She grabbed Iris and, without hesitation, slapped her hard across the face.
She cursed furiously, "We took you in to shield Wendel from misfortune, not so you could turn our family upside down! Who do you think you are, daring to bully Esther?"
"You were almost killed by human traffickers back then. If not for me, you would’ve been dead long ago! You owe me a debt of gratitude you can never repay! And now, you dare cause trouble in our home?"
Holding her stinging, swollen cheek, Iris felt a deep, suffocating grievance rise in her chest.
These words had been drilled into her since childhood.
She knew she had to repay her debt. That was why she had taken on all the household chores from a young age—so that when Wendel and Esther came home from school, they could do their homework while she fed the pigs and ducks, washed the family’s clothes, and worked late into the night.
When the family couldn’t afford to send all three children to school, she was the first to be sacrificed.
Even when she discovered the whereabouts of her biological parents, she was forbidden from contacting them.