Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 14

It was time for her to leave.

She stood up and reached for the door.

Before her slender, pale fingers could touch the handle, the door swung open from the other side. Standing there was a woman in her late fifties.

The woman was momentarily taken aback upon seeing her, but then her face broke into an uncontainable smile. "Miss Claire, you're really back?"

Claire paused for a moment, "Nanny May?"

Looking at May, a whirlwind of emotions surged within her.

In the entire Linwood household, only Nanny May treated her as the true lady of the house. The other staff were cold and distant, acknowledging only Vanessa as the Linwood's rightful daughter, referring to her merely as Miss Claire.

On sweltering summer days, when she was covered in heat rash from the stifling utility room, it was May who bought her a fan with her own money. During the freezing winters, when she shivered from the cold, it was May who got her an electric blanket for warmth.

Thinking of these moments, Claire's eyes welled up with tears beyond her control.

fell on the plastic bag in Claire's hand.

mouth, unsure of what to say, and simply nodded

of concern, words of persuasion to stay lingering on her tongue, yet unable to voice them. She knew all too well how precarious Claire's existence was in

resigned sigh, she said, "Miss Claire, I won't stop you

it off, "It's just a scratch, I'm

heart ached. How much suffering had Claire endured to become so

was just a servant, her voice too small to change anything in the

a loving smile through her pain, "Miss Claire, you've come home without eating a thing. Let me make

Claire declined again.

"No, thank you."

words were too cold, she added, "The sooner I leave here,

truth, she simply couldn't bear the thought of eating anything from the

impoverished now, her health failing, but all she had left was a shred of

would rather beg on the streets than endure the Linwood's disdain

could look down on her, except the