Markus walked towards the royal family with a proud smile on his face.
"My boy" Queen mother Emilia said as she smiled at him.
Genevieve smiled and said, " congrats to you my son, I'm glad you have shown the difference between a true son and an illegitimate one"
Markus who was clueless as to what Genevieve meant smiled at his mother and went to Viktor.
"Brother!" He called with excitement, " Did you see it, it was so cool"
Viktor offered him a smile, "I saw Markus, you were really cool"
Markus smiled, happy that his elder brother approved and thought he was cool.
Genevieve sighed in irritation on seeing Markus talking to Viktor, "Markus! Come here now" she said.
Markus looked at Viktor who nodded before he walked back to his mother.
"You shouldn't speak with that cursed prince, do you want to be cursed too?" She asked.
"But he is my brother" Markus muttered with his eyes on the ground.
Genevieve sighed in disgust and said, "he is the son of a slave and not your brother!"
"You shouldn't say such things to him" queen mother Emilia said
"I'll only be speaking the truth" Genevieve muttered and walked out of there.
"Whatever" Vivian sighed and followed the first wife out.
"Viktor" queen Emilia called with concern, "your silence bothers me a lot"
Viktor turned to face her, " you shouldn't worry about me grandmother. I'm fine"
"Still..."Queen mother Emilia muttered looking at her first grandson. He used to be a very cheerful and noisy child but he changed completely after his mother's death.
Viktor smiled at her, " c'mon grandmother, you should rest now"
Queen mother Emilia rolled her eyes and said, "Don't you dare treat me like an old lady"
Viktor chuckled as his lips pulled to a side, "of course not, grandmother is the youngest and fairest of them all"
Queen mother Emilia laughed and said, "you're mocking me now"
Viktor nodded, "let's go now" he said as they walked away"
Heidi sat in the solace garden, a place where slaves normally stayed to relax once in a blue moon. she was playing with a doll. It was a very special doll as her mum has made it for her before she died.
"What's that?" A voice asked and Heidi turned to see a little girl of around her age standing there.
"A doll" Heidi replied as she observed the expensive clothes the other girl was wearing.
Heidi wondered where the girl came from as she had never seen her in the slave quarters, "who are you?" Heidi asked.
"I want it, hand it here" the other girl said stretching her hands for Heidi to drop the doll totally ignoring Heidi's question.
"No, it belongs to me" Heidi said putting the doll behind her.
"Mother says slaves should listen to our every instruction, how dare you disobey me" the other girl who happened to be lady Genevieve's daughter, Amara crane said.
"Mrs. Doris says mama made it out of love and that I can't lose it. It's a wishing doll to listen to my problems" Heidi countered.
Amara got more annoyed that Heidi would not give her the doll. She moved closer to Heidi and tried to take the doll hut Heidi hid it behind her.
The two girls began to drag the doll with Amara dragging it by the leg.
"Stop, it's mine" Heidi shouted as she tried to drag the doll from Amara.
"I want it so it's now mine" Amara said as she dragged it even harder.
Suddenly, a loud tear was heard as Amara landed on the ground with one of the legs of the doll in her hands.
Heidi's eyes watered as she looked at the torn doll.
"What's going on here, Amara where have you been?" Lady Genevieve asked as she got there with some of her maids.
Amara began to cry on seeing her mother, "she pushed me" she said pointing at Heidi.
Heidi quickly shook her head, "she tried to steal my doll"
SLAP !!
The maids eyes widened as Genevieve gave Heidi a slap on her cheeks.
"How dare you call my daughter a thief, do you not know your status?"
Heidi bit her lips as the tears came down her cheeks" but she tried to take it"
"Get Gideon here immediately, this slave needs to be disciplined " Genevieve ordered and a maid quickly left
Soon enough, Gideon showed up. "My lady" he bowed.
"Take this slave to the confinement room and make sure she dosen't eat anything for the rest of the day" Genevieve said.
"yes my lady" Gideon bowed as he took Heidi along with him.
Genevieve sighed as she took Amara and walked out of there.
"But I didn't do anything" Heidi cried as Gideon dragged her to the confinement room.
"Keep quiet" Gideon scolded in anger as he didn't understand why Heidi was so stubborn.
The older maids looked at Heidi with pity in their eyes as they wondered what she had done. The confinement room was a place all the slaves dreaded. They shook their heads as Heidi was too small to go the confinement room but in a world like this, injustice thrived.
"She tried to take my doll" Heidi sniffed as Gideon pushed her into the confinement room.
"Sir Gideon!" Heidi called as he closed the door and locked it outside.
Heidi turned when she saw that no one was coming to release her.
The confinement room was very dark and Heidi could barely see anything. There was a very small window and it barely permitted light into the room. Heidi used her hand to cover her nose as the place smelt very awful.
Heidi looked at the doll in her hand which has lost a leg and her eyes watered.
"Mama" Heidi whispered in tears, "I don't like it here, please take me with you"
Heidi placed her head on her knees as she continued to cry. She quickly jerked up when she felt a rat climb her leg.
"Mrs. Doris" Heidi cried as she stood up immediately. She felt her stomach grumble and she quickly regretted rejecting the beans the slaves had eaten the night before.
Soon enough, she got tired of standing and sat down to rest and soon slept off.