The Crown's Obsession (WN)

"She's here to teach you, Lucy. I don't want your grandmother reprimanding me for not bringing you up correctly. That's the last thing I need to hear from her now," said her mother before looking away and telling, "Your father has brought a person who was born to another woman," there was a hint of embarrassment in the tone of her voice.

"Brother Calhoun?" questioned Lucy, and her mother's eyes turned furious.

"He is no brother of yours! He is not related! I cannot believe your father would bring a boy who belongs to another woman. One who had a bad reputation," said her mother, feeling ashamed.

Lucy pursed her lips, not knowing how to console her mother on this matter. As much as she had tried to turn a blind eye towards a lot of things that happened in the castle, she was still aware of a few things that had come to fall in her ears. Her father had bedded many women before his marriage to his mother. Lucy could only guess that the young man whom her father had presented in the royal court was one of the women he had slept in the past.

"But father is the one who brought him to the castle," said Lucy, and her mother frowned even more, "If it is to secure the throne-"

"I do not like it!" exclaimed her mother, and Lucy was startled. She didn't understand why there was a need to keep fighting who the throne went to because, in the end, it would still stay in the family. "If only I could bear a male child, if only you were born as a male heir," said the woman looking at Lucy.

Lucy bit the inside of her lip. It wasn't her fault that she wasn't born as a male to continue the Hawthrone family name. Though she was born as a healthy and beautiful baby, her family weren't entirely happy because she wasn't born as a boy but a girl.

Her mother seemed like she had forgotten the reason as to why she had come here to the room, and she turned around and left the room.

Lucy gripped her hands on the book she held in her hands, not whispering a word, nor a tear fell from her eyes. Not soon after her mother left, Amice and the elderly maid, Ruby, appeared in the room.

"Did Lady Samara find out?" asked Amice with concern.

Lucy shook her head. The elderly maid looked at the young vampiress and then said to Amice, "Why don't you get a bowl of cold water, Amice?"

"Ah, okay," nodded the girl and left the room.

"I heard what happened in the garden, is your leg still hurting?" asked Ruby, walking towards the foot of the bed, she looked at Lucy's legs that were covered in the blanket and then up at Lucy as if asking for permission.

Lucy nodded her head and Ruby let go of the book that she had been holding until now.

She saw Ruby remove the blanket so that the elderly woman could take a look at both her feet and the woman frowned, "Oh my, your foot appears to be swollen, milady. The bee must have stung too deep."

Lucy herself hadn't expected for her foot to swell. She had hoped it would heal within an hour, but it wasn't so. Not only that, it was also bothersome to be walking with one foot that had swollen making her look like a duck trying to get a proper balance.

"Does it hurt?" asked the elderly maid and Lucy shook her head. It didn't hurt physically but something did hurt in her heart. Why was it that her own blood failed to see the pain she was in, while it was someone who was not part of her family could see her discomfort? Putting a brave face, Lucy said,

"I am alright," she grinned, "It is just a little bee sting, it should be gone by the time I sleep and wake up tomorrow morning."

Ruby offered Lucy a warm smile, something Lucy was used to and found comfort in this large castle that she felt empty. "I am sure it will. The princess is a brave girl, and I know you. How do you think you will be able to walk to join the rest of your family for supper?"

Lucy didn't want to get scolded from her grandmother or from her mother again, "Do you think you could bring the food here? It would be best if I ate here in the room."

"That's understandable. I will get it arranged, you can rest at ease until then," replied Ruby. When Amice returned back to the room with a bowl of cold water in her hands. Ruby placed the bowl on the ground so that Lucy could put her swollen feet inside it to temporarily reduce the pain. "Why do you insist on walking without shoes, Lady Lucy? You never know when you might step into something dangerous."

"I enjoy it," came the simple words from Lucy and Ruby nodded her head as if she had expected that answer.

"If you want to walk barefoot, you should stick inside the castle. The floors are clean and that way you won't get hurt. Look at your beautiful feet," said Ruby rubbing Lucy's ankles to make sure the princess was not uncomfortable because of the bee sting.

Lucy smiled looking down at Ruby, who sat on the ground, "Your son must have been very lucky to have you, Ruby. He must have loved you dearly." Ruby didn't have a family of her own as her husband had died early in their marriage, while her son had died in the war that had been waged between Devon and one of the neighbouring kingdoms. "You really know how to look after a person."

Ruby bowed her head, "It is why I am here, milady. To make sure you are well taken care of."

Ruby had been appointed by Queen Morganna, when Lucy was born. The elderly woman was the one who had looked after Lucy from cleaning her to feeding her, and putting her to bed. Though it was her mother who had given birth to her, to Lucy it was Ruby who had given the warmth and love that her mother failed to give as she didn't realize Lucy needed it.