Faced with Fumiko’s mix of threats and persuasion, Lady Tsukiyuki Rio’s gaze remained icy and unmoved.
At Rio’s signal, the maids immediately resumed searching the room for clues, but still found nothing useful.
Uzuki kept her head lowered, not daring to look at anyone.
Since her mother said she was her property, Uzuki had no right to disobey. All she could do was endure. Perhaps, when the string of endurance finally snapped, it would be the day she died.
Most people said death was agonizing and that the afterlife was nothing but torment, but Uzuki had always thought they were lying. Otherwise, why did none of the dead ever come back to life?
Surely it was because that world was far happier than this one.
“Young Lady Tsukiyuki, we’ve found nothing.”
The maids, having searched every corner of the house, reported back to Rio one by one.
Of course they wouldn’t find anything. Uzuki knew that although her mother seemed unhinged, she was meticulous and would never leave behind evidence.
Rio was somewhat disappointed.
“Auntie Fumiko, I truly apologize for disturbing you today. I will come in person another day to offer my apologies.”
“If Lady Tsukiyuki Rio would honor me with her presence, I would be deeply privileged.”
At once, the maids stowed their weapons, and Rio’s hand slowly intertwined with Gao Sijin’s.
It seemed they were about to leave. If only her cousin would take her in and rescue her from her mother’s side, Uzuki wished desperately. But Rio never once looked back. Instead, it was the gentleman from China who seemed to hesitate, as if wanting to speak but holding back.
Please save me, Mr. Gao…
Yet she was so afraid. Anyone who treated Uzuki with kindness would become unfortunate because of it. Her conflicting emotions made her want to scream out loud several times, but she didn’t dare.
In the end, Gao Sijin was unable to sway Rio and left the house. But just before he left, he alone turned back to look deeply at Uzuki, which gave her a measure of comfort.
In this house, like a coffin, one could smell the metallic, rusty tang of blood.
Her life now, and in the future, held nothing but pain.
Uzuki smiled bitterly, her face pale as paper, long since resigned to her fate.
“What are you smiling about?”
Her smile was caught with pinpoint accuracy by her mother’s gaze, sharp as a hyena’s.
“Nothing, Mother…”
“Were you happy to see your own mother kneel before someone else, Uzuki?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Uzuki had forgotten her mother’s teachings.
Of all things, what her mother hated most was seeing Uzuki smile. Whether a genuine smile or a bitter one, the mere upward curl of her lips would instantly infuriate her mother.
“I’m sorry, Mother…”
Yet the moment she apologized, her mother slapped her again. Due to her mother’s special constitution, the blow was forceful. The single slap sent Uzuki flying, the searing pain something she had long grown accustomed to. Her mother walked toward her, and instead of helping the fallen Uzuki up, she lashed out with punches and kicks, all aimed at her vulnerable stomach.
Uzuki knew all too well that even if she hadn’t smiled just now, she would still have been beaten. Whenever her mother was displeased about anything, Uzuki became her punching bag. She struggled to hold her breath, trying as hard as she could not to wail. She was truly exhausted. If she could just fall asleep like this, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
But even if her life hung by a thread, she probably couldn’t wring a single human tear from her mother.
“You were born from a whore, and you’ll be a whore too,” her mother’s fury was plain to see. “And you dared to smile so brazenly just now.”
It was no coincidence that her mother had killed her once-brutal father.
Coughing up a mouthful of blood from the intense pain, stars swarming her vision, Uzuki vaguely felt countless pairs of eyes staring at her from within the house. Losing her physical body might not be a bad thing.
Half an hour later, Fumiko too seemed to feel tired. She tossed the bloodstained belt aside, took a can of beer from the refrigerator, and started drinking.
At least it wasn’t a glass beer bottle.
Uzuki secretly felt relieved.
If it had been a glass bottle, her head might have been smashed open and bleeding again.
“Mother is doing this for your own good. You’ll understand one day,” her mother said, calm and collected.
Uzuki nodded, swallowed the iron-tasting blood, and bowed to her mother:
“Thank you for your teachings, Mother.”
She would never beat Uzuki to death, because her mother knew that if she killed her, she would lose a plaything.
Tsukiyuki Uzuki stumbled toward her room on the second floor. She was truly exhausted. Fortunately, she could still go on living for now, because she had a friend unknown to anyone else.
By the window sat stuffed toys, their hollow eyes fixed intently on Uzuki, like an audience watching a clown’s performance.
“I’m home.”
“Uzuki, are you okay?”
Her friend asked gently.
“I just tripped while walking earlier. I’m so clumsy.”
Uzuki smiled helplessly and bitterly.
But bean-sized tears slipped down before she knew it. Though she had grown used to this life, sometimes she still lost control.
“Don’t cry, Uzuki. I’ll always be by your side, forever.”
Her friend gently wrapped her arms around Uzuki, while Uzuki sobbed uncontrollably, unable to get a single sentence out whole.
This warm embrace and touch were the only lifeline Uzuki clung to for survival.
“Will you really always be with me?”
“Of course. I’ll be more reliable than anyone, and I’ll never betray you.” Her friend rested her head on Uzuki’s shoulder.
Her friend was a lively, cheerful, beautiful girl with striking features, exactly like the most perfect friend in the world.
In Uzuki’s picture book, she had recorded all the moments of her life with her friend. They went to McDonald’s together, swung on the swings at the park together, took photo booth pictures together on the way home from school, and even slept together.
This inseparable friend allowed Uzuki, even in the midst of extreme agony, to faintly taste a sliver of sweetness in life, so subtle it was barely perceptible. However, despite being together for so long, her friend always refused to reveal her name. Something as trivial as a name naturally didn’t bother Uzuki.
Just having her continue to stay with her was enough.
“Uzuki.”
“What is it, friend?”
“Kill your mother.”
Her friend pressed her pink lips close to Uzuki’s ear and whispered.
Startled by her friend’s words, Uzuki was taken aback.
“How could I do that?”
“Uzuki, listen to me. Only by killing her can we find happiness…”
“I can’t. She’s my mother, I…”
Not only out of fear, but she also worried about her future.
Her mother had said that since she had given Uzuki life, she could likewise give her death. Her mother declared that after she died, someone would come to kill Uzuki, making her a burial offering alongside her mother.
She yearned for death, yet feared it. What she feared most of all was dying together with her mother.
Uzuki’s heart was always so full of contradictions.
If she had to die one day, she would choose a place where no one could find her, and die under her friend’s gentle gaze.
“Uzuki, I won’t allow you to think like that.” Her friend suddenly turned serious. “You must live well, do you understand?”
