Chapter 9
“You’ve gotten much better. That’s a relief.”
“Um… there won’t be any scars, right?”
“…No, there won’t be.”
The Arsen family’s personal doctor, Rivein, gently examined Mavis, who was sitting quietly in Vanessa’s arms.
Unlike the child who was playing happily, tugging at Vanessa’s hair, Vanessa herself looked extremely worried.
It seemed she hadn’t even noticed the tiny scab on Mavis’s forehead—so small it was barely the size of a fingernail. To Rivein, who had treated countless wounds, this was nothing serious. It likely wouldn’t even leave a mark.
“Actually… I think it’s you, Your Grace, who should be getting a check-up.”
“Oh… I’m fine. It wasn’t that serious.”
Rivein looked between the tiny scratch on Mavis’s head and the big bandage wrapped around Vanessa’s forehead.
He had seen all kinds of strange cases during his younger days as a royal physician, but the story of a duchess hurting her head while catching a child falling from a tree—and then accidentally knocking heads with the child—was still hard to believe.
When he arrived, he was even more surprised. Despite being a child, Mavis was almost unharmed, while Vanessa had blood dripping down her forehead.
He even wondered if the whole house was playing a prank on him.
At first, he thought Vanessa must’ve hit a rock. But it turned out that “rock” was Mavis’s head.
Rivein looked down at the child’s round head with amazement.
“How hard must this little head be to knock out a grown adult like that?”
What a powerful head she had!
But oddly, despite Vanessa’s more serious injury, she regained consciousness quickly. Mavis, on the other hand, had stayed unconscious for days.
Because she was the Arsen family’s only heir, Rivein had stayed at the mansion the entire time, worried, without even returning home.
Thankfully, Mavis suddenly woke up one day as if nothing had happened.
Now that she was awake and active again, Rivein could finally go home. He was really looking forward to it.
Yes, he’d been treated well at the mansion—but still.
“Mommy, are you hurt?”
“Huh? No, I’m fine.”
“But if you’re hurt… you need medicine from the doctor. Mommy~”
“I… I’m okay…”
“She said she’s fine, young lady. We should let the doctor go now.”
The maid standing nearby gave Vanessa a fake smile and narrowed her eyes. Though she sounded like she was supporting Vanessa, her words were really full of disrespect.
“If Your Grace says so, I’ll make it quick… Hmm. It’s healed better than I expected. You can probably take the bandage off by next week.”
Rivein gently unwrapped Vanessa’s bandage to check her wound, then spoke in a calm voice.
He noticed the maid glaring at him as he treated Vanessa, clearly annoyed that he was being kind to her.
Trying to avoid further tension, Rivein stood up to leave.
He had quit being the royal doctor to escape power games—but this place was just as messy.
He remembered how noisy the grandparents had been while Mavis was unconscious.
They didn’t even care about Vanessa’s head injury. All they did was blame her for what had happened to the child.
They shouted things like, “Get ready to divorce once the Duke returns!”
Even Rivein, who preferred quiet and usually read books in his room, had furrowed his brows listening to their yelling.
And yet… even now that Mavis was awake, the Duke hadn’t come home.
“This house is a complete mess…”
But something else about this family puzzled Rivein.
Mavis, who was now sitting on Vanessa’s lap clapping her hands and playing, looked so different from how he remembered her.
He had known her since she was crawling around as a baby. And he remembered that Mavis had once refused to accept Vanessa as her stepmother.
She used to ignore Vanessa—maybe even hate her.
“Did she finally open her heart to the Duchess’s kindness…?”
Vanessa had taken care of Mavis day and night while she was unconscious. She even stayed awake through the night, doing things a maid could’ve done, just to care for the child.
Maybe that love and warmth had finally reached Mavis’s heart.
If that was true, it was a good thing.
Rivein couldn’t interfere in noble family matters, but he had always felt sorry for Vanessa—married off so young, only to be mistreated constantly.
Her in-laws bullied her.
The servants ignored and disrespected her.
And her husband, the Duke, never came home.
No one stood by her in this giant mansion.
“If Mavis finally accepted her stepmother, maybe things will change for the better…”
Just then, the door to the sitting room burst open.
“Mavis~! Grandma’s here!”
“Doctor Rivein, is our granddaughter okay?”
