Page XXXV - Your Highness [ＩＩＩ]

"Run away milady." Fern was sweating buckets. She knew everything she's saying and is about to say will either lead to her being fired or being punished by Celaine's father. But she still continued on despite her knowing all of this. "Nerivilya Academy, I know you'll stay there for about three years or more. Please milady, find someone. A mentor, a friend or a lover. And I'd want for you to run away with them. All these years, I've been loyal to your mother. But never to your father. And I will be loyal to you. Wherever you will go. I've saved up a lot of money over the years. Too much for m to spend. That's why I'm speaking not as your aide. But a friend of your mother."

"Fern... I-" Victoria didn't continue her words. But just let out a stream of tears. Deep inside her, she wanted to hear those words.

'Run Away.'

She wanted to. Desperately. But has never the courage to do that. Under the tyrant of her father, he'll just punish those who are close to her.

Fern, the maids, the butlers and anyone who has even a connection to Victoria or her mother.

That man doesn't see humans.

He sees the gold holding within them.

And he sees Victoria as a pebble.

And his child a gigantic diamond.

The one who brings in the money.

Past, present, future. That child will bring fortune to his business. That's all he ever tried to pursue. Not to earn a lot of money. But to have a higher position on society. A mayor? That's his goal. And after that, the presidency of the country.

Absolute control. That's his father want and has desperately want.

And Victoria being born a woman was out of his control. In that rage, he discarded her and his wife.

Victoria's tears and the weight she carries was to heavy for her to be carried by herself. Fern knew that. And that's why she's pushing her to find someone. Anyone that she could trust. So that Victoria can share the burden she's carrying.

But for the time being... "I will carry even a fraction of your worries milady." Fern reached in to hug Victoria. The only way she knew and could do to comfort her broken soul for the time being.

Within these newfound goals and dreams that she needs to do. She became even more fiercer.

If she was using 100% of everything on everything she did, she'd exert 200%.

She became a new person. A woman who only moves forward.

~~***~~

"Foolish... foolish indeed. I have been here for two years but whenever my name is mentioned, my father is suddenly brought up. Erina and Calista where the ones whom I've trusted with everything. But not enough for me to tell everything." Victoria even though a celebrity at the Nerivilya Academy, always gets compared to her brother or her father.

People have desperately tried to talk with her. But all she heard were the same words.

'Business.'

Even in the eyes of many, Victoria is just a stepping stone to even get near her father.

Victoria went in a fetal position as she rested her head on her knees. "He never looked at me as the same as others. He looked at me for what I am. He never asked about my father and his business... He's different. Far different than others..." She then let out a smile and a single tear. "Oh how I've longed for someone to look at me like that."