002 Lily Marshall

"Good Morning Lily," Eden said with a mournful expression, it was once of the rare occasions she would see her little sister.

The brunette was always out with one suitor or the other, going to expensive places for dinners that would make the average person's eyes pop out of their head.

But it was all funded by the company's money and the family fortune could dry up any second. Eden didn't have room to talk she never saw a dime out of the fortune save for the roof over her head and the clothes on her back.

She earned little from creating small trinkets she would sell to her school mates before Lily spread rumors around her and sabotaged any chance she had at a social life.

She couldn't understand what the girl wanted, Lily was already her father's favorite, what more could she want?

"I'll take some breakfast now, I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday," Eden said to the maid who nodded and gave a small smile.

"Since yesterday, hard to believe that one sis. I mean just look at you," Lilly burst into a fit of giggles. "No offense but if I looked like you I wouldn't even try, it would be over for me,"

Eden's eyes fell to the floor at the cruel words, Lily insulted her with sweet tones and no one ever took her side. The only maid who did once was the next day after the rest of the help mysteriously found some of Lily's jewelry in the woman's possession.

Fredrick Marshall would hear nothing of it even though the woman had never, ever entered Lily's room her entire three months of working there.

Eden shrugged, she knew she was big. It was weight gained over a decade of long depression after her mother passed away.

Eden had struggled the hardest with it. Eating to cope until she had just become twice her size.

The maids, not knowing what to do, only continued to give her sweet treats.

She didn't blame them though, but it would take a while to lose it all. Even if she didn't want to be as slender as Lily a normal weight would be nice.

"Ugh, I honestly don't know what Daniel sees in you," Lily said rolling her eyes, she made her way down the steps, and even though Eden gave her room the slender woman made a move to shove her elder sister with her shoulder.

"Oops, on my way out. Some of us have a life," she said with a mocking tone.

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It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders now that her father and sister were no longer in the house. But that also meant Eden had to run it too.

With no one looking over the Marshall estate, it fell to her as the eldest daughter to keep track of things until her father was ready to deal with them.

While having a sensible breakfast of toast, eggs, and bacon with a large cup of tea, Eden read the family ledger kept by the head maid and the sole butler in the estate.

She sat in the large dining hall all by herself as the maids worked to clean all around her. The table was made of a fine dark wood Eden did not know the name of, she touched the table and wondered if she could find some of it to carve a figurine or some toy soldiers.

The chairs were plush, with antique wooden carvings that beautified the old wood. It was passed down through generations of Marshall's by Earnest Marshall the first person to start the Marshall Toys. Eden was proud to be related to such a hard working man, she wondered if he would be proud of her too.

As she bit into her toast she read through the house ledger to see what was missing. Most of the time, workers needed to be paid or food needed to be restocked. It was nothing serious to her at least but she always took the time to read through it.

It wouldn't do for one of the wealthiest families in Meadowlark to embarrass themselves by not having anything in their pantry.

They were missing food from the pantry and would need to restock before the event her father was having.

Eden quickly wrote out the expenses and signed, the erranders would go to the bank and retrieve the money as well as perform the shopping. She read through the wage payments and signed off on those as well.

Eden wondered just how long she would be able to keep up with this, money had been growing tight but Lily refused to slow down on her outrageous purchases.

"We have the money don't we?" Lily would say when Eden begged her to be more considerate.

The blonde shook her head, sighing in exasperation at what she had to deal with. She could only hope for the moment when Lily's All express card would decline at the counter of an expensive store.

Eden smiled at the thought of her sister finally embarrassing herself. For now, she would turn to her administrative work.

The maids smiled at her as she always made sure they were paid on time.

"Oh, I just know the company's profits would skyrocket with Miss Marshall at the helm, look at how easy it is for her to make sure we're all paid on time," one of the maids whispered to another, though Eden could still hear her.

"I know, I've never forgotten when she knitted my son a little playmate, I can barely afford toys and Miss Eden happened to just whip one up, it was like magic?" the other maid replied.

"Did you see the teddy bear she made, oh what I would give to have such a nice keepsake," one of the younger maids said.

"Alright get back to work all of you!" the stern voice of the head maid said to the rest of the workers.

"Yes ma'am," the squeaked all running off in the direction to do some work.