Chapter 6
Far away, there is a place called the desert. Just like the snow-covered north, it stretches endlessly—but instead of snow, it’s covered in sand. Plants can’t grow well there because there’s no water, only hot sunlight.
Vanessa felt like one of those desert plants. She was so thirsty for love. So, when someone who used to hate her showed her kindness for the first time, it touched her deeply.
It was the first time in her life she had ever felt what real affection was like.
Vanessa fell for it completely.
Even if this kindness would later turn into poison, she didn’t care. It was so sweet now that she didn’t want to wake up from it.
‘Even if this turns out to be another nightmare… I don’t want to wake up.’
With a soft smile, Vanessa gently patted Mavis’s head and walked toward the bathroom. If this really was a dream, she didn’t mind staying in it forever.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
As Vanessa entered the bathroom, Mavis jumped off the bed and rang the bell over and over again.
Soon, maids entered the room to take away the tray and the pillow soaked in water.
“You were so slow before when I rang it… but now you’re fast.”
Earlier, the maids didn’t respond at all, so Mavis had to go find one herself. But now, they came quickly.
They were clearly ignoring the bell from the lord’s room on purpose.
‘No wonder our family is falling apart!’
Though to be fair, the real reason the family was going downhill was because of the council and the count who secretly stole money from the ducal house. Still, the maids’ attitude didn’t help, and it was one of the reasons given during the future divorce.
“Hurry and clean it up before Mom comes back.”
“…Yes, young lady.”
The maids began to clean up quickly. Mavis watched with arms crossed and finally sighed with relief.
She remembered earlier—Vanessa sweating and looking so sick even though the room wasn’t hot.
‘Mom? Are you okay?’
Her forehead had been burning. Even to Mavis, a child with naturally higher body temperature, Vanessa had felt extremely hot.
‘Did the main character ever get this sick in the original story?’
Mavis thought hard—and suddenly remembered something.
In the original novel, after Vanessa returns to the past, she suffers from horrible nightmares. She sweats and trembles so badly that, even after waking up, the nightmare still haunts her and makes her decide to divorce again.
‘Oh no! I forgot about that!’
Mavis panicked and called for the house doctor. He showed up calmly with herbs stuck to his clothes.
While Mavis was frantically tugging her hair and pacing, Dr. Revain stayed calm and checked Vanessa carefully.
‘It’s just a cold. Her fever will drop with some cold cloths. Let her rest and eat warm food when she wakes.’
‘Really? That’s all?’
‘Yes.’
Mavis was shocked. That’s it?
She held onto his sleeve, asking over and over again.
‘Really? Really? Really?’
‘…Yes.’
Revain gave her a weird look, and finally Mavis let go. He wasn’t the kind of person to lie about this kind of thing.
He also told her that Vanessa once took care of Mavis in the same way when she was sick. Now it was Mavis’s turn.
‘Alright! I’ll take care of Mom with everything I’ve got!’
So, Mavis kept changing the wet towels on Vanessa’s head and even swapped out the soup nine times to keep it warm.
Finally, the fever went down. Mavis sighed with relief.
‘Phew…’
She watched Vanessa sleeping peacefully, her breathing soft.
“Wow… for someone who looked that sick, it was just a cold? I thought he was a fake doctor, but I guess he’s good.”
She mumbled and nodded.
‘If I hadn’t come, it could’ve been really bad…’
Just thinking about Vanessa suffering like that all alone in the huge house gave her chills. No one cared about her.
“She must feel really lonely…”
That loneliness seemed to rub off on Mavis too, making her sigh deeply.
* * *
One Week Later
Early in the morning, Mavis rolled off the bed and got up.
She was getting better at escaping the big bed quickly.
Even though it was hard to get up when it was so cozy, thinking about the future kept her going.
‘To survive… I need to stop the main character from getting a divorce…’
“Alright! I can do it!”
She cheered herself on and climbed up on a chair to check her reflection in the mirror. Then she messed up her hair on purpose.
She wanted to look like she just woke up—adorable and sleepy.
Satisfied, she jumped down and headed for the door.
“Oh—almost forgot!”
She rushed back to the bed to grab her teddy bear.
A teddy bear was a must-have for completing the “cute crying child” image.
Then she went to her toy box, pulled out an onion from the very bottom, and held it to her eyes.
Yes—an onion. She had stolen it from the kitchen just for this.
Its sharp smell made her eyes tear up so much that she could barely see.
It was a ridiculous scene, but Mavis didn’t care. What mattered was the result—how she would appear to Vanessa.
Everything was ready.
“Mommyyyy… sniff… I-I had a scary dream…”
She opened the door to Vanessa’s room, eyes puffy, teddy bear in arms, and walked in.
Vanessa, who had just finished washing up, was shocked to see Mavis like that.
Compared to just a few days ago, they had become much closer.
Had her caring worked? Since Vanessa got sick, their relationship had grown very fast.
“Oh no… was it really scary?”
“Yeah… there was a huge… monster that chased me…”
Mavis had almost said “dinosaur” but quickly changed it to “monster.” In this world, monsters made more sense.
She even wondered—would people here even know what a dinosaur is? Probably not.
‘If I showed them one, they’d probably think it’s just an ugly dragon.’
Vanessa gently wiped Mavis’s teary face with the towel she had just used.
“Oh… someone must be cutting onions in the kitchen. I can smell it from here…”
“Uwaaah! Mommyyy…”
“Ah—yes, yes, it’s okay!”
Vanessa mentioned the onion, and a nervous Mavis cried even louder and buried herself in Vanessa’s arms.
She had to raise Vanessa’s affection toward her as much as possible—before that terrible man showed up.
‘Ugh… we only stay together because of the kid…’
She remembered that line from a TV show in her old world. A couple stayed together just because of their child.
But sadly, in this world, Mavis wasn’t Vanessa’s real daughter—she was the daughter from the husband’s side.
‘If I want to be needed, I need to become really close to Vanessa.’
It was her insurance policy.
Even if Vanessa divorced the father, maybe she’d feel sorry enough for Mavis to give her some money.
‘I have to fix Dad too…’
Still, her best-case plan was to make Vanessa and her husband fall in love, live happily ever after, and help expose all the corruption in the council to secure her future.
“Hoo…!”
“Good job~ Doesn’t that feel better?”
“Yeah! I can breathe again~”
Mavis smiled brightly, and Vanessa smiled warmly back.
They weren’t at the highest level of closeness yet, but at least they were friendly now.
And this progress was fast.
‘I’m doing pretty well, huh?’
Of course, this only worked because Vanessa was kind-hearted.
Most people wouldn’t forgive a child who used to bully them so easily.
But Vanessa understood that Mavis was manipulated by the adults around her. So she forgave her.
At that moment, Mavis felt guilty.
She hadn’t approached Vanessa with pure intentions.
“Milady, it’s time to eat—oh my, young lady~ Why are you here? You should be eating in the dining room with your grandparents~ They’re waiting~”
Suddenly, a maid barged into the room without even knocking.
In this house, Vanessa was the highest-ranking person while the duke was gone. Not knocking was plain rude.
The maid came in with a tray, ignored Vanessa, and only focused on Mavis with a big fake smile.
‘What the heck? That maid!’
Mavis was shocked by the clear difference in how they were treated.
“Nooo~ I wanna stay with Mom… I had a scary dream…”
“…Young lady~ If you bother the lady too much, your grandfather will scold you~”
Mavis thought to herself:
‘Pfft. I’m way more scared of the emperor than of Grandpa yelling.’
