Chiffon dragged her weary body to a small house near the villa. Her clothes were all dirty, and her body felt wet and sticky.
Just as she crossed the living room, a light cough reached her ears.
“Chiffon, you are back,” a small, and beautiful lady with pink hair said as she walked towards Chiffon. Her eyes looked over at her daughter, and her heart ached on what she saw. “Let’s go to the bathroom first. I haven’t taken a bath as well, let’s bathe together.”
Another cough escaped the lady’s lips after finishing her sentence. Clearly, she wasn’t feeling well, but seeing her daughter in that state hurt her more than her sickness.
“Mama,” Chiffon reached out and hugged her mother. A few seconds later, she started sobbing. It was as if she was venting all of her grievances to the one person that truly cared for her.
April, Chiffon’s mother, hugged her back.
She didn’t care that her daughter was dirty.
She didn’t care that her daughter stunk.
What she cared about was that her beloved child was hurting and, as her mother, she would stay by her side regardless of her current state.
After a few minutes, Chiffon finally regained her calm. She allowed herself to be taken to the bathroom, and be cleaned up by her mother.
April used a small bucket to pour water on her daughter’s head. After that, she used soap and water to clean her from head to foot.
She would cough from time to time while doing this, but she didn’t care. After ensuring that she had properly cleaned every nook and carry of Chiffon’s body, she washed her with water.
“Mama, let me help you, too,” Chiffon offered.
April nodded. “You can wash my back. I can handle the rest.”
“Un!” Chiffon held the soap firmly in her hand and helped her mother clean her back.
The two spent a good amount of time in the bathroom, before they emerged wearing bath towels on their bodies.
Chiffon hummed as her mother helped dry her hair using a hand towel.
“You’re going to be twelve soon, Chiffon,” April said. “A few more years and you will be old enough to marry. I wish I could see that day.”
After saying these words, April had a coughing fit that alarmed Chiffon.
The pink-haired girl immediately helped rub her mother’s back in order to help ease her discomfort.
When April’s cough subsided, Chiffon sat beside her. She was still worried about her mother, but the latter just gave her a hug and kissed her forehead.
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” April assured her.
Chiffon was still worried about her mother, but since April said that she was fine, she decided to believe her.
“Mama, what do you mean old enough to marry? What is marry?” Chiffon asked.
April lightly tapped her forehead because she had forgotten that Chiffon was still too young to understand what marriage means. In the end, she decided to explain this to her properly, instead of leaving it to her Half-Brothers, and Half-Sisters, whose only aim was to make Chiffon suffer.
“Marriage is a ceremony where you say your vows to someone you love. Once this is done, both of you will be partners for life.”
April sighed as she looked in the distance. It was as if she was reminiscing about a memory of the past. A past where she thought that she had found her true love. A love that would make her the happiest dwarf in the world.
“I hope that you will find someone who will truly love you,” April said as she patted Chiffon’s head. “Someone who will never leave your side in times of happiness as well as hardship.”
Chiffon vaguely understood what April was trying to say. However, she was still too young to fully comprehend it.
“Mama, did Papa and you marry?” Chiffon inquired.
April’s body stiffened before she once again had a coughing fit. Chiffon hurriedly patted her mother’s back once more to help ease her suffering.
After a few minutes, April sighed and hugged Chiffon close to her.
“Your father and I didn’t marry,” April replied. “He… he chose not to marry me because of political reasons. You don’t have to worry about this. Even if I didn’t marry your father, I am very happy to have given birth to you. For me, you are my treasure. My one and only baby in this world.”
April tightened her hug, which made Chiffon feel warm and happy inside. She couldn’t see her mother often because April was considered an outcast. Earlier, Chiffon had to beg the guard stationed on the door of the house to allow her to see her mother.
Out of disgust, the guard allowed her inside just so her stench would go away.
Chiffon still didn’t understand why she couldn’t live with her mother, but April said that she was already happy if Chiffon visited her from time to time.
The pink-haired little girl stayed with her mother till the next day. In truth, she didn’t want to return to the villa because she was afraid that she would get bullied again by her half brother and sisters.
Her father had many wives, and all of them treated Chiffon with scorn. Just like her mother, Chiffon was treated as an outcast. A freak of nature that had a disgusting Divinity that allowed her to eat anything.
The pink-haired girl’s father turned a blind eye to the harassment that Chiffon and her mother suffered at the hands of his wives, sons, and daughters. If there had been any love between April and him in the past, that love had long disappeared without a trace.
All that was left was disappointment and regret.
Disappointment because April didn’t bear him a son.
Regret because April couldn’t give birth to another child because of her condition.
In her father’s eyes, they were merely baggage from the past.
A past that he had long left behind.
