"Actually, I'm just like you..." She forced herself to endure the dizziness, gasping as she continued, "My mother hated that I wasn't a boy, she almost stabbed a pen into my eye..."

This was something she made up based on the manager's words.

— "Polly Clark's mother is crazy, she almost stabbed a pen into his eye."

"She wouldn't let me wear skirts, wouldn't let me live like a girl—she shaved my head like she was shaving a dog... Sometimes I wonder, if I were you, a talented boy... would she love me a little more..."

The grip on her neck suddenly disappeared.

She had won the gamble.

A rush of air flooded into her lungs, and Lily Bennett coughed violently, like someone rescued from drowning.

But it still wasn't enough.

She needed him to stand with her, not just spare her life.

"Work with me... Let's leave here and start a new circus together," she wiped the sweat and tears from her face, "You're so talented, you have everything... Why stay here and let them bully you?"

Still no response.

He stood there, motionless, as if he'd returned to that cold, dull, indifferent state.

Luckily, she still had one last card to play.

Lily Bennett stepped forward, struggling to stand on tiptoe, and under his confused, resistant, and frightened gaze, kissed his mask.

For a few seconds, he lost all aggression, like a dog that's just been whipped, his eyes almost blank with bewilderment.

It was at that moment that Lily Bennett realized he was a living, breathing person just like her, not a shadow, not a threat, not a knife ready to strike at any moment.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but when she looked up, he had already vanished without a trace.

Chapter 6

Eric Carter ran so fast, it was as if he disappeared on the spot.

Lily Bennett recalled the look in his eyes at the end, and felt she must have convinced him to cooperate.

With the weight lifted from her heart, her appetite returned, and even the smell of the meat pudding didn't make her want to vomit as much.

They called it meat pudding, but it was more like a steamed bun, soft and mushy. When you cut open the skin, inside were diced rabbit meat and lamb kidney, all brushed with a layer of beef fat sauce, giving it a strong, meaty smell. If only there were some vinegar, soy sauce, and chili peppers, maybe it would taste better.

Unfortunately, there was only a piece of butter on the table, and who knows how many people had already dug into it.

As the party was coming to an end, a man sidled up to Emily Foster, trying to lift her skirt to see if she had two—

They kept that word in their mouths, rolling it on their tongues, making lewd, snickering sounds.

Emily Foster sat upright in her wheelchair, her face always as pale as wax, saying nothing.

The manager sipped his wine, and only when things started to get out of hand did he give a half-hearted scolding.

Lily Bennett witnessed the whole thing, unable to describe how she felt inside.

Ever since she crossed over, she had been disguising herself as a boy, her hair cut very short, her chest tightly bound with cloth, so no one looked at her with that objectifying gaze.

But at the party, the way many men looked at women was unmistakably the way one looks at an object.

Right now, this body was still young and malnourished, so she could hide it for now—but what about after some time?

A girl's body changes every day; maybe tomorrow it would look different.

When that happened, how would the people around her look at her then?

Lily Bennett shivered, not daring to think further.

Even in modern times, not many men truly respect women deep down, let alone men from over a hundred years ago.

She had thought there was still time, that she could slowly plan how to leave this place.

But not anymore.

A cold wind blew, and Lily Bennett suddenly shuddered, her hair standing on end, as she remembered something extremely important—her period.

She didn't know how the original owner dealt with menstruation; maybe due to malnutrition, it never came.

But the human hormonal system is very complex. What if, after she crossed over, the hormone levels in this body changed subtly, and it suddenly started?

The more Lily Bennett thought about it, the more scared she became, her heart pounding so hard it was almost drumming in her ears.

She had to leave here immediately.

There was no time to lose.

That night, Lily Bennett drifted in and out of sleep, sometimes woken by her own heartbeat, sometimes startled by the howling of coyotes in the woods.

She woke up so many times that she even started to hallucinate, thinking she was still lying in her own bed at home, and that if she rolled over, she could reach her charging phone.

But after groping for a long time, all she felt was damp, fishy mud.

No need to be discouraged.

Lily Bennett closed her eyes and told herself over and over: You are a strong person, you can definitely get out of here.

Right now, the only thing you need to do is sleep.

A person who doesn't get enough sleep can't think, and can't run away.

With that in mind, she finally forced herself to fall asleep.

Maybe because the party went on until the early hours, everyone got up late the next day.

When Lily Bennett got up, she felt a dull ache in her abdomen.

She froze, praying over and over that it wasn't her period, please not her period.

But the result was the opposite of her prayers. It really came.

There was no expression on Lily Bennett's face.