𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 (𝐋.𝐒)

Black or White

TW: Racism.

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"Louis, come here and open the gifts with us." His father ordered as he slowly walked towards his family, who were sitting around the Christmas tree.

He sat down on the floor, still in his pyjamas, and began to open one of the gifts his sister handed to him.

He gazed up at her questionably, raising his brows. "Jam? You got me Jam?"

"Yes. You love Jam, don't you? You've been eating toast with it these past few months. You never used to, so I just assumed you did." She explained with a shrug.

Louis was unaware that he had been eating Jam continuously, as he doesn't normally use it that often on his toast.

"Yeah...thanks, I guess." He chuckled awkwardly, and moved on to the next gift.

When everyone got to the last few presents, his grandfather raised a box, his face perplexed.

"Whose gift is this?"

Louis gulped nervously before answering. "Uh—it's—the staffs gifts. I got them something for all the hard work they have done for us—"

"Quiet, son. You're to get rid of this immediately." His grandfather ordered,

making him look at him in shock.

"But— grandfather, it's Christmas! They deserve gifts too!"

"Those black nothings don't deserve anything! They work for us! Nothing more. Now get rid of that gift or face the consequences, do you understand?" Louis wanted to say something to defend them, but knew he had to face the defeat.

"Alright." He obliged, frowning deeply, and stood up.

His siblings faces showed repentance for not being able to speak up for their brother and the servants. Ezra always tried to see the good in them, whilst their parents and grandfather were prejudiced.

Bella, on the other hand, only tried to follow protocol. Louis didn't know whether she was prejudiced as well, but he knew deep down that she also felt trapped, having got married at 16 with no say.

Louis was always accepting of them, seeing them as just normal humans and not what others considered them as. He didn't understand the hatred, nor did he know the reason for it; but he knew that wasn't what he wanted to be, nor what he wanted—if he has any—his kids to be either.

Without being seen, Louis slowly, but carefully, walked up the stairs to his room and hid the gifts under his bed.

Later that night, when everyone was sleeping, he snuck out of his room and went to every single one of the staffs rooms and slid their gifts underneath them.

Since he couldn't get all of them proper presents, he wrote letters thanking them for all that they have done.

He spent 2 weeks writing them all, as there were over 1,000 staff in the palace. By the time he got to the last letter, it was already past two hours or three, and Louis was exhausted, but he knew that it was worth it.

I was debating whether or not to do a chapter like this, but then I also realized that it wouldn't be realistic for the timeline either way if I didn't.

So l apologize for anything offensive that's said in this chapter❤️