The carriage finally stopped. Olivia Praxis exited the carriage and began to enter the house while Olivia Carter was still trying to explain what a dinosaur was, and how it was different from a dragon. Olivia Carter didn't even notice Olivia Praxis had walked into the house.
Slap!
The shock of the slap across Olivia's face shocked the both of them back into attention as Olivia fell to the floor from the force. She hit her head hard on the ground because she was unprepared. She covered her cheek. And looked up at her adopted father with tears threatening to fall out of her eyes. Olivia Carter suddenly remembered that she loved that scene in the novel, the first face slap! How could she have forgotten it!? Those dang dinosaurs!
"Father stop!" a dainty looking flower of a girl stood between Olivia and the Marquis. "Please don't hurt my sister!"
The Marquis didn't come toward Olivia again, but his loud voice still caused Olivia to flinch.
"What have you done! I didn't raise you to be this way! You are too irresponsible! The King, Olivia!? The King!?" Olivia stayed quiet as Graciella stood between her and the Marquis. She was still holding her stinging cheek. "Do you know what you did? You ruined the family's reputation by doing this. Your sister's reputation is ruined because of you!" The Marquis started to pace while yelling. "Graciella came home in tears. Tears! She wouldn't even tell me what happened! Or why you didn't come back after so long. I had to hear it from a stranger!"
Olivia Carter was pissed off on behalf of Olivia Praxis.
{So in other words you didn't worry about your adopted daughter who was out all night? What if it had been someone other than Adarian who took her away from the party?}
'Don't call him by his name,' she thought reflexively.
"The King!? The King! Don't you realize you could have had us all executed by doing such a stupid thing! You have no idea do you? Don't you realize your actions last night could have an effect on my position? We could lose our title! You're grounded! Go to your room."
Olivia, still in shock, didn't stand up right away.
"NOW!" Olivia got up as quickly as she could and began to run up the stairs to her room. She didn't know if he would hit her again. "Don't protect her like that again," she heard him say to Graciella as she ran.
Olivia closed the door to her room and locked herself in. Her heart was pounding. Right after the Marquis shouted the word NOW, Olivia Carter was taken back to her first foster home. She went right back to that scared little child who was sickly, frail, and unable to do any of the chores. Her foster father was ok. He was distant, and didn't care at all about any of the kids in the house, or what they did. Her foster mom however... She cared too much. The kids weren't allowed to be alone with each other in a room to "prevent sin."
They all had to work for their supper. Laziness was a sin. Idleness was a sin. It was a sin to ignore your studies. Sickness came if you were a sinner. Olivia must therefore be a bad sinner, because she was always sick. Olivia many times did not earn her food. She already had trust issues about other people making her food. So the little girl who was sickly and frail, and didn't get enough to eat, was then verbally abused for being unable to do extra chores.
When she fainted at school one day, social services realized what was going on in the Foster home. Nothing too bad had happened to her. Sure, she was beaten and starved, but some of the other kids had been molested by the foster parents. After that Olivia had refused to go to any foster homes. She would freak out when they took her to one. She freaked out so bad most of the time that she would have a panic attack, hyperventilate, faint, and be hospitalized.
She was fine living in the orphanage. There she was able to watch the cooks make her food. They were not allowed to use very many spices at all. Mostly they could use salt and pepper, and some herbs. She was able to stay at the orphanage until the day she turned 18. That very day, she was kicked out. She had no job, and no house. She belonged to no-one.
Olivia Carter couldn't take the reality that had hit her so suddenly. She felt the pain of the slap, and the fear that came from the Marquis raised voice. There was too much realism for this to be a dream. She wasn't dreaming. Olivia Carter went silent with her own thoughts. She was exhausted. She fell asleep in Olivia Praxis's mind, and fell silent.
...
...
Olivia dreamt about Graciella's Dark Days, and the events following the seduction at the ball. Olivia Praxis had the wedding moved up because there was a chance she was pregnant with the child of the King. During the first month and a half she was grounded by Marquis Praxis to ensure she didn't cause any more trouble. Oscar Caliban was pressured by his father to not only continue his engagement to Olivia but, also to move up the marriage. If Oscar did not agree, the Caliban family would no longer have anything to do with the Praxis family. Graciella would be left with nothing, forcing her to marry an old man as his fourth wife. It was rumored the man had killed his first three wives. Oscar agreed to marry Olivia to save Graciella. They were married a month later.
Olivia was happy to leave the Praxis house and gain power by becoming a future madam of a ducal house. She was now able to wield more power over her unmarried sister.
Thanks to the scandal Olivia created, King Adarian married Graciella to fix the ruined reputation of the Praxis family. Olivia became very jealous, and befriended the slighted Lady Lowenheim. Together they made plans targeting Graciella. They had her kidnaped by ruffians, and she was almost raped. Oscar managed to find her in time, but he also hid the evidence of Olivia's involvement. Both he and Olivia would be put to death if it were to be found out they tried to hurt the queen. Graciella agreed to hide the evidence, regardless of everything, she still loved her sister.
Karma hit Olivia hard. Olivia remained barren. She was unable to conceive a child with Oscar. Graciella became pregnant with her first child. Olivia poisoned Graciella causing the death of the king's child. Oscar again hid the evidence. Adarian had walked in to find Graciella on the floor in her chambers with blood between her legs. Adarian mourned the loss of his first child.
Oscar hadn't known Queen Graciella was pregnant. Oscar loathed his wife, but Graciella who he had thought had a special relationship with himself had now betrayed him by being pregnant with Adarian's child. He thought the king didn't trust Graciella. When had their relationship changed so much? He burned with jealousy. The always gentle and supportive Oscar changed.
Olivia taunted Oscar that the king was better in bed than he was. She told Oscar that he was no good as a man. She told Oscar that she found out he was in love with Graciella. Then she told him how he would never be good enough for Graciella.
Oscar decided he would take over the kingdom, and when he did, he would divorce Olivia, and marry Graciella. He kept the later half of his plan hidden from Olivia, and Olivia helped him plan the takeover. Olivia had her own plan behind the scenes as well. She would make sure Graciella died in the takeover. Adarian who had already been investigating the couple, found out about this plan, and had Oscar and Olivia executed for treason.
...
...
Olivia Praxis was surprised to have Olivia Carter go silent in her head. She was already down from all the events that had happened from the night before. Her chest started hurting. She had no-one. No-one loved her, no-one trusted her. She was so alone she had made up a person called Olivia Carter in her head from another world. She was too old for imaginary friends.
She couldn't take this anymore! Everything was too hard. Graciella had already tortured her for ten years. She didn't have it in her to last any longer. She was giving up now.. She had felt Olivia Carter fight for control of her body, She had refused to give up control. This body was hers.
But she was done fighting now. She could see Olivia Carter's dream. She saw what she looked like from other people's point of view. Did they all truly see her as an evil vixen full of jealousy? This was indeed the public perception of her. To them she was an evil villain out to harm the innocent Graciella. Only she knew what horrors she had actually endured.
If what she was seeing in Olivia Carter's dream was true, she was dead anyway. She was dead no matter what she did or how much she struggled. If there was anyone else that could learn about those horrors, it would be Olivia Carter. Olivia Carter was stronger than her. Maybe Olivia Carter could survive. She was done. She'd taken out her diary from its secret place, writing one last entry. She put her Diary back in it's secret place. And felt a pull from the darkness within herself. She closed her eyes and lay on the bed. She was exhausted. She was done fighting. As she began to fade she could feel Olivia Carter's presence become stronger. She had one last thought as she went into the dark.
[Good luck Olivia.]