Rivein barely had time to touch the doorknob before the doors were flung wide open.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He had hoped to leave quietly before bumping into them—but clearly, that wasn’t going to happen.
At the door stood the Countess Arsen with her hair piled high and decked out in jewels, and beside her, the Count with his snake-like eyes.
“As long as those two are around, things won’t be easy…”
Rivein sighed and stepped back.
“Mavis~ Come to Grandma.”
“Nooo! I wanna stay here!”
“Come here, sweetheart. Grandma’s tired…”
“I heard you yesterday! You said, ‘Should an old lady like me carry her?’! I’m heavy, right? That’s why I’ll just stay here! I’m a good girl!”
“Did you think I didn’t hear that?”
Yesterday, they had called Vanessa—who was upstairs—to carry the sleeping child all the way from the garden to the second floor. And now they wanted to pretend to be kind?
“They only act nice when I’m awake.”
Mavis wasn’t going to fall for it.
These were the same people who committed fraud and nearly ruined the Arsen family in the original story. She knew better now.
The Countess frowned.
“That look… she’s blaming Vanessa.”
She stared at Vanessa like a child whose favorite candy had been stolen.
“Vanessa… come talk to me for a moment.”
“Why?! Are you leaving me out on purpose?! I wanna talk too!”
“You think I’ll let you two talk alone?”
Mavis puffed up like a bodyguard. Until her useless father showed up, she wasn’t going to let her evil grandparents bully Vanessa.
Her plan had always been to hand things over to her trashy dad when he arrived—but after reading today’s letter, she felt uneasy.
“Is that trash of a dad even worth recycling?”
What if he was too useless?
“M-Mae wants to talk too!”
Mavis suddenly sat up from her bed, shouting, drool soaking her pillow.
One big flaw of being a kid was how easily she fell asleep when tired—like flipping a switch.
She had no idea when she had dozed off, but the sky outside the window was dark.
“Slurp…”
She wiped her drool-covered face with her sleeve and looked around.
Her room was dimly lit and completely silent.
But the stillness made her anxious—like the calm before a storm.
“Something’s wrong…”
She kicked off her blanket and rolled off the bed.
She could just run to Vanessa and say she had a nightmare, but that felt a little desperate.
Still, she had to make sure her mom wasn’t being bullied.
Mavis imagined herself as a knight guarding a princess.
Until the “junk prince” (her dad) showed up, she would protect the princess (Vanessa) herself.
For her own future, too.
She dug through her toy box in a hurry.
“Where’s my precious onion…”
There was no weapon as powerful as a child’s tears.
And her “secret weapon” was a raw onion—hidden away just in case she needed to cry on demand.
But no matter how deep she searched, her small arms couldn’t find it.
Finally, she flipped the entire toy box over.
Toys spilled everywhere—but no onion.
“No! This is bad…”
She stomped her feet, but that wouldn’t make an onion magically appear.
After a moment of serious thought, she kicked the door open and rushed out.
If she couldn’t cry real tears, she’d fake them with sniffles and whining.
“Sniff… sniff… Mommy…”
She pretended to wipe her eyes as she opened the door—but no one was there.
Her heart sank.
She was now sure they had taken Vanessa while she was asleep.
“No way…”
Panicking, she hurried downstairs—only to bump into her maid, Trisha.
“You’re already awake, young lady~?”
“…Yeah. I had a bad dream…”
“Oh no~ Well, let’s go back to bed, shall we? Want me to sing a lullaby~?”
“I don’t want you! I want Mommy’s lullaby!”
“You can’t right now~ Mommy is with the master and mistress~”
Oh no.
They had taken Vanessa while she was asleep.
Vanessa had already made up her mind to divorce—but if her in-laws kept pushing, they’d only pour fuel on that fire.
“I WANT MOMMYYYY!!! MAE IS SCARED!!!”
Screaming at the top of her lungs, Mavis hiked up her nightdress and sprinted down the stairs.
Behind her, Trisha and several other maids started chasing.
The quiet mansion quickly turned into chaos.
“Catch the young lady!”
“Mavis!!”
“MOOOOMMMMYYYYY!!!”
Dodging servants left and right, Mavis made her way to the Duke’s office.
And with surprising strength for such a small body, she threw the doors open.
Inside, she saw Vanessa on her knees, staring silently at the floor.
