Just let me sleep!

Intro (2)

Intro: The beginning (2)
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It was quite a late evening. The Duke's daughter was sitting in her seat at the dining table. Duke who was reading through some reports. A few dishes were already served but the child just sat there, patiently waiting while trying not to make any noise to disturb her busy father.

[Today for sure..]
She said inside as she gripped onto her dress.

They were all waiting for the duke's son to join today's dinner. She waited for 20 minutes for the Duke himself to show and now, they both waited for at least an hour for the son to come and join.

She was starving, but she just held it in, because soon... soon he will surely come!

After a few more minutes of intense and uncomfortable silence, the dining door loudly opened. Duke's daughter hurriedly moved her head to see what was happening.

Finally, the duke's son came.

"!"

The eyes of the duke's daughter shone with excitement. Her brother, whom she looked up to as her idol just arrived. 

"My apologies Father, I was held back by the butler."
He smiled while he held his right hand on his chest while slightly bowing his head.

"..."
Duke put down the documents he was reading and looked at his son.

"Alright, come and sit."
He said with a small nod at the maid at the corner, signalizing that they shall start serving the main meal now. 

"Yes, Father."
The son was walking to his seat, which was across from his little sister. The moment he noticed her, he clicked his tongue. He unpleasantly sat in his designed seat and averted his eyes away.

Duke's daughter was sparkling with joy. Not even noticing the uncomfortable and unpleasant tension that was currently surrounding the room. Finally! They are having family time! She is happy. Spending time like this with them is so wonderful and priceless, even if they don't speak to her. She cheerfully smiled.

[It was worth the wait!!]
She smiled even brighter. Just like the sunshine comes after a rainy day and the rainbow shows up. 

The meals were served, and after the Duke took his fork his children silently followed along, picking their own. 

Duke's daughter was so happy that she didn't even feel the taste of the food because she was so concerned about eating perfectly and elegantly. But she knew, this meal wasn't to her liking but she just swallowed it down. It doesn't matter how she feels about the food as long as she can eat with her family. 

"Oh right, Father, I have met the baron's firstborn son the other day."
Said the son with a smile on his lips.

"Is that so." Said the Duke, calmly proceeding to continue eating, seemed unbothered. 

"His father was concerned about your well-being, it was quite suspicious since it's well known you two do not get along that well."

The boy sighed, a little way too much,  dramatically.

"Well, good thing I noticed it since he had sent an assassin to poison today's meal."
The boy looked at the girl with an extremely cold gaze. As if he was mocking her.

She flinched and got goosebumps. Her movements stiffened.

"But no need to worry, I took care of it." The boy only snorted and scoffed with amusement at her reaction. 

"Good work." Was a praise from Father to his son who smiled in satisfaction. There was nothing behind those cold eyes of the Duke.

The girl started to tremble unconsciously. This felt uncomfortable. She felt out of place. Not understanding the topic of which they talked about, only understanding the part about the poisoning. 

The boy looked at the maid in a corner signalling they could leave. After they left he put down the tableware and sighed loudly, crossing his legs and arms, leaning more into his seat.

"Ahh~ this is so unpleasant~" He looked at the ceiling with another deep sigh. What people didn't know was his bad personality.

"I'm already losing my appetite being in one room with that. It's so annoying."
Duke's son said moving his gaze to his little sister, sitting just across from him, his stare felt so cold. He didn't even bother to refer to her as a person. 

"..."
The duke only continued eating his meal as if nothing was said at all. He was unbothered. 

"A...ah right! I..I-I'm sorry! Haha, it really must be unpleasant!! Well, I'm already full so... I will take my leave first!"
She said while standing up from her barely touched meal. Her knees shaking slightly. 

"Mhm ~~"
The son smiled brightly as he watched his younger sister walking away from them, closing the dining room door. He could finally eat in peace.

——————
"Seem like another hungry night."
She smiled bitterly. She didn't cry this time, well she had already gotten used to this at this point and tried to cry since this happened daily anyway. Not only meals but everything. It doesn't matter how much she tried or how hard she worked there was no place for her. She was only used as if she was just a tool for bouquet parties to show the family is happily perfect. Or to do the dirty work. Honestly,  even the maid had more pride than her at this point. She laid down in her bed which was far from comfortable but it was better than the basement floor. 

As time passed it was getting worse and worse by the passing day. But her 15th birthday was the worst of them all.

There was a bouquet held for her birthday. Nothing unusual, I mean the Duke cannot lose face in high society, right? Showing a loving and happy family act is a must-do, in such a high society, one cannot show weakness. As the party was going on she grew tired and wanted to rest in a resting room, when suddenly, as she was walking to the resting room, she heard a loud laugh. Swung by a pure curiosity she followed the noise, only to find her dear Father and loving older brother cheerfully patting and hugging a child that looked her age. The little girl was beautiful. Her long cotton candy hair cutely swung in two ponytails that were prettily braided at each side. Her jewel-like emerald eyes shone with happiness. Looking at this little angel felt so refreshing, her pale skin and rosy cheeks with a gorgeously cute yellow dress. She was like a doll.

[W..what..?]
She took a few steps back at the shock. Rubbing her eyes just in case she was seeing wrong.

The smile of her Father and older brother and happy laughs? Showing their affection and love? Patting her head? Hugs? Compliments?

That was all she ever dared to dream of, with every little cell in her small body.

"What is this.. "
Suddenly the tears flowed on her cheeks.

"This... "
She looked at the young girl, her cheerful expression showing how happy she was surrounded by her family's affection and love. The eyes of the Duke who were so gentle and her older brother's genuine smile. It was incomparable with how they treated her and how they treated this girl.

".. was supposed to be me."
She said bitterly. As the tears continued flowing. She wanted to go to them but she hesitated. Of course, she did, remembering how they treated her. Looking at them.. at that moment she realized. No matter what she would do, that wouldn't be her. She will never receive love or affection. After a few more moments of looking at the happy family time in front of her, she slowly left. She went to her room and crunched on the floor right behind her door.

Those things that were told by the maids to her about how much of a mistake she was,  started to get to her. And she knew they were all true. The pain was suffocating, she felt her lungs getting out of breath, and the tears were falling uncontrollably. She gripped her chest which was full of pain, crying silently, holding in all inside. The pain was slowly eating her alive. That night she passed out on the cold floor of her room due to emotional and physical exhaustion.

Even when the next day she woke up with fevers, no one came to check on her. No one cared. No maids, no family, no one.  Days passed but there was still no one to check on her. She had to suffer alone.

Something in her broke that day.