The sun started peaking over the hills and through the window, Lilith woke up groggily. Even though she slept well she felt heavy and weird, and she felt her lower belly get faint cramps. She removed the blankets and stood up to stretch, "I will not let myself stay in bed, i need to get things done." She thought, when she turned around and saw blood on the bedsheets everything made sense, he period started and that's why she was having a crappy morning. No wonder she had been more emotional the past week, even at the wedding she was being more reactive to things around her. Natalie came in with orange juice, and a bagel with cottage cheese. "Here's breakfast my....." he eyes fell on the bed and she saw the blood. "Are you alright my lady? Is it your menstruation?" She asked. Lilith smiled, "yes i apologize, if i had known it was that time i would have prepared." She said, Natalie set the tray down on the table and went to the restroom to run her a warm bath. "My lady please eat your breakfast while i run your bath." Natalie said placing a rag on the chair so she wouldn't stain. When she was all dry and fresh Natalie placed rags in her undergarments for the period, dressed her up in a black and lilac dress so if the blood went through it wouldn't Show. Since she still had time she took out her private journal. "Natalie, do you think you could find a buyer for these items?" She asked. Natalie looked at all the jewelry and nodded. "Why are you selling these my lady?" Natalie asked. "I just don't need them anymore." She said smiling. Natalie bowed and walked out, "okay, now I need to find a bank and put in the money secretly, while im in the village i'll look for a small house to buy with that money so I can have a hiding spot, at least until I have a solid escape route. Then...maybe I can...actually...if i make a friend i can trust they might hide me or keep my whereabouts a secret." She talked to herself as she organized everything, "I will ask Natalie to take me to the plaza later.." Vincent heard a scream and ran as fast as he could, he bursted into the room and saw his mother staring at their recent family portrait. It was completely shredded and had a liquid on it that was making the paint peel and it was unrecognizable. "Who...who did this.." she whispered with teary eyes. Vincent frowned and Cyrus and his father barged in with Thalia not far behind. They all examined the portrait and Thalia tried comforting the duchess. They noticed that Thalias part of the portrait was more destroyed than the rest of it, "why would anyone do that..." Thalia said teary eyed. Vincent was furious that someone dared to hurt his mother and the love of his life this way, as well as rip apart a painting that took almost two days, and needed almost one week to finish drying. "I have a strong feeling this was Lilith, that brat was upset she wasn't included." Cyrus said, Sebastian walked in and saw the mess, he overheard Cyrus say it was Lilith's fault but he knew it couldn't have been her. Sebastian was told to keep an eye on her and he never saw any indication of her being angry about the portrait. He bowed to the duchy, "may i speak freely, my lord." He said. The duke nodded, anger still prominent on his face. "Yes. What is it?" He asked. Sebastian nervously breathed out. "My lord i happened to overhear that Lady Lilith is a possible suspect, but i have spent the past few days consistently observing her as ordered, and she has never shown any hostile intentions to the portrait." He said as his heart raced. The duke scoffed, "we'll see about that, guards bring in anybody that could be a witness, we're figuring it out right now." He said. Vincent turned to his father,"I will go get Lilith Grimrose, she better have a good alibi." He said. Sebastian bowed his head, "Well...if you must find her she is on the archery field." Sebastian said. They all looked at him strangely, "What is she doing there?" Vincent asked confused. "It is something she likes to do for fun, she likes to keep busy." He explained. Vincent sighed and walked away, the duke looked at his wife, she was looking at the painting sadly. "I wish she would have been with us..." she said as she held her shawl. "We have to keep our distance we don't know what she could be scheming, she's most likely following Counts Grimrose orders, thats why we have only given her fake or harmless documents." The duke said as he rubbed her shoulder in a comforting manner. She sighed and nodded, but deep down she wanted to speak with Lilith and get to know her. Vincent finally made it to the archery field and unexpectedly saw Lilith in uniform, with her hair tied in a long sleek ponytail. She was completely focused and he was trying to remain unnoticed but her eyes immediately caught him. Her arms lowered the weapon ad she turned to look at him directly, Richard the new recruit was behind