Charmaine's POV
I was startled awake when she gently took me from the chair and placed me on the bed.
I claimed to be sleeping to avoid more talk with her.
Unlike this woman, none of the ladies I had encountered within the royal gates had been difficult to deal with.
She was unusual. I adored it.
Not just with her beauty, but also with the way she spoke and acted.
The lights dimmed as she extinguished the majority of the candles that had lighted up the house.
She left for a few minutes, and I didn't want to move about the bed, which would alert her to the fact that I was awake, but I also wanted to keep an eye on her.
The way she walked, the way she... everything she did had the elegance of a princess. Unfortunately, she wasn't one of them.
Or perhaps she was one. Like me, are you hiding?
This is what I concluded. We had never ended up in such a poor spot since I had never left the castle before, or if I had, I was with my parents, royal guards, and maids.
I had also seen how Ms Charlotte treated me, and the only thing that sprang to me was that I was in hiding, which was why I had been turned over to her.
Moving from the palace to such a location was depressing. I didn't like this environment at all, but as a youngster, there was nothing I could do but attempt to adapt.
Charmaine arrived later. Her long, black, and lovely hair was dripping wet, and she was drying it with a cloth.
Would my physique and hair be as lovely as hers when I grew older? I wondered to myself.
I'm not sure how long I was awake because I fell asleep while staring at her.
Charlotte's POV
The following morning began as normal.
I made warm milk and warmed the leftovers from the previous night's meal for breakfast.
Charmaine was late in waking up, so I took advantage of the chance to complete my housework without her observing or interrogating me.
We were running low on water, so I wanted to refill it to avoid having to perform such exhausting effort in the future.
I awakened the small child up at eight o'clock in the morning.
"It's pastime to get up." I stated this as I nudge her.
"Eat up." I coaxed her as I placed a tiny bowl of rice and leftover veggies, as well as a cup of milk, towards her.
"Leftovers?" she inquired.
"Yeah, what else?" Even though I knew the answer, I asked. When she lived in the palace, she never had to deal with leftovers.
So, yes, I'm not sure why I asked in the first place since I plainly knew the answer.
"In the pal-" I stopped her from speaking by raising my hand.
"Pause right there." I remarked as I placed my hand on the table.
"This is my household, not the palace. You should get used to life like this, Charmain." I said. "What you used to do in the palace has passed you by. You consume what I eat and sleep in such an atmosphere without inquiry as long as you're here with me." I muttered.
This girl needed to know where she was. Things were different here, such that how many times I was expected to say that?
"And the next time I hear you say "palace," I'm going to smash you in the face. As I already stated, you are not from the palace. You are my long-lost niece, who has come to see me." I said.
I needed to clarify something. This girl seemed intelligent, and I hoped she wouldn't make a fool of herself on this matter. It was for both of us. My money and her safety.
"Do I understand?" I inquired, and she gave me a slight nod. She kept eye contact with both of us. I moved her bowl of food closer to her while maintaining eye contact.
"Eat up!" I ordered.
She took her chopsticks cautiously and delved in. I was thankful for the silence that followed for the next several minutes.
Charmaine's POV
Apart from my parents, who were hard with me when the occasion demanded it, no one else treated me as harshly as this woman did.
I wasn't looking forward to being here. I really missed my family.
Home, where I had all I wished.
Was it too soon to be homesick?
The scorching sensation that left my insides empty made me crave home more and more as the minutes passed.
I couldn't stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. It was too late and too difficult to blink them away, allowing them to land on my meal.
I ate with my head lowered. I didn't know how to use chopsticks, so I mimicked Charlotte's technique. She made the entire procedure appear simple, but it wasn't.
I had planned to ask her how she used them the day before, but I was too preoccupied crying because of my parents' to do so.
Isn't it too late to ask her that question right now?
There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask her, but our mini-argument forced me to keep them to myself.
I could feel her gaze on me and didn't want to return it. I needed no more chastisement.
After finishing her breakfast, she walked outside to water her flowers. It was enough time for me to gather my thoughts and complete my meal.
She subsequently returned with a large basin of water and asked me to wash my face, something I had neglected to do immediately after waking up.
She carried several huge gourds of water before offering me two little ones and instructing me to follow her.
We were obviously going to get water, a duty that had never occurred to me that I would be undertaken at any point in my life.
We had a water pond in the castle, so even the servants never had to strain to get water from the stream. What type of existence was this?