Peacock's Illusion Realm

Before Peacock stood an ancient, elegant, secluded little courtyard fragrant with flowers: a pond full of lotus blossoms, several ducks in the water, and a bed of peonies along the bank!

"This..." At the sight, Peacock's heart began pounding wildly. Just as she was about to step forward, something even more astonishing happened—she abruptly discovered that she was no longer the young woman in her twenties from before, but a little girl with tiny hands and feet. When she nervously walked to the pond's edge, the reflection in the water was indeed that of a child with her hair hanging loose.

Have I returned to the past? But before this thought could even arise in Peacock's mind, an even more horrifying one suddenly barged in. This... could it be that bloody afternoon?

At once, Peacock's childish little face turned pale. If her memory had not failed her, then in another hour, her father—once refined and courteous—would return from outside reeking of alcohol. This time, he would no longer lovingly call Peacock by her pet name and tease her as he always had. Half an hour later, this father of hers, whose official career had been fraught with setbacks, would sell their ancestral home, Peacock's mother, and even Peacock herself to others at the Silver Hook Gambling House five li away. Peacock had watched helplessly as her mother, who had loved her dearly, threw herself into the pond before her. After sobering up, her father had been consumed by remorse and smashed his head against a pillar until he died. A happy family had been destroyed in an instant. Peacock herself had been dragged away by the gambling house thugs, screaming and crying. When she tried to escape halfway there, she was caught and beaten nearly to death—until she encountered Abbess