She had been trained by Nicholas to the point where she could now handle things on her own. Because of that, Tessa also wanted to move out of Grace’s place as soon as possible. The farther, the better. That way, even if Grace wanted to interfere, she’d have to factor in the time it took just to get to her. She had her own things to do, and with Grace hovering nearby, everything felt restrictive and stifled.
But Grace had no idea what Tessa was really thinking. She still believed that by treating Tessa this way, her daughter would surely be grateful. And to be fair, she had poured a lot of love into Tessa, even more than she had given to Aurora. That much was undeniable. Grace believed that even if Tessa’s identity was exposed one day, she could still say she had done right by her. With all the years of care and companionship, she already saw Tessa as her own daughter. She didn’t ask for anything in return—she just hoped Tessa would stay healthy.
Tessa leaned proudly on Grace’s shoulder, her face soft and obedient, lips curled in a gentle smile. Seeing her like that, Grace felt reassured. After all, she was just taking Tessa to school. It wasn’t anything serious. But Tessa had insisted on Grace driving her, just to highlight the difference between her and Aurora. When she saw the disappointment on Aurora’s face that morning, she had felt indescribably satisfied.
The driver in front caught a glimpse of Tessa’s expression in the rearview mirror and shivered involuntarily. Only he knew just how terrifying Tessa had become. In front of Grace, she was just someone good at pretending, but her true nature was something rotten to the core. He’d heard bits and pieces about what happened with the housemaid. After all, he got along quite well with her. In the Walton household, she’d been a great help to him. Their kids even attended the same school. But one day, she suddenly quit in a panic. She even withdrew her child from the school she’d worked so hard to get them into. He only found out because his own kid mentioned it at home.
After that, it became impossible to dig deeper. No matter how he asked the butler, Arnold always kept a straight face. He looked like he didn’t want to talk about it at all. But the driver hadn’t been ready to let it go. He just wanted an answer. That housemaid was such a kind person—how could she have been treated like that?
Seeing his persistence, Arnold finally sighed. “Enough. Stop asking questions. This isn’t something you should be getting involved in.” He spoke with weight and sincerity. “Focus on your job. That’s all you need to worry about. Remember, if you want to keep working in this house, the most important thing is doing your job well.”
Hearing Arnold speak so seriously made the driver realize something was definitely off. Normally, Arnold was easygoing and never gave stern instructions like that. Everyone in the house knew the lady of the house was generally easy to deal with. Though Grace favored Tessa and didn’t treat Aurora quite as well, he never withheld anything Aurora deserved.