In Xiliya’s memories, her mother always had serene eyes that hid a deep melancholy within. Her mother was a genuine beauty, and the elegant aura she carried was innate. As a child, Xiliya loved the faint scent of jasmine flowers on her mother’s body and always nestled into her arms to listen to stories.
However, for her own mother, Xiwei Camberlan, Xiliya’s strongest impression was “mysterious.”
Though the word felt odd to describe her own mother, Xiliya truly felt that her mother carried many enigmas—like why someone like her mother would choose to marry her useless father.
Xiliya had no fondness for her father, Dos Camberlan.
Dos was an unreliable family head and an equally unreliable father. In this regard, he treated her and Malisi equally—he had never cared for either of these children.
After giving birth to Xiliya, Xiwei’s health deteriorated further, leaving her bedridden year-round. This caused Dos to quickly lose interest in his legitimate wife. He began frequenting various banquets and drinking excessively, though he had always been like that.
Dos and Masha met at one such banquet. Unlike Xiwei, Masha’s enthusiasm and eloquence quickly captured Dos’s interest. Moreover, Masha had approached him with the explicit goal of latching onto the Camberlan family tree, making their union inevitable.
The Camberlan family gained a scheming second madam, and soon Malisi was born.
Xiliya had been young at the time and couldn’t say whether her mother truly liked that useless, alcoholic father. She only remembered that after Masha moved into the Camberlan home, the faint sorrow in her mother’s eyes deepened.
Thinking back now, it probably had nothing to do with their father. Masha had married into the Camberlan family with the aim of competing for the inheritance. After wedding Dos, her scheming against her mother never ceased, but her mother was never one to care about family assets…
When her mother later passed away from illness, Masha must have secretly rejoiced for quite some time. Now, when Masha said things like “I had a good relationship with your mother,” Xiliya only felt it was hypocritical.
Planting a full garden of jasmine flowers to commemorate her mother?
Hah, it was probably just for show to outsiders. In truth, she had long grown displeased with the jasmine flower sea in the Rear Garden.
With this thought, Xiliya suddenly recalled an event from her previous life that happened around this time.
“Ximo, come with me on an outing tomorrow.”
“Oh, sure thing, Mistress.”
…
“Mistress, aren’t we supposed to go out?”
The next morning, the winter sun shone brightly, but Xiliya didn’t rush to leave. Instead, she sat quietly in the Rear Garden with Ximo, as if waiting for something.
Though Xiliya hadn’t said it, Ximo had already guessed where they were headed today—because that morning, she heard the system prompt in her mind.
[As the bullied young lady of the Camberlan family, your mother is the softest spot in your heart, so you decided to visit her at the cemetery today.]
[Unfortunately, in this household, it seems only you miss the Camberlan family’s eldest madam so much. After you leave, your sister Malisi takes the opportunity to cause trouble in the Rear Garden and destroys your cherished jasmine flower sea.]
[Please complete the plot task: “Visit mother at the cemetery and have your cherished flower sea destroyed (Incomplete).” Warm reminder: Failure to complete this task will result in punishment.]
“No rush. We’ll go after handling things.”
Xiliya admired the jasmine flower sea before her. A dedicated plot in the Camberlan Mansion’s Rear Garden was filled with blue jasmine flowers year-round. Magitools that maintained constant temperature ensured the blooms remained vibrant even in winter.
In her previous life, she also loved lingering here in her free time; these jasmine flowers always reminded her of her mother.
Ximo could roughly guess why Xiliya wasn’t in a hurry to leave. She was probably waiting for that brat Malisi to show up in the Rear Garden so she could kick her flying before departing.
Emotionally, Ximo fully supported Xiliya doing just that. She had no good feelings toward brats— in her previous life, her figurines had fallen victim to a relative’s bratty child. Afterward, the relatives trotted out the classic three-part argument:
“Aiya, you’re an adult, why quibble with a child? A few broken toys? We can compensate you, no big deal.”
“Such an expensive broken toy? Aren’t you just trying to scam us!”
“Look at you, a grown adult still playing with these toys. How childish!”
Hmm, thinking about it, she actually looked forward even more to Xiliya ruthlessly disciplining the brat soon. But rationally, Ximo couldn’t support Xiliya.
If she stopped Malisi, who would complete her missing system task?
As Ximo agonized, Xiliya’s sharp eyes spotted two small heads peeking around at the Rear Garden entrance.
“Malisi—” Xiliya spoke first to seize the initiative. “What are you doing here?”
The discovered brat stopped hiding and stepped out. Ximo noticed a small boy about Malisi’s age standing beside her.
“I… I’m here to play in the Rear Garden. Mom told me to come!”
Mentioning Masha seemed to embolden Malisi, and she no longer flinched from Xiliya’s fierce glare.
As expected, it was Masha who sent these two brats here… Xiliya sneered inwardly. That morning, people from the Merchant Guild had visited Masha with their child. While the adults discussed business, the two kids naturally ended up playing together.
Masha had probably sent the brats out to play so she could focus on business. As for directing them specifically to the Rear Garden, it likely carried a hint of malicious intent.
“Go play in the house, or I’ll break your legs.”
Xiliya stated the terrifying words calmly, but Ximo, who knew her well, understood this wasn’t mere child-scaring talk—Xiliya might actually do it.
“No way!” The brat’s stubborn temper flared. “Mom told me to play in the Rear Garden! Who are you to stop me!”
Seeing Xiliya rise to act, Ximo hurriedly pulled her back. “Miss, let it go…”
“Since it’s the Madam’s order, just let the Second Miss play here…”
If Xiliya really kicked the brat flying, her task would be truly doomed. Ximo had been thinking of persuading her, but halfway through, Xiliya whipped around and fixed her with a death stare.
“Ximo?”
“Eh?”
Ximo jumped, startled that her casual remark had provoked such a big reaction from Xiliya.
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing, I just thought since Madam Masha is discussing business, the Second Miss playing in the Rear Garden wouldn’t disturb her…”
