Piece 16 (part 2)

"Your family is… suspected of treason??" I asked from pure shock, and Melvin nodded grimly.

It has been six years since we first met, and we're a lot older than how we were before. I'm fifteen now, and Melvin is thirteen. He is old enough to know about his family's situation, and it seems like things have not been going quite well.

"We weren't originally from Veldonia, so one of the noble families in the eastern region suspected our family for espionage." Melvin explained as we both sat under the tree beside the small pond, and I only kept my concerned eyes to him.

"That's… tough. So, what's going on now?"

"Dad has been brought into prison for further questioning. If the investigation continues, then my mother, brother, and I will also be brought to prison."

"That's nonsense… Is there any proof?"

"None that we know of, but mere 'Proof' can be faked, you know? Dad has already suspected that it's a collusion between multiple families, and he's trying his best to find allies. Hopefully, the questioning goes well." Melvin explained to me as we both sat under the tree, and I turned my eyes to the ground.

His situation did not go so well. Not long after he told me, the news became even wilder when it was officially announced, and it seems like the emperor has made up his mind to continue the investigation.

After that day, I did not see, smell, nor hear from Melvin.

And the next time I saw him was seven years later, when the civil war of the empire was over.

"So, Dad's family was executed…?" Milly asked with such a saddened face, and I nodded carefully at her.

"There was nothing we could do. The emperor has already received much support from the families who wanted the downfall of Viscount Bond, and no matter how many other families voiced their complaints, the emperor still has the final say.

The day the house of Bond burnt down was the worst day of his life. And a part of it was… my fault." I explained quite saddened to Milly, and she became slightly confused.

"How was it your fault?"

"Well, it's… a little hard to explain. Because while your dad was dealing with his situation, I was also dealing with mine. And during that whole time, I ended up dying."

"What??"

Yeah, that was a fun memory to have.

My entire family, outside of Melvin and Milly, were a joke. I had a drunkard father who just loves beating simply anyone he sees. I had multiple stepmothers who looked at me as if I'm a pig to be chopped. Finally my siblings, who were utterly disgusted by my existence as if I'm a filth.

Among my siblings, there was one that I absolutely loathed. The second child of the empress, the eldest daughter of the royal family, Invidia.

Within the royal family of Veldonia, prestige and position is everything. Who you were when you came into the family, or who your mother was when you were born into the family, they determine how your life plays out from the very beginning. Unfortunately for me, my mother, a person who came into the royal family as a consort, was the lowest rank a noble can have. A Baron.

In fact, my mother's family was never a Baron. They were commoners, and the only reason they became a Baron was because my mother ended up marrying the emperor. And the only reason my mother married the emperor was because of how beautiful and kind she is, that the emperor ended up wanting her.

And having a mother who is a commoner, my life at the castle has never been easy. Other consorts of the emperor came from different noble ranks or even different countries. They all had a prestige of their own, and their position in the family was much stronger.

My situation became even worse when my mother died after giving birth to me. I was completely alone, and my father who is the emperor has been my greatest enemy. However, that still doesn't mean they can just get rid of me, because I still have the emperor's blood.

Still… just because they can't get rid of me doesn't mean they can't torture me.

"Hey, Ellie!! Can you accompany me to practice swords!?"

Amongst my family, one sibling stood out the most to me. She is the daughter of the empress, and the eldest daughter of the royal family. Not only is she five years older than me, but she's also positioned higher than me due to her mother's role.

And she is… the most ruthless.

She'd often take me into sword practices, and she'd force me to 'play' with her. We'd spar with each other using wooden swords, but that's only what it looks like from the eyes of an adult. The reality is much more painful than that.

BAAKK!!!

BAAAKKK!!!!!

Because she always keeps the adults away from our 'playtime', she always has free reign on what she wants to do during it. And every time, she will always use any chance she gets to swing her wooden stick into me as hard as she could. The worst part was, she isn't untrained by any means.

If Dad's beating was like being hit by baton, Invidia's attacks is akin to being sliced by a real sword. She is well-trained in sword arts, and her swings are always very powerful. And since she is using me as a training dummy, I have no choice but to receive those hits without putting much of a fight.

I can't fight back. I can at least dodge, but dodging the attacks of a well trained swordswoman as a child is near impossible. Many times I got my bones broken by her, and Estella had to call the doctor on me every time after the cruel practice session.

When Melvin came into my life, everything turned so much better for me that the difference felt so apparent. He is just a genius in magic, and he knows so many magical techniques. He taught me a magic technique which can allow me to fortify my skin, and this has helped me go through Invidia's training session much-much easier. In fact, I don't feel burdened coming to her training sessions anymore because of the fortifying magic.

He was just an integral part of my life. Ever since he appeared, everything around me simply changed. He is my white knight, my hero.

And when he stopped coming to see me, it truly felt like my world fell apart once more. After his family was imprisoned, Melvin couldn't come to see me anymore because he had to comply with my father's wishes. I was all alone again, and my mental state began to sway terribly.

And during that time, I was like a tiger not to be touched. Many maids aside from Estella have tried to disturb me, as they have done many times in the past. But, I ended up kicking them out of my room, which was something I've never done before.

In the midst of those emotional swings of mine, Invidia came.

"Ellie! It's time for another practice!!" Invidia, my eldest sister, shouted as she barged into my room.

At the time, I was already fifteen years old, and Invidia was twenty. She has already received many teachings from various capable knights at the empire, and she has reached a pretty high rank within the knights ranking. She's even engaged to one of the most talented young knights in the empire, which simply proves just how amazing her sword talent was.

But, that afternoon was when everything fell apart for me.

It's the moment I lost everything, and the moment my life changed completely.

It's the day I stopped being a princess.

"So, what happened after that?" Milly asks with her genuinely curious face, and I realized the part that comes after might've been too much for her to process in one go.

I simply stared at her and played with her long red hair that was inherited from me. It was a hair I inherited from my father, and it is the proof of royalty from the Veldonian Empire.

It is also a hair color I despised so much. But seeing my own daughter owning such hair, I'm just very glad that she was never present during those dark days at the royal family.

"Let's just say I ran away from home. It's when I started to grow my rebellion forces from the west, and I separated from your dad for about seven years."

"That's very long!! So, you never even seen him for seven--"

BRAKK!!!

All of a sudden, the door to the bedroom was slammed open. The angry face of an old woman was sighted as she stared down at the mother and daughter sleeping on the bed.

"You two. Out of the bed. Now." Estella angrily commanded, and I let out a sigh of annoyance.

Right… It's almost sundown. We have to prepare for dinner time.

"I guess you'll have to ask your dad for the rest of the story. Sorry, Milly." I said while lifting my body up from the bed, and Milly also jumped out and stood up.

"It's fine! I learned so much from you just now. You can tell me the story at another time." Milly said to me with such a cheerful smile, but I only stayed silent while smiling at her. 

Deep down, I know that the story that comes after shouldn't be told to a child like her, but she does deserve to know if she's our daughter. It was the worst moment of my life, and I'm not sure if I can let Milly know about the decisions that I made that day.

Hopefully, her daddy knows some better methods to tell her. From his perspective, at least.