I Raised Cinderella Preciously

Chapter 2- I’m in the stepmother’s body (2)

“Could you take the plate out.”

I talked to Cinderella while washing my hands at the sink. The girl with sparkling blonde hair and blue eyes answered, “Yes.” And reached into the cupboard.

Mildred hated this girl. Anyone would understand if they were in her position. She was courted by who she thought was a rich and handsome man and was tempted to marry since she had to raise her two daughters by herself. But when they married, not only did she found he was not rich, he was also a bastard with a failing business.

Then he left and disappeared saying he would take half of Mildred’s wealth to do business.

Mildred was a rich woman. She had never even washed underwear with her own hands. But living with Fred made her life difficult.

But Fred was dead, and there was Fred’s daughter in front of her. Unlike her daughters, who are not very pretty because they look like their father, Fred’s daughter looked like the handsome Fred and her mother, so she was very beautiful. Standing side-by-side, even Mildred’s eyes can see the difference and looking at others, the difference is even bigger.

Even if she didn’t have a pretty child, because of the father, she will still have to raise her up until she would be married off. It is understandable why the stepmother hated Cinderella.

Now you know that I’m in the story of Cinderella.

“Clack!”

Just then, along with the sudden loud noise, Cinderella shrieked in her small voice. What was that? I turned my head in surprise and sighed when I looked at the floor and found a broken plate.

Yes. This was one of the things Mildred hated. Ashley, aka Cinderella, was a bit clumsy and an airhead.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Mother!”

But it’s all good.

Ashley was startled and turned to clean the broken plate. She then knocked off the plate that was just taken out, with her elbow.

Clang!

The game has begun. A bunch of plates were broken again, I put my hand on my forehead and sighed.

I’m not Mildred. I understood her hatred of Ashley but that didn’t mean she was right. Ashley is only seventeen years-old, ten years apart from my original age.

Mildred is twenty years older.

You can hate the child who is ten years younger, but you do not have to deliberately treat her like a maid.

“Wait, Wait, Wait”

I stopped Ashley from trying to touch the broken plate with her bare hands. It is likely that her fingers will get cut while cleaning, because of the clumsiness of this child.

It would be difficult if this changes into Sleeping Beauty rather than Cinderella. Then she’ll have to sleep for a hundred years. I don’t hate Cinderella, and once she marries the prince, I want to go somewhere else and live in peace.

“Iris! Lily!”

“Mother, What’s the matter-…”

Hearing the broken plate and my call, Iris ran into the kitchen. She quickly understood the situation and ran back. I pulled Ashley away from the broken shards of the plate as far as I could.

“You’re Cinderella, not Sleeping Beauty”

“Eh, What?”

“Nothing.”

Iris returned quickly with the broom.

“I- I’ll do…”

“No, Don’t. You go clean up and prepare the table.”

Ashley said she wanted to do it, but I sent her back to the dining room. It’s not that I’m worried about Ashley. It’s because I don’t like her working.

Meanwhile, Iris swept the kitchen. Not long after, Lily, who had been at my side, brought a dustpan and helped her clean the shards. But there was something more urgent than that. I carried the food I had prepared to the dining room.

“Mother”

As I carried the freshly baked bread and ham to the dining room, Ashley came in and called me. Didn’t I tell you to clean up the table?

When I saw the table, there were no utensils nor plates laid out. What was this? As I looked at her in disbelief, Ashley ran to me in excitement that I wondered if she couldn’t see my expression.

“We have a guest!”

“Guest?”

Someone must have knocked on the door. Of course, a knock on the door can’t be heard in the kitchen of this unnecessarily large house.

“It’s from the castle!”

Ashley’s voice was high with excitement. Hearing this, Iris and Lily, who were cleaning the kitchen also ran out.

“Who’s here?” Lily asked.

She must have heard that they came from the castle.

Why were people from the castle here? Mildred was a lady from a noble family, but when she married Barnes, she became distant to the aristocratic society. It was because Barnes was not a nobleman.

There’s no reason for someone from the castle to come to this house- Wait.

My gaze turned to Ashley. This is Cinderella. And Cinderella attends a ball at the castle and leaves her glass slipper behind.

“I’ll get the door”

I took off my apron and left the dining room. I heard the children sneaking behind me, but I pretended not to notice.

The man from the castle stood outside the wide-open front door. It’s really from the castle. Even if Ashley hadn’t said it was from the castle, I definitely would have known it was from there.

The outfit he wore was of someone working from the castle. This was not from my memory, It was Mildred’s.

“Are you from the castle?”

I stepped out the door and asked. The man, who was looking at the exterior of the house, was startled by my voice, looked at me. He straightened his posture and said

“I am from the castle. Is Mrs. Barnes available?”

I’m Mrs. Barnes. I smoothly stepped aside the door and answered the man

“I’m Mrs. Barnes. Would you like to come in?”

“Mrs. Barnes?”

A surprised look flashed on man’s face. Hmm… Mildred looks younger than her age. She’s a beautiful woman. However, it wasn’t polite to openly look so surprised.

That was what Mildred remembered.

Fortunately, the man gave a caught himself and replied

“No. I was ordered to only deliver the letter.”

He then took a letter from the bag he was carrying on his shoulder. When I took a peak at the gap, I found that there were a bunch of letters and it wasn’t just me he was delivering to.

