The way the six-year-old Brooke spoke was so innocent. The way she looked with her head tilted and her eyes widened had a pure kind of cuteness.
When they heard Brooke saying that, the few workers at the children's store took a look at Eira one after another. They saw a girl who was much taller than Brooke, but she was poorly dressed. Her hair was dirty and greasy, and her body was also dirty. She gave people the feeling that she did not care about hygiene at all. On top of that, Eira was afraid, so both her hands were picking on her fingers, and her nails were full of dirt. When the few workers saw that kind of situation, they instantly looked at Eira with disgust. Eira then became even more afraid. She bit her lips and did not dare to look at anybody. 2
"Gosh! Your feet! Your shoes have dirtied our store!" said a worker sharply.
Eira immediately took a few steps back as if she had done something wrong. It was fine if she had not retreated, but as she dragged her feet to take a few steps back, she made the floor of the children's store covered in mud. 1
"Eira!" Delmont scolded her. At that moment, Delmont hated this daughter of his very much. She was ill-mannered and did not care about her hygiene at all! She was two years older than Brooke, but she knew
nothing at all.
"Stop moving!" Delmont scolded Eira. Eira did not dare to move anymore. 1
"Apologize to these ladies!" Delmont ordered again. Eira did not say anything. 1
"Apologize!"
Eira was afraid. "I'm...sorry. Ma'am, I'm sorry! Ma'am... I'm...I'm sorry." Eira's eyes were filled with fear. She had never encountered such a situation. When she was very young, she was brought up by her brother. When she had just learned to walk, her brother took her along and ran around everywhere. He stole two buns for her to eat one day, and picked up other people's leftovers for her to eat another day. Her brother was a boy so he did not care about hygiene at all. Therefore, she also often had dirt in her nails, but she also did not wash her hands. 1
Not only did she not wash her hands, but her legs were also not washed for many days. That was because there was no hot water at home, and they had no extra money to let her shower at a public bath.
Even if they had the money, there was no one who would take her there. Therefore, Eira had always been very dirty. Her feet smelled very badly, and her head had lice. As such, of course Eira had never been to a slightly more decent store for children's apparel, much less walking in such a big mall. 1
Her inferiority became unconcealable. Her toes that were poking out of her shoes appeared to be even more amusing and obtrusive. However, she did not know what to do. She had no solution at all. The eightyear-old child had the complete taste of being helpless but had no choice not to endure it. She looked at her father, Joy, her sister, Brooke, and also the workers in horror. None of the people could help her.
Lira's mind was in a daze. She heard the workers mocking her. "Little princess, say, what kind clothes should you buy to give this beggar as handout?" 1
No matter how much the workers despised Lira, they still had to push their business. 1
Brooke tilted her head and thought about it. "Well, of course she can't wear the styles that I like. After all, I a m the one giving her the handout, so just let her wear the ones left behind after I have picked out what I liked. Then...the ugly ones in your stores will do then."
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