She didn't get angry. Behind her, five or six girls around her age followed, walking after Vivi.
They didn't dare to go too far, after all, Vienna also has Palace Mages.
"Let me see, you must have some beef stolen from the palace in your arms, Dud Vira?"
Vivi pretended not to hear. She was already used to it—over the years, ever since she was declared a Dud at the age of eleven, she has endured enough cold stares and ridicule.
"Have you stolen something from the palace again?" Hydra stepped forward, followed by several girls of similar age.
"Holding it so tightly, it must be, Hydra," said a freckled girl beside her.
"Oh, thank you for your eagle eyes, Isabella," Hydra said without turning around.
"I'm calling you. Did you hear me?"
Hydra spoke again.
Vivi lowered her head, trying not to listen to the taunting words. She only wanted to bring the food in her arms home and spend the first Christmas without parents well with her brother.
"Such rudeness, 'Almost Always Late Grindelwald,' that's your new nickname today, isn't it?" Hydra said with a smirk.
Vivi still didn't stop walking. She didn't want to entangle with these sisters who bullied her for being a Dud.
"Yeah, it really is like that," Hydra seemed to murmur, "Don't you want to know who hid your shoes?"
Vivi paused slightly but wasn't surprised.
She had been a Lady-in-waiting here at her aunt's for over a year and often found herself missing something—even though she triple-checked every time before setting out.
Carelessness, thus reprimanded by the aunt...
She understood that these sisters couldn't stand her mingling with Muggles, even if it was the Muggle Royal Family.
"Muggle Princess, look at this?" Hydra said, waving.
Vivi stopped and turned her head, finding Hydra holding a piece of beef.
Hydra sneered, dividing the beef among the girls around her, and ate a piece herself.
"I must say, the Imperial Chef of the Muggle Royal Family is good indeed," Hydra critiqued sharply, "but for a Dud like you, who has stooped so low to mingle with Muggles, to be able to eat such delicacies..."
As she spoke, she threw the beef on the ground, stepped on it hard, even twisting her foot to try to press it into the snow pile.
Vivi looked at Hydra's actions with a calm demeanor as if watching something unrelated to her.
"I really dislike her attitude, she's so fake, as if she's really some Princess," Isabella commented from behind.
"Hey, don't say that." Another girl wearing glasses said sarcastically, "Her aunt is the Empress, she was born to be a Princess—our Muggle Princess."
"Oh, thank you, William Minnie," Hydra replied casually, then said to Vivi, "Listen, Dud Vira, I'm warning you for the last time… as long as you keep working for the Muggles, we won't let you off—understand? This is just a small lesson for you!"
With that, she turned around and left with the few girls without looking back.
Vivi crouched down and picked up the beef piece by piece.
"Such a pity, can't eat it now," she seemed to murmur.
But fortunately, there's still some in her arms.
Returning to the home—a temporary home, since she was a Dud and her parents both passed away, she and Gellert lost the inheritance rights to Nimongard Castle.
The Grindelwald family rule states that only official Wizards have inheritance rights—while Vivi, as a Dud, naturally doesn't qualify; and Gellert is still young, with heterochromia, so he has no inheritance rights either.
Vivi laboriously lit a fire, coughing as the smoke irritated her.
"What's for dinner tonight, sister?" Gellert asked innocently, leaning on the door frame.
"Beef," Vivi said succinctly, taking some ingredients from the cabinet at home and adding a few side dishes for Gellert.
In the dim light, the girl cooked the ingredients in the pot seriously.
"Gellert, go light the candles," Vivi instructed.
"Oh, okay." Gellert obediently ran to the dining table and lit the candles one by one.
Soon, Vivi neatly laid out a table of dishes.
"Eat," she said simply.
Gellert noticed something odd about his sister's expression, asking worriedly, "Sister, did they bully you again?"
"No," Vivi replied expressionlessly, biting a small piece of black bread, "Just eat in peace."
"No, it must be!" Gellert recalled the snow marks on his sister's knees when they returned, saying confidently, "It must be the Little Witches from the Grindelwald family... When I grow up, I'll kill them all! Avenge you!"
"Don't be like that, Gael," Vivi said softly, "Killing is a great sin, and no one bullied sister, don't worry—even if there's someone, I will return it myself in the future."
"Oh." Gellert bowed his head.
In the evening, under the dim candlelight, she told Gellert fairy tales brought from the palace.
"Sister, will the ugly duckling really turn into a swan?" Gellert asked with wide, watery eyes.
"It will, Gael." Vivi gently rubbed Gellert's head with her hand.
"Sister, you are the ugly duckling now." Gellert said seriously, "You will definitely become a swan in the future."