Another Beauty & The Beast~
Sora wiped her forehead and frowned as she realized that she had just mixed dirt into her sweat. Oh, well. She was already a mess. A little more dirt wouldn't kill her, she thought.
She bent towards the flower bed, carefully and gently examining every flower to ensure that they were healthy. When she finished, she sat in the garden and listened to the gentle wind and the rustling of the tree leaves.
The afternoon sun was at it's strongest and the heat was practically unbearable. It was really the worst time of day to be gardening and inspecting the flowers but Sora's love of flowers and her garden kept her going.
Laughter came from the mansion, the high, irritable voices and laughter of women gossiping about others and sharing secrets. Sora stood back up and went back to work, trying to ignore their voices which was piercing her heart. It shouldn’t hurt. She would rather be outside in her precious garden than inside and be suffocated by "polite" chatter and uncomfortable fancy dresses anyway, she thought.
She started gathering and planting flowers with a vengeance. Dozens and dozens of flowers were soon carefully gathered and planted, every last one of them flourishing and reflecting the sun's rays beautifully.
Finishing her work, she laid on the grass to admire all her work for the day. Beautiful. Everything was beautiful. She might not be worthy enough for anything else, but she made a well enough gardener.
More laughter filled the skies and the air, followed by the sound of Georgia’s voice, sharp and clear and high. Sora's momentary happiness faded, and her fingers started pulling unhappily at the grass.
Through the curtains that blocked the view of the window of the yellow tea room from the garden, she could see the silhouette of girls dressed in silk and lace, bright spring colors and their fancy tea hats hiding spun-gold curls and protecting their pale skin from the sun.
Sora played and gently twisted her own black-brown shade of light curls, a shade and colour that no one else in this country possessed. If that was not enough to show that she was an outcast, her skin was a tan colour and not the cream-pale skin tone that other girls had. Her half sisters would never allow her to dress up and attend a tea party with them and their friends. They would never allow her to escort them to this or that ball, and fetch lemonade all night.
Never…
They would just ask her to keep her distance and not show herself to their friends in order not to embarrass them.
More laughter spilled out, and she stood up, moving to the back of the garden to work with the ivy and the weeping willow, hoping that the sound of the fountain would drown out the noise from the mansion.
She lingered in the one spot of her garden that remained bare. This was where she wanted to plant a type of flower that was special and meaningful to her but she has yet to find such a flower.
Sighing, she went back to tending the rest of the garden, determined not to let anything else intrude on her one small piece of happiness.
When the sun had dipped low enough in the sky that the air had cooled, her whole body had started to ache and she listened cautiously for the sound of giggling girls.
Nothing was heard.
Still, no one had told her that she could enter the mansion and she couldn't risk being seen by anyone besides the servants in the house and her 'family'.
Sighing, she played with her light curls, twisting them around her fingers and looked down at herself.
Her pale coloured dress was covered in dirt. Her dress was also worn out and old, tattered and quite torn at the hem of the dress.
To be on the safe side, Sora decided to use the servants' entrance as she didn’t want to make her sisters mad if she was seen by their friends.
She walked through the garden, into the kitchen and then up the back stairs, walking quickly into her room.
Sora smiled even though her chest ached as she found that a bath awaited her. She knew that Ms. Sasha, the housekeeper, was the one who drew her bath as she had always treated her with such kindness and gentleness. Stripping her dirty dress off, she stepped into the tub and sat down in the hot water and soaked herself in it happily. The soap smelled of lilacs and lilies that made Sora feel blissful and were also relaxing.
Once clean, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror and combed through her light curls. She had a slender body that had curves at all the right places. Her skin was also as smooth as silk and as soft as a baby's skin. Despite working in the garden the whole day, the skin of her palm and hands had no signs of blisters and were smooth. She had honey coloured eyes with long lashes and full pinkish red lips However, she did not consider herself beautiful and felt that she was as good as dirt next to her sisters. Soon, she left the tub and dressed for supper. The dress she wore was one of the best evening dresses she had. It was white with a hint of baby blue that suited her perfectly. After that, she made her way downstairs.
Her sisters were like beautiful dolls. Georgia’s hair was pure gold and Angelina’s hair was gold with a hint of golden brown in it. They had long and thick lashes and china-blue eyes and flawless skin. Georgia and Angelina had changed into their evening gowns and had gold and pearls at their throats and fresh flowers in their hair. They had to look good if Father appeared, as he always liked them to look their very best.
They said nothing as Sora took her seat so she tried to start a conversation. “Georgia, Angelina. How did your tea party go?”
"It went quite well,” Angelina answered delightedly. “I do believe our tea parties have become quite well known. Wouldn’t you agree?"
Georgia nodded and agreed while sipping rose wine. "I do believe that we shall not invite Miss Wayne next time. She is becoming too confident in herself because of it.”
From the hallway, the clock struck nine and the servants appeared to serve the first course. Sora smiled at the housekeeper and whispered a thanks as she served her her bowl of soup. The housekeeper smiled and pat her hand before moving on to serve her sisters.
Sora frowned as she knew that Father should have arrived home already and started to worry and wonder where Father was.
“So what have you planned for the rest of the week?” she asked in order to try to distract herself.
“Lord Michael and Miss Clearwater are engaged. Their engagement ball is two days away. Our seamstress should have contacted us for the final fittings already. I must outshine that Clearwater or I shan’t go at all.” Georgia said.
Sora gave a small smile. “You are both amazingly beautiful, and hardly need gowns to outshine others. However, it is rather mean to outshine the bride to be, isn’t it?”
Angelina laughed and poked her sister gently and teasingly with her finger. “Yes, Georgia. Let the poor girl have her one day in the spotlight. When you finally catch Lord Eric. you shall have your moment to shine even brighter than she."
Georgina sighed sadly but let the matter drop.
"Some of the girls noticed you. Didn't you stay out of sight Sora?” Angelina asked, and it stung that Angelina had said her name in that strange tone filled with awkwardness. No one could get used to her name and it hurt.
“I never left the garden,” she said quietly, mostly to herself.
The way her sisters treated her like a stranger hurt. Even though she knew she was bastard child that was not acknowledged by her father, she was not denied by him either. She should still be considered as part of their family shouldn't she? Who her mother was and whether or not she was a bastard child was not her fault. So why was everyone holding this against her? However, she knew that no matter how much questioned, she would not get an answer and that she couldn't change what had already happened.
Her sisters started chatting with each other, ignoring her presence. Sora ate silently while awaiting her father's return. When the clock finally struck ten, Father still has not return.
Half an hour later, her sisters finally finished eating and chatting and they walked upstairs to their rooms and their beds.
Sora helped the servants clear the dishes and the tables and then went into the library and did some reading. The house was silent and the servants finished the last of their chores and went to their beds.
Sora said good night to the housekeeper and continued reading for hours. Just as she was about to nod off to sleep that the rapid clopping of a horse could be heard and this shocked Sora awake.
~end for now. Stay tuned~
Half-done. Wait for more~~^^
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