****Music recommended: His Heart— Kensuke Ushio*****
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Far away from the slums and deep in the street of posh household a chaos had ensued without Elle's notice.
Holding to the front of her silky skirt, an unknown young girl who just had her orange hair tied into twin tails ran across the hallway of her childhood house. Her pink heels made the loud noise followed by the footsteps of her two maids who had chased behind the beloved daughter of Vernon Family. Upon reaching the dining room, she inhale deeply air inside her lungs before kicking the door open with the tip of her heel.
"Mama! Papa! Can you two please explain what I had just heard?!" The girl yelled on top of her throat, looking extremely flustered and angered.
"Caroline what manner of a brute are you showing today, aren't you embarrassed?" A harsh reprimanding tone appeared from the lady with the brightest orange hair in the land. Her gorgeous face was marred in anger as she was known to be a strict woman who only achieve perfection. Caroline, the daughter quickly lowered her eyes but she didn't let herself be deterred from voicing her complaints.
As she was the only daughter of the Vernon Family, or she was supposed to say "was" the only daughter of the family, she was brought up quite spoiled by her family, tending to speak everything in her mind as she only deserve the best.
"Papa! Can you explain mama what I had just heard from the servants?" Caroline turned her deep black eyes toward the head of the family who continue to peacefully cut the steak on his plate.
The man, Count Arthur Vernon simply set his fork down beside his plate and look at his adorable daughter with a confused smile, "What did you hear, pumpkin?"
"That child!" Caroline slammed her two fist toward her skirt. "I heard you have been going around searching for a daughter you had with your mistress!"
Hearing this, the lady of the house, Countess Gladys released the knife and fork she held. The loud shatter on the table was enough to startle the servants who didn't expect the young lady would demand an explanation on their family drama so early in the morning and so openly.
"Dear?" A weak voice appeared from Countess Gladys who looked at her husband with her dark blue eyes growing wider in disbelief. "W- What baseless rumor is this?"
Count Arthur didn't speak and trying to fix her smile and her leftover pride, Countess Gladys turned her head to her daughter, clearing her throat subtly. "Caroline, you must know that servants talks a lot I'm sure it's just another one of those hoax rumors. Everyone else leave from the dining room now!" The woman then yelled, feeling herself on verge of breaking as she had never imagined she would be in such position as now.
The maids who knew how Countess Gladys hate anything that disrupted her perfection quickly left the dining room. Even the closest maid of Caroline quickly excused themselves, closing the door before them.
Caroline marched to her mother, looking upset as she glared at her father who she was always proud of, "Mama, I didn't only hear this from just any servants! The people who revealed this to me are the knights! Papa had used our knights to find her! A daughter of his mistress! I didn't know... I didn't know that papa had a mistress. When I heard it, I thought they were joking, I hoped they were joking! But it seemed that everyone but me knew that papa used to have a mistress! How could you papa!"
Countess Gladys who always looked perfect with a smile didn't expect her supper would be ruined at the mentioned of her husband mistress again! She had thought that after the woman's death, she would be free of the nightmare being haunted by the woman her husband had loved more than her. She didn't expect that the whore would bore a daughter!
"D- Dear, what does she mean by a daughter?" Countess Gladys stuttered, her teeth almost clattering against each other.
"As she had heard," Count Arthur replied coldly even though usually he was a man with a warm heart, shocking Caroline who never expect in her life to see her father looking so cold as though he was draped in ice. "Caroline, that woman wasn't my mistress, she was my fiancee. Someone I know before your mother."
"But—" Caroline opened her mouth to see her mother who had slammed her hand on the table.
"She was indeed the first woman you loved Arthur, but do you not think how unfair this is for me?!" Countess Gladys looked at her husband with tears on the rim of her eyes. "I know she was your first love but you will bring her daughter here? Do you not love me?!" She shirked.
"I do love you, I do Gladys," said Arthur but he lowered his blue eyes, "However I cannot change the fact that I do have a daughter with Marilyn."
"So you are doing this out of pity? Charity? If so, will you go as far as to replace our dear Caroline?!" Gladys stared at her husband's eye with anger that quake her bone. She hoped by bringing their daughter's name it will change his mind but her husband didn't budge.
"That is not what I am planning to do, Gladys," said the man with a sigh and a look of guilt. "I didn't know I had another daughter from Marilyn. That girl, she is innocent. I was the one who fell in love with her and I was shocked when she ran away. I was more shocked to know that she had passed away before then I moved on with my life with you."
