To celebrate Chloe’s return to the Sterling family, the kitchen prepared an exquisite French meal. Despite Sebastian’s request for me to teach her dining etiquette before dinner, she still picked up the main course knife and fork when eating the appetizer.
The utensils scraped loudly against the plate, producing a jarring, unpleasant sound. Sebastian frowned, pausing his own movements. He valued etiquette above all else; elegance was his motto. When I was little, I was too weak to hold my utensils steady and occasionally dropped them. He would make me stand in the corner for an hour, holding my knife and fork above my head, no matter how much I cried or begged.
Chloe sensed the shift in atmosphere and cautiously put down the utensils, her eyes welling up.
“I’m sorry. Life was so hard in that other house. I’ve never eaten such good, refined food before. And Blair taught me too fast; I couldn’t keep up. It’s my fault for being so slow…”
My own movements faltered. I quickly apologized. “It’s my mistake. I should have been more patient and thorough in teaching Chloe. I accept my punishment.”
I voluntarily stood up and moved to the corner of the dining room, raising my hands above my head, ready for my punishment. I had expected Chloe to be reprimanded too, but to my surprise, Sebastian said, “Considering this is your first offense, I’ll forgive you this time. But it must not
happen again.”
He picked up his knife and fork again, demonstrating the correct dining etiquette to Chloe, inviting her to learn from him.
I lowered my gaze, watching the scene unfold. It made sense; their long–lost sister, found after eighteen years, deserved some leniency for the hardships she’d endured.
But it was the first time I realized that a first offense could actually be forgiven.
During dinner, Chloe couldn’t help but glance at me several times out of the corner of her eye, eating even more carefully. I knew she couldn’t understand.
Everyone called me the Sterling brothers‘ favorite, their treasured little sister, admired by countless people. But in reality, I was nothing more than a human puppet they held in their hands, playing with me as they pleased.
After dinner, Julian instructed Mr. Henderson, “Starting tomorrow, Chloe’s entire curriculum will follow Blair’s schedule.”
Chloe nodded eagerly, sweetly thanking Julian. She had no idea the crisis that awaited her. She was simply thrilled to be treated as my equal, receiving the same elite education.
The next morning, Chloe was pulled from bed by a maid before five AM to join me for English morning reading. At six o’clock, during morning exercises, the yoga instructor was forcing her into deep stretches, her screams echoing through the hall the entire time. After breakfast, she endured three consecutive academic classes plus a calligraphy lesson, constantly nodding off and slumping in her seat. There was no nap time at noon; she had to study piano, chess, design, and various other skills. The afternoon consisted of two hours of intense physical training, followed immediately by etiquette lessons.
At dinner, I saw her about to beg Julian for mercy, but she swallowed her words under his cold glare. After two more academic classes in the evening, plus time to complete homework, it was already past midnight before she could finally go to bed.
When classes finally ended, I heard Chloe mutter a curse under her breath, grumbling, “Turns out being a rich girl isn’t so great after all.”
I didn’t know what other rich girls were like. But my past eighteen years had been spent almost exactly like this every day, with never more than five hours of sleep. Every time my brothers randomly checked my homework, it was a nightmare. I could never meet their expectations; endless punishments always awaited me.
My brothers always said these high standards were for my own good, to make me an even better person. Whether I became ‘better‘ or not, I didn’t know. After all, this was just the person they wanted me to be.
