The very next day, she sat waiting in the greenhouse, waiting for the butler to bring the young lady over. This would be her first official meeting with Rachel.
She smoothed out her dress one more time and gently slapped her cheeks to psych herself up. I have to make a good impression.
Then, hearing footsteps approach from behind, Vivien spun around excitedly, but the person walking into the greenhouse was Sally.
"How did you even get in here?"
Seeing the deep scowl on Sally's face, Vivien flashed her an obnoxiously sweet smile and waved. "I'm here to be the young lady's playmate. Hope we can get along, Sally."
Sally pointed a trembling finger at her in absolute disgust. "Someone like you? Just who the hell do you think you are? And who let trash like you in here without my mother's permission?"
"Does the Duke really need your mother's permission?"
Sally gasped in shock.
"Why don't you go tell your mom right now? Tell her the Duke brought home a beggar from the market slums to be the young lady's friend."
Sally glared at her with pure venom, but finding no comeback, she had no choice but to storm off.
A long time passed. Rachel still hadn't shown up.
Suddenly, her heart violently skipped a beat. Once. Twice. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe. At the same time, intense waves of agony crashed over her. The illness was acting up again.
There was no way to stop it. She could only grit her teeth and endure the pain. Trembling, she grabbed the back of the chair and forced herself to stand.
The Duke — he'd never want a sick kid as his daughter's playmate. Let's just hide for a bit, at least until the pain goes away.
Suddenly, the door swung open from the outside, and Vivien tumbled straight forward. She crashed right into a stranger's arms.
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
As she scrambled to her feet and looked up, their eyes locked. Rachel had instinctively caught her. Vivien found herself staring into a pair of deep lake-blue eyes. She was a bit taller than other girls her age, looking just like an elf straight out of a fairy tale.
Vivien snapped out of her daze. "G-greetings, princess. I'm Vivien. Starting today, I'll be your playmate."
But before she could even finish her cheerful greeting, Rachel just brushed right past her, taking a seat at the table in the middle of the greenhouse.
So cold. Is the villainess hating the female lead just an unavoidable fate?
Wait a minute. My heart was hurting so badly just a second ago. But the moment I touched Rachel, the pain completely vanished. Usually, even when the agony fades, there's always this lingering ache left behind.
The second she realized the connection, she had the strongest urge to just throw her arms around Rachel again. But she forced herself to hold back.
Rachel, meanwhile, hadn't even glanced her way. Yet Vivien was more fired up than ever. I am absolutely going to be best friends with Rachel.
Then she blurted out, "I really like you, princess. I promise I'll make you so happy from now on."
In response to this passionate declaration, Rachel finally spoke her very first words.
"Don't ever come back."
That icy rejection instantly turned Vivien to stone. Rachel walked away without even looking back, leaving Vivien standing there like a heartbroken, dumped lover.
But her dream of simply surviving wasn't going to end like this. If you can't chop down a tree in ten swings, you just have to swing eleven times. You've got this, Vivien.
A few days later, it was time for tea with Rachel, so she made her way back to the villa. But she had already been waiting for thirty minutes, and Rachel still hadn't shown up at the greenhouse.
Rachel's freezing voice echoed in her head. Don't ever come back.
Just then, the greenhouse doors creaked open. She jumped up by reflex, greeting her with a perfectly elegant curtsy. But a mocking giggle cut her off. The person standing there wasn't Rachel. It was Sally, sneering at Vivien's polite little bow.
She taunted, "'Greetings, princess.' Ha, what a clueless little brat. Can't you read the room? The young lady still hasn't shown up. Don't you get it yet? Someone as uncultured as you is just too low-class to bother playing with. Now that you know, take a hint and go home."
God, you're so annoying. "Did the young lady actually say that? Well, then maybe I should just go ask her myself."
Sally suddenly looked panicked.
"If you're telling the truth, I'll pack up and go home right now. But what if you're lying? By defying the Duke's orders, wouldn't that make me a terribly insolent child?"
Sally, still putting on a brave face, stubbornly insisted she wasn't lying.
Vivien just shoved past Sally's shoulder and marched right out of the greenhouse. Immediately, Sally's furious voice chased after her.
"Hey, stop right there."
She wasn't about to just let this go. But as she rounded the corner, just in time, she ran into Rachel coming downstairs.
"What are you doing here?"
Wearing an impatient expression, Rachel glared at Sally's smug little face.
Vivien started putting on an act, making an exaggerated, hurt expression. "Actually, I know my lady finds having tea with me a bit boring. So I thought of a more fun way to play. How about the village?"
A hint of curiosity sparked in Rachel's eyes, but Sally, suddenly anxious, quickly stepped in. "Why would you want to go to such a smelly place? My lady doesn't like leaving the estate. Right, my lady?"
But contrary to what Sally claimed, Rachel didn't reject the offer right away. She actually seemed to be hesitating.
The truth was, Rachel desperately wanted to leave this mansion too.
Having read the original novel, I knew Rachel was the child of the late crown prince, who died a traitor, and the Duke's daughter, Princess Isela. The current emperor knew all about this. But on the surface, he couldn't just assassinate this illegitimate child. However, everyone in the empire knew that didn't mean she was completely forgiven.
Rachel knew this better than anyone else. And because of that, she had always tried her hardest to stay out of sight, never leaving the estate. She hid her very existence as if she were already dead. Growing up with such a heavily suppressed mind eventually bred a rebellious heart.
But there was no emperor here, and no one here would even recognize Rachel.
"So, in this village, you don't have to hide yourself away like that."
She reached out her hand to Rachel. "Would you like to come take a look at the village with me, Your Highness?"
Just as Rachel was about to answer, a middle-aged woman suddenly appeared and cut her off.
"That will be very inconvenient."
Seeing Sally happily call out to her as mother, it turned out to be Rachel's nanny, Margaret. She placed a heavy hand on Rachel's shoulder.
"She has other arrangements."
Even though she claimed it was to protect Rachel, didn't she even care to hear the girl's own opinion?
"But she still has time left to drink tea with me."
"I am telling you, going out today will be highly inappropriate. Is it that hard to understand what I'm saying?"
"In that case, what if we get the Duke's permission? Would it be okay then?"
Margaret instantly flared up in anger. "It seems you don't quite understand your place. I am the one solely responsible for my lady's entire education. My word is the Duke's word. Do you understand now?"
Right at that very moment, the Duke's voice boomed from behind them all.
"Have I ever stopped the child from going out?"
The nanny instantly froze in panic. "Your Grace, I was merely worried about my lady."
"If you are truly that worried, you can just send an extra guard," the Duke said, pausing to look at Rachel for a moment.
Meeting her grandfather's gaze, Rachel awkwardly looked away.
In the original novel, Rachel turned to the dark side and abandoned her family, completely cutting ties with her grandfather. I always thought she fell out with him because she turned evil. Turns out their relationship had been awful since she was just a kid.
"Of course, you must return before sunset."
Caught completely off guard, the flustered nanny was a beat too late to argue back. "But Your Grace, my lady is about to have her etiquette class."
"Then just push it back to tomorrow. It doesn't matter."
He then ordered the butler to ready a carriage. Vivien was absolutely stunned. So this is a sweet taste of absolute power.