"If you're going to act like that, you'd better forget about leaving this house," she said coldly. "You'll have another chance tomorrow. If you don't improve... we'll throw you out on the street."
Anna looked at her, tears streaming down her cheeks, feeling lonelier than ever.
'Leo… Edrick…,' she thought sadly, remembering the only friends she had ever had.
What she wouldn't give to be with them now, far away from this place where no one understood her, where every step she took seemed to be a mistake.
But no matter how much she tried to console herself with those memories, the emptiness inside her only grew.
Mrs. Blackwood took a step towards the door before turning and giving the maids one last order:
"Take her to the room where you sleep. She doesn't deserve a place here until she shows some skill."
The woman's voice was cold, disdainful, and her words fell on Anna like another weight added to her shoulders.
Without a word, the maids led her through the hallways to a smaller room, but still considerably more comfortable than the orphanage.
The beds were perfectly aligned, with soft mattresses and clean sheets.
At first glance, the place was a luxury compared to where she had slept all her life, but for the maids, and for anyone in that mansion, this was a punishment, a humiliation, as Anna should have been sleeping in one of the luxurious rooms, as befitting an adopted daughter of the Blackwoods.
As they entered, she heard the murmurs of the other maids who had gathered nearby.
Some watched her with curiosity, while others looked at her with a mix of pity and compassion.
"Who is that girl?" whispered one of the women.
"Poor thing, she doesn't even have proper clothes," added another.
Anna lowered her gaze, feeling the discomfort of the dress still scratching her skin.
But unlike them, she didn't care so much about where she slept. What bothered her most was the feeling of being watched and judged at every moment.
The stares and comments didn't stop, but her exhaustion overwhelmed her.
She hadn't eaten anything since she arrived, and hunger gnawed at her stomach, but fatigue was stronger.
Anna lay down on one of the beds, closing her eyes, trying to block out the voices and confusion.
Soon, sleep overcame her, although the discomfort remained, both in her mind and body.
The next morning, the dawn woke her.
The first rays of light slipped through the windows, but what pulled her out of her lethargy was the sound of the door opening abruptly.
Damian, her older brother, stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, his face twisted in an expression of irritation.
"Do you realize what you did yesterday?" he snapped.
Anna, still groggy, looked at him in confusion.
"Losing like that to our mother! Do you have any idea how that makes me look in front of her?"
Anna blinked, trying to process what he was saying.
"I... I didn't know how to play," she tried to defend herself, but her voice came out weak.
"That doesn't matter," Damian interrupted with disdain. "You'll have another game today. Mother is convinced you're a fraud, that you have no special skill with cards, and she wants to see you fail again. So don't embarrass me again, got it?"
Damian's words confused her even more.
She didn't understand why he cared so much about what she did or didn't do.
Did her performance the night before affect him in some way?
Anna nodded, nervous.
"I'll try."
"You better," Damian muttered before turning around and leaving, leaving Anna alone with her thoughts.
Shortly after, the maids began moving around the room.
One of them, a tall, stern woman, took charge of brushing her hair while another brought her a new dress.
Anna sat in silence, still processing what had happened the night before and the strange conversation with Damian.
While the maid brushed her hair, another servant appeared with a breakfast tray.
However, before she reached the table, the woman tripped over a loose wooden plank on the floor.
Anna saw the tray fly through the air, the food falling directly towards her.
In that instant, time stopped.
Anna felt a chill run through her body.
She hadn't felt this the entire time she had been at the mansion.
Her power had returned, as if it had been waiting for the right moment to activate.
Surprised and excited, she knew exactly what she had to do.
She rewound time, just a few seconds, and when everything started moving again, she shouted to the maid:
"Watch out! The wooden plank…" she pointed to the floor.
The maid, still holding the tray, saw the plank and avoided it just in time, thanking her with a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, child. I hadn't noticed."
But the maid brushing her hair didn't seem as impressed.
"Don't make such a fuss over something so small," she scolded. "There was no way she would have tripped for real."
Anna didn't respond. She knew what she had seen and knew what she had done.
For the first time since she arrived at that house, she felt like she had some control, even if it was just for an instant.
When they finished getting her ready, they took her to a completely empty table where, in complete silence, she sat down to eat breakfast.
The food was plentiful and much better than what she had at the orphanage, but the silence in the room was deafening.
There were no conversations, no laughter, none of the noise she was used to.
As she chewed slowly, she couldn't help but miss the chaos of the orphanage.
At breakfast time, the children always ran around, shouted, and fought over the last piece of bread, but that noise was, in a way, comforting.
Here, there was only silence and a sense of isolation that weighed on her.
Anna finished eating in silence, but as she did, she decided she wouldn't let herself be defeated.
'I'll do better today,' she thought, feeling a renewed determination. 'No matter what they think of me, I can do it.'
Anna stood up from the table and mentally prepared herself.
She would have another chance today, and she didn't intend to waste it. That was something she had learned from Edrick.