Dad Came Back from a Deserted Island Chapter 2

Fortunately, a strong gust of wind happened to blow in from outside, so Vivian wasn’t discovered. But that did nothing to calm her pounding heart.

Peter and I are getting married? I don’t love Peter! You’re supposed to marry someone you love!

Of course, Ron and Mary had no intention of letting Vivian remain under their guardianship once she became an adult. Their plan was to marry her off to Peter so they could swallow up the entire Lambert family’s fortune. But Vivian was still too young to understand such things.

All she could think about was how absolutely horrifying it was that she might have to marry Peter.

Ugh.

Vivian instinctively backed away. She felt like a scream might burst out of her at any moment.

If they caught her, they would surely accuse her of sneaking around like a rat and eavesdropping, then lock her in the attic.

Once she returned to her room, Vivian breathed heavily.

She didn’t even know how she’d managed to get back there. Suddenly, Vivian gagged.

“Urgh, blech.”

The princesses in the fairy-tale books Daddy used to read to her always kissed the prince when they got married.

“Eugh. Hah, hah…”

Just imagining herself kissing Peter made her feel like she was going to throw up.

Peter’s unpleasant grin from earlier that afternoon came to mind.

Did Peter already know about this?

Isn’t he upset about having to marry me?

He was always acting as though he couldn’t wait to torment her, so surely Peter disliked her too.

In truth, Peter didn’t hate Vivian. In fact, he had liked her ever since they were very young. But Vivian didn’t recognize the boy’s twisted way of expressing affection, nor did she have any reason to.

If you liked someone, you were supposed to treat them well.

Regardless, Vivian buried her face in her straw-stuffed pillow, which rustled beneath her tears.

I-I don’t want to marry Peter!

But just because Vivian didn’t want to marry him didn’t mean Ron and Mary would say, “Oh, we understand. We’re truly sorry we didn’t raise our son better. In that case, let’s forget about marriage.”

What should I do? Who can I ask for help?

But there was no one in the village who could help Vivian.

Another village? Vivian had never even left this village in her entire life.

A vast forest lay between the villages, and they said wolves and bears lived there and would eat anyone who lost their way.

“Sniff, sob. Sniff.”

No matter how hard she thought, there was nowhere she could escape to.

Vivian cried herself to sleep, only to have a nightmare where Peter kept chasing after her with his lips puckered out.

 

***

 

Vivian greeted the morning with bloodshot eyes. She looked so haggard that Mary was startled when she saw her.

That didn’t mean Mary let her rest instead of making her work.

She washed the dishes, dusted, and scrubbed the floors as usual before receiving a piece of bread.

“Phew.”

Thanks to having washed laundry so diligently the day before that her hands had nearly frozen, she had nothing else to do until dinner today.

Originally, Mary had intended to make Vivian prepare the meals as well. But Vivian was terribly, horrifically untalented at cooking. In the end, Mary had temporarily abandoned the idea so she could at least have edible food.

It was freedom, in a way.

Vivian headed upstairs to return to her room, the one place where she could relax, at least somewhat, without worrying.

She was just about to climb the stairs—

“Hey!”

Peter appeared.

“Where are you going? You’re trying to hole up in your room by yourself again, aren’t you?”

“……”

“Want me to play with you? Playing with a poor, pitiful kid is a good deed, isn’t it?”

“No need.”

And they expect me to marry this guy?

Vivian managed to hold back a sigh, but she couldn’t stop herself from looking at Peter with a thoroughly fed-up, contemptuous expression.

That irritated Peter.

“You little—I’m offering to play with you!”

“I-I don’t need you! Who said I wanted to play with you?”

Peter approached her with a threatening expression. Vivian instinctively retreated up a few steps.

“What did you just say?”

“D-don’t come any closer!”

When Vivian climbed two steps, Peter climbed two steps after her. She felt like a herbivore being hunted by a wild beast.

“You shouldn’t act like this. You’re going to marry me anyway, so you need to listen to me, Vivi.”

Peter had taken Ron and Mary’s words at face value, and Vivian trembled at what he said.

