Chapter 109 Chapter 109
Boiling the medicine was the easy part, a mechanical task that Katherine mastered between one mischievous act and another. The path to Junior's courtyard was long, winding through the silent gardens of the temple, but she knew every stone along the way.
When she arrived with the steaming bowl, the medicine had reached the ideal temperature. That day, the scene she encountered was etched into her soul: João, nineteen years old, was sitting outside his room. His eyes were covered with a white bandage, and he sat motionless before a lavishly set table, the cutlery untouched.
The butler, with a pleading look, asked her to help him. Katherine, moved by a hunger that only childhood knows, did not hesitate. She sat down next to him and began to eat.
João still had a youthful innocence on his face, but his presence was already imposing. Even without seeing, he moved the cutlery with frightening precision, finding a juicy piece of roast pork and placing it in her bowl.
“Darling, eat everything,” he said, his voice still developing, but already full of protective affection.
Katherine stared at him silently for a long time, her eyes fixed on the blindfold that hid the boy's gaze. Without saying a word, she began to eat. The meat was perfect: the exact balance between sweet and salty, the fat melting without being greasy. A flavor that, she would discover years later, João would recreate just for her.
“How long have you been here?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“More than six years,” she replied after a moment.
João frowned, surprised. “You're a girl.”
“So what if I'm a girl?” she retorted, with her usual rebelliousness.
He didn't respond with words. Only the corner of his mouth curved into a slight smile, an expression Katherine had never forgotten. Why were that taste and that smile so vivid in her mind? Perhaps, she thought now in the present, it was just because the food was really good. She pushed the memories aside and continued to eat in silence, under Octavio's watchful gaze.
Octavio, acting like the perfect spy, secretly filmed Katherine. The ten-second video—her bringing the food to her mouth with distracted elegance—was instantly sent to her older brother.
Octavio: Mission accomplished. Octavio: My sister-in-law looks adorable while she eats.
Two minutes later, Octavio's cell phone vibrated. A bank transfer notification: $11,111.
He laughed victoriously, but his laughter stopped abruptly. Five “1”s? He felt a pang of depression. João was sending a clear message: Octavio was still the “number one bachelor,” left behind while his brother moved forward with his “sister-in-law.”
The afternoon classes dragged on under the warm autumn sun. Katherine, satisfied by the meal and nostalgia, took a deep nap, waking up only when her cell phone vibrated insistently at the end of the period.
It was Heitor.
She swiped the screen and took a sip of water, her throat feeling dry. “Hmm? What's up?”
“Sister!” Heitor Lutz's voice overflowed with enthusiasm. “Can you come home tonight? I have a gift for you! I finished my craft class and I really want to show it to you right now!”
He spoke quickly, afraid she would refuse as she had so many times before. Katherine touched the water bottle, her thoughts flying to the Lutz residence, that place full of shadows and secrets.
“Okay,” she replied, her voice soft. “I'll be there after class.”
Heitor's cry of joy on the other end of the line almost made her smile. Little did she know that this craft project would be the least of her problems at the Lutz family home that night.
The sound of Heitor's eager footsteps echoed through the marble hallways, bringing a liveliness that contrasted with the heavy atmosphere upstairs.
“Dad, I called her! My sister is coming after school!” The boy's shout sealed the fate of the evening.
In the luxurious closet, Rosana helped Daniel adjust his formal attire. Upon hearing his son's announcement, Daniel's countenance softened, a glint of strategic interest appearing in his eyes.
“Rosana, is the dress I asked for her ready?” Daniel asked, his voice calm but laden with expectation.
Rosana Oliveira swallowed hard, hiding the bitterness rising in her throat. She took a dazzling silver gala dress off the hanger, its crystals catching the light like cold stars.
“It's here. I bought it along with Nísia's; they're the most coveted styles of the season,” she replied, trying to appear like the helpful wife.
Daniel adjusted his bow tie in front of the mirror, but when he looked at the dress, his expression instantly darkened. “The neckline is too low. Change it.”
“Daniel, it's this season's model. All the influential women at banquets wear cuts like this. There's nothing wrong with it,” Rosana tried to argue, defending her choice.
“I said change it,” Daniel threw the dress over an armchair, his tone of voice dropping to an icy temperature. Without saying another word, he left the dressing room, leaving a heavy silence behind.
Rosana, feeling the weight of her pregnancy and the irritation throbbing in her temples, sat down exhausted. It wasn't long before Nísia entered, already dressed in her own outfit, adjusting diamond earrings that sparkled against her skin.
“Mom, how do I look?” Nísia paused, sensing the tense atmosphere. “What's wrong? Is it because of the banquet?”
Rosana sighed, pointing to the discarded silver garment. “Your father... he has now decided to be the protector of Katherine's morality. He thinks the dress is too revealing for her.”
Nísia picked up the thin fabric, her eyes shining with poorly concealed envy. "Since she was revealed as Primordial, Dad has changed. He wants to show her off to the Arbex, he wants her to come home to validate his status. It's ridiculous. She's already there, in the spotlight, so why does he insist on bringing her back under the Lutz name?
“He now sees her market value, Nísia,” Rosana analyzed bluntly. “Do you think he really cares about that girl's feelings?”
Nísia pressed her lips together, the bitter taste of inferiority rising in her mouth. She knew that Daniel Lutz had the blood of commercial nobility in his veins, the same blood that Katherine had inherited. Nísia's biological father, on the other hand, had been a bankrupt laborer, an origin she tried to erase with layers of perfume and silk.