Chapter 5
But Rosalind never intended to let me off.
Then her pearl necklace disappeared.
They ended up finding it under my rickety old bed.
Before I could say a word, Father forced me to kneel in the grand hall.
"Elara, I've told you so many times. A daughter of the Winterbourne family does not steal!" Father said, his voice cold.
"I didn't take it," I said.
I remained on the cold floor, repeating it over and over.
"I don't even know what that necklace looks like," I whispered.
Rosalind immediately burst into tears.
She said softly, "Father, please, let it go.
"Maybe Elara just liked it.
"After all, she'd never seen anything this beautiful before."
Father looked even more disappointed.
He said, "Stealing isn't the real problem. What's really bad is that you still won't admit it."
Mother looked at me and sighed.
"Elara, we've been trying so hard to teach you. Why can't you do better?"
I opened my mouth to speak.
But in the end, I said nothing.
Because I knew.
As long as Rosalind cried, nothing I said would matter.
Later, the cake Mother had baked for Rosalind was smashed to pieces.
The maid said she'd seen me near the kitchen.
Cedric dragged me over and forced me to apologize to Rosalind.
I said I was just picking up some bread the kitchen had thrown away.
But that only made him even angrier.
He snapped, "How long are you going to keep playing the victim?
"Do you really think we would ever let you go hungry?
"Elara, you're acting like you're so miserable on purpose, aren't you? So Mother and Father will feel guilty and think they owe you something?"
I stared at him, stunned.
So even my hunger was a lie to them.
Later, Rosalind took a tumble down the stairs.
She never said I pushed her.
Her eyes were red from crying as she whispered, "Elara was right behind me."
Everyone turned to look at me.
I shook my head frantically.
"I didn't touch her," I insisted.
Adrian asked coldly, "So what were you doing there, then?"
I couldn't answer.
"I was just passing by," I said quietly.
But nobody believed me.
Mother held Rosalind in her arms. For the first time, she looked at me with such disgust.
She demanded, "Elara, what more do you want to steal from her?
"Her place in this family?
"Her parents?
"Or even her brothers?"
I stood there, suddenly wanting to laugh.
What was there left for me to take?
Rosalind got the nicest room in the whole manor.
She wore dresses Mother had picked out for her.
Every time Father returned from the palace, he brought her a gift.
My brothers remembered what flowers she liked and what weather she was afraid of.
And what about me?
I tried to make myself invisible to them.
But it didn't change a thing.
They still believed I was fighting for their affection.
After that, I became increasingly unkempt.
And grew thinner by the day.
Father thought I was lazy.
Mother thought I was immature.
Adrian thought I was deliberately ruining the family's reputation.
Whenever Cedric saw me in those ragged clothes, he'd scowl and snap, "You've humiliated the Winterbourne family."
No one ever realized that the reason I never learned proper etiquette was simply that no one ever taught me.
Maybe it was never important to them in the first place.
One day, Rosalind came to find me.
Ida was right behind her.
Rosalind stood at the doorway, pinching her nose in disgust.
"It stinks in here," she said.
I froze.
Her gaze slowly traveled from my ragged dress to my face.
No parents were watching.
No brothers were there to witness it.
All the gentleness, shyness, and kindness that used to be on her face were gone.
All that remained was blatant disgust and scorn.
"You actually stayed?" Rosalind sneered.
Something inside me snapped.
I lunged at her.
I shrieked, "I'm telling Father!
"I'm telling Mother!
"I'm going to scratch your face off!"
But I didn't even manage to touch the hem of Rosalind's dress.
Ida yanked my hair and slammed me hard onto the ground.
My forehead crashed into the stone basin, and the world went dark.
I tried to get up.
But Ida had already kicked me hard in the waist.
I curled up in pain.
The next second, her boot pressed down on my head.
My face was pressed hard into the filthy ground.
Rosalind slowly walked over to me.
"Tell Father?" she sneered.
She laughed. "Do you really think he'd ever believe you?
"Or tell Mother?
"She was just helping me choose a dress for the royal palace ball."
She crouched down and grabbed my chin.
"And as for our brothers...