Dear Contract Husband, I Didn't Know You Were Like This? - Chapter 5
Maya, having arrived at the dining room, encountered her mother Elise.
“Oh, Maya, what are you doing without greeting me? You should have just quietly waited for your meal in your room.”
Elise, seeing Maya, widened her eyes in surprise and scolded her.
Maya stared back at her emotionlessly.
If she were her old self, she would have groveled at Elise’s words, trying to earn her love.
But now, it was different.
‘There are people whose expectations are pointless.’
Maya remembered Elise’s past misdeeds clearly.
She was trash who could crap without even going to the bathroom.
“Maya, you should obey your Mom to be a good daughter. Don’t you want to be loved?”
Such were her words.
Elise had a knack for poking at Maya’s weaknesses.
‘It was a vain hope.’
Elise was a lousy mother who favored her sons and despised her daughter.
Yet, Maya had respected her, thinking that was how one should treat a mother.
Only after she was swindled out of her money, almost dying for her family’s gambling debts, did Maya realize the truth.
Elise had tried to sell Maya again to cover her gambling debts but failed and died.
Maya’s affection had run dry in her past life.
‘In the end, she only used me.’
After all that, she couldn’t see Elise as family anymore.
Love and affection, family, were nothing but illusions.
‘Is this the last chance of a life full of regrets?’
There were days when Maya reproached herself for not standing up to Elise.
‘I had so many things I wanted to say to Elise back then.’
Maya smirked.
‘Just let it all out.’
After all, this was just a dream, right?
She wouldn’t be swayed by love or affection.
It’s foolish to throw one’s life away for illusions.
“Did you really want to be called ‘Mom’ by someone you were going to sell later?”
Maya said sharply with a sneer.
‘Wow, that’s refreshing.’
It felt like her chest had cleared.
It had been too long since she had expressed her true feelings.
Elise was shocked.
She opened her mouth wide, trembling.
“Ma-Maya. What are you… What are you saying to your mother!”
Her voice was loud.
Maya, wanting to cleanse her ears of Elise’s voice, replied while rummaging her ear.
“Mother? Just giving birth doesn’t make one a parent. Parents need to act like parents.”
Elise, looking at the defiant Maya with her head held high, clutched the back of her neck.
“You’ve, you’ve truly gone mad…”
Eventually, Elise collapsed backward.
But Maya saw it – the sly move Elise made to protect herself as she fell.
‘She’s still conscious enough to look after her own safety.’
If she’s protecting her head, she must be fine.
‘That’s good.’
Maya decided to use the current situation to her advantage.
“What are you waiting for?”
She calmly instructed the maid.
“Excuse me?”
“That is…”
“Since Mother has collapsed, we must quickly take her to her room. We can’t leave her on this cold floor.”
It was ironic for Maya, the one who caused the collapse, to say this, but she was assertive.
“Hurry up.”
Maya, exuding a charisma her servants had never sensed before, urged them on.
“Y, yes… understood.”
Finally, the maid escorted Elise to her room.
Maya clenched her fist.
‘We have to reduce the number of maids and servants.’
With the family’s fortunes dwindling, there really wasn’t room to employ so many servants. It was only Elise’s vanity that maintained such unnecessary luxury.
Well, Maya had no attachment to this crumbling household anyway.
‘Might as well eat first and think later.’
For the duration of this dream, she decided to be true to her thoughts.
And right now, Maya was hungry.
“Bring the food now, make sure it’s warm.”
The dining room felt much more pleasant without Elise.
‘I did well to speak my mind.’
Thanks to that, Maya could enjoy a pleasant meal alone in the dining room.
‘But when will this dream end?’
The dream was lasting longer than expected. The food even tasted too realistic.
Nonetheless, the meal was enjoyable.
Delicious food is the best!
***
The realization that this might not be a dream dawned on Maya when she saw the ‘trash’ moving before her eyes.
“Maya, are you crazy? What outrageous things are you saying to your mother?”
It was a day later that her blood relative (too generous to even call him Older Brother) showed up.
Undoubtedly, Elise had sobbed and lamented her fate to Maguire, who had just returned from the gambling house.
He had not come yesterday but today because he had likely spent all night gambling and had only just returned after losing everything.
