It all started that day she showed up.

Father had left early due to business so I was the only one left in the house.

Aside from the servants of course.

"Lady Florence, the master has returned and is requesting your presence."

"I'm on my way."

I silently placed my tea cup on its saucer and rose up, pausing for a moment before exiting the room so that my personal maid, Rena, could confirm that nothing on my dress was out of place.

With all the elegance I could muster, I made my way towards father's study. Whenever he wanted me to see him, that was where he was.

Father was a man of routines, and he almost never deviated from his nearly clockwork habits.

However, just before I could turn the corner towards his study, Rena whispered into my ear.

"The master is waiting it the lobby."

I froze.

That was unusual.

It wasn't like him to wait at the lobby for any reason.

But reminded of my stature, I quickly forced my feet and made my way to the new destination.

There, Father was standing in the lobby, leaning over a girl.

Appearing a little younger than myself, perhaps fourteen years old. Her brown hair was only a little longer than her shoulders, and slightly frazzled as if it was poorly kept. There was a smudge of dirt on that freckled face as if she couldn't be bothered to keep herself clean. Her dress was simple and sparsely decorated as if she couldn't afford a proper one like some commoner.

Behind them were several other servants with a large chest on the floor between them. One of them I didn't recognize.

"Florence! There you are!"

I almost tripped over myself. The brightness of his expression, that barely contained smile. That wasn't the father I knew. Father always had a stern expression, even when talking to me, his own daughter.

Barely catching myself, I approached Father before stopping. I gave him the fruits of my long years of practice, a perfect curtsy even my tutor couldn't complain about in the slightest.

"Welcome back, Father."

I fixed my posture, eager to see what he thought of the curtsy I had finally had the chance to show him. But he was already turning his back to me.

(Finally, something normal of Father.)

Relief that this wasn't some sort of strange monster in the shape of my father swept through my chest, though I did my best to avoid letting any of it from showing.

"This is Florence. Florence, this is Selene, your new sister!"

The girl clasped my hands and bowed her head.

"I'm Selene! It's nice to meet you, sister!"

My eyes shot straight at Father, but his were firmly glued on this other girl, giving off a warm expression I had never seen in my life.

Then everything went dark.

"Lady Florence!"

The last thing my mind managed to catch was the sound of Rena calling for my name as my body collapsed in on itself.

After I woke up in my room, Rena explained everything she had heard from the other servants.

Apparently Selene was the daughter of a concubine Father kept in secret. That concubine had refused invitations to come to the mansion despite Mother dying in childbirth, but that concubine had lost her life in illness several days ago.

With nobody else to care for his secret child, Father arranged for her to be brought into the house officially, and today was the day she would start living here.

"Why?! Why why WHY?!"

I held my head.

The concubine I could understand. The daughter I could accept.

But that look of warmth Father had never once given me, why did she get to have it all to herself?!

All my life I had worked so hard to impress Father. So that one day he would show me his love.

I had anticipated it all my life!

I had thought that his standards were so high that nothing short of perfection could impress him!

But her?!

Some filthy bastard of some whore was the one who got all of Father's love without any effort?!

That was something I couldn't forgive.

"Lady Florence, it's okay. It's okay."

Suddenly something soft and damp was pressing against my face, while something warm wrapped around my head.

(Huh? Was I crying?)

Only when I noticed that the soft cloth pressed against my cheeks was growing even more wet that I had realized the cause of it.

"Everything will be fine, Lady Florence. Everything will be fine."

If Rena said so, it must be true. She had never lied to me in all the years she had served the Anjou county.

I nodded.

But even still, that alone was still not enough to stifle the tears that continued to pour out, so instead I wrapped my arms around her back and cried into her chest.

No matter how long it took, Rena accepted it all. All the grief, all the sorrow, all the frustration.

"It'll be alright. It'll be alright..."

But despite how busy I was with my own problems, I didn't fail to notice that Rena's own arms shook, and the top of my head occasionally had wet droplets fall on it as well.

Despite it all, it didn't make the following days any easier.

Even knowing full well that things would eventually turn for the better.

Father payed even less attention to me than before.

When we finally had a meal together for the first time in years, Father only payed attention to that other girl. The two talked constantly despite it being meal time. They payed more attention to each other than the food in front of them.

They didn't even seem to notice that I had left the table, unable to stay there long enough to finish my meal.

During the whole meal, it felt like those knives which were supposed to be used to cut the duck on our plates were instead being used to cut my chest open.

So instead, I retreated to my room.

"Sit, Rena!"

"Yes, Lady Florence."

My voice was unintentionally firm, but I couldn't correct myself. Such an action was not allowed for one of my standing. Especially to one of a lesser.

"Not there. Here."

But just as my personal maid was about to sit on the servant's seat near the door, I instead pointed at the spot right beside me on the bed.

"...Yes, Lady Florence."

As expected, she was a little confused by my order. But also as expected of a maid of our house, she complied immediately and sat where I pointed.

"Now shut up. Don't say anything."

Rena nodded, making sure not to disobey me even in the act of acknowledging my order.

I dropped my upper body into her lap and wrapped my arms around her waist.

Once again, I let my tears run free.

After a few moments, a warm hand started to stroke my hair. We continued like that until exhaustion ended up taking me.

Like this, we spent our nights together.

