4. Second meeting
Her mother was warm and willing to give Daphne anything she wanted, but she could also be strict at times.
“I must not become a laughing stock when I go to the palace later.”
Daphne learned everything she could as a child.
One of her favorite things to do was to draw. When she drew fruits and teacups on a blank canvas, they came out looking pretty good.
Despite her teacher's dissuasion that she had amazing talent, her mother shook her head and stopped her.
“Stop learning how to draw now.”
Daphne said no, but her mother was not one to change her mind once she had made up her mind. Daphne, who had been throwing tantrums, cried herself to sleep.
On days like that, her mother would come to visit her at night and stroke her hair all night long. That day was no different.
“You don’t need that man’s legacy.”
As Daphne sobbed in her sleep, her mother whispered to her with a loving touch. Her mother was an unfamiliar person.
Her mother was warm and willing to give Daphne anything she wanted, but she could also be strict at times.
“I must not become a laughing stock when I go to the palace later.”
Daphne learned everything she could as a child.
One of her favorite things to do was to draw. When she drew fruits and teacups on a blank canvas, they came out looking pretty good.
Despite her teacher's dissuasion that she had amazing talent, her mother shook her head and stopped her.
“Stop learning how to draw now.”
Daphne said no, but her mother was not one to change her mind once she had made up her mind. Daphne, who had been throwing tantrums, cried herself to sleep.
On days like that, her mother would come to visit her at night and stroke her hair all night long. That day was no different.
“You don’t need that man’s legacy.”
As Daphne sobbed in her sleep, her mother whispered to her with a loving touch. Her mother was an unfamiliar person.
A pretty, cozy mansion with a red roof. When she got tired of studying, her mother would bake her a snack, and when she was too tired, she would skip class for a day and go on a picnic with her.
A world where there is no lack, a world filled with love and happiness. A world complete with just mothers.
Sometimes the Emperor would come as an uninvited guest and separate her from her mother.
Of course, it wasn't that the Emperor didn't give love.
Her mother was a very beloved mistress, and the Emperor tried to make all of this happen. It was only natural that her daughter, Daphne, would be loved.
Daphne was quick-witted and knew that the love she was receiving was false and unjust, but she was ignorant of the essential issues.
It was Daphne's sin. She had been protected by her mother, Beatrice's extreme love, but after her mother's death, she lost all protection.
“Daphne, the palace... your father...”
Spitting blood, she told her to follow her 'father' until the end. The Emperor sent his beloved lover, who was dying suddenly from illness, away in tears.
“Your Majesty, my daughter, please, my daughter...”
Naturally, he reassured her by saying that he would take Daphne, the fruit of his and Beatrice's love, with him.
Her mother died. Her world died. Beatrice, greedy but cunning, tried to bring her daughter into the palace, but failed and died suddenly of an illness.
A sad loss, a father who took care of his daughter. It could have been a beautiful picture, even if everyone was pointing fingers at him.
But the girl's world without protection was too fragile and easily collapsed.
Daphne cried in her mother's bed, drawing and drawing her mother, who never came. She thought that if she cried herself to sleep like this, she might come back at night and stroke her head.
Before the pain of loss could even heal, a destroyer appeared and destroyed the world.
“You lied to me!”
Daphne shivered in the closet as she heard the Emperor's roar. The Emperor was destroying everything. With a clang, the vase rolled away. There was a dull, clanking sound as something fell.
Then, there was a loud crash. Daphne covered her ears with her hands, hoping it would end quickly.
“That thing, that rascal! Me, how dare you, me!”
Thud, thud, thud, thud! Another sound of something slimy being hit was heard.
“You loved that worthless guy, and yet you call another guy’s seed your own...! How clever! How foxy!”
The Emperor's evil roar filled the quiet house. After her mother passed away, Daphne thought the house would be so quiet that she couldn't stand it.
However, she never wanted it to be filled with such scary sounds.
Daphne put her legs together and crouched down.
Young Daphne suddenly realized.
Everything has been revealed.
Actually, she was hoping. She hoped that person would be her father. But it turned out not to be the case.
The mother lied to 'father'. The real father is someone else! The lie has been exposed.
However, the mother who could take responsibility for the lie was already dead, so she had to face the Emperor's wrath head-on.
The closet door opened with a bang. She could see red eyes through the clothes.
As a faint beam of light entered her eyes, her eyes hurt for a momentary pain. Daphne frowned, and her thin, small wrists were forcibly pulled and fell down.
Daphne looked up with a tearful face. She couldn't understand why this man, who had once patted her on the head, this gentle man, had thrown her away like a burden.
Yes, she had been proud of herself for being more mature than her peers. There was no way a ten-year-old child could understand all that malice, all that anger.
Daphne looked around. She saw the bodies of those who had worked here. She remembered the terrible screams of those who had tried so hard to deny. Her trembling pupils met the eyes of the butler's body.
She couldn't even scream. She just knew that if she screamed, she would be killed.
The moment she realized what the Emperor had been doing, she knew that she, too, would end up like that. Still, she wanted to live. She didn't want to end up like that.
“Oh, uh, father.”
She trembled and said the words she most should not have said. The father, no, the Emperor, looked at the young girl and smiled bitterly, then took the necklace off her neck.
"Father?"
The Emperor raised the corners of his mouth.
