The words "sleeping pills" struck Clara like a thunderbolt, leaving her frozen in place. She finally understood why she had slept for so long, and why she had woken up with a splitting headache—that glass of milk wasn't a "gift of forgiveness" at all, but a tool her daughter had used to scheme against her! She turned to Liam in disbelief, her voice trembling, "What did Lila just say? You know?"
A flicker of panic crossed Liam's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. He reached out to pull Clara's arm, his tone casually indulgent: "There's a parent-child activity at kindergarten today. If you go looking like this, the other kids will laugh at Lila. Your daughter has self-esteem too. You're her mother, you certainly won't hold a grudge over something like this." He paused, as if bestowing some favor: "However, it was definitely wrong of her to give you sleeping pills. I've already criticized her, so please don't dwell on it."
"You criticized her?" Clara felt a wave of suffocation. Looking at Liam's familiar face, she suddenly felt utterly alienated. "Liam, is this how you raise your daughter? Teaching her to use sleeping pills to scheme against her own mother? What's wrong with my appearance? I only became like this because I developed hormonal imbalance after giving birth to her!"
Seven years of forbearance, grievances, and resentment erupted completely at this moment. Clara grabbed the remaining dishes on the table and smashed them on the ground—"Smash!" Ceramic shards flew everywhere, and soup splashed onto Liam's suit pants, leaving a messy stain.
"Clara, what's wrong with you!" Liam's gaze was as cold as ice. "Lila is still young and doesn't understand things. Can't you be a little more tolerant? Besides, Teacher Vanessa is right here. Don't be unreasonable!"
"Nonsense?" Clara laughed angrily, tears finally streaming down her face, her voice trembling with rage. "Fine, I'll leave! I'll leave right now and never get in your way again!"
Unable to bear the suffocating place any longer, she stumbled out of the restaurant, even forgetting her suitcase in the entryway. In the garden behind the manor, a cool evening breeze blew, but it couldn't dispel the excruciating pain and nausea in her chest. Clara sat in the veranda, looking at the withered roses outside—the roses she had planted herself, the ones Liam used to water every day, saying, "The roses must be worthy of my Clara." But now, the roses were dead, and their love was dead too.
She gasped for breath, trying to calm her turbulent emotions, when she heard soft footsteps behind her. A scent of perfume wafted on the breeze—not her usual light gardenia, but Vanessa's sweet, cloying rose fragrance.
"Clara?" Vanessa's voice sounded from behind, with a hint of deliberate gentleness. "It's so late, aren't you afraid of catching a cold by yourself here alone?"
It was Vanessa 's voice, her sweet tone laced with deliberate gentleness, like a sticky sugar coating concealing a poisoned needle. She walked step by step to the pavilion in her high-heeled sandals, her skirt sweeping across the grass, kicking up bits of grass clippings. When she stopped beside Clara , she deliberately adjusted her collar—revealing the pearl necklace Liam had given her yesterday, creating a jarring contrast with the diamond pendant around Clara's neck.
"Are you alright?" Vanessa bent down, her eyes filled with a blatantly fake concern. "Children say things without thinking, Clara , don't take it to heart. Lila just likes me so much that she spoke a little harshly. You're her mother, you certainly won't blame the child, right?"
Clara didn't respond, or even look up. She knew Vanessa all too well—every time she stirred up trouble, she used "for the children" as a shield, portraying herself as an understanding victim. She just stared at the cracks in the pavilion pillars, cracks Lila had made when she was learning to walk. Liam had laughed then, saying, "These are our family's keepsakes," but now, even that "souvenir" felt ironic.
Vanessa 's gaze fell on Clara 's neck. It was a platinum diamond necklace with a pendant of a miniature ballet shoe, the toe of which was set with small diamonds, and the heel engraved with tiny " C & L "—it was a wedding anniversary gift that Liam had given her seven years ago. He had knelt down on one knee and placed the necklace around her neck, his voice fervent: "This is for my ballet princess, and only you deserve it."
“ Clara , your necklace is so beautiful.” Vanessa ’s voice was full of undisguised amazement, even a hint of greed. She subconsciously reached out, her fingertips almost touching the ballet shoe pendant. “The cutting of these diamonds looks incredibly valuable…”
"Don't touch it!" Clara almost instinctively raised her hand to block, her palm slamming against Vanessa 's wrist, her tone as cold as ice. This was the only thing she had left that connected her to the beautiful past, her only spiritual sustenance after giving up the stage, and she would never allow anyone to tarnish it.
Vanessa 's hand froze as her hand was blocked, a flash of resentment crossing her eyes, only to be instantly replaced by aggrievedness. Just then, Lila's clear voice called from afar, " Teacher Vanessa , where are you? Daddy bought a strawberry cake, and I want to eat it with Teacher Vanessa !"
Upon hearing Lila 's voice, Vanessa seemed to suddenly lose her balance, her body jerking forward with a sharp scream: "Ah!" Her hand precisely gripped Clara 's wrist, using the force to pull Clara towards her—the two collided heavily, Clara 's back slamming unprepared against the edge of a marble statue beside the pavilion, the sharp stone tearing through her fabric and piercing her flesh.
