Chapter 2

"Why did I get rid of the baby? Boris Gilbert, don't tell me you don't know better than anyone."

I twisted my hand out of his grip.

"Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

"My child was cursed. Candice's is the most blessed omen there is."

"Mine is gone, so hers gets to stay, and become the Gilbert family's firstborn grandson."

"I stepped aside for her. So what are you crying about now?"

Something guilty flickered in Boris's eyes, gone almost at once, buried under grief.

"You think I could stand to lose him?"

"If the ritual hadn't come up cursed all seven times, I'd have wanted to keep him more than anyone."

His eyes were red, his voice thickening.

"He was my child too. I wasn't ready to really lose him."

The tears finally broke and fell, landing on the back of my hand, shockingly hot.

His grief was frighteningly convincing.

If I didn't know that all seven castings of the sacred ritual cups had been rigged, every single time, by him and the clan elder,

I might really have believed he couldn't bear to let the baby go.

Seven times. My child tried seven times.

His own father never wavered once.

He was even afraid I'd refuse to end the pregnancy, so he slipped saffron into my pregnancy meals every day.

Every time I wept over another prenatal report streaked red, he'd say lightly,

"Tabby, it's just our child's bad luck. He was never meant to be born."

I laughed all at once and turned to face the roomful of Gilberts.

"Do you people know?"

"I never once believed my child was cursed."

The living room went silent in an instant.

My gaze moved slowly over the clan elder and Boris.

"Casting the sacred cups before the ancestors is supposed to ask the will of heaven."

"But if someone dares to make a fool of even the ancestors, to rig the result—"

I let out a soft laugh.

"That's the kind of thing heaven strikes you down for."

The words landed, and several of the elders went pale.

Boris's pupils shrank hard.

Narelle scolded me in a panic.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"

The clan elder slammed the table.

"How dare you!"

"You bear a cursed child of your own, and still spit venom before the ancestors and the gods!"

"Someone, bring the family punishment!"

Several people moved forward at once.

Boris stayed where he was, his face grim.

I looked at him.

The man who'd just been crying about not wanting to lose the baby now only avoided my eyes.

After a long moment, he finally spoke in a low voice.

"You lost the baby today. You're too worked up."

"It wouldn't hurt to go to the ancestral hall and calm down first."

He paused, his tone almost gentle.

"Once you've calmed down, we'll talk."

I stared at him for a few seconds, and suddenly it struck me as absurd.

The Gilbert family punishment, of course I knew it.

A woman who committed a grave wrong was made to kneel on thorned branches,

the ancestral precept tablet carved with the family creed weighing down on her head, bowing until the ancestors forgave her and gave the cups of pardon before she was allowed to rise.

The year I was newly married, the first time I went back to the old estate with Boris, I wore a bright red qipao on purpose to serve the tea.

When the eldest sister-in-law saw me, her eyes suddenly went red.

Narelle's face darkened on the spot.

"You know perfectly well your eldest sister-in-law just lost her husband, and you still dress up this loud. Are you flaunting your new-wedded bliss in front of her on purpose?"

I hurried to explain, that I'd only thought a new bride serving tea for the first time should wear something festive, that I'd meant nothing by it.

But the Gilberts had already decided I was disrespecting the eldest sister-in-law and slighting the dead.

That night, I was forced into the ancestral hall, the heavy ancestral precept tablet on my head, bowing over and over to beg forgiveness.

By Gilbert rules, only when the ancestors gave the cups of pardon could I rise.

But I knelt from daylight into the dead of night, my forehead beaten bloody, and the clan elder shook his head, again and again.

"Not the sign of pardon."

"The ancestors haven't forgiven you yet."

Back then I truly believed it.

I was afraid I'd angered the ancestors the moment I married into the Gilbert family, and afraid of dragging Boris down with me.

That night, I lost my first child. I hadn't even known I was pregnant.

For a while I even thought the sin from those years hadn't been paid off, and the ancestors had brought the punishment down on my child instead.

It wasn't until many years later that I found out.

It was Boris who told the clan elder to hide the result.

He felt sorry for the eldest sister-in-law, newly widowed, and feared I wouldn't tolerate her once I married in, so he used that family punishment on purpose, to put me in my place.

He said,

"Let her kneel a few more hours. Once she's really scared, she won't dare bully Candy later."

And now they actually meant to keep bullying me in my own home, with these same rules.

Two younger Gilberts came over, reaching out to seize me.

I flung them off hard.

"Get away from me!"

The clan elder's face turned iron-gray.

"Once you're in the Gilbert family, you live by Gilbert rules!"

"If we don't teach you a lesson today, who knows how you'll defy your elders from now on!"

They came forward again, actually meaning to drag me to the front door of the apartment.

It faced straight onto the main road of the complex, neighbors coming and going the whole time.

Shaking all over with fury, I grabbed the door frame.

"I'd like to see who dares carry out family punishment on me today!"

"This isn't your Gilbert ancestral hall. Anyone who touches me, I call the police, and not one of you gets away."

"You love talking about family punishment, don't you?"

"Then go talk about your precious Gilbert family punishment in a prison cell!"

Everyone froze.

The clan elder was so furious his beard trembled.

"Rebellion! This is outright rebellion!"

Narelle rushed over and jabbed a finger in my face, screaming.

"Throw all her things out! Since she won't honor Gilbert rules, then get out!"

"And you're not welcome back here again!"

The servants hesitated and looked to Boris.

Boris stood where he was, his face grim, and never once said a word to stop it.

Soon my clothes, my luggage, my shoes were thrown out the door, one after another.

Even our wedding photo, sitting on the entry cabinet, Narelle snatched down and hurled to the floor.

Glass shattered across the ground in an instant.

I looked down at it for a couple of seconds.

Then I smiled.

"You won't let me come back? Then don't count on living here either!"

I took out my phone and made a call, right then and there.

In under twenty minutes, several construction trucks pulled up downstairs.

When the workers came in with barriers, mortar, and tools, everyone in the apartment was stunned.

The clan elder shouted at me.

"What did you call these people here for?"

I pointed at the doors and windows.

"Seal them."

"Every door and window, bricked up and filled with concrete."

The whole room changed color in an instant.

Eyes red, my hand trembling, I pointed at the box on the table.

"Aren't you the ones who care most about the Gilbert ancestors' rules?"

"Didn't you say my child was cursed, not even fit to pass through the Gilbert family's door?"

Then I laughed.

"Fine."

"Since he can't come through the Gilbert door, then today, no one leaves through it either."

I pointed at the roomful of Gilberts, my voice climbing all at once.

"So you can all stay right here, and go into the grave with my child!"