Requiem of the Villainess

Chapter Eight: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Chapter Eight: Two Sides of the Same Coin

On the eve of April the 30th, a daughter was born to the family of Lancaster. She was given the name of Lillian, and was raised in the confines of the royal court. That daughter...it was me. I thought I had received the most fortunate gift in our kingdom- to be lucky enough to have been born into a noble family. At least that was what I had been told, over and over again, especially when I misbehaved or disobeyed. "Be grateful you were born into the Lancaster family, do you know how many other girls your age would kill to take your place? You'd be no different than an urchin on the street if it weren't for us."

Of course, it was merely a method to make me feel guilty, and it showed my family's true intentions. My only worth came from my noble birth. My royal blood was all that mattered to them, because they had to rest their noble titles upon the shoulders of their frail child. While being born into nobility would have been any girl's dream, being surrounded by opulence and splendor, there was a twisted, corrupt underbelly lurking beneath that glossy sheen. In truth, the Lancaster family had been falling into ruin for the past handful of decades due to a series of shady business dealings and other not-so-kosher activities that severely lowered their status in the eyes of the royal court.

We were respected because we were nobles, but it was all false praise, a thin mask hiding the contempt that laid beneath. My mother and father were one of the few left to produce a child to carry on the family name, but they struggled for years to bear one. Rumors whispered that my mother might have been barren, and so was incapable of producing an heir for the Lancasters. So when my mother finally did become pregnant, the rumors swirled yet again, spreading like a sickness.

While all the nobles I grew up around greeted me with smiles, I couldn't help but notice that they observed me rather closely, inspecting the shape of my face, analyzing the shine of my sapphire eyes and the flow of my long blonde hair as the court ladies brushed through it, pretending to dote on me. As I grew older, I eventually came to understand the reason why. They were trying to see if I was an illegitimate child. All my life, I was surrounded by fake smiles and false happiness. I was silently judged under a vague layer of admiration. But as a young child, I knew no better. I believed I was a princess, being admired and doted on by so many, getting to eat sweets whenever I wanted, receiving everything I ever asked for- dresses, jewels, horses, even my own summer estate.

It seemed like a happy dream...but that dream slowly began to fade the older I became. I was no longer going to be waited on hand and foot. Things were expected of me now, and I had to work twice as hard to prove myself, to prove to the leering leeches at court that I was indeed my father's child. My parents soon made it clear that my only purpose to them was to become the best, to be nothing but the best, to transform myself into the regal maiden capable of lifting the Lancaster family out of the trench it had dug itself into. I was expected to clean up the mess my family had made, all by myself.

To that end, I was trained in everything to become the best I could be. Day after day, endless lessons of every kind, from literature, history, music, and the arts. I was forced to compete in the royal social circles, learning all the proper etiquette and traits that a noble lady should possess. I was even taught in subjects that were typically reserved for men, such as horseback riding, archery, and swordsmanship. I needed to be able to defend myself, after all. I would not be a damsel in distress- I would become a proper noble woman capable of taking care of myself.

At the time, marriage was something I hadn't even considered. Not that I would have had a choice in the matter anyway. Even as a noble, a woman was not even permitted to make her own decisions regarding who she wished to marry. Marriage was a tool for the nobility to preserve their bloodlines and power, which was why my parents were all too quick to announce my arranged engagement to Prince Luther Eckhart, the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Walpurgis.