2 A barren daughter

Amelia first met her father, Viscount Graham Ainsworth, when she was fourteen years old. Her mother had sent a letter on her deathbed informing Graham of Amelia's existence and begging him to take care of her. Her father had obliged and came to get Amelia at the brothel on the day of her mothers passing.

She had been treated faily well at the household at first, at least when taking her status as the bastard daughter of a prostitute into consideration. She was fed, washed and clothed, and even though she was ignored by everyone in the household she was never mistreated. She even got to attend lessons in etiquette to prepare for her upcoming introduction to high society.

That is, until her father and the madam realised that her monthly blood likely would never show. Before that they had figuered that they could marry the bastard off to a wealthy noble despite her lowly origins; she had a decent face afterall. But no noble would want to marry a barren woman no matter how beautiful.

She became a shame to the Ainsworth family.

When she turned seventeen and still hadn't bled, Graham and the madam started debating on how they could make back the money they had spent on raising the worthless bastard. Thanks to her fathers kindness she was allowed to stay in the household instead of being sold off as a prostitute, but she would have to work to maintain that privilege.

She was assinged the work of a maid which in itself wasn't very difficult: it wasn't hard on the body, the servants quarters were maintained faily well and the food she got wasn't all that bad. Life was at least far more comfortable than it had been back when she had to fight for her survival on the streets.

Problems arose when her family started treating her with malice. Their attitude quickly rubbed of on the other servants who wanted to gain favor in the eyes of their employers.

Amelia only got to eat the leftovers from the other maids, causing her to rapidly lose weight. She would be punished harshly by the head maid whenever she made a mistake while working, and sometimes the maids would pour water in her bed so that she would have to sleep on the floor.

The worst harassment came from madam Charlotte Ainsworth, Amelias stepmother, who among other things would make her work for long hours on end in the sun during hot summer days with no rest. One time when Amelia made a mistake while brewing tea the madam had thrown the cup at her feet. Amelias ankles had been left scarred from the flying shards of glass and scolding hot water.

No matter how obviously mistreated she was, her father and brother had always remained indifferent to the abuse. They never cared enough to do anything to stop the harassement. To them she was mearely a leech surviving on their money and kindness.

She meant nothing.

Amelia had always thought that their attitude towards her was the most painful, far worst than the more upfront mistreatment that she faced from others. They were her last living bloodrelatives, her last chance to have a happy family.

But as she witnessed the heads of her family members being severed one by one and rolling on the cold stone floor with their bloodshot eyes wide open, Amelia couldn't help but to smirk. The affection she had felt towards them was long gone.