her with Natalie and two young maids. He noticed how her face changed, she read him like an open book and sighed as she handed Richard her the bow and arrows. He was astounded at how quick witted she was, "What's wrong?" She asked. "My father requests an audience." He said a little taken aback. She nodded and let him lead the way, they walked into the art room were they sit for the artist to paint them, looking around she saw about ten maids, one of them looking with a teasing look in her eye which she thought was strange. The painter she saw last time was there as well, he looked sad as he looked at the destroyed portrait. She took a look at the portrait and saw how destroyed it was, "What happened here?" Lilith asked. "We were hoping you would answer that. Why did you destroy the painting? Were you jealous? Angry?" The duke asked. Her eyebrow twitched at the accusation but she remained calm. "This was not me, I appreciate art and I would never destroy anything out of pettiness. Besides i have no reason to be in this room at all." She said. The duke scoffed. "How can you prove it wasn't you then?" He asked in a taunting tone. She looked at the painting again, and pointed at one of the rips. "As you can see in this area there is a small smear of blood, also the paint used is oil based, whoever actually did this will have a small cut on their fingers or hand, as well as the stain of oil paint somewhere on their skin or clothes since oil paint is incredibly hard to remove and very slow to dry." She said as put her hands out and showed them to him. "As you can see, i have no injuries on my hands, or any paint stained on my clothes which are white." The painter was impressed with her conclusion as he walked closer to inspect the shredded areas. The duke was unconvinced but decided to play along. "Then how do you suppose we find the culprit." He said. She lifted her hand and pointed at the maid that smirked at her menacingly when she walked. "When i said that the culprit would have a cut or paint on their hands, she was the only person in this room that quickly checked her hands and hid them before anyone noticed, all the other maids just looked at each other in confusion." She said. The duke was quiet and two guards grabbed the maid before she made a run for it, showing her hands to the family, sure enough she had a deep short cut on her pointer finger and there was a small trace of oil paint on her sleeves, which she had managed to keep hidden due to the fact they immediately made Lilith the culprit. The painter looked at Lilith with admiration, her attention to detail was alluring. The duke looked at Natalie expecting an answer. "My lord she hasn't come around this room, I have spent every waking hour with her and she hasn't done anything strange."she said bowing. He huffed and signaled the guards to take the maid in for questioning. Lilith finally breathed and bowed her head. "If i may be excused, I have a meeting in one hour with a seller." She said. The duke looked at her suspiciously but nodded. As she walked out the painter observed her, he smiled in inspiration of his newfound muse. Vincent followed her out, "If it wasn't you then how did you figure everything out so quickly? You probably paid her to do it." He said to her. She stopped mid walk, "I am not a petty person. I love art which is why i know so much about it. I had an idea it was her because she glared at me when i walked in, I have been quiet, not once have i looked for you, my only wish is to live a quiet life and disappear, I know you are in love with Thalia but i don't care, our marriage is on paper, you only think about how hurt you are! You don't even bother to think that I also never wanted this marriage!" She said angrily. He stared at her shocked, but couldn't say anything back because it was true, he never once thought about her being unhappy that she had to marry him. "Wait...but..they said you were bragging about marrying me.." he said. She laughed and covered her mouth with her hand trying not to be too loud. "Those are baseless rumors, i never bragged and 2 weeks before the wedding i tried to convince my father to cancel it but it was too late." He stood quietly for a while, Lilith sighed and turned around. "I want to live quietly and unnoticed, please allow me that." She said as she walked away. Natalie helped her set up the jewelry and the seller was inspecting them to make sure they were real. He made a deal with her to buy the jewels since they were in good condition. "Alright is this all?" He asked. "Yes, thank you for buying them, i hope you sell them fast" she said as she smiled. The man smiled back, "Of course, they are well taken care of and genuine, the style is also still very popular, if you ever need to buy any make up or perfume please let me know and I will bring the best of the best." He said. "Oh thank you so much, I'm