A rough start

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Rain hurry up..!" Lily yelled, she was already at the front door all dressed up for school and waiting for her sister. "We are going to be late."

"I'm coming." Rain yelled back as she ran down the stairs. "I'm stopping over the shop today. You remember we promised Annette we would come by."

Annette's flower shop, Lily wanted to buy some flowers for the birthday of the Crowned Prince.

Aryan....

Lily's crush.

She had been so excited about giving the Prince some flowers for his birthday that she had talked about it all night.

"Shh..." Lily hushed pulling Rain closer to her and covering her mouth with her fingers. "You don't have to let everyone know."

Rain grinned.

"Won't you girls wait for breakfast?" their eldest sister, Iris asked, she had a dignified poise.

She was proud and confident in herself.

It was something Rain appreciated, she wanted to be a noblewoman like Iris.

"Good morning, Sister Iris." Rain mouthed with a slight bow of her head, she was still quite inferior when it came to the members of the family but she still wanted to try.

 She had been with them nine years but Iris had never once loosened up, she became even more distant because of the issue with the crowned prince. "Lily and I, we are running late for school."

"I wasn't talking to you," Iris's glare came down cold and menacing, making Rain shake slightly. "What gives you the right to think that I would ever speak to someone as lowly as you."

"Sister Iris give it a break." Lily snapped with a small frown on her face. "Why do you think you can bully Rain after what you did to her?"

"What?" Iris eyes widened. "It had been nine years already and yet you blame me for that one incident."In 

"But you did it, it's so disgusting for you to lie about it." Lily snapped. "I'm telling you, because of what you did to Rain, she almost died. She still gets picked on by the nobles and she is being stigmatised."

"You are well aware that we are blood sisters, Lily." Iris warned. "You should be on the side of your sister."

"So is Rain, Rain is also my sister. I don't care what you do or say. She is a member of our family." Lily glared before grabbing Rain by the arm and dragging her out of the house, the carriage was already waiting for them.

"You shouldn't argue with her." Rain muttered as they stomped towards the carriage. "I know she is offended, that day, Sister Iris said she didn't tell anyone about me but no one believed her."

"Because she is lying." Lily snapped, the driver held the carriage door for them and they entered.

"She might not be my sister but Iris isn't the type of person to lie." Rain found herself in Iris's defense. "She would never lie, she always owns up to whatever she does, why? Because she is the proud daughter of the Duke, she has no reason to lie. So when she said she didn't do it, I believe her."

"Then who did."

"That I don't know... but it is not Iris."

 "Have you seen the princess recently?" Marcus asked interestedly, and Doni shook his head as he arranged hay into the tray. He had no business with the Princess anymore, ever since that night, he carried her back to her room.

 She had promised to keep it a secret, the incident that happened that night, when he needed to defend her.

She then began to fear him and she had kept her distance from him.

"She is a beauty," Marcus chuckled. "She looks so much like the Duke."

"Yes," Doni muttered. "After all, he is her father, they should be so much alike, even down to her attitude."

"But she is quite nice," Marcus defended but he was being sarcastic. "I once saw her assisting Madam Bambi the baker the other day, the poor old lady had too much to carry and some of them stumbled off, so the Princess got out of the carriage to assist her."

"That's quite noble," Doni muttered he was uninterested, but it was true, Rain had grown into a beautiful young lady. "But that's because she is a misfit."

"Her coming of age ceremony would be held next month." Marcus reminded. "In just a few months, she would be legal."

"Legal…" Doni muttered with a small frown on his face. "Do you want the Princess?"

Marcus chuckled.

"Of course…" He groaned with a small smile. "I need to get revenge for what the Young Duke did to my sister."

"But why the Lady Rain?" Doni found himself asking. "The Duke has other daughters, the ones he cherishes even more than Rain, after all, she is an illegitimate daughter."

"Makes it even better." Marcus grinned. "I wouldn't be punished and it would be easy to threaten her."

"How long do you think she would keep quiet for?" Doni asked with a frown on his face. "She is not as naïve as you think, she might get frustrated to the point that she tells the Duke."

"What is going on?" Marcus teased nudging Doni with a small light hit. "Are you trying to side with her? Do you have feelings for her? Or do you pity her?"

Doni remained silent though, he probably hated her more than anyone else in the estate, but it dawned on him that whatever the Duke had done. A lot of people had planned to take it out on her.

He didn't want to be like that... They should all suffer.

The Duke...

The Duchess...

The Young Duke...

His other daughters...

Rain....

All Of them, he would make sure to kill every single one of them as soon as he got enough strength.

"Have you forgotten what the Duke did to you?" Marcus reminded, pushing on the barrow slightly. "Have you forgotten what he did to your mother, you can't even have a name because of him, Doni…"

At the mention of Doni... Marcus cackled wickedly.

Doni arranged more hay into the tray and carried them to the stables.

"Who the hell names a child, Doni?" Marcus rasped. He seemed to be more agitated that Doni wasn't replying to him. "Doni means dog, and you don't even have a right to complain."

"It's not the Duke's fault, my mother committed a grave sin to the household," Doni responded. "The reason why he named me Doni was because I forgot my real name."

"Precisely, it was your mother who sinned, not you, why should you be punished?" Marcus snapped pulling him, he hated the way Doni was just too nonchalant. "You have spent years in this estate slaving away, you were not allowed to have your childhood yet the Duke protects his children."

"What right does the Duke have?" he asked curiously.

"I didn't know you were so rebellious..." Doni muttered with a sharp smile, he heaved heavily and placed his hands on his waist.

The work has become tiresome and he was out of breath.

The wind blew his hair into his eyes.

He ran his hands into his night-black hair and pulled it into a man bun, it was time he considered getting a haircut.

"Say something will you?" Marcus pestered and Doni simply shrugged. "Don't tell me you're satisfied with just raising horses your whole life."

"I'm just saying it is pointless to get yourself killed for nothing," Doni muttered, he took off his tunic, they stink because he had fallen into the horse's dung while cleaning the stables out in the morning.

"Even if I die, I'm taking one of his daughters with me." Marcus raised his eyebrows. "Everyone else will start a rebellion all they need is for someone to do it first."

Doni understood their frustration, Everyone of them, knew just how much the workers had endured from the tyranny of the Duke and his household.

But... Rain, was innocent, even though she was an offspring of the man who killed his mother.

It was unfair to make only her suffer.

As much as he would like to deny it, he also gets urges like that.

The urge to climb into her bedroom at night and wring her neck... he had gone on several times but he had only attempted to do it once.

But he was unable to kill her, the look in her eyes as he strangled her.

It reminded him of someone from his past.

Someone he cherished so dearly... this was the reason why he couldn't.

He had never appeared in front of her since then, even though she didn't know it was him.

It felt like he was betraying her. That's why, he was going to wait until he had gathered enough forces and everyone was ready.

He was going to kill every single member of the family.

It wouldn't be so long now.