Reincarnated as an Ugly Step Sister

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next four weeks flew by. It was mostly the same. I took long walks every day then worked with Cinderella on my dresses. In return I helped her make dinner. Mother would mysteriously leave once a week. It was easy to learn a lot about this new place from Poppy and Cinderella and I wrote down most of what they said in my journals.

The sun blinded me as it did every morning as I stretched, stifling a yawn. I slipped my feet into the slippers down by my bed and wrapped a robe around myself.

"Huh?" I looked down at the large robe. "Did my robe get bigger?" I twirled in front of the mirror trying to get a better view. "Wait no, I think I'm thinner." I gasped. After walking to the marketplace and changing my diet to what I used to eat, I had started to shrink in comparison to my clothes. "Guess it's time to alter them." I sighed, knowing what a grueling task hand sewing was.

The stairs were cold as I had not worn my slippers which had become a little too large for me. I instantly regretted that decision once I reached the marble flooring of the main hall. A long carpet seemed to be missing from the hallway, in fact many things seemed to be missing from this house. Baron hallways seemed to once hold painting and decor but had been ransacked for anything that could be sold. I had a sneaking suspicion this had to do with mothers plan to get Poppy or me, on the throne. I finally stopped and knocked on Cinderella's door.

"One minute!" Cinderella cried as a frantic scrambling could be heard from the other side of the door. Finally the door swung open to reveal a distressed Cinderella. "Oh! It's just you." She sighed in relief. "I thought it was mother."

I peeked inside her room to see the robes and pajamas I brought her sloppily stuffed under her pillow.

She laughed sheepishly. "If it really was Stepmother she would have taken away the things you brought me." She smiled her angelic smile and I followed her into her room. "So what brings you here so early in the morning? It's not even time for breakfast."

"Ah, well I figured you would be up so I wanted to ask if you could help me fix my clothes. They're a little too big now and could use some alterations again. If anything I could just borrow a needle and some thread and work on it myself."

Cinderella opened up a wooden cupboard on the wall. "What color threads do you need?"

I noted the vast array of colorful threads that Cinderella had carefully salvaged from broken garments and curated into the collection she had just revealed.

"Oh!" Cinderella blushed in embarrassment. "Sewing is kind of a hobby of mine. I've always wanted to see the most beautiful dresses and maybe one day wear a beautiful dress!"

"I smiled calmly. "I'm sure that day will come very soon." I thought back to the story. In a few months Cinderella would be dancing the night away with her Prince Charming and I... well I would hopefully not be dead.

My eyes flickered back to Cinderella who was awaiting an answer. "Ah, um... that yellow one will do perfectly!" I pointed at the pale yellow colored thread spun neatly on its bobbin.

Satisfied with my choice, Cinderella dug into her pockets and pulled out a tin of needles which she handed to me. "I can handle breakfast on my own today. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Likewise." I patted her head and left her small bedroom. Although I had gifted her new clothes and blankets, it was hard for her to use them in case she ever got caught by my mother. She could, however, use my old clothes to fuel her sewing and material collecting hobby.

"What are you doing?" Mother's sharp tone rang out and I whipped around to find her cold stare.

"Nothing!" I squeaked. "Egh! I mean, nothing!" I cleared my throat and tried again. Her presence had startled me and her cold stare did not help to soothe my nerves. I shoved the thread and box of needles in my pocket. The light clinking of the metal needles sounded loud in the quiet hallway.

Mothers piercing stare felt harsher as her eyes burned a hole in my robe pocket. I tried to calm my nerves and thought back to acting summer camps when I was a kid. Breathe in and out.

I huffed like a child. "Sorry, Mother." I placed the box of needles in the palm of her hand and crossed my arms while a pout formed on my lips. "I was going to play a prank on Poppy."

Mothers eyes relaxed as she smiled cruelly. "Now now Violet. Needles are not a toy. I'll be holding on to this for now." There was still a trace of suspicion left on her face.

"Okay..." I huffed and stomped the ground. As far as she was concerned, this was normal behavior for me. After all, she had barely glanced at me since I woke up in this body.

Another day trapped in a fairytale and I finally wore one of the dresses I had revamped. "Hey Chase, what do you think?" I twirled, showing off my new outfit.

"..." He paused, looking away. "Uh, you look really great." He scratched the back of his head, looking anywhere but at me. "Well anyways, what do you want to get today?" He finally looked me in the eyes."

I tried to ignore his suspicious behavior. "Cinderella's birthday is this Tuesday. Mother doesn't let her celebrate it so I want to at least get her something," I told him.

"What do you want to get her?" His hands slid into the pockets of his beige trousers. He seemed to wear the same thing everyday, a dark blue hood, beige pants, and a white tunic. It was annoying how well he pulled it off.

I shrugged. "Maybe something magical that can help her with her chores."

We wandered the magic market for a while. I had begun to love the market. As it turned out, I was great at negotiating. Always getting the best deals, especially on magic items. Chase knew a lot about magic but didn't like to show it.

After a half hour of wandering through the magic market we found a stand selling small, flimsy brooms labeled Magic Brooms. "What do these do?" I asked the man on the other side of the stand.

"Brooms that clean the floors for ya. It's six silver pieces a broom," he told me, without looking up from the counter, where he was counting his coins.

This was the perfect gift for Cinderella, but there was no way I was going to spend six silver coins on it. "I'll give you three silver coins," I told him.

"No way." He finally looked up. "I'm not giving you a fifty percent discount. Move aside girly."

"No one's going to buy this from you. It may be magic but the craftsmanship is awful. It's not worth six silver pieces, it's not even worth three. You'd be lucky to sell it for one silver piece. I'm doing you a favor." Though I acted confident, I wasn't sure that anything I had just said was true. I held my breath as he responded.

"Fine." Groaning and rolling his eyes, he handed the smallest and flimsiest broom to me.

I smiled sweetly at him. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Once we had walked out of his earshot Chase turned to me. "That was incredible Violet! How did you know that?"

"I honestly didn't. I just acted confident and didn't back down and he folded," I shrugged nonchalantly. "That's the trick to bargaining."

Chase chuckled. "You're doing all my shopping from now on."