sure i'll be seeing you again soon." She said as she waved goodbye. The duchess sat with her personal maid Amelie, "would you give this to Liliths personal maid please, and have special desserts prepared." She said as she gave Amelie a small envelope. The duchess looked out the window, she was hoping to have a good relationship with Lilith since it reminded her of when she first married into the Allard family, she was young and alone, but she managed to get along well with her husband and even had two beautiful children. Natalie knocked before walking in the room, Lilith was sewing what looked like a small bear, something she started the day before. She put her things down and smiled at Natalie," Look im making a teddy bear." She said. Natalie smiled a bit and bowed as she handed her the letter. Lilith opened it skeptical, it was the duchess. "Mother wants me to see her for tea time.." she said confused. She thought it was a prank but she recognized the perfume on the letter as the one the duchess always wears. She excitedly started going through her wardrobe to see what she could wear, and decided on a lavender and rose pink dress, and Natalie did her hair half up in a bun and half down. As she walked the hallway with Natalie the two young maids from before complimented her dress. "Thank you Melinda and betty, you two are always so kind." She said as she patted their heads,"these two must be around 16 or 17 years old..." she thought. In her original world Estella was 24 and in this world Lilith is 19. Which is still late marriage since most people in the novel get married at 17. They finally made it to the tea room and when she walked in she felt like she was walking into a fairytale. The marble floors, many different flowers and plants around the room, candles, and even the tea pot and desserts looked cute and intricate. "Hello mother." She said as she bowed to the duchess. "Good afternoon Lilith, please sit." She said as a young man pulled a seat for her. Lilith smiled at him as she sat. "Thank you."she said. He blushed a little as he walked away. "Lilith I want to start by apologizing, my boys get very passionate and I am so sorry they accused you without question about destroying the portrait, and I knew it wasn't you." She said sadly. "You knew it wasn't me?" Lilith asked. "Yes, from the few times I have seen you, there is always a sweet smile on your face, and even with the maids and butlers you are always so kind, I couldn't imagine you doing such a horrible thing." She said as she looked at her hands disappointed that her family had treated Lilith so unfairly. The duchess sighed and looked up at Lilith and her eyes widened. There were tears streaming down her face, not even Lilith had noticed until she touched her face. "Oh...i'm sorry I...just...i'm so happy you feel that way.." she said as she laughed through tears. The duchess smiled, and the rest of their time together they fell into a comfortable conversation. Natalie combed her hair gently, Lilith hummed in comfort, remembering the song she loved when she was Estella, listening to that same song on repeat when she studied or drew. "Thats a beautiful melody...where did you hear it?" Natalie asked. "I heard it years ago, when i was a kid, I haven't heard the real one...in a while." She said, it was true, she hadn't heard this song in 3 weeks, since the day she woke up in Liliths body. Natalie kept brushing her hair and started humming the melody for her, Lilith was impressed with how beautiful her voice was. The moon glowed in all its glory, and Lilith sat on the window bench watching it in awe. The stars making her imagine Yuki and her dancing to their favorite songs, she could almost swear she their silhouettes in the stars. Miyano crossed her mind, she missed him a lot. Her eyes got teary as she sniffed. "I miss them..." she thought. She wasn't able to sleep so she stepped out to walk in the garden, the fireflies were lighting everything up beautifully, a couple had even rested on her hair for a few minutes. There were crickets and frogs singing which surprisingly sounded really nice, the sound of the stream was like white noise and it was relaxing her tired mind. She came across a young fig tree and she got excited, reaching out her hand she almost grabbed one when she felt someone looking at her, she turned around quickly and saw Cyrus watching her silently. She huffed. "It's rude to stare you know." She said as she crossed her arms. He smirked, "What are you doing out here all alone, wearing a nightgown?" He said in a teasing tone. "I couldn't sleep, so i came to relax." She said. He raised an eyebrow, "you couldn't sleep? What could possibly be keeping you awake?" Her eyebrow twitched and her nose flared a bit. "I miss....why would i tell you anything." She said looking away. Almost telling him she missed her friends and family in her