Chapter 5

Money was something he and Vivienne had already begun to find excessive.

Extreme wealth bred a pursuit of simplicity, which could also give a child the illusion of poverty.

"Since Ivy thinks we're poor, let's act a little poorer. Darling, we mustn't blow our cover."

"The poorer we seem, the more caring Ivy will be toward us. This is simply bliss..."

Inside Sacred Sprouts Preschool.

Ivy and Silas were placed in the same class.

Ms. Joanna wore long brown hair, her attitude toward the siblings not particularly warm.

Sacred Sprouts was a famous elite school. The children here came from either wealth or privilege, all true young masters and young misses of high society.

But just now, she'd seen their parents' car at the school gate.

It was so battered that even a used car lot wouldn't look twice.

She guessed the family had probably emptied their entire savings just to scrape together tuition for the two children.

"These are our new classmates, Ivy and Silas Winter. Everyone, please welcome them."

Ms. Joanna introduced them casually, her tone less than enthusiastic.

The children here were all dressed exquisitely, and equally skilled at reading the room.

The teacher's attitude could directly determine their behavior.

Ivy and Silas were seated in the corner.

In the morning there was a crafts class. Each child received a special material kit and scissors.

Ivy was obediently opening her material kit when she suddenly heard a haughty voice behind her.

"Are you Ivy?"

That haughty, familiar voice made Ivy's whole body tense instinctively.

She knew that voice all too well.

From the first glance entering the classroom, she'd noticed Chloe.

Chloe always held her head high, as if desperate for the whole world to see her most prized golden hair.

In her past life, Ivy had lived under her shadow for three full years before meeting her death.

She hadn't expected such bad luck—to be placed in the same class as Chloe.

Ivy didn't want anything to do with Chloe. She pretended not to hear, keeping her head down and fiddling with her scissors.

When she didn't respond, the lackey behind Chloe grew angry.

"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear Chloe talking to you?"

"Look at your shoes. No brand at all. Obviously cheap garbage."

"Don't you know? Chloe is the daughter of the Shaw family, the richest in the city. Cross her and you'll regret it!"

At such a young age, they'd already learned to bully others using borrowed power.

From start to finish, it was only the lackey who snarled viciously. Chloe merely crossed her arms, maintaining her eternally superior air—someone who'd have others killed without dirtying her own hands.

Annoyed, Ivy furrowed her little brows and raised her round eyes with an icy glare.

"I already said my name is Ivy. Now you're asking again. You're the ones who are deaf."

The moment she finished speaking, Chloe's pretty little face froze.

The Shaws were investors in Sacred Sprouts. Chloe was virtually queen here; even the principal and teachers showed her deference.

Only an oblivious idiot like Ivy would dare call her deaf?

Chloe gritted her teeth in rage. But facing Ivy's cold, aggressively piercing gaze, she didn't dare to strike.

Finally, she shifted her target to Silas, who'd come to school with Ivy.

"Why aren't you talking? Are you mute?"

Chloe grabbed Silas's hair.

The stylish hairstyle he'd gelled into place that morning was ruined in seconds.

Silas's yellow-amber pupils contracted sharply. The hand holding the toy scissors froze mid-air.

He'd said it all along.

He didn't like preschool. It was full of idiots.

They relied on others' power yet dressed themselves up as superior beings.

Chloe was still arrogantly yanking his hair. Silas raised his eyes coldly.

His brain worked frantically, calculating the exact angle needed to plunge the scissors into this idiot's throat. He needed to ensure her foul blood wouldn't splash onto him.

He was young. He carried the blood of two maniacs—Vincent and Vivienne.

Provoking him meant this idiot had signed her own death warrant.

But before Silas could act.

Another small hand had already moved first, grabbing Chloe's prized golden hair with even greater force.

Ivy, who'd been sitting obediently still even when provoked, now looked like a furious little beast.

Her green eyes showed bloodshot veins from rage. She yanked Chloe's hair viciously, teeth gritted.

"Who allowed you to touch my brother?"

"Don't touch my brother!"

Ivy's scream was sharp, as if someone had touched her bottom line.

Chloe, whom she'd feared even to look at in her past life, was now someone Ivy attacked without mercy.

This was the family she'd finally obtained after so much hardship.

Silas was just a bookworm who liked tinkering with mechanical parts. How could he possibly fight?

Unlike him, she was strong and could resist. She'd long grown accustomed to being beaten.

No one could harm Silas, or any of her family members!

In that instant, Silas's pupils trembled violently. The scissors he'd been about to use slipped from his hand.

The way Ivy stepped forward to protect him was so stunningly cool it made his heart race...

Ivy's eyes reddened. She raised the toy scissors without hesitation and stabbed at Chloe's hand.

Chloe hadn't expected her to be serious. She didn't dodge at all.

The toy scissors weren't sharp, but Ivy's strength was formidable. One hard jab drew a cut on Chloe's hand, and blood appeared.

"Ahh—"

"Are you all blind? Pull her off me now!"

"Hit her!"

Chloe was being held by the hair, tears streaming from pain, yet she had no intention of letting Ivy go.

Chloe's lackeys swarmed in. Silas removed the soft silicone cover from his toy scissors.

Now the scissors in his hand were no longer a toy. They were a weapon fully capable of protecting Ivy.

"You still have the nerve to call people to hit me?"

"Come on then. For every hit they land on me, I'll hit you twice. Let's see who ends up worse."

Ivy held Chloe's hair in a death grip, refusing to let go.

After years of wandering on the streets, she long knew the secret to fighting groups.

Taking down every person was impossible.

She just needed to grab one person and beat them relentlessly, to death if necessary. Then she wouldn't be the worst off in this fight.

Silas had already prepared for the family to flee after blood was shed.

But staring at the current situation, he paused for a moment, then lowered his scissors.

She was small and frail. Ivy had real talent for fighting.

She could fend off the lackeys. Simultaneously land extra punches on Chloe.

The haughty young miss, now bruised and swollen, was held captive by Ivy, crying with snot trailing a long line.

It seemed he wouldn't be needed.

Silas pulled out mechanical parts from his pocket again. His peripheral vision kept watch on the surroundings.

"Snip—"

With the toy scissors, Ivy cut a gap in Chloe's long hair, short enough to reveal her scalp, then contemptuously threw it to the ground.

The lackeys and Chloe herself were barely recognizable.

Only Ivy remained breathing steadily, her clothes just slightly dirty.

She'd originally wanted to live and let live with Chloe.

But Chloe had to be a bitch and come looking for trouble. Worst of all, she bullied Little Brother, a mere bookworm!