Chapter 3 - Second Chance

He’s the only one in this world who treats me kindly, she had thought.

Then wouldn’t he worry about me when I’m sick? And with Naverius’ visit this time, the Fanora of the past decided to get engaged to him due to a few words of concern he said. 

I can escape this hellish house if I become a member of his family after we get married. She believed when she decided to accept his persistent courtship. 

However, Naverius, who had been kind, started to cheat on her shortly after the engagement. At first, Fanora thought the reason for all of this was in her, because she was full of flaws. 

Naverius. It was the engagement that started because you begged for it so much. But how could you do this to me? I even treated you with courtesy all the time!

She silently tolerated her fiancé’s behavior, thinking it would be okay because he always came back to her in the end. However, soon her fiancé didn’t feel it was enough just cheating and was eager to break off their engagement. 

So Fanora, who had to maintain her betrothal for personal reasons, ended up receiving all kinds of humiliations. 

Courtesy? Your appearance itself isn’t polite. You can’t even thank me for treating a thing like you as a human all this time. Naverius became more and more blunt with his words, hoping to break off the engagement. When it didn’t work, he behaved roughly and yelled more often. 

But Fanora didn’t give in, so in the end…

“He got the excuse to break off the engagement by framing me.”

* * *

It was 10:30 a.m. Fanora Celsius only had her first meal two and a half hours after she woke up. Usually, there was nice-looking soup, a little bit of meat, and soft bread on her table. 

“I heard you ran around the hallway with a bleeding arm today. The kid cleaning the hallway was really depressed because of that.”

“…” she remained silent.

“You would know how your actions can harm others if you think just a little bit, so why did you do that?”

But this perfect-looking meal was burdensome for Fanora. The reason was simple. The neat, beautiful soup was mixed with a fistful of salt and it felt as if her tongue was being pulled out because it was so salty. On top of that, the meat tasted sour even though it wasn’t rotten. 

Fortunately, there was no problem with the well-baked bread, but that was what made it tough. 

Two meals a day. It meant only bread, which always tasted the same, was given to her in an edible form in approximately 730 meals she had in a year. Even if its the soft white bread that commoners couldn’t see easily, anyone would find it hard to eat only that every meal.

“Do you have no appetite again today? Do you want me to clean it up?”

Who would believe that the child of a noble family, not even a commoner, was bullied? But most actions had cause and effect. There was also a cause for how Fanora’s Lady’s maid could do such a daring thing. 

“Maybe because you’re an aristocrat, you’re a picky eater. People like us can’t eat things like this because we don’t have them.”

It was already public knowledge that Fanora Celsius was shunned by her family. It was to the point where Madam, who had the real power in the mansion, would like it if the esteemed daughter in the back room she considered a pain in the neck was hurt even slightly–saying it dashed her spirits. 

“Why are you looking at me like that? Gasp! Are you going to the Count again and make a fuss, saying there’s a problem with the dish?”

The servant gradually acted bolder since the timid Fanora couldn’t get angry at her mutiny. 

She remembered that during a morning grooming, she gave Fanora a dress with a thin pin to give her stinging pain. 

“Ah, it stings!”

“Oh my, I’m sorry. Oh my God. It seems as if the person who made this dress didn’t take out the pin after finishing the fitting! I apologize on his behalf!”

At first, Seir shamelessly acted as if she didn’t bully Fanora, as if everything was because she was clumsy at her work and made mistakes. 

But it didn’t last long. The joy of having the lady of a noble family caught in her hands instigated her sadism. Her anger had been piling up because taking care of kids was a lot of work, and bullying Fanora made the irritation go away.

“As I always say, this meal costs a lot of money. You may be punished if you bother your father by complaining about your food even though you’re being treated with love.”

However, no matter how timid she was, she would still burst someday. One day, Fanora Celsius complained to her father, Bael Celsius, who was also the man of power sitting at the top of this manor. In the meeting with Count she managed to have, she told him that she was served inedible food with pieces of her meal as evidence. 

But what would have been the result of this pitiful tattling?

“Oh, my heart hurts! Lady Fanora got scolded by the Master? That shouldn’t happen.”

“…”

“I care about our Lady so much…”

How the servant named Seir was still in high spirits spoke for the result. 

“Master! How would I dare do that to your esteemed daughter? I did my best to cook! Seir, say something…!”

“The chef is right. As the assistant of Lady Fanora, I promise you that pouring salt never happened!”

“That’s not what I mean. S, Seir…”

“With all due respect, hasn’t Lady Fanora been making groundless claims, such as that her mother abused her? It seems to me her emotional personality… might have caused a misunderstanding.”

“Because she’s still young. That could happen.”

Even though the young Fanora pointed out the culprit, no proper investigation was conducted. The current Countess took the Lady’s maid’s side, and everybody in the mansion agreed, claiming the servant to be innocent. 

So the Count irresponsibly came to this conclusion, “It’s not like Fanora’s health was damaged, and I can’t punish innocent people just because the food doesn’t suit her taste. So let’s simply have someone else cook for Fanora from now on.”

Fanora had been putting up with it before she reached the limit and barely requested help, but it got crushed.  

He won’t care unless I die from drinking poison. She felt hopeless.

The Count only changed the chef who cooked for Fanora, but no action was taken and no punishment was given to the servant who was in charge of bullying Fanora. 

Will my father regret it only after I die?

Her father seemed to not care about his daughter. Even though Fanora had always tried not to get on his wrong side, the result was always cold. 

That was how Fanora Celsius’s daily life went. She either ate food so salty it felt as if her mouth would rip, or spent time munching on only white bread that tasted the same every day. 

Seir’s prank gradually became more clever and the number of tricks she did increased as Fanora grew older. But Fanora kept tolerating everything silently. Nothing would change no matter how hard she tried. 

Because no family in this mansion was like family.