The chapter is a letter from Gran to Molly, opening with the irony that her story begins as her life ends. Gran discloses her true identity as Flora Gray, a young woman raised in opulence at Gray Manor, a vast estate run like an austere fiefdom. Flora’s father, Reginald Gray, is described as a mercurial, money-obsessed patriarch, CEO of Gray Investments, whom young Flora adored despite his severity. Her mother, Audrey Gray, is portrayed as vain, status-fixated, and emotionally cold, resenting Flora for being born a girl.

Flora recalls both parents’ fixation on lineage, money, and appearances, and notes early signs of the family’s financial instability—asset dissolution, merger threats, and dismissals of longtime servants. Amid shrinking staff, two key domestics remained, with Flora closest to Mrs. Mead, her loving nursemaid who offered warmth, guidance, and protection, including during Flora’s first menstruation. Flora began channeling her pain into coded poetry that teachers praised without grasping the cries for help.

Flora emphasizes that, despite mistreatment, she loved her parents and strove to make them proud. She frames a pivotal moment at age seventeen, when she, unlike peers focused on courtship, pursued learning—history, languages, arts, and especially literature. She had already learned French with a tutor and excelled at her private girls’ school, aspiring to take exams that could open the path to university.

The headmaster visited Gray Manor on a rainy day to advocate for Flora’s academic track. Ushered by Uncle Willy, the butler, he faced Reginald and Audrey in Reginald’s imposing office. Reginald belittled the value of a girl’s intellect, while Audrey suggested a finishing school focused on beauty and “womanly arts.”

Summoning courage, Flora asked directly to take the preparatory course and exams to prove herself. Reginald mocked the idea, declaring that a sharp-minded woman was like “a fish on a bicycle,” but ultimately granted permission for her to sit the exams while warning that he would still decide her future. Flora seized on the permission as hope, believing success might win parental support, even as the headmaster’s uneasy expression hinted at doubts she chose to ignore.