"I am here, Mother," Odette announced.
Wearing her usual soft smile, Odette stared across the grand room. Her eyes fell on the luxuriously dressed woman sitting on the couch and holding a cup of tea.
"Get out!" The woman ordered.
Her loud command made all the maids scamper away quickly. They knew not to be in her presence when Valentina was angry.
"It had been a long time. How have you been, Mother?" Odette spoke out gently.
Judging from her expression, Odette was well aware of the tantrum Valentina would throw. Although dealing with it was irritating, Odette had no other option. Odette had to admit that for a smart woman, her mother made plenty of foolish decisions.
Valentina could have led a better life yet she decided to get involved with Damian Albinius. She fell for the very man everyone avoided due to dread and wasted her life chasing after him. In the end, she was barely able to live long.
The object being flung in her direction made Odette close her eyes. She didn't avoid. Sharp pain permeated through her forehead proceeded by a loud sound of crashing. Opening her eyes, she stared down at the broken pieces of the cup that spread all over the floor.
Feeling the warm liquid on her forehead, she raised her hand to touch it. The corner of her lips curved upwards subtly. She enjoyed this sensation of pain. It made her feel more alive.
The blood gradually flowed down her face, sliding past her eyes. The seven year old her should have been pretty shaken up.
However, the current her was used to her mother throwing objects at her. It did feel insulting, and Odette made a note to avoid next time regardless of how much she relished feeling the pain.
That did cause Odette's mood to shift. She badly wanted to strangle that throat of her mother. Watching those tears run down her face as she begged for mercy aroused Odette's murderous instincts.
It's not that no one would suspect her; it was merely that no one would care. Valentina had no strong backing, and in Damian's eyes, Valentina held zero to no value. As for Odette, she was currently her father's treasure.
But Odette drove that idea from her mind. She couldn't be impulsive. Valentina wasn't deserving of such a simple death. After all that struggle Valentina did, how could she pass away that easily?
It wouldn't be fair to Valentina.
Odette pressed down the excitement, thinking about how her mother would stare at her with those horror filled eyes when she will be tormenting the woman. How would her mother feel upon learning that the daughter she trained to be perfect pawn will take her life in the most gruesome way possible?
How pitiful would that be for Valentina!
Valentina noticed the glint that passed through Odette's eyes for split of a second, and this gave her chills. But realizing that Odette's eyes were filled with agony, Valentina brushed it aside as her misconception.
Wearing a clueless façade, Odette asked, "How did I anger you, Mother?"
"You dare to ask that!? Kneel down!"
Probably in her last life, Odette would have found her mother intimidating and immediately abided by her words. But now, Odette only found her voice shrilly— disturbing her ear drums quite a lot.
Kneeling in front of Valentina was an absurd idea. What status or capability did the pathetic woman before her have to make Odette get on her knees? Odette ridiculed the woman in her mind while forcing back her desires to finish off Valentina's life.
'Be patient, Odette, if you want to have great rewards.'
Odette's disobedience aggravated the woman, and she slammed her hand on the table, creating a loud noise. Valentina then glared at Odette viciously, showing every intent to get violent with the younger girl.
This might have made the seven year old Odette cower. But the experienced Odette found Valentina's effort to appear menacing too weak and fake. It only made Odette amused.
Her mother was too pretentious and overconfident. Did she think that someone as lowly as her would gain momentum and deemed naturally authoritative simply by entering Albinius household?
Valentina was considered a spiteful and jealous shrew by everyone yet the woman took herself to be someone classy.
As Valentina stomped towards Odette, she guessed what the woman wanted to do yet remained unfazed. It must be a joke if Valentina believes she can shake Odette up.
"You dare to defy me, Ill-mannered Brat! You have the audacity to do that after losing to that whore's child!? Do you know how ashamed I was!? Countless times, I have told you to practice hard yet you slacked off.
Are you not mortified to lose to him over and over again? Are you trying to rebel against me now? How incompetent you are! I shouldn't have given birth to you! You are fucking useful and embarrassing!" Valentina shouted while holding on to her shoulders tightly and swaying her.
Odette wanted to comment how her mother's inferiority complex that she couldn't hide was embarrassing. It was funny for her mother to use whore to address the Duchess when Valentina was a prostitute previously.
Her mother needed a reality check badly. Her delusions of taking the Duchess's would never come true regardless of the effort she put in, and the Duke merely kept Valentina, ignoring how annoying she was, in order to cultivate Odette.
Otherwise, she would have been disposed off way earlier.
Having her mother's expression distorted by stating those truth sounded like a thrilling idea, but Odette needed to practice patience for the perfect timing.
"Insolent Brat, stop staring at me with those eyes! Are you mocking me? Do you think I can't get rid of you? Listen to me, the only reason you are here today and alive is because of me. That's why, you have no right to go against me. You will be gone if I turn my back on you." Valentina sounded paranoid.
She shouldn't have raised Odette up. Odette would have been grateful if she was disposed off as a child. In that way, the world would have been free of a monster.
"I have no need of a useless child. I didn't fucking put in no much effort for you to become useless. That's why, Odette, fix yourself up!"
Her mother's maniacal behavior, coupled with those nonsense she spouted, made it hard for Odette to nor stare at her in derision.
'How ugly and uncouth.'
"Odette, you got to be better and make your father notice me. I want to sleep with him. I want to bear him another child. You understand, right? That's why, be a good girl."
Odette's silence made the woman shout, "DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"
With that, she pushed Odette backwards.