real world. "What? What do you miss? Your family?" He asked in ridicule. "They are dead to me. They treated me like I was an object they could use for their ploys, and i saw this marriage as in out, even though I tried to get out of it before." She said in anger. Reliving Liliths past in her mind. Cyrus looked at her strangely. The silence between them was uncomfortable, she turned back around to get the fig because she was starting to crave it really bad. Her period was making her crave things pretty intensely so she couldn't help it anymore even with the tension in the air. She rubbed it on her nightgown and bit into it, the sweetness exploding in her mouth and she hummed in pleasure. The crunch from the seeds as she chewed added to her pleasure and she went for another one. "You are so strange..." Cyrus said, but seeing her eat the figs so happily made him want to try one and he approached the tree, reaching over her head and grabbing a couple figs. They had gone quiet and all that could be heard was chewing, she got a fig that was huge, it had a perfect shape and it looked like it would be delicious. Cyrus tried to be quick and take it out of her hand but she had fast reflexes, she smacked his hand hard and he looked at her offended, he could see it written on her face that even if she was letting him eat with her she wasn't going to share the good ones she found, they heard a giggle from behind them. She spun around with her eyes wide and saw Richard, the young knight watching them amused. He laughed more when he saw how full her cheeks were of figs. She slowly lifted her hand out to offer her perfect fig in exchange for his silence. He took the offer and joined them, they peacefully ate and she kept sharing with Richard while Cyrus watched still offended. "What the hell..." a voice rung out from behind them. It was Vincent, Lilith almost chocked and she quickly started grabbing figs and stuffing them in the big pockets of her nightgown, making a run for it and Richard shrugged as Vincent stared for an explanation. Cyrus ate one last fig and walked away, leaving Vincent standing there still shocked at watching those three stuffing figs in their mouths like it was a competition. He was mostly shocked at Lilith doing that, he had never seen any lady ever eat that much that fast. Richard stood awkwardly and offered him a fig, Vincent scoffed and left. She ran into her room, and started putting all her figs in a basket still embarrassed of being caught stuffing her face so fast, looking down she noticed one of her drawers was tampered with. She had put a little but of powder to make sure if someone opened it she would notice. "Who was in here?" She thought as she pulled it open, her diary was slightly out of place and she wasn't happy about that. "Well...at least its not my real journal..." she thought wondering what would happen if somebody found out she was planning to run away. The next morning Natalie rushed her out if bed and got her ready, Lilith felt like she was being woken up by her sergeant. "My lady the duke is calling you to his office, please hurry." She said as she finished putting her hair in a dutch braid and, and dressed her in a dress of white and gold colors. They rushed to his office, Lilith was so confused at why she would be called to his office at 6am. She walked in and bowed, both Vincent and Cyrus were there and the duke had a menacing smile on his face. "The maid opened her mouth, she said it was you who told her to destroy the painting." He said. She started laughing at how childish the accusation was. Vincent looked horrified with her reaction and he looked at Cyrus speechless, Cyrus just shrugged at him and focused on Lilith. She finished laughing and wiped away some tears. "That is ridiculous, I don't even know her name." Lilith said as she rested her back on the couch. The duke gritted his teeth. " she says you paid her off to keep her silenced. Besides you knew so much about even the paint used, you said it was hard to wash off meaning you've tried to." He said. When she heard that, she didn't even know what to think. "I have a lot of experience with oil paints, its actually one of my hobbies, as I have said before I love art, you have a lovely family which you clearly care about deeply and I would never try to mess with that." She said a bit defeated. The duke stood up as he examined her. "Well thats one thing, another is the fact that some of our documents for the weaponry are gone. What do you have to say about that?" He said in an angry tone. The air around them got tense, she sneered at him. "Well if you're trying to blame me for that you need some hard evidence, I am with either Sebastian or Natalie at all times, I am never by myself, even when I walk through the garden I know someone is trailing behind me." She said as she crossed her arms. He got Angrier, he unsheathed