Please Smile Anastasia

stas

ream echoed through t

er breath, her small hands gripping the folds of her tattered dress. She could he

lways such a handful!" Lourdes grumbled,

she had been caught red-handed, but she didn't regre

cut through the air, soft

o angry again? Did Anastasi

just any chocolate-it was my expensive one! The only piece I had

e you're talking about was actually meant for Anastasia. What ar

t out a bi

saying? We're barely surviving on the pitiful scraps they send us, and we were even sent here with that troublesome child-to this run

Duke had practically discarded them, banishing them t

gnity befitting the daughter of a powerful duke. But reality was cruel. The Duke and the two young masters wanted nothing to do with

family, and a future to look forward to. Anastasia had none of those things. Since birth, not o

e for her to live in luxury-something expected for a young princess of

stay and serve her. What little funds were provided for her care wer

, draped in dust. The ceilings leaked, the furniture was old and patched up. It was nothing more

irm. "It's not right to speak like that, especially where the

r, simply scoff

ends up like us? Her own family doesn't even treat her as a princess or a member of the Winston family,

ough the corridor. But before she could take another s

rincess another chance. There are only a few of us left to take

d, she yanked her arm free from

use I thought I'd get closer to the Duke. But Duke Winston is a heartless man! That man doesn't even care about his own chil

ding there helplessly. All she could do was watch

e stockroom, where she spotted a pair of small, dirt-stre

n bubbling in her chest. Lourdes' harsh words still lingered in

xed her expression and forced

k-a-

nd eyes widening like a startled kitten. But just as quickly as the shock appeared, it

t s

ths, even if the castle was falling apart, even if Anastasia was nothing but an abandon

ly faded as she finally to

cheeks, her nose, even the tip of her chin. It

t and giving Anastasia a stern look. "

her, innocence practic

ny times do I have to tell you not to

enly lunged forward, wrapping her small

! You're the best in the whole

g around her. Her warmth and the way her platinum hair brushed against Lucy's arm ma

ing just now?" Lucy

gorously. Then, with a determined expression,

whenever Lourdes raised her voic

a long moment before l

didn't want her to hear or feel the cruel reality of her situation-th

iful. She was treated as if she didn't exist, cast aside by her own family. That was why Lucy re

ruelty or neglect-would ever take away Anastasia's

d some of Lourdes' words. In fact, she had long known and endured the cruel rema

d happy-because she knew that no mat