"Then leave that child behind! Do you not think what others will talk behind us if you bring her into our family?!" Lady Gladys had lost her composure, fuming with anger and disappointment as she felt she was betrayed.
"That child is also my daughter, Gladys." Lord Arthur seemed to be firm as he spoke. "She was born without a mother and a father. It's not long since I have found the news that she exist and what quite difficult life she had went through. Every time I see Caroline, all I felt was guilt as her father. I know she exist, but to turn a blind eye to her suffering for not having me? I cannot do that, Gladys."
"You are unbelievable, don't you think about the suffering Caroline and I will have to go through after this? People will think that I have lost my husband's love!" Gladys said with resent. Her husband didn't seem to think through about her emotions thus she tried to bring her daughter to invoke a feeling of guilt but her husband was unexpectedly firm as he shook his head. "Are you giving up on me— no if it is me I do not care— but Caroline! What about her! Think of her position!"
"Nothing will change for Caroline, Gladys. Marilyn was my fiancee but you are my wife. As a husband before anything else, I have promised that I would not be partial to you," Count Arthur said with gentle eyes. He looked at both his unnerved daughter and wife to then spoke, "I only wish for her to live a normal life. A life in which she doesn't have to starve all day or work like a peasant. The world is frightening, especially with all those nightly creatures so I want to give her a safe environment until a day come where she marries someone."
"I don't agree with this! I don't have a sister! I don't have a sister at all!" Caroline yelled to Count Arthur who was shocked and bewildered. He couldn't understand why his wife and daughter couldn't accept his other daughter. Although she was born from a wedlock, the girl did nothing wrong as she was only born at the wrong time and wrong place. "Papa please! I don't want my friends in the dancing class to look at me with pity because some peasant girl claim to be my older sister!"
"Caroline," said Count Arthur with firmness much to his spoiled daughter's shock. "I have made up my mind. I was going to tell you two this today that I won't change my mind no matter the case."
Caroline was fuming mad as her mother. Tears dribbled from her black eyes as she turned away, yelling angrily, "I hate you papa! I hate you!"
Lady Gladys pressed her hands on her forehead, feeling herself faint as though the next second the sky would turn around her and she would collapse coldly on the floor. "Arthur, Arthur, what mistake have I done? All I did was loving you, can you stop living in your past and love me more than Marilyn? I was the one who stayed with you when that woman ran away!"
"Gladys," Count Arthur shook his head, "Marilyn didn't run away. I'm certain she didn't, she loved me as I loved her. It was in the past and I am not lying to you when I tell you that I love you deeply and even more than her. I have forgotten everything and keep it in the past but I cannot let an innocent young girl to live a life outside this manor. You know just how difficult it is to get by in this age and time. I just want her a peaceful life. She doesn't have to go to parties with you, I will also keep it a secret that she is the daughter of Marilyn so no one would raise a question or make you feel ashamed."
Countess Gladys, however didn't like the idea. No matter what middle route her husband had taken, she couldn't accept the idea of living together with the daughter of the woman she had hated so much. She pushed herself from the chair and stare at her husband, "I don't agree to this and I would never agree to this. Don't bring that girl into this house ever!"
"I can't promise that, Gladys. She is also my daughter. For what I have not done for her, I will try and fulfill it now even if it is too late," said Count Arthur who seemed to be dead set on making sure his first born daughter would live with them.
Gladys who saw her husband's eyes felt fear on her bone. This was the first time ever since they got married almost two decades ago where her husband coldly turn her down. He was firm. Deadly firm. He who always listened to all her request had suddenly changed and Gladys shuddered at the thought that she had lost control over her voice to her own husband.
"Whatever you say. If you love me and you love Caroline, make sure that girl never step into my house!" Finding nothing to convince her husband, she yelled and turned away.
Meanwhile, Caroline who had returned to her room threw her vase over to the maid who had came to clean the fireplace. "Damn it! Damn it! What does papa mean by a sister! I don't have any sister!" She yelled while looking at the servant whose hands had bleed out from the sharp shard that had hit her hand. In anger, the girl twisted her lips. "I'll make sure if she ever come into my house, I will ruin her!"
She bent down to take the sharp shard and to the servant who had trembled. The servant's wrist dropped and the white bandage covering her wounds revealed the cuts that were deep and some still fresh. Caroline didn't seem to be concerned about it, instead she seemed familiar with the wounds as she picked the shard to carve more of it across the servant's arms…
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author's note: please continue to add the book in collections and post some review! This help so much for me<3 I'll be updating another chapter today have a great day everyone<3