035: Chapter 2.5 ~ I'm not scared at night anymore ①

April 6, 2021 - 3 minutes read - 563 words

The morning arrives, so Charlotte jumps up when she hears faint birdcalls.

“Ah…” Charlotte

She gets up from her sleeping spot and looks around. She’s in a small room. There are wooden boxes piled around the space and everything is covered in dust. There’s only one window and it’s located near the ceiling and covered in iron bars. She can only catch a small glimpse of the blue sky through it. The thin blanket she was under was full of holes, and her nightwear is close to rags.

She’s in the main residence of Duke Evans, in a remote storeroom. That was the entirety of the world of Charlotte.

This was the usual morning, in a life where nothing changes.

And yet…

“A possibility…” Charlotte

She feels like she could remember fleeting sections of a strange dream. She fled her current situation and met someone, but she can’t remember much of it. It felt warm, somehow…

She was just left with a mysterious feeling in her chest.

Charlotte puts her hand over her heart as she tries to remember the dream, but her efforts were in vain. She was left with a tingling sense of loss in her chest.

Soon, a bell rings…

“Ah!” Charlotte

Charlotte hurries to get dressed. Everyday for her is a day where she cannot waste a single second. She changes into an outfit that is almost as degraded as her sleepwear, then jumps to attention.

Charlotte’s mother was working as a maid when Charlotte was conceived. At the time, Duke Evans was married, but his wife was chronically ill and spent most of the day in her bed lying down. There was no hope for her to bear an heir.

In that situation, the family head chose to lay his hands on one of the maids. It’s a common story from olden times no matter from all areas of the world. Eventually, the maid falls pregnant and chooses to leave the mansion before the pregnancy can be noticed. She gave birth to Charlotte in a rural town well away from the royal capital of the Neils Kingdom. Charlotte was then raised by her single mother.

While their lifestyle was far from wealthy, it was quiet and calm.

That was Charlotte’s experience until Charlotte was seven years old. At that point, her mother died as part of an epidemic that was sweeping through the kingdom. The next day, a messenger from the Duke’s family came to visit her.

“Good morning” Charlotte

As she enter the main residence through the kitchen entrance, Charlotte bows deeply. In the kitchen, many cooks and maids are working hard. None of them glance at Charlotte or offer a greeting.

Their expressions are dark and they’re putting effort into having unreadable faces.

Even so, Charlotte keeps her head down and quickly moves to a small table in the corner of the kitchen. It appears her breakfast is placed there as usual. Today, she’s been provided with bread, roast beef, and consomme soup. While it may seem extravagant, it was actually just leftovers from the previous day’s dinner. The bread is very hard and the vegetable garnishes are shriveled. The soup is lukewarm at best.

“I must…” Charlotte

The food it tasteless. Charlotte shovels the food into her mouth as she counts the grain of the table’s face so that she won’t forget and look up.