“W-who said I’m going to marry you? I told you to go away!”

“You think you can just refuse because you don’t want to? I’m telling you, I’ll be nice to you if you just—”

“I said I won’t!”

Shove.

Unable to endure Peter continuing to approach and threaten her despite her repeated warnings, Vivian pushed the boy away.

Normally, it would have been a laughable attempt at an attack.

Vivian was much smaller and more frail than other children her age because she barely ate.

Peter, on the other hand, was two years older than Vivian and had grown up well-fed, so he was considerably bigger.

The problem was that Peter was climbing the stairs at the time, with one foot suspended in midair—and Vivian pushed him at precisely the moment when his center of gravity was unstable.

Crash! Bang! Thud!

Peter tumbled down the stairs with a series of loud noises.

“P-Peter!”

“Waaaaah! Mom! Mom!”

Mary, who had been sitting and resting in the drawing room, came running out in alarm when she heard her son’s cries after the commotion.

“Peter! Oh my goodness! What happened to you… Vivian?”

“Waaah, Mom. I was just worried Vivian might be bored, so I wanted to play with her. Hic. Vivian—she… she pushed me!”

“My poor baby! Honey, honey! Ron! Come here!”

“Why are you calling me? Goodness, what’s happened to Peter now?”

Ron, who had been dozing off in the study, appeared at Mary’s call. Vivian’s legs were trembling so badly that she could barely stand.

“Vivian pushed him down the stairs! Hurry and take him to the doctor! I need to teach this girl a proper lesson.”

“Down the stairs? Good grief.”

When Ron’s gaze turned toward her, Vivian quickly lowered her eyes.

“Waaah, it hurts. It huuurts!”

“Oh, Peter! Boys aren’t supposed to cry. Daddy will take you to the doctor, so stop crying, stop!”

Ron carried Peter away, the boy sobbing about how much he hurt.

Mary watched her son disappear with a worried expression before whipping around to glare viciously at Vivian.

“Vivian! How could you do something like that? Where are you going to find a boy who looks after you like Peter does?”

It was an absurd thing to say, but Vivian was too frightened to respond.

“A wicked child like you needs to be taught a lesson. I’ll have to take back the bread I gave you earlier! You need to go hungry for a whole day before you’ll realize what you did wrong!”

“I-I’ll go hungry.”

“What?”

The clear blue eyes that had once been as bright as the sky became clouded, and soon, fat tears began rolling down her cheeks.

The mouth that had been sealed shut by fear and sorrow opened on its own. Once the tears started flowing, all the feelings she had kept bottled up all day came pouring out as well.

“I-I’ll go hungry… I’ll l-listen to you and work hard around the house, too. Sniff. P-Peter and I… I-I don’t want to get married.”

“Married? How did you—”

“Waaah! I don’t want to get married! I don’t wanna!”

“You were eavesdropping again. Good grief.”

One might have expected Mary’s heart to soften at the sight of such a small child crying.

Instead, Mary hardened her heart even further.

For now, Vivian was young enough to do nothing but cry, but there was no telling what she would do once she grew older.

She might try to claim her rights and drive the three of them out of the house. So it was better to discipline her properly from now on.

“What’s so wrong with marrying Peter?! You have to marry our son if you want to live here for the rest of your life!”

“Waaaaah!”

Mary’s rough hand grabbed Vivian by the arm. Vivian nearly stumbled several times trying to keep up with the adult’s long strides as Mary dragged her along.

“This won’t do. You need some time alone in the attic to reflect until you come to your senses and learn your lesson.”

“N-no! Not the attic! There are—there are mice in there!”

“If you don’t want to be locked up, then reflect on what you did properly!”

When Mary opened the attic door, the dust that had settled inside billowed into the air.

She shoved Vivian inside as though throwing her in, then stared down at her coldly.

“If anything happens to our Peter’s leg, you can expect to be locked in there for a whole week.”

“No! I-I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

Vivian begged, but Mary coldly slammed the door shut.

Bang, bang.

Vivian clung to the door and cried out for her to open it again and again, but the door never opened.