She had wanted to see whether this so-called mother actually knew anything at all about her biological daughter. If the Marchioness had genuinely cared for Seera — or even passably monitored her during childhood — she would have thrown the lie back in Heena's face without hesitation, confident that Seera had always loved lotus root. But the guilty, confused silence said everything.
*First major anomaly confirmed,* Heena noted internally, her mind filing the data away with quiet efficiency. *This woman doesn't merely neglect her daughter — she fundamentally does not know her. Why does a mother carry such cold, absolute detachment toward her own firstborn?*
The second thing Heena had now verified was the sheer depth of hostility between the Marchioness and her mother-in-law. The grandmother's remark about her background wasn't a casual insult — it was the surface crack of something far older and darker running through this family's foundations.