Soon my tears ran out, but it wasn't long after that when I would continue to order Rena to hold me until I fell asleep in such a way even when I realized I no longer had any need for any more tears.

My thoughts regarding these people who claimed to be my family members grew more distant.

No, aside from when I was introduced to others, they didn't even claim me to be a family member. In all practicality, I was now the daughter of the Anjou house in name alone, unlike that girl who was was of the Anjou house in only name until a little while ago.

After the immediate surprise fell away, the only emotion I carried within me of her was of contempt.

Some damnable girl who claimed to be Father's daughter. Who didn't know her place and dirtied the Anjou family name by simply existing.

And Father, who willingly blinded himself of the dirt on this girl. Who blinded himself of his real daughter.

Contempt.

Nothing but contempt.

And from that contempt, grew hate. In equal measure to the love and hope that harboured within my chest all those years.

Hate for the father who never looked at me.

Hate for the girl who stole my father from me.

Hate for...

"Lady Florence."

My mind froze.

The warmth and gentleness in that voice broke the unending spiral within my head that continued unabated for days on end.

"It's okay, Lady Florence. I'm here for you. I'm always here for you, Lady Florence. No matter what happens."

That's right. Rena's always been there for me. She always stood by my side as if she was my own shadow. My own reflection in the mirror. For as long as I could remember she was always there.

I tightened my arms around her waist.

The tears which I had thought had long since dried up found their way out again, leaving soft marks on Rena's apron.

If it wasn't for Rena's timely words, I might have forgotten something so incredibly important.

I loathed myself for that.

To turn to hate so quickly for losing something which was never mine in the first place. No matter how much I wished otherwise, the unassailable truth was lain bare before my eyes.

But to blind myself of another truth because of that, I loathed myself for that.

So I swore in my heart, to never forget about the one who had always looked at me. Looked at what I had done.

To never avert my eyes from her. To never forget her who never ceased to stand by my side.

"Rena. Would you stay with me forever?"

"I will. Do you wish for me to reaffirm my vow?"

"No. That's not necessary."

That was because Rena would never lie to me. That vow, that she had probably made before I could even remember it must have been as true now as it was back then.

Ever since then, while I couldn't say that the situation had gotten any better, I myself had.

Now that I was able to clearly distinguish what I could and couldn't do anything about, I was also able to let go of those things which I couldn't change.

That father of mine and his daughter, those people who were too stubborn to change their opinions, those who made no effort to change their own surroundings. Once I became able to clearly see those things and how they connected with me, I learned how to ignore the ones that didn't matter, to not let my self be swayed by the things which didn't matter.

And what did matter?

If I had to chose only one thing, then it would be Rena.

No, even if I didn't, Rena would be the first. After that would be my dignity.

My pride, such a thing no longer mattered. With my interest in the man who I had spent so long looking up to being shattered, my pride of being the daughter of the Anjou house was gone.

It was a good thing too, as my father had decided upon my engagement partner.

My fiance was the first son of the Duke of Normandy.

It was quite a step up from the family of a count, but it was also a solid, unmoving confirmation of that man's feelings towards me. Having the eldest child of his marry outside of the family, his priorities were clear to anyone.

With this, I can avoid even looking at those who never bothered to look at me.

"Leave me to myself."

Everything was finished. The servants' duties were all done. All the preparations have ended.

There was only time left to wait.

If that was the case, I wanted to make the most of it, until this farce starts for the rest of my life.

I was left alone in this room. This room that was so white it made my eyes hurt.

All alone, with my other half.

For she knew, that any order I made to be left alone, meant to be left alone with her.

I was finally eighteen, the minimum age to be wed, and the day I turned such an age, I was to be wed to my fiance.

But such a thing didn't matter.

He wasn't the one that reflected in my eyes.

Marrying him was duty, and he understood that as well, though perhaps not as well as I did.

I turned to my shadow, the one who would stay by my side no matter what.

As if an affirmation of the fact that she was four months older than myself, my eyes rose up to meet hers.

"Before...before this happens...could you...affirm your vow to me?"

As if expecting for me to ask her that, Rena gave me a gentle smile as she always would.

"I, Rena, vow to always be by your side to serve you with all of my life, Lady Florence."

My maid, my other half, closed her eyes and bowed slightly as to avoid hitting my forehead who stood close enough to feel her breath on my cheeks.

"And I, Florence of house Anjou, vow to hold you in my heart until it can no longer beat."

Rena's eyes shot open when she heard me recite the wedding vow not to my fiance, but to my maid right before I lightly pressed my lips upon hers.

My face burned as if kissed by the sun itself as I took a step back and separated.

No, in fact I had kissed the sun. My sun.

As expected, not even my ever reliable maid could have expected such an act.

Then it was my turn to shoot my eyes wide open.

But my eyes slowly closed as the surprise faded and rapture filled my whole being as warmth spread from my lips.

All too soon, there was a knocking on the door.

There was supposed to be twenty minutes left, yet interlopers had already come.

Our lips separated, the feeling akin to ripping half of myself off.

Rena checked my appearances, and once she confirmed that everything was in place, she opened the door.

A servant had come to tell me that it was time.

I followed after her, but as I passed my other half I whispered one more thing into her ear.

"Even if god won't recognize it, my heart is yours forever."

"And mine yours."