Chapter 69
“Okay,” Zinnia replied, finishing the last bite of her pumpkin pie. However, she didn’t reach for the lobster. Instead, she quietly helped herself with other dishes, her gaze repeatedly dilfting toward the lobster, though she hesitated to pick any up.
“It should be fine now,” Lydia said softly, carefully removing the lobster shells before placing the meat on Zinnia’s plate,
The others glanced over curiously.
“I got a lobster shell stuck on her plate.
in
my throat once, so I don’t eat lobster anymore,” Zinnia explained, feeling embarrassed as she looked at the piece of lobster
Zinnia loved eating lobsters, bu
she never learned how to deal with shells.
When she lived in the village with Master, he would often cook lobsters for her just because she liked it. He always made sure to remove all the shells
before serving them to her.
Once, at a neighbor’s house, Zinnia tried eating lobsters. Despite her careful efforts, she still ended up with a piece of shell stuck in her throat.
The feeling of the shells in her throat was awful. Zinnia was six at the time, and she was so scared that her eyes were filled with tears. She cried all the way home to find Master, convinced she was going to choke to death.
Master removed the shell for her, but
that day on, Zinnia became too scared to eat lobsters on her own. The fear of choking lingered.
Whenever they had lobsters after that, Master would meticulously remove all the shells for her. Now that he was gone, Zinnia had lost her appetite for lobsters altogether,
She was afraid of choking again, knowing there would be no one to help her this time.
Jinston wasn’t her home, and she had no one she could truly rely on. The Shaw family didn’t care about her, and she didn’t want to trouble the Lynn family either.
A child without anyone to protect her learned avoid risks on her own.
“It’s okay, Zinnia. The lobster has been prepared very well, so there shouldn’t be any problems, but still, just be careful while you eat,” Maisie said.
No one thought Zinnia was being overly dramatic because they understood that everyone had things they were not good at.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle the lobsters for her,” Lydia said softly, her voice calm yet clear.
Although quiet and reserved by nature, Lydia was undeniably thoughtful.
“Thank you, Lydia.” Zinnia felt a bittersweet warmth spreading through her chest. She never expected someone she had just met to care for her like this.
Zinnia always thought she wasn’t smart or good at socializing. She wasn’t much of a talker and often found it hard to connect with others. Most people likely found her quiet and dull.
At the Shaw residence, the thing they said to her the most was, “Zinnia, what’s wrong with you? Can’t you speak? Are you mute or something?”
Betty, on the other hand, was lively and knew how to say all the right things to please others. The Shaw family adored her. Meanwhile, Zinnia’s quiet demeanor and slow reactions made her an easy target for manipulation.
By the time she caught on, they had already decided what kind of person she was and wouldn’t believe a word she said.
The Shaw family didn’t like her. At first, Zinnia hadn’t even noticed Betty’s hostility or her attempts to kick her out of the far up on such things.
nnia was slow to pick
It wasn’t until the Shaw family kept blaming her for everything, with their growing disappointment and even Howard showing signs of disgust, that
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Chapter 69
Zinnia realized that Betty had been harboring a lot of hostility toward her.
From that point on, she kept her guard up around Betty, recognizing the traps laid for her and choosing to distance herself
As for the Shaw family, when her efforts to earn their trust proved futile, Zinnia gradually stopped caring about their opinions.
She would never waste her time on people who treated her badly.
