Chapter 2, Episode 2: The Beginning of Everything

"Child of the Cursed Blood."

"Your presence is a curse on our family."

"Filthy child of a foolish bloodline who defied the Holy Tree."

　When she was a child, Claire was often told this by her younger sister Viola and her stepmother.
　Claire was the illegitimate child of a concubine born into a baron's family.　
　Her mother was a dancer from a foreign land who was spotted by her father, and forced to become his concubine, thus Claire was born.
　Her mother died when Claire was 10 years old, leaving her alone.
　She was taken in by her father, only to find there was no place for her in there as there was Viola, her half-sister, and her stepmother, her father's legal wife. Her sister was a pretty girl with red hair, while Claire was a plain-looking girl with brown hair.
　There, Claire was treated coldly, which was not expected of a child of the nobility.
　According to her stepmother, Claire was a descendant of a family that had harmed the sacred tree.
　Of course, she did not believe such a story.
　According to the Bible, the foolish heathens who challenged the sacred tree with a forbidden curse in order to obtain its power were destroyed by the tree.
　There can be no descendants.
　The only reason why she was subjected to such unspoken abuse was because she was from that area.
　She was abused, and while both parents adored her sister Viola, the concubine's child Claire was like a slave.
　Although Claire was the daughter of a nobleman, she was treated almost like a servant and kept a prisoner in the nobleman's house.

　But at the age of 11.

"Girl, what's your name? "

　She accidentally met Alberto at a high society ball that she was forced to attend.
　He was the third son of a Count family, which had a higher status than Claire's family. A handsome young man with blond hair.
　Claire fell in love with him and started dating Alberto.
　Alberto, a member of a Count's family, took a liking to Claire, so her father and stepmother could not be indifferent and began to treat her as an ordinary child of the aristocracy.
　
　When Claire and Alberto turned 15 years old.
　Alberto was going to study on another continent, Tornelia, and they would be separated for a while, but he made many arrangements so that Claire would not be mistreated.
　Claire was put in charge of one of Alberto's stores.
　Thus, Claire left the barony as a lady proprietress.

　Alberto knew that Claire loved to make pastries and bread, so he entrusted his store to her.
　There was a time when she and Alberto did not see each other for a year and a half, but even after he returned, Alberto loved Claire without deserting her.
May this happiness continue forever.

　Please ――May he and I one day get married and live happily ever after―― she prayed.

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