the sword on his hip and place the point towards her carotid, just an inch away, even if she sneezed it would pierce her and she would bleed to death, but her eyes stayed focused on his, instead of shying away she moved forward until the point of the sword poked her and a drop of blood trailed down her chest staining the light colored dress she was wearing. "I am not afraid of you. I know I am innocent, my only wish is to live a peaceful life, and I swear on my life I will never do anything to harm anyone in your family, or in this home." Her eyes were determined and not a bit of fear could be detected. Vincent looked at her with a desperate look, as if trying to tell her to just go along with his father and she wouldn't die, but she knew she would still have gotten punished. A gasp caught all of their attention, Thalia and the duchess had walked in to greet them like they always do in the morning and they were shocked to see the duke threatening Lilith with a sword. The duchess ran to sit next to Lilith and glared at her husband, "How could you treat a lady so roughly." She said holding Liliths hand as she wiped her neck and chest with a handkerchief. "Please, I need to speak with her, we need to solve the issue of who destroyed the portrait, and some fake documents we gave only her went missing." He said frustrated. Thalia was still shocked. "She stole documents?" She said in a small voice as she covered her mouth. "That can't be true..she's been so nice..." The men felt upset that Thalia was sad, and Cyrus went to comfort her. "Then call Sebastian here, he works with her he will know if she did anything suspicious." The duchess said disappointed in her boys. They called for Sebastian and he came quickly, when they told him the situation he looked confused. "Lady Lilith wouldn't do that, from what I have witnessed she has never done anything suspicious in the office, she has been a diligent worker and is always the first one out the door since she gets bored of sitting for too long." He said. The duke trusted Sebastian since he wasn't one to get conflicted by feelings. He finally sheathed his sword and rubbed his face in frustration. "Fine, for now we'll sweep this under the rug, but we'll be keeping watch of you, I will not rest until I have my answers." The duke said angrily. Lilith stood and bowed before leaving, when she left Vincent went after her as Cyrus stayed to comfort Thalia who was still a bit shocked by what she saw and heard. "This is unacceptable, they don't even know Lilith and they hate her so much...why even accept the marriage if they were going to hate her and doubt her this bad..." she thought when she felt a hand grip her shoulder. She quickly slapped it away since she was still on edge, Vincent rubbed his hand and she let out a shaky breath. "Why didn't you just go along with him if you did it...he would have just punished you, he's a warlord Lilith, he wouldn't hesitate cutting your head off." He said frustrated. She scoffed. "I don't care about that. I would rather die than humiliate myself over something I didn't do!" He couldn't understand that, normally people would quickly beg for their lives as soon as the saw a sword pointing at their neck, especially once it sheds blood. He looked at the cut on her neck, " I don't understand, from what I have heard you were a woman who seduced many men, even married ones and you trying to protect your honor now?" He said confused. "I never wanted to, I was under my fathers thumb, he made me do it and I decided that once I was out of that house I would live freely and never let anyone cage me, my father would have never let me sleep with any men I 'seduced' since that would ruin my allure, as he put it." Her tone was angry, and she clenched her fists in frustration. Vincent looked at her with ridicule. "We can't trust you, you father has always schemed against us thinking we didn't know." He said. "I know! You all make it clear how much i'm hated here! But i don't care. I just want to be left alone, please." She said and ran away. "Why aren't you kinder to her.." a soft voice came from behind him. "Oh..mother..you heard all that.." he said a bit embarrassed. "She is trying so hard to fit in, she's kind to everyone she meets, and tries to stay out of the way, she even doesn't come eat breakfast with us because she knows her presence makes you boys uncomfortable." She said upset. "She told you all that?" He asked. "No, I saw it, she looked so sad when she felt rejected, she must be so lonely..." the duchess said as she stared at the bloody handkerchief and her eyes got watery. "She felt ignored, mistreated...and now threatened..." she sniffed, "this must be so hard for her, please son...try to be nice to her...don't make her feel so sad." She said as she walked away. He sighed in frustration. "I'll try..." he whispered as he looked at the floor.