From the moment he avoided the question, Leonor knew precisely what the maid had been nervous about.
As a girl, Leonor's father first sheltered her because she was his heiress and needed to be perfect when she took the reins of the county from him. She needed to teeter on the edge of being well-educated and innocent. She had to be pristine as a woman yet money-minded enough to continue with her father's business endeavors and ensure that the von Burien name remained strong.
After her mother died, she became sheltered because her father strangely began preferring his youngest daughter over Leonor. He began mistreating his eldest because of his favoritism and, rather than the sheltered girl she used to be, he hid her because he didn't want others to know the extent of her neglect.
