Life choices

Ezra Almer, Daphne's husband, came from an extremely rich mixed family, but his family did not have the pedigree her own family had. Even Daphne herself was unsure how rich and powerful her family was. She had come to possess and maintain several banks, hotels and resorts after her marriage, but she was not privy to much of the family history and properties until she gave birth to a male successor.

'Because patriarchy, that's why.' Daphne thought with ire.

What were her chances of having a child with a man who never even slept with her? They had been married for almost eight years at this point and he never touched her. Also, did she even want to know her family history right now? Being excluded from the knowledge based on her sex used to frustrate her to no end, but she had reached a point where she wondered if it was even worth it to anymore. What satisfaction would knowing even give her, at this point?

Daphne theorized that the family might have a not so lustrous ancestor; or maybe it flourished under not so proper business practices; or maybe the secret was that they did not derive from royalty who knows how many generations ago. Her favorite theory was that the family got extraordinarily rich from unethical practices at war times. To a certain extent, how else could they have kept their standing trough two world wars? Many other noble European families lost their standing or simply disappeared from history in just about a hundred years while the von Schéele family had only been flourishing. Even her mother's family had almost became lost to history.

Daphne von Schéele Rossetti Almer. Wasn't her name quite the mouthful? Daphne was mostly known as Daphne Almer due to her husband at this point. And during university, she was known as Daphne Rossetti.

As she was rebelling against her father, she chose to present herself with only her mother's family name.

In the beginning of the marriage, Daphne felt fine with the status-quo, she was getting over a break-up so the last thing she wanted was to provide sexual favors to a man she barely knew.

The marriage had been arranged. Ezra's parents offered a great many things to her father for her hand in marriage. Private islands, properties in exotic locations, and more.

Honestly, it was all a bit too much. As much as she tried not to feel like a product all these years and strived for accomplishment after accomplishment; was anyone even paying attention to her efforts? As she slaved away, doing her best to show her capabilities, she did not feel appreciated at all.

Irrespective of all the money she had inherited, she had created a conglomerate whose seeds were planted while she was still underage.

At the time, she was feeling rebellious. She did not want to conform to her family's expectations and marry whoever they approved of. Being an only child put a lot of pressure on her, and having a very traditional, patriarchal and strict father did not help, as such, she used all the money she could gather from her allowance and started her own company in case she got disowned.

When she was nineteen though, Daphne's mother had miraculously gotten pregnant at the age of forty-three. Oh, the all awaited male heir…

The success of her company became her safety net, allowing her to be courageous and brave in any and all pursuits that were deemed inappropriate by her old fashioned father.