Daphne's eyes returned to blue. She was named 'Daphne' because her eyes were as green as laurel, but that was also a deception. The Emperor raised his hand and squeezed her face with his large hand.
“Ugh!”
“Father? Father? Who is your father?!”
“...”
“Look at your blue eyes! You’re hiding these things from me?!”
The face in his hands shook back and forth. Daphne muttered, “I was wrong,” with tears streaming down her face, in a voice as small as a mosquito.
The Emperor stopped his rampage and grumbled. His eyes, filled with rage, had already gone mad in an instant. Daphne opened her eyes and looked at the man who had been her father.
“I was wrong, I was wrong, Your Majesty!”
“...”
“I was wrong!”
Daphne begged with a pale face and trembling. She didn't want to die. No, she was afraid of dying. But she was so envious of her mother, who had gone to the Forest of Death.
It was scary. She couldn't stand the fear. And the Emperor watched the scene. He stared into Daphne's eyes as if he had remembered something.
After a while, he seemed to remember something and smiled faintly.
“Yes, I must keep her will.”
“...”
“Still, it is the Emperor’s promise.”
It was a cruel face. With the face of a sadist who had decided to inflict all the humiliation and pain in the world, he looked at the last traces of the woman he loved.
“You have to go to the palace.”
The man smiled, throwing away his father's face.
It was the end of Daphne's peaceful and loving world.
There are people in this world who are allowed to be innocent and ignorant, and there are people who are not. Daphne was one of the latter.
In fact, it was a sin not only for her ignorance but also for her breathing. People of the world said so. It was natural. She was the daughter of Beatrice, the great seductress who dared to deceive the Emperor and usurp the position of Empress.
***
“Hey, bring me some water!”
A bucket flew and hit young Daphne. It was about half the size of her. Daphne quietly lifted the handle.
“Isn’t that too much?”
“That’s because you’re a worthless person who can’t do anything.”
A giggling sound was heard from behind. She had lived beautifully without even getting her hands wet, under her mother's warm affection.
But once she entered the palace, as if they had been waiting, everyone in the world trampled on Daphne. Her downfall was the only amusement left in this annoying place.
Although she was a young girl, she was a shameless and cunning woman who dared to pretend to be royalty. Also, the hatred towards Daphne, who had never done any chores, stimulated the strange inferiority complex they harbored towards the nobles.
How dare a dirty duckling like her imitate a swan?
Punishment is given to such a person. People rationalized their twisted sadism as condemnation. That was exactly what the Emperor intended.
Daphne barely managed to get the water and drag it along. No one helped her. The water overflowed and poured out, creating a waterway.
“Hey! You!”
She was unlucky. She knew that voice. It was Thomas, the chief servant, who was known for his bad temper even in the palace. When she turned around, she felt a dull thud on her head. He had grabbed her with a huge fist.
Daphne looked up with tears in her eyes because it hurt so much, and Thomas screamed.
“You made the hallway you cleaned look like this!”
“...”
“Oh, you are that cuckoo!”
Everyone burst into laughter at Thomas's words.
“A cuckoo chick...”
The servant bowed and said at Daphne's words.
“Don’t you know? The cuckoo is called a cuckoo because it is a mean bird that pushes its young into another nest. Your dead mother did what the cuckoo did.”
“...”
“How dare you call yourself His Majesty’s child. Your mother must not have died a pretty death.”
Daphne raised her head. She didn't want to hear that her mother had not died gracefully. Still, her mother... her mother, no matter how bad a person she was, was her mother...
“Who knows? She might be flirting with the god of death...”
"No!"
Daphne gritted her teeth and shouted. They started laughing harder. It was such a big insult. Why, why were these people tormenting her? Why were they insulting her dead mother?
My mother has done nothing wrong to you!
She tried to scream, but she couldn't, because the cold water was poured on her. A steel bucket was placed on her head. Her whole body was soaked.
There was laughter and muttering. There was also a voice muttering, “Poor thing,” as if doing charity. The sight was blocked by the overturned bucket. Her breathing was wheezing in my ears.
The sound of laughter could be heard from afar. Shr wanted to run away. But she couldn't see ahead.
She looked like a wet rat, holding the bucket upside down, and tried to take it off, but her chin got caught on the handle and she couldn't get it off properly.
Then a loud thud rang out, as if someone had thrown something.
“Bam!”
The laughter grew louder. Daphne wanted to die. She wanted to get away from this place. With tears streaming down her face, she tried to find a place to hide.
As she was running so desperately, she bumped into someone. At the same time, the bucket was taken away.
“...”
There was only the sound of breathing, as quiet as a mouse. Daphne looked at the person standing in front of her. Surprisingly, the person standing in front of her was a boy.
The boy's white shirt was soaking wet.
The green-eyed boy with the crow-like hair. Asherad was looking down at her. It was the kind boy she had encountered at the palace.
As Daphne opened her eyes wide, a voice was heard from somewhere.
“Your Highness, the Prince.”
Your Highness?
She came to her senses. For a moment, his gaze turned to her with a look of indifference and boredom. The boy’s eyes turned to Daphne, who was wet and unsightly. At the end of his observational gaze, his eyes widened.
“Are you okay?”
A kind voice rang out, as if cutting through the silence with a knife.
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