The next day, Eldwin arrived at my family’s estate to ask Rosalie and me for our hands in marriage. He brought two sets of gifts, one for each of us.
Rosalie’s consisted of forty-eight chests full of jewelry and charters for lands.
Mine, on the other, was a palm-sized jewelry box with a handful of gold nuggets in it.
My mother burst with rage on the spot and wanted to throw that box out of the house.
Rosalie immediately kneeled down in front of my mother nervously. “Please forgive me, Mrs. Shaw. I am willing to hand over my gifts to Lina.”
Eldwin immediately put himself between Rosalie and my mother. “You are as heartless as your daughter, Mrs. Shaw. I can’t imagine how difficult it has been for Rosie to grow up in the Shaw family’s estate and how badly you both must have mistreated her.”
Rosalie hid behind Eldwin with a pitiful, aggrieved look on her face.
I reached out to grab my mother’s arm. “Just hand the gift back to him, mother. There is no need to argue with them.”
My mother could not stand the accusation and immediately snapped, “This little rat always pretends to be helpless. I have never mistreated her in all these years!”
Eldwin’s expression darkened. “Since Rosie has married me, she is now Lady Gennings. How dare you insult her in front of so many people?! I will teach you a lesson.”
Eldwin’s father was a marquess, while my mother was only the wife of a government official. If he held her accountable, it would bring us a lot of trouble.
I bowed to Eldwin.
“It was a slip of the tongue. Please forgive my mother, Lord Gennings.”
Eldwin lifted his chin and said cockily, “That is all? A slip of the tongue? No, I want you both to apologize to Rosie.”
My mother screamed with rage, “How ridiculous! How outrageous! A mistress of a household should not have to apologize to the child of her husband’s concubine!”
I quickly whispered in my mother’s ear. She backed down and stormed back into the house.
Then, I looked over at Eldwin and Rosalie. “If my mother apologizes, everyone in the city will say that my sister is disrespectful. I will apologize on my mother’s behalf.”
Eldwin could not let Rosalie bear the blame of being disrespectful to her elderly, so he did not insist on making my mother apologize.
He took Rosalie’s hand and led her to where he had placed her gifts as if he was showing off his wealth. Every item in her chests was priceless.
In contrast, the gold nuggets he gave me looked like a joke.
I picked up the box and handed it back to Eldwin. “Here, take it back.”
