“No!”

A young voice, sharp with anger, rang out from the side.

It was Lorabelle, still in her early teens, who marched into the room with an indignant expression and threw her small body in front of Aurora.

“Lorabelle, this isn’t your place to speak!”

Mr. Eve glared at her. He stepped forward, intending to drag her into another room.

But Lorabelle clung tightly to Aurora’s arm, refusing to let go no matter what.

“Big Sis said she doesn’t want to get married yet! She said she’d only marry someone she truly loves!”

Her voice was loud, too loud.

The Eves panicked, afraid the neighbors might hear, and quickly shut the door tight.

“You little brat, stop making a scene! Let go now!”

“This is for your sister’s sake—for our whole family’s! Otherwise, we won’t even have food on the table!”

“That’s right. If your sister marries into that house, she won’t have to work so hard anymore, and we’ll finally have enough to eat.”

One after another, the couple laid all their hopes and burdens squarely on Aurora’s shoulders.

“No! I don’t want Sis to leave!”

“…Little one.”

Aurora knelt down and held Lorabelle in her arms.

She looked at her sister’s slightly yellowing complexion, then at the desperate faces of Mr. and Mrs. Eve.

Finally, she said softly, “If it means our family can live a better life… then I’m willing.”

When Aurora gave her answer, the Eves beamed with delight—while Lorabelle’s eyes instantly lost all their light.

Aurora looked into Lorabelle’s eyes and smiled gently.

“Little sister, you’re such a good girl. You need to be more mature now, okay? Help our parents more, learn to understand them, alright?”

“…I understand.”

Lorabelle lowered her head and fell silent.

She bit her lip, then suddenly turned and ran toward her room.

Mrs. Eve turned to Aurora with a glowing smile.

“Good, very good!”

“In a few days, someone will come to fetch you. We probably won’t be home by then.”

“Not home? Where are you going?”

“Don’t you remember?

We’re taking Lorabelle and little Toby on a trip.”

Toby was the family’s newest member, their cherished baby boy. Mr. and Mrs. Eve doted on him dearly, for he was their only son.

“…I see.”

Something didn’t sit right with Aurora. Their family was so poor they could barely put food on the table—how could they suddenly afford to go on a trip?

But the questions stayed locked in her heart. She was the eldest daughter, the ‘well-behaved’ one.

She had to understand her parents, after all.

*****

Three days later.

Mr. and Mrs. Eve left early in the morning, taking Lorabelle and little Toby with them.

Lorabelle hadn’t wanted to go, but the Eves forced her onto the dragon carriage.

At home, only Aurora remained.

She put on the dress she had sewn herself and sat at the doorstep, waiting quietly.

As time passed, more and more people passed by.

They whispered when they saw her.

Some gossiped cruelly, accusing her of selling herself to a noble for riches and abandoning her family.

The rejected suitors who once vied for her hand now spat venomous insults, letting their bitterness and humiliation show.

Aurora simply lowered her head and avoided their eyes.

Her tears dripped silently onto the back of her hand. She didn’t sob or cry out—she just waited, quietly, for the one who would come to take her away.

The breeze passed by, and somewhere along the way, the silver-petaled flowers by the mud-brick house had already withered.

Their white blossoms had turned yellow, and the once-sweet fragrance had turned sour and foul.

People who walked past wrinkled their noses and gave the flowers a wide berth.

*****

Meanwhile, on a forest path.

Mr. Eve drove the dragon carriage, and three passengers sat inside.

Lorabelle was throwing a tantrum the entire way, crying out that she wanted to go back.

This could very well be the last time she ever saw Aurora.

How could she just quietly go along with this so-called family trip?

“Let go of me! I want to go back and find Sis!”

“Stop this nonsense, Lorabelle! Just two more hours—once we finish, we’ll go back, okay?”

The inside of the dragon carriage was a cacophony of sound—Lorabelle’s shouting, Mrs. Eve’s scolding, and the infant Toby’s wailing.

The once-peaceful forest path was drowned in noise.

Whoosh—