On Planet Vegeta, mates were normally determined by strength and strength alone.
Tarble's mother was the strongest female of King Vegeta's generation, for example, and both of the triplets' parents were direct subordinates of the king, with their father, the weaker of the two, having a power level of 3,500.
Pepper's parents were the exception to this rule.
Pepper's mother was a mid-class warrior with a power level only around 1,000, but she'd managed to mate with one of the strongest warriors on the planet, Asper, an elite-class warrior with influence second only to the king and his court, and a power level of around 8,000.
That wasn't because of luck. It was because she was a vicious, manipulative woman. She'd tricked Asper into spending the night with her, then used her pregnancy as an excuse to tie the man that she'd been obsessed with for his strength, to her.
While it was an unusual, underhanded tactic, Asper hadn't complained. Even when people started looking down on him for marrying a woman who was so comparatively weak, he'd stood by his mate's side without complaint or hesitation. Idiot that he was, he respected the woman's intelligence.
Then, they'd had a daughter.
Who'd been born with the incredibly high power level of…
That wasn't just low-class, it was the bottom of low-class. At the time of her birth, less than a handful of babies on the entire planet had been weaker than her.
It'd been a harsh blow for Asper's reputation, and an even harsher blow for Pepper's mother, who'd specifically chosen Asper as a mate because she'd believed that he was optimal for allowing her to move up in society.
A weak child like Pepper utterly destroyed that chance. Asper became a laughingstock, his influence severely limited. Luckily for Pepper, children designated as 'weak' weren't always sent off to other worlds. Never immediately.
Then, during her three-year incubation period, an Imperial Prince was born with an embarrassingly low power level, comparable to hers. Tarble. King Vegeta himself ended up deciding that Pepper could be useful as a pawn. Not only was keeping her on-planet something that could be considered a favor to Asper, but her existence may have proven useful for Tarble's development in some way.
As such, against her mother's personal desire, Pepper was allowed to stay on Vegeta. Her mother was appointed her caretaker, to train the grl for a potential appointment in Tarble's squad when the boy came of age.
As for Asper, 'in exchange for the favor', he was appointed Tarble's personal coach. He spent his days at the palace, while Pepper lived alone with a mother who resented her for being born a 'failure'.
Her early life had borne many similarities to Tarble's, with a few differences.
Asper hadn't tortured Tarble on purpose. He'd genuinely been trying to stimulate a Saiyan's potential… his methods simply didn't agree with Tarble's unique set of talents. Asper held zero malice when it came to Tarble, and even respected the kid's resilience to a degree. That was why he'd pushed him so hard.
But Pepper? She didn't have Tarble's advantages. She was just a kid being pushed by a woman who genuinely hated her. No matter what she did, how hard she tried, she was too clumsy, too weak, too stupid.
But she wasn't stupid. She did learn.
Pepper's mother tried to pull every bit of use out of her daughter that could. The girl was weak, but she'd still be working closely with the prince, at least temporarily. Even if her destiny was to be sacrificed as fodder during one of Tarble's missions, Tarble's relationship with Pepper would inevitably reflect back on the royal family's treatment of her father.
So, she drilled the girl with everything she could. Pepper learned how to operate spaceships (in theory, not practice, naturally). She learned how to act with more dignity than a Saiyan normally had, even when eating with her hands or while sleeping on the ground.
And mostly, she learned how to analyze people. How to haggle for mountains of food at half or even quarter price. How to tell how much someone liked her, how to manipulate people's feelings and tug on their heartstrings so that they'd subconsciously protect her, even if they hated her with the depths of their hearts.
None of that ever worked with her mother. The woman was cold as ice. Punished the girl for every single slight, no matter how small. Slapped her across the face if she smiled or walked wrong in public.
As such, Pepper's brain learned to prioritize. Optimize.
The woman who ran the meat distribution shop had a gentle disposition and a little baby in the back room? Bright smile and questions oriented toward family, friends, happy things. No overthinking money around her, it always works out best.
The neighbor with the lazy, mid-class son respected strength and hard work above everything else? Do her chores out in the open. Never falter, always act eager. Smile and never stop working. The compliment flows back to mommy, who acts just a little nicer during dinner.
This sort of analytical mindset even flowed back to combat, allowing her to choose where to take the inevitable beatings by analyzing her teacher, her mother's thought processes and movements.
As for the little details, outside of combat? They didn't matter nearly as much as others' perceptions of them, so they got ignored. If Pepper made a mistake concerning numbers or history or culture, things that people tended to overlook or not care about, it was just a little flaw. A cute one that could actually be used in her favor, depending on the scenario.
Sometimes, she did that sort of thing on purpose, just to gain favor by acting dumb. As long as everybody loved her, Pepper's life was just a little bit easier.
That was how the girl grew up, until shortly after she turned seven.