Reincarnated as an Ugly Step Sister

Chapter 4

The next morning I woke up confused, just as I did yesterday. Sun poured through the windows and the room I was in still looked unfamiliar. I glanced around, panicked, before all of yesterday's events came pouring back to me. I groaned and pulled the covers back over my head.

It hit me that in some ways, this life was better than my last one. In this new world I was rich, lived in a beautiful climate, and had a cute guy friend. There were, of course, problems as well. My health and diet were bad, I knew very little about the world I was in, and my new family was a complete disaster. Not to mention I didn't know what could happen if someone found out about my situation. What if they thought I was a witch?

The morning played out similarly to yesterday and after we finished our meal Poppy asked to be read to again.

"No, I have business in town today. I must be leaving soon and I won't be home until dinner," Mother told us before leaving the table. What could she possibly be doing in town? She has no job as far as I know, and Cinderella usually does the grocery shopping.

Cinderella had to do her chores so I wandered into the garden to write in my notebook. I jotted down as many questions as I could think of, leaving spaces for the answers under each one.

A shrill scream sounded from inside. Dropping everything I ran into the house to find Poppy jumping about and Cinderella looking concerned and confused. Poppy was holding a slip of paper and hugging it to her chest.

"What's going on?" I questioned.

"A letter! From the Prince!" Poppy screamed again. "He's inviting us to a ball so he can find a wife!" She handed the letter to me.

"Oh!" Cinderella clasped her hands together. She looked dreamily at the letter.

The letter was handwritten in the most beautiful script I had ever seen. I read it aloud.

Dear Grovenwart Household,

The time has come for our honorable Prince Nicholas to find a Queen and ascend the throne. All the eligible bachelorettes are invited to a ball on the 20th of September. Please dress in formal attire and arrive in a timely fashion. We look forward to your presence in the castle.

Sincerely,

The Royal Staff

My heart pounded at the news. I did not see this coming, who would've thought that... that...

"Our last name is Grovenwart!?" My voice let out an awful crack making me wince.

Poppy and Cinderella stared at me, both very confused. "I mean... our last name is Grovenwart and it's on this letter! That's so awesome a letter from the castle has our last name on it." Cinderella squinted at me and I averted my eyes. Hastily, I tried to move on by drawing attention to the second shocking piece of information the letter contained.

Based on the weather recently and the length of the days I'd predict we were somewhere in the late spring or early summer, months away from September.

Apparently Cinderella noticed this too and her curiosity got the best of her, "But isn't it still Spring?"

I smiled and nodded as I realized Cinderella had saved me many times from asking questions the real Violet would already know the answer to.

"Yeah, I guess they wanted to send out invitations early just to be sure. After all, the King is getting desperate for a grandchild." Poppy blushed, making me question what kind of thoughts she was having all while not wanting to know the answer.

"How old is the prince anyway?" I scratched my head. I imagined he would be around sixteen like Cinderella, but if his father is asking for children then he must be older.

"Oh he's seventeen like us." Poppy answered casually.

Or maybe he's not older than us. This is a fantasy world... I tried to mentally reassure myself that it was normal but failed.

"How did you know that?" Cinderella innocently asked.

"I'm his bride to be of course!" Poppy boasted. "If anyone's going to win his heart at the parties, it's going to be me!" She pridefully pointed to herself and Cinderella stared in awe as if she actually believed that. "After all, I know everything about him!"

I tried not to think about how creepy this all was.

"Though, Cinderella," Poppy started as she swung around to face the bunny-like girl. "You better make sure I look my best at the ball. I want my hair done as neatly as possible and my corset pulled as tightly as you can!" Poppy's bad side started to show and she looked at me."Well?"

"Huh?" I stepped back at her sudden scrutinizing stare.

"Aren't you going to tell Cinderella what you want done for the ball?" She questioned, stepping closer. "You know, face mask? Fancy hairdo?"

"Ah, yeah," I sought for an excuse. "I was just so surprised... that the prince invited us to a ball!"

"Well of course he would!" Poppy dramatically gasped. "I am an eligible bachelorette after all!"

"Right..." I hesitated before saying, "Later I'll make a list of everything I need from Cinderella. There's just so much to be done, you know?" I looked at Cinderella apologetically. She smiled sadly at me, indicating she was used to poor treatment.

"No matter how much you have Cinderella do to you, it won't matter because the prince will fall in love the moment he sees me," Poppy bragged. I rolled my eyes at her. I knew exactly who the prince would fall in love with and it wasn't my ugly, vain sister.

Poppy snatched the letter out of my hand and went into our bedroom, no doubt going to play with her paper dolls. Cinderella muttered something about how she needed to work on Poppy's dresses for the dances.

Left alone with nothing to do, again, I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. Much like yesterday it was warm outside. I didn't care where I was going, as long as it was far from the sad, old mansion. I walked for what must have been an hour, just enjoying the way the sunlight peeked through the leaves of the oak trees that shaded the dirt path. Eventually I began to feel hot and tired. My dress was heavy and thick, causing me to heat up and tire quickly.

I found myself at the edge of a babbling brook. The clear water sparkled and I dipped my hands in to find it was ice cold. I ripped some fabric off from one of the hidden layers of my skirt, soaking the cloth in the river and putting around my neck, all while instantly cooling my feet in the river. Closing my eyes I laid back on the grass, not caring how dirty my dress got. I despised the horrendously uncomfortable thing anyway.

I'm not sure how long I sat there but I opened my eyes when I heard someone speak. "You look comfortable. May I join you?"