She did not have any peace since that day, although Robert did not lay hands on her after that, but Alice made her life hell; she started ordering her around like a servant. The one that was memorable to her was when Alice forced her to carry a hot pot of soup with her bare hands and dared her that if she dared to put it down, she would lie to Robert that she was trying to escape from the house.
She had blisters on her hands that day, and she needed to get up early to cook and do all of the housework. Despite the fact that she and Alice were both pregnant, the treatment they received was akin to comparing heaven to earth; Alice was handled like an egg, as if walking alone would break her, and she was treated like dirt.
She recalls that her and Alice's water broke on the same day; when they arrived at the hospital, Alice was put to the VIP ward, while she was transported to the plain one. She recalls how tough it was to give birth on her alone without anyone's encouragement; she cried while pushing her baby out, out of grief. She eventually gave birth to her second daughter, who was healthy. She knew Robert had gone to provide Alice emotional support, so she knew she wouldn't see him anytime soon.
She subsequently learned that Alice had given birth to a stillborn male kid; when she heard the news, she felt sad that the innocent baby did not even open his eyes to see the world; yet, she did not feel sorry for Alice because she had received exactly what she deserved. When she took her baby home, she was able to live comfortably for a while because Robert and Alice were still in the hospital. Because Alice had surgery, her healing time will be longer. But her calm was short-lived because Alice and Robert returned home about a week later.
Robert called out her first daughter one lovely day and ordered her to call Alice mom because Alice had lost her child. Sophie had lost it that day and was ready to fight Robert to the death; how dare he instruct her daughter to call the mistress mother? That day, Robert just smiled at her kid, telling her to do what he said and promising to buy her ice cream later.
Then Robert hauled her to the bedroom and gave her the beating of her life, telling her that if she dared to tell anybody and their daughter heard her scream, he would make her life terrible. So that day, no matter how hard she was hit, she couldn't scream.
Robert's mother eventually arrived that evening and began to console Alice, telling her that she was going to give birth to another kid and that she was still better than someone (Sophie) who only knew how to give birth to girls. Sophie taunted herself, telling herself that she was the one who put herself in the situation she was in, and if she had listened to her parents, none of this would've happened.
She continues to live like a zombie in that house, and she is rapidly aging as a result of her lack of peace of mind. Eight years into that marriage, while being only thirty years old, she appears like a lady of fifty. But the one source of happiness in her life is that Alice became pregnant every year for five years in a row and miscarried each time.
Robert and Alice's disagreements became more frequent, and Alice eventually decided she'd had enough and chose to separate from Robert; she packed her luggage one day and went; no matter how much Robert begged her, she left Robert.
Sophie couldn't help but gloat about Robert's sadness, and from that day forward, Robert began drinking and might not even come home for three months. Sophie was grateful for all those months of peace, and whenever Robert came home, she always tried to hide away from him; sometimes he would even bring women home and they would fool around all over the house. They lived like this for about a year.
After giving birth to her second child, Robert never slept with her, and she loved it that way. Sophie's only hope at the time was to raise her children properly, but everything changed one day when Robert came home drunk and began touching her inappropriately in front of her first child.
Sophie recalls doing her best to stop him that day and reminding him how improper it is for him to do that in front of their child. Robert did not stop, but instead dragged her into the room and began ripping her clothing. She recalls her child knocking on the door and pleading with Robert not to harm her mother, but Robert was long gone.