𝕭𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖙 (𝕬 𝕽𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖙𝖔𝖓 𝕷𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝕱𝖆𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖈)

Part 1

21.

That was the year I had been waiting for since I'm not sure how long. The day I turned 21 was the year I was finally an adult. I was already, but I still felt like I was being tied down by my family. Obviously, I was not expecting a big, old party this year or any year before, because to my family, the day I was born seems like a day that shouldn't have happened.

When my father was still alive, he'd give me cake and a few gifts, while my mother and sisters barely paid any attention to me and just ignore my presence like they always do. After he died, I never felt like celebrating anything that has to do with me, since no one else ever seemed to be happy I was here.

Except for my best friend, Marguerite, who always wrote me a letter and made a beautiful portrait of me, even though I hate my face tainted with a nasty scar on my eye. She was the only one left in my life to make me happy to be alive for she knows what its like to feel left out for being different.

While the rest of her village didn't care for anything cultural, she was the only one who had an affinity for art and a huge love for animals. The other village kids would make fun of her and try to make her feel inferior since most of them didn't have a secure future like my kind of people did. She was like the sister I wish I had, who's always been there for me when my mother couldn't, and we tell each other everything, no matter how personal or hurtful it may be.

The one thing we disagreed on was our feelings about...dogs. She grew up with dogs her whole life and learned to be so kind and friendly with them. But my thoughts on dogs were...different. The day that wild canine attacked me and ruined my face was a day that still haunted me even as I am now older and strong enough to defend myself. I never told my mother what my sisters did to me just because a boy that Rose liked and I didn't care for wanted me to be his girlfriend and I kindly rejected him.

She threatened me after my eye healed that if I ever took something that was rightfully hers from the start,

"I will make you wish you were never born..."

Silly Rose. I had already wished I wasn't born in this family. Or with this disgusting hair and ugly eyes. Or at all. I had every intention of running away from my cruel family the day after that dog almost mauled me, but when I found that boy who was so close to bleeding to death, I knew that I was worth more than living my life as a fugitive, especially after I stopped his bleeding and he seemed more than grateful that I was there to help him.

My own mother wouldn't even let me go to school with my sisters because they didn't want to be seen with me or see me at all at the schoolhouse. So I got homeschooled ever since I was a teenager, and it's nice to not worry about bullies or school supplies, but it got lonely only the first few years.

After that, I made friends with my own teachers who always speak the highest of my skills and say I am more educated than most students who go to a regular school. That was the one time I gained some hope for myself for the future, to hopefully become someone special and leave my family's toxic environment.

When my father passed away, my mother was left to find some way to keep us stable, though she was an heiress to a fortune that her grandfather left her. She decided to take up sewing and it eventually turned into designing beautiful gowns and dresses first for our neighborhood, then she started her own business where almost everyone comes to see her for formal outfits.

She'd make gorgeous outfits for my sisters for every date, dance, cotillion, birthday, and formal gathering. But she left me to wear these frocks and dresses made of rags that were left over from her projects, and that's how many people believe I was a peasant when I'm not. It was clear that my mother was ashamed of me and would rather make me look like a peasant girl than present me like the rest of her daughters and show appreciation for me as my mother.

Most days, I just kept to myself in my room and read books that my homeschool teachers gave me and just escape into those books and wished I lived in there instead of here. There were times I dreamed about romance and wishing someone would find me and take me away from this place, but I knew things like this only existed in fairy tales and that it was up to me to find a way out of this Hell and make a new life where I didn't feel like I was a mistake or I didn't deserve to be here.

For now when I wasn't studying and taking my school lessons, I spent my days working in my mother's designing boutique, helping her make the fabric or clean up after the messes she'd make when she completed her projects. I was practically a slave in a workshop, but I found pleasure in viewing the beautiful dresses she'd make and whenever she went on her break, I'd try a few on that fit me and for one spectacular moment, feel like the most beautiful princess to ever walk this Earth.

The day my life changed was when my mother had a customer walk in her boutique, but it wasn't just any high-profile patron. It was Her Majesty, Queen Stephanie herself. "Ohmygoodness, Queen Stephanie! Its an absolute honor to have you in my shop, Your Highness", my mother exclaimed in surprise and joy. In the corner of my eye, I could see the Queen smile the brightest smile I've ever seen and speak so kindly to my mother, "The honor is all mine, Miss Josephine. I've seen your beautiful design all over the kingdom and would like to ask if you could come stay with me in my castle and be my Royal Attire Designer?"

I could feel my mother's breath vanish at the Queen's proposal, and then with a huge smile on her mouth, she declared, "Why, I'd be more than honored, Your Majesty." I saw Queen Stephanie drop something from her hand and it rolled under a table close to me. I went under to grab it to find it was a gorgeous and priceless emerald ring. I walked up to her and kneeled while also keeping my eyes on the ground before handing it to her.

She took it and lifted my head up with her finger, and I was mesmerized to meet the most gentle and sweetest eyes I've ever seen in my life. I was afraid she'd see my scar which was hidden by hair covered almost half of my face, but she smiled and asked my mother, "Is this your daughter, Miss Josephine?" I wasn't surprised by my mother's response, "Uh, well, no. Dahlia here is my right hand here in the shop, but she works very hard and is honorable in her performance." I rose up from kneeling and the Queen looked at me from head to toe and stated, "I would like her to come with me to the castle too, to assist you with the attire, if that's okay with you."

I was honestly a little scared of my mother's reaction, but she simply said, "Ah, well, if you insist, she will come as well. Maybe I bring my daughters with me? Just so they aren't alone without me?" The Queen nodded and directed her eyes at me again. I was slightly intimidated by such a royal figure because she was so significant, but there was something about her that made me believe her heart w as reflected in her smile and eyes. "I'll have my coach riders come by your home tomorrow to pick you and your family up and arrive to the castle." Then she left and left both me and my mother speechless by what just happened.

That night, my mother explained to my sisters what happened today and they were more than ecstatic to be staying in the Royal castle where the Queen and her handsome Prince sons lived. Rose had plans to try to court Prince Remington, which in my opinion, seemed like a waste of time. I heard his older brother was already engaged to a princess from another kingdom, so they wouldn't notice us even if we were wealthy and well-known.

I knew for a fact he would never notice me. A black sheep who was practically a peasant girl who couldn't compare to the beauty of my sisters who were the spitting image of my mother who was once the most beautiful woman of her hometown. If anything, the Prince will probably ignore me like most people in my life do. If he ever glances my way by some miracle, it'll be the end of my life as I know it if my sister finds out.