Chapter 0.1 – Prologue
My name is Chelsea.
I"m referred to as the “defective” twin of the Baron of Eucharis"s household.
Before dawn, at an hour when the sky is still pitch-black outside, I get up from a rough and crude bed.
Afterwards, I change into old and worn out clothes, and then start cleaning the whole house.
The truth is, I don"t want to do such a thing at all.
However, because of my mother strictly ordered me to do so, I can only reluctantly obey.
We"re too poor to hire a maid to do the cleaning. That"s why she said we should be the ones doing it instead. However, I"m the only one doing it.
My mother and my sister Margaret always wear clean clothes and do nothing but laughing all day long.
Our house was built in the period where our household"s ancestors were still wealthy. There are several futile empty rooms, so it takes a lot of time to clean the house alone.
By the time I"m done cleaning all the rooms every day, the sun has already risen high in the sky, and the time is nearing noon.
Today, I also managed to somehow finish the cleaning and headed to the kitchen while dragging my feet.
Since I wasn"t allowed to eat breakfast unless I was done cleaning, I was very hungry!
However, there was no meal prepared for me.
The chef doesn"t prepare my meal at the orders of my mother.
Also, if I ate bread or cheese without permission, I would be punished.
The only thing I was allowed to eat were other people"s leftovers.
Unfortunately, today, nothing was left from breakfast.
The trash cans were also properly cleaned up as if there was nothing there to begin with.
Haa… I"m hungry …
I just sighed, but that didn"t help filling my stomach.
I gave up, drank some water, and then left the kitchen.
「Ugh, why are you here! 」
(TN: actual word is yada meaning "I don"t want to" when feeling disgusted.)
While I was walking down the corridor, Margaret spotted me.
Her face showed she was disgusted from the bottom of her heart.
Me and Margaret were twins, but we didn"t look the least bit similar because we were actually born from two different eggs.
My sister Margaret had the same bright red hair and pupils as my mother.
She usually bragged to me about how her eyes resembled rubies.
Her skin was fair and she had long and slender fingers.
On the other hand, me, her older sister Chelsea, had long pink colored hair that actually looked gray from all the filth sticking to it, and big deep purple colored pupils.
Was skin was dry and rough, and it was covered in bluish and purple bruises from all the beatings I received.
However, the biggest difference between me and Margaret was our height.
There was practically a whole head of height difference between us.
When we stand side by side, I can"t see my sister anymore.
「Ara? I really wonder what you"re doing in this kind of place. Oh right, weed out the garden today. You"re forbidden from eating until you"re done. Alright, cute Margaret should go study manners in the sunroom, right? 」
When she heard Margaret"s voice, my mother instantly came over.
She didn"t even look at my face before only taking Margaret with her and leaving me behind.
Looking at the back of the two leaving people is so painful.
Why am I the only one doing the cleaning?
Why am I the only one whose meals aren"t prepared?
Why am I the only one being punished?
No matter how much I"m troubled, n.o.body would give me an answer. I can only complain as the pain pierces my body over and over again.
I bite my lips to suppress my tears and head to the garden.
Because it was spring, weeds were growing in many types and much more than other seasons.
And I just had to weed the garden at such a time …
If I keep sighing and complaining here, I will only feel hungrier, so I just give up and move to the corner of the garden to begin weeding.
My hands turned green because of the weed juice. While I was plucking, I saw someone coming in front of the entrance of the estate.
It was an old grandpa wearing a gray coat together with a woman and … four people dressed like knights.
I was a little worried, so I hid behind the tall gra.s.s and peeked at the visitors through the gaps between the weeds.
As soon as the woman rang the bell at the entrance, my mother appeared at the door.
「Welcome, may I ask who you are? 」
「We are from the Skill research inst.i.tute in the imperial capital. We came because of the request you made. 」
「We"ve been waiting for you! Please come in and make yourself comfortable. 」
「Excuse us for the intrusion. 」
Mother put on her best formal smile and guided the visitors into the house.
However, even from a distance, you could see it only looked humorous and far from good-looking.
I wonder what request they"re talking about?
Usually, I don"t skip on my ch.o.r.es because I"m scared of the punishment, I"m either being deprived of meals or being whipped. But I"m very curious today so I decided to secretly eavesdrop on their conversation.
When I stood in front of the reception room"s window, the guests had just seated themselves on the sofa.
「Thank you very much for coming from the capital city. I am Baron Eucharis"s wife, Medicina. This is my daughter Margaret who just turned 12 years old the other day. 」
「Nice to meet you, I am the daughter of Baron Eucharis, Margaret. 」
My mother behaved as if she only had one daughter, and Margaret also naturally acted as if she was the only daughter.
If I wasn"t blood related to my mother, I would understand her behavior and wouldn"t feel so hurt. But since she"s my real mother, I don"t know what to do.
「Congratulations on turning 12 years old. I"m the a.s.sistant Adeline, and this is the appraiser Isshel-sama. First of all, I"m sure the madame already knows, but I will still offer an explanation for the young lady. 」