Chapter 3

But Susanna had no intention of letting me off. She walked toward my most treasured wooden chest.

"I hear this is the wedding dress you wore back then?"

"How beautiful. I heard your dead mother made it by hand and spent three years sewing it."

She draped the wedding dress over herself and turned once in front of the mirror.

"Hedda, do you think the Godfather will like it if I wear this to see him?"

The pearls on the dress shimmered under the light.

My mother had made it with the last breath of strength left in her body.

At the time, she was gravely ill and about to pass away. She said she could not watch me get married, but this wedding dress would accompany me toward happiness in her place.

Through gritted teeth, I said, "Put it down!"

At some point, Woodrow had appeared in the doorway. He shouted at the same time I did,

"Stop!"

Susanna's eyes instantly reddened.

"Godfather, from now on I have to wear Hedda's face and live Hedda's life. I will never be able to marry you in glory."

"I only wanted to wear Hedda's wedding dress once. You won't even allow that?"

Woodrow glanced at me lying on the floor.

His brows tightened, then loosened, and he gave Susanna a helpless sigh.

"Once you take her place as the Godfather's wife, you will naturally have countless gowns to choose from. A worn wedding dress is not worth your concern."

Susanna let her tears fall pitifully.

Woodrow changed his mind again.

"Forget it. Hedda won't have any use for it after this. If you like it, take it."

But Susanna grabbed a pair of scissors and pouted.

"I don't like it now! I want to ruin it, so I won't feel sad every time I think about not being able to wear a wedding dress."

In the end, Woodrow said only one thing.

"As you wish."

The wedding dress split with the sound.

Pearls scattered, bouncing and rolling to my feet with bright little clinks.

I seemed to see my gravely ill mother working day and night, leaning against the bed, gritting her teeth as she sewed each pearl on stitch by stitch...

Tears fell from my eyes. I hated only myself for being unable to protect the last thing my mother had left me.

"Why are you crying?"

Susanna crouched down and shoved the wedding dress, now cut into pieces, toward me.

"I'm giving it back to you, aren't I?"

Woodrow stood beside her, watching without expression.

I remembered our wedding day, when he lifted my veil and looked at me with burning eyes.

"Hedda, you are so beautiful, and so is the dress."

"When we are old, wear it for me again."

Only seven years had passed, and he had forgotten it completely.

He had also forgotten how he swore before my mother's grave that he would never let me suffer even the smallest grievance.

I reached out and gathered the dress into my arms piece by piece, murderous intent churning in my heart.

Susanna ran excitedly back to the chest and rummaged through it.

The bracelet my mother left me, the gold necklace my father made, the jewels my brother gave me, all were taken out one by one.

Finally, she held up a diamond ring flecked with impurities.

"Hedda, you're the daughter of the biggest arms dealer. Why would you keep something so cheap?"

I squeezed out a sound like air through a broken bellows.

"Heh... Before Woodrow married me, the Godfather barely remembered he had this son. This cheap thing was all he could give me as a proposal ring. It was our token of love."

My voice was very soft.

But I bit hard on the words "cheap" and "token of love."

Woodrow snatched the ring, his face changing several times.

Perhaps he was unwilling to admit that only because my father and I used all the resources of the Taylor family did he ever have the chance to stand before the old Godfather.

Even less was he willing to remember that, when he pledged his love to me, he had nothing of value on him at all.

Only this diamond ring his mother had left behind.

"Woodrow." Susanna whined unhappily, "You're holding that ring so tightly. Are you still thinking about your old feelings for Hedda? Do you think I'm in the way now?"

Woodrow looked down at me from above and stuffed the ring into Susanna's hand.

"I only thought of my mother. It was something she left behind. Keep it for me."

"Let's go. Tomorrow, she has to be delivered to the skin-grafter without a scratch. Let her spend her last night properly."

I was carried back to the bed again.

Susanna took Woodrow's arm and walked to the door, then turned back and smiled at me.

"Hedda, after tomorrow, your face will be mine."

I carved that smile into my heart.

I hoped she would still be able to smile after enduring the pain of being skinned.