“Well, that’s it”

Huh? Was that it? While I was staring at the wax seal on the letter, the man greeted me and withdrew. A short distance away from the house, I saw a man riding on a horse. Huh. I watched him leave on the horse and turned back.

“Why was he here?”

“What’s going on?”

When I entered the house, Iris and Lily were together. Ashley also looked curious but was hesitating nearby to follow Iris and Lily.

Seeing something like this in front of me, makes me feel helpless.

“I’ll see you in the dining room”

I went back to dining room with the children. The food I prepared was still there. Bread and some ham. Also a salad.

Knowing the children were curious, I sat down and began to slice and distribute the bread. This world also sells bread. I didn’t really have to make it, but kneading the bread is good for stress.

Besides, modern people like me who are addicted to the internet need something to play[1] with their hands.

“Mother, open up the letter, ne?”

In the end, Lily, who couldn’t stand it anymore, pleaded.

Even Iris was staring at me with longing eyes. Only after looking at Ashley, did I sigh and open the envelope.

In the past, a maid or a butler would have prepared a paper knife to open the letter but when Fred went missing and the hope of him coming back faded, Mildred fired all the servants and began treating Ashley like a maid.

That happened at the end of last year, and it has been about half a year since Ashley started working like a maid.

“It’s from the castle”

After opening the envelope and unfolding the letter, the elegant script[2] greeted me. Being able to read the letter is proof that Mildred was of noble birth.

Reading and writing script was one of the basics taught to children of aristocratic families. Or to those rich people who want to get involved in the aristocratic circle.

So Mildred was proud in being able to read script. Moreover, Ashley was not taught the script.

This was not Mildred’s fault. Iris and Lily learned it when they were young as children under Baron Rivera’s household. But it might be a good idea to teach Ashley too. After all, she will marry the prince and become queen.

I read the letter quickly, thinking that I would have to teach Ashley script too, sooner or later.

It said the children of our house are invited to attend a ball to be held at the castle. At the end of the letter, the names of us four are written down.

As I lifted my head, I could see the children staring at me with sparkling eyes. This is complicated. Trying to not let it show on my face, I spoke

“We’re invited to a ball at the castle.”

“Really?”

“When will it be held?”

Two months later, Mildred’s experience will shed light to a famous clothing store downtown in the city.

Unlike the three excited children, I felt a little unhappy. I felt like I have confirmed that this was really the world of Cinderella. And in Cinderella, the stepmother and stepsisters didn’t have a good ending.

“We are going, right, mother?”

Lily asked in excitement. Of course, we’re going. But we don’t know what will happen to Ashley. Even if she can’t go, a fairy godmother will show up to let her go.

I put down the letter and said shakily

“The four of us are going”

“Four?”

Iris’ eyes widened and Lily’s gaze turned to Ashley. Ashley, too, had a surprised look on her face knowing that she would also be going.

I picked up the bread on my plate and spoke gently

“We’ll all go. The invitation also includes Ashley’s name.”

“But…”

Lily opened her mouth and was trying to say something but soon flinched and stopped. Iris must have kicked her shin under the table. I saw Lily glaring at Iris.

I ignored Lily and Iris arguing at each other with their eyes and asked Ashley.

“Ashley, do you have a dress?”

Obviously, since this is Cinderella, she will have a fairy godmother make it for her. But if I had a dress made for myself, Iris and Lily and don’t make one for her, it would be a bit weird.

Understandably, Ashley shook her head.

“No, I don’t”

“Then I’ll have to go to the dress shop tomorrow”

“To have a dress made?”

Lily asked quickly, as if I would run. Going shopping for clothes always feels good. Back in my original world, my shopping cart[3] was packed with 500,000 won worth of clothes.

Of course, I just put it in the basket and did not buy it. Why? Money! Money! Because of Money!

“I think I’ll have to buy cloth and make it myself”

I remembered how much fortune Mildred had left in my head. She mostly only had some pieces of jewelry and not much cash. So, all the servants were fired.

The jewelry would make a lot of money if sold but Mildred could not sell it. As she was born and raised under the house of Earl Murphy, those were accessories her parents had given her. The others were wedding gifts from Baron Rivera.

I guess one day, when Iris and Lily got married, she planned for it to be a dowry.

The jewelries and wedding gifts she got from Fred were already sold off and taken by Fred for his business.

I’m going to have to raise a middle finger to Fred before I sleep.

And there’s this one small building. The rent of the four families living there was enough to support their household’s expenses although the constructor of the building, who lives on the top, was the one managing it.[4]

I feel a bit strange. Originally, I was an office (contract) worker and rented a place to live. My biggest goal and dream were to have my own house.

But Mildred lives in such a huge mansion and even has a small building. If she lives frugally then she won’t need to worry about money for life. But, was she happier than me?

[1] Raw: 뭉개고 literally means crush but she’s saying something that they always needed something to fumble their hands with.

[2] Cursive Handwriting— the olden fancy shmancy way.

[3] Online shopping, most likely.

[4] Raw: 그리고 작은 건물이 하나 있다. 거 기서 나오는 세로 네 가족의 생활비 정도는 댈 수 있는 수준이지만 어쨌 든 조물주 위에 있다는 건물주다. I’m not sure what this actually means so any help would be good.