Chapter 3

Hector paused and looked back.

I glanced at the snow on his shoulders, then asked, "What did you say Theo was coming for?"

Hector's gaze shifted briefly to Celia, then back to me. "The Cobbett family."

My heart dropped. It was exactly the same as before.

In my last life, the village chief, Theo Baker, had tried to send Celia to a rich man in town, Jim Cobbett, as his second wife.

The man was old. He had already buried two wives. He had three sons, and the youngest was two years older than Celia.

I refused. Theo called me an ungrateful widow.

Later, when Bernard passed his exams, the Cobbett family stopped bringing it up.

But now, I had driven Bernard out with my own hands. To everyone else, that meant I had no one backing me anymore.

Wolves always knew when to move.

Hector saw that I had gone quiet. He added, his voice low, "If anything happens, call me."

I looked up at him.

In the snowy night, his figure stood firm and steady. There was no false kindness in his tone; he wasn't looking down on me.

In my last life, I had only understood who truly stood by me when it was already too late.

In this life, he had not done anything yet, but something in me had already softened.

"Okay," I said quietly.

He gave a small nod and walked off into the snow.

Once he was gone, Celia and I were the only ones left in the yard.

Celia stood there, staring at the door. Then she suddenly turned to me. "Mom, why do you always talk to Hector like that?"

I frowned. "Like what?"

She pressed her lips together. "You're polite with everyone else. But with him, it's like you know him well."

My heart skipped a beat.

Of course, I knew him well.

In my last life, after Celia and I were gone, he had been the only one who buried us.

That was a debt I could never repay.

But I couldn't say any of that out loud.

I kept my face cold and said, "Just mind your own business and stop paying so much attention to others."

Celia looked annoyed and turned away. She took a few steps, then stopped at the door.

Her voice came out quiet but firm. "Mom, I know you are worried the Cobbett family will come for me. But you cannot treat everyone like a bad person. Bernard is not like that."

A bitter laugh almost slipped out of me.

Not like that? He was worse.

He would trade her life for his future without a second thought. If he was not considered cruel, then no one in this world was.

But I did not argue. There was no point trying to reason with someone who had never been hurt by the world.

*****

The next morning, the snow had just stopped when Theo showed up at my door with a matchmaker from the Cobbett family.

I had not even opened the gate yet when I heard the matchmaker's loud voice outside. "Sally! Open up. I have good news for you."

I set the wooden spoon into the bucket and walked over. I lifted the bolt.

The gate creaked open. Three people stood outside.

Theo was wrapped in gray fox fur. His belly pushed out under it, and he wore a wide, pleased smile.

Beside him, the matchmaker was dressed in bright colors. Her eyes flicked over me from head to toe.

Behind them stood an older servant woman from the Cobbett family. She held two bolts of cloth in her arms, making it obvious why they had come.

Theo spoke first, his tone full of pride. "Sally, I heard you drove Bernard out last night. Is that true?"

"Yes," I said without hesitation.

That answer clearly caught him off guard.

The matchmaker let out a bright laugh and said, "Good thing you drove him out. What use is a poor scholar with no family behind him?

"Jim is rich. He has servants filling his house. If Celia marries him, she will be blessed."

Celia had been working in the yard. The moment she heard that, the color drained from her face.

I stepped forward and blocked the doorway with my body. "My daughter is not getting married."

The matchmaker's smile froze for a beat, then came right back, even wider than before. "Oh, you say that now. But who doesn't want a good life?

"Yes, Jim is older, but he knows how to take care of people. You are a widow. You make a living selling cakes and raising a girl on your own. How long can that last?

"If she marries him, she will eat well and live well. Even you, as her mother, will have an easier life."

My eyes fell on the two bolts of cloth meant for wedding clothes. My chest tightened.

In my previous life, they said the exact same things.

They said Jim was older and experienced, so he would treat Celia kindly. They said Celia was lucky.

But step by step, they pushed her toward one old man after another. First Jim. Then the County Governor.

To people like them, a poor girl was nothing more than something to be traded.

I reached out and shoved the cloth back into the matchmaker's arms. "Take your things and leave."

The matchmaker's smile vanished instantly.

Theo's expression darkened. His voice dropped, sharp with anger. "Sally, I'm trying to help you. Your husband died early. Your life is hard. Don't be ungrateful."

I looked straight at him and laughed. "Help me? When my husband died, where were you? When his family took my fields, where were you? When Celia and I almost froze through the winter, did you show up then?"

My voice turned cold. "And now you want to decide my daughter's life, huh?"