“If you and your mother don’t say anything, no one will know.”
Vivian Lee gave a hollow laugh.
“I’m not the type to stir up trouble.”
Cecilia Adler laughed as well, at Vivian Lee’s utter shamelessness.
‘Why couldn’t I be that shameless?’
…
The entrance to the bathhouse was bustling with people.
Steam filled the air inside.
After handing in her ticket, Cecilia Adler found an empty locker, undressed, and put her clothes inside.
Vivian Lee watched her from the side.
A slender waist, and long, straight legs.
Her skin was snow-white, without a single scar, not even a red mark.
Her gaze traveled downward.
Just as Cecilia Adler turned her head, she caught Vivian Lee staring at her.
Startled, she used her clothes to cover herself.
“Vivian, what are you doing?” ‘That stare is terrifying.’
‘She looks just like one of those old bachelors from the village who can’t find a wife.’
‘What a creep.’
“What am I doing?” Vivian Lee averted her gaze.
‘I never realized Cecilia Adler had such a great body.’
‘So curvy in all the right places.’
‘Too bad she’s marrying Ian Quincy.
Such a beautiful face and a great body are wasted on him.’
‘Because he can’t perform.’
‘He may be big and tall, but he can’t get it up.’
‘I was married to him for ten years.’
‘And I was still a virgin when we divorced.’
Cecilia Adler was speechless.
While Vivian Lee was undressing, she quickly entered the inner room, found a clean pool, and submerged herself until only her head and neck were visible.
Vivian Lee didn’t follow her.
When it was time to scrub her back, the other woman was nowhere to be seen.
Cecilia Adler didn’t bother looking for her and instead traded back-scrubs with an older woman nearby.
When she came out, Vivian Lee’s locker was empty.
Only then did it dawn on her why the other woman had invited her to the bathhouse.
‘She must have wanted to see if I had any bruises from a beating.’
‘That psycho!’
…
Cecilia Adler wrung the water from her hair and went home, only to find the door locked.
She raised her hand to knock.
But pulled it back a second later.
At this hour, most of the neighbors were already asleep.
If she made a noise and woke everyone up, not only would she get a lecture from Lucas Lee and May Sutton, but she’d also become the subject of the neighbors’ speculation.
And if Vivian Lee were to intentionally add a few choice words, then in less than three days, the whole street would be gossiping that she’d been out fooling around with a man late into the night.
She walked over to the base of the wall, tossed the bag with her change of clothes into the yard, and then climbed over.
As she jumped down, her foot slipped and she twisted her ankle.
She let out a soft cry of pain.
Someone had poured water on the snow, and it had turned to ice.
She didn’t need to investigate to know that Vivian Lee was behind it.
Fighting back the pain, she limped into the house.
Vivian Lee stood at the window, a smirk playing on her lips.
In her past life, Ian Quincy had grabbed her by the hair and told her he couldn’t stand to see her hurt, because the sight of it excited him and made him want to hurt her even more.
‘Tomorrow, when Cecilia Adler shows up with an injured leg, let’s see if he can control himself.’
…
“Vivian Lee, how dare you trick me.
Just you wait.”
Inside her room, Cecilia Adler muttered the threat while searching for the bruise-healing ointment she had brought from the countryside.
She applied it before finally resting.
She was woken up by May Sutton.
“Cecilia, it’s already seven o’clock, why are you still sleeping?
You haven’t even started breakfast.
Do you think that just because you’re marrying into the Quillan family, you can act like a young mistress and enjoy a life of leisure ahead of time?” May Sutton deliberately dragged out her words, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
Cecilia Adler could, of course, hear the mockery.
“I twisted my ankle,” she said helplessly.
“Twisted your ankle?
Weren’t you perfectly fine last night?
I think you’re just trying to be lazy.
Cecilia Adler, I used to feel sorry for you, growing up without a mother, and I treated you like my own daughter.
But you?
You’re ungrateful.
You talk back, you try to slack off, and you expect me to serve you.
Well, life isn’t that easy.
Let’s get things straight from now on.
As long as you live here for one day, you’ll do a day’s work.
Before you came, your own father promised you wouldn’t just be eating and drinking for free…”