chapter 13
“…Stella?!”
“M-Mother! Please save me!”
Even as she cried for help, Daisy was yanking violently at Stella’s hair.
Chloe, her face pale as a sheet, shouted at the servants.
“What are you all standing there for?! Pull them apart! I said, pull them apart!”
The servants, frozen in panic, finally rushed in and forcibly pried Daisy away.
“Agh!”
Thrown off roughly, Daisy rolled across the floor and hit her head against a chair.
“Sis! Are you okay?!”
Unfortunately, she wasn’t. The impact had split her forehead, and tiny beads of blood welled up.
Freed from Daisy’s grasp, Stella collapsed to the floor and began to sob uncontrollably.
Chloe frantically checked on her daughter.
“Stella! Oh heavens, what happened to you…!”
Her beautiful hair was a tangled mess, her face streaked with tears, and even her neatly pressed dress was torn in several places.
Chloe’s complexion turned blue with shock.
“Stella! Are you all right? Does it hurt?!”
Maybe she was seeing things. Maybe this was just a nightmare. But when Chloe looked again and again at her daughter’s pitiful face, Stella threw herself into her mother’s arms.
“Mother! Waaah! Daisy, Daisy did this to me!”
Holding the sobbing girl close, Chloe turned trembling eyes full of fury toward Daisy.
“Where on earth did you learn to behave like this?!”
Daisy, though her forehead was bleeding, leapt to her feet and pointed at Stella.
“She started it!”
“Our Stella? That’s impossible! You must have done something first!”
“It’s true! She called me a beggar!”
Daisy’s face flushed bright red — furious and indignant.
“That’s not true…! Daisy misunderstood! I only said the table looked so messy and told her she should eat a bit more neatly…”
Chloe’s eyes flicked to the dining table.
It was a disaster, more like a garbage heap than a place for eating. She was momentarily speechless.
“Heavens above…! What kind of manners is this?!”
“I was just embarrassed and told her so, and then she suddenly jumped on me and tore out my hair like this!”
Still crying, Stella tried to smooth out her tangled hair with trembling fingers — and strands of her fine hair came loose, falling to the floor.
Shocked, she touched her head again, but each time she did, another handful came away. It was as if more hair had fallen than remained on her head.
“M-My hair…! My hair…!”
Afraid to touch it further, Stella’s hands hovered helplessly in the air beside her head.
Seeing this dreadful sight for the first time in her life, Chloe looked as though she might faint and screamed,
“Call a doctor right now! Hurry!”
Everyone was in chaos when two women entered the dining hall — Lianna and Caroline, just returning from a walk.
“Daisy, are you finished with your meal? …Huh? What’s going on here?”
Seeing someone she could cling to, Daisy burst into tears and ran straight to Lianna.
“Mom!”
Lianna instinctively caught her in her arms — then froze when she noticed the wound on her daughter’s forehead.
“Oh my goodness, what happened?!”
Panicked, she examined Daisy’s face from every angle.
“How did this happen? Tell me! Did you fall? Where did you hurt yourself?!”
“Excuse me! Can’t you see our Stella too?!”
It wasn’t even “madam” or “Mrs.” — just “excuse me”? There were limits to rudeness.
Before Lianna could retort, Chloe cut in.
“Look! Look what your daughter did to our Stella!”
Where she pointed, piles of golden-brown hair covered the floor.
Lianna’s eyes widened as she took in Stella’s disheveled state, then turned back to her own daughter.
Blood from the gash on Daisy’s forehead was trickling down to her eyebrow. When Lianna wiped it away, Daisy flinched and tightly shut her eyes from the pain.
“…!”
Startled, Lianna pulled her hand back — then glared furiously.
“And what about my child?! Why is Daisy hurt like this?! She’s bleeding! My daughter would never attack someone unprovoked — isn’t there some explanation?!”
Just then—
Before she even finished, a familiar voice echoed from the corridor.
“With this amount, you’ll be able to get treatment from an excellent doctor. Thank you, Jeremy.”
“Not at all, brother. Please, let me know if you ever need more.”
“I’m lucky to have you as my brother — always there to help me.”
“And I’m glad I can be of service.”
It was Ashbel and Jeremy.
Ashbel’s voice sounded almost cheerful, as if he’d just received a generous payment.
Serena realized instantly.
So this is why Mother and my sisters stopped visiting the main house… It wasn’t over after all — this was it!
The worst possible moment, and the worst possible people — here to ruin everything.
That moment was now.
The brothers, chatting pleasantly, stepped into the dining hall — and froze at the chaotic scene before them.
“What… happened here?” Jeremy asked, glancing around at the wreckage.
Chloe seized the chance and cried out in an indignant tone,
“Daisy pulled out Stella’s hair! Look at this! What are we supposed to do?!”
The floor was completely covered in brown strands.
Ashbel’s eyes widened in horror, and he shouted,
“Daisy! Can’t you behave yourself for once? What have you done?!”
How could he yell at his own daughter without even hearing both sides first? Unbelievable.
Sure enough, Lianna — still holding Daisy — snapped at her husband.
“You—! How can you shout at her without even knowing what happened? There must have been a reason! And can’t you see she’s hurt?!”
Only then did Ashbel notice the wound above Daisy’s right eyebrow — deep enough that it would leave a scar even after healing.
Stella hurriedly spoke up in her defense.
“I-I didn’t do that! Daisy wouldn’t let go of my hair, so when the servants tried to separate us, that’s when she got hurt!”
“W-What…?! Daisy, you little brat!”
As expected, Ashbel shouted again.
Despite his wife’s words, he believed only Stella’s version — and didn’t even try to hear his daughter’s side.
“Apologize right now!”
Finally, red-faced with injustice, Daisy burst into tears and yelled,
“You don’t even know what happened! Why are you always mad at me?!”
“Because you’re the one who did wrong! This isn’t the first time, either!”
“No, it’s not true! Stella called me a beggar! She keeps calling me that — says I’m just some beggar who comes here for money even though I told her not to!”
Beggar.
That one word froze the room. Daisy’s crying was the only sound in the heavy silence.
Even Ashbel, who had been scolding her moments before, fell silent.
Realizing she’d gone too far, Stella stammered hastily,
“N-No! That’s not what I meant! I was just teasing, saying ‘Oh, you’re back again already’ — everyone saw, right? It wasn’t like that, right? Right…?”
She turned to the servants, urging them to agree.
But no matter how “equal” they all seemed under the same roof, the gap between Stella and Daisy was like heaven and earth.
Whatever the truth, the servants awkwardly nodded in agreement with Stella’s words.
