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Nothing had ever blown up this badly before. The whole room hung in a tense standoff, no one moving, and Tabitha's face had swollen out of shape.
In the end the whole scene closed the only way it could: Tabitha ran out in tears.
Back at the Hughes house, the moment she saw Paddy Hughes and Leah Hughes, she burst into loud sobbing.
"Daddy, Mommy, Tabby didn't mean anything bad by it."
"I only said all that because I wanted Sister to hold back a little, to mind how she looks."
"I never thought she'd not only refuse to appreciate it, she'd actually hit me."
Paddy and Leah had clearly already heard the whole story from start to finish.
Leah looked at me with a trace of displeasure, but still made herself patient enough to coax me. "Carina, what Tabby did really wasn't wrong."
"You're a grown girl now. You'll be married soon. You won't stay in the Hughes house forever."
I answered flatly. "I understand that. So that isn't what I'm angry about."
Leah blinked, then it dawned on her.
"Then it's about cutting your expenses."
"But Tabby wasn't wrong there either. A girl has to watch her figure. Eat less, keep the weight down, so you can fit into a beautiful wedding dress."
Seeing that Leah was set on taking Tabitha's side, I reminded her, resigned.
"Cut whatever else you want, however you want. But not the food."
"Mom, surely you haven't forgotten what Grandpa told you both before he died?"
That was right. The only reason a fake heiress like me could stay in the Hughes house and be waited on hand and foot, food brought to my mouth, was the deathbed words Old Mr. Hughes had left behind.
That year I'd been living perfectly fine at the old country homestead, and that old rascal Max Hughes had insisted on coming out to beg me to leave the mountain.
Going on about some ancient pact, saying that back in the day I'd eaten the plain rice of his ancestors, that now the Delgado family faced ruin, and so I ought to come down and protect his family.
I refused him. After all, guardian duty like that, what did it have to do with a beast like me?
But the old rascal actually gathered up the top chefs from all over the world and laid out a whole table of fine food to tempt me.
For once I couldn't hold back, and I made a ten-year pact with him.
The old rascal was overjoyed and dragged me down the mountain that very night.
Paddy was a dutiful son, and he and Leah were a devoted couple. After their first child was stolen away, they never had another, so without a word they raised me as their own daughter.
"Carina, we've kept those words in mind all these years."
"We've never once shorted you on fine food and rich dishes."
"But Tabby has a point too. Eight meals a day really is a bit much."
"Here's what we'll do. Your father decides: two meals a day. One of plain oatmeal and scraps, one of a lavish feast. How about that?"
I laughed out loud from sheer anger.
Brother, I'm a Taotie. Eight meals a day is barely enough to get stuck in my teeth.
And now you want me down to two?
Too bad I couldn't say it outright.
When the immortal lord learned I was going to the human world, he warned me over and over: I was never to reveal what I was.
Because word that a god from the primordial wilds walked among them would throw the Three Realms into chaos.
We beasts may not understand human sentiment, but our word is iron.
What we promise, we never break.
So all I could do was hint at it. "Dad, I understand you favoring your own daughter."
"I can own my fault. I can even give up my fiancé."
"But the eight meals, not a single one can be cut."
"Otherwise, the consequences are more than you can carry."
Paddy had sat at the head of this family for years, and it was the first time anyone had shamed him to his face.
He couldn't hold it anymore, and he snapped at me. "Carina, don't push your luck!"
"If it weren't for my father's dying words, what right would some village girl of unknown origin have to be an heiress of the Hughes family?!"
"The Hughes family has already done more than enough for you!"
"It's decided. Meals stay at two, and the engagement to Max goes to Tabby."
"Tabby hasn't asked for a single thing since she came home. This time, she gets what she wants!"
With that, Paddy shot a look over my shoulder, signaling the servants to lock me in my room.
I was furious, the brute strength inside me already slipping past my control.
But just as I braced to make a real mess of it, my body went soft all at once and I crumpled to the floor.
Max let out a smug, cold laugh. "I know how much you eat and how strong that makes you, so I made a point of slipping you the bone-softening drug."
"Until Tabby and I are engaged, you'll stay put in the basement and go nowhere."
"Oh, and one more thing. You won't get any food during this time. People only learn the rules once they've been hungry long enough."
I lay slumped on the floor, and when I saw Paddy and Leah standing off at a distance, not moving, wearing the face of people who saw nothing, I finally understood: from beginning to end, they had never intended to help me.
I was bitterly disappointed, and I quietly counted out the time.
Three days left in the ten-year pact.
Three days, and the pact would lapse, and I'd be free.
By then, I could return to my nature as a beast……
