Claire opened her eyes. She was in a luxurious bedroom probably the size of her old apartment. To go along with the oversized bedroom was an oversized bed.
Isn't this a little overkill? Well of course I'd think that. I'm used to a twin sized bed, and a card table to eat at.
There was a maid at the front of the room organizing dresser drawers.
What was her name again? Oh yeah Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth, could you come here please," Catherine spoke aloud.
The maid jumped in surprise. She quickly turned around and rushed to the young lady's bed side.
"Oh miss, thank the lord you're finally awake," She exclaimed.
"How long was I out for Elizabeth?" Catherine queried.
Elizabeth was flustered when she first realized that Catherine had regained her senses, but she quickly composed herself and answered the young lady's question in a far more refined manner.
"It's been nearly three and a half days Ma'am." She paused for a moment. "You scared us about half to death, I'm glad you've come out of it."
She stated the last part wearily, she was genuinely worried for Lady Catherine's well being. However, she was all too aware that any kindness shown was returned with scorn.
Catherine looked directly up into her eyes. Elizabeth mentally prepared herself
Here it comes
"Well I'm glad you were here to take care of me through the whole ordeal. Thank you Elizabeth," Catherine said with a smile.
Elizabeth was taken aback. Not only did she refrain from making some kind of snide remark, but she was actually thanking her?
She didn't seem delirious, but she must still be really sick! Elizabeth reached over to check Catherine's forehead. The result shocked her even more.
Maybe slightly warmer than normal, but nothing to really worry about. She certainly wasn't as sick as she had been.
She must still be out of it, I'm sure she'll be back to her old self soon enough.
"Elizabeth?" Catherine said somewhat meekly.
This snapped Elizabeth out her thoughts and she removed her hand from Catherine's head.
"Uh…yes Ma'am?" she replied.
"I feel like some tea would be refreshing. While you're at it, do you think you could also fetch me today's paper?"
"A paper Ma'am?" she asked, confused.
"Yes I would like to catch up on what I've missed for the past few days." Catherine replied, matter of factly.
That was just an excuse. What she was really after was a better idea of the kingdom as a whole. At least on a day to day basis.
Claire also had no idea what year it was meant to be. The game never clarified that point, and Catherine's memories still hadn't fully formed as of yet.
"Of course Ma'am. Tea and a paper right away," the reserved tone was back in full force.
"Thank you Elizabeth, hurry back," She said, smiling again.
Elizabeth hurriedly exited the bedroom leaving Catherine alone in the room. This gave her a chance to ruminate on things. She chuckled to herself.
Seems like I really shocked her a few times there. Guess she wasn't expecting me to be at all pleasant.
Claire's mirth soon faded as she realized the implications of Elizabeth's behavior.
So she was expecting me to be mean to her right off the bat? Even after she's taken care of me for three days.
Unfortunately Catherine had never been discerning with her abuse. In her previous life, Claire had admired the quality when it was directed at those who tried to demean her or get in her way.
But her own servants? They didn't deserve that kind of treatment. Claire had known what it was like to be at the bottom of the totem pole. Suffering for no other reason than just being a convenient target.
Now as Catherine she was feeling an intense sense of guilt. Yes it was true that she didn't technically do those things, but it felt like she did and it was seemingly impossible to remove the emotions from her mind.
It was especially unpleasant to her how she had treated Elizabeth. The rest of the servants hated Catherine at this point, and they couldn't exactly be blamed for feeling that way.
Elizabeth on the other hand, was the only servant that was still in Catherine's corner. Which was surprising as she had the distinct honor of having to put up with Catherine far longer than any of the other servants.
Elizabeth grew up in a very large and very poor family. This meant two things. By the age of eight she was proficient at taking care of young children, and that it was a given she was to be put to work as soon as possible.
In accordance with this goal, Elizabeth's family was able to secure her a very lucrative position (lucrative for a family of laborers at any rate). She would become a maid in training for the Blackwood family at the age of 12.
Due to the unexpected death of Emilia Blackwood that training was put on hiatus. Since Elizabeth had not been properly assigned new duties and had a great deal of experience with child rearing. It was decided she would serve as Catherine's nanny full time.
It was still a group effort to take care of the child of course, but no one would deny that Elizabeth put in the most work.
Still the familial bond that one would have expected to arise from taking care of a young child never did. Doubtless it was because Elizabeth could never truly be an authority figure.
Even being seven years her junior, Catherine was still nobility, and as a commoner Elizabeth was never allowed to properly scold the child for her wrongdoings.
That's where you should have stepped in father dearest. You wouldn't even have to do much. Just come in when I was being naughty, give me a slap on the wrist and be about your day.
Claire paused in her thinking. She realized how surreal it was to be the young Catherine in her memories. While also being outside of them enabling her to understand where all the problems lie.
She then started to feel the pangs of a headache and decided it would be best to move away from thinking deeply about it.
Even when Elizabeth had been treated so poorly by Catherine, she could not help but fall in love with the child. She thought of her as yet another sibling among her many others.
She hoped that maybe Catherine would reciprocate similar feelings one day, but Elizabeth was content to try and make the young noble happy.
Elizabeth never said as much to Catherine, but it was obvious by her actions. Catherine wasn't blind to them either, she just simply disregarded them.
Claire shifted in the bed, sitting up a little she sighed.
Well that's stopping today. Elizabeth is going to get a much needed apology.
As if on cue Elizabeth came in with tea and paper.
"I'm back my lady. I hope the wait wasn't long," She said.
"Oh not long at all, don't worry about it," Catherine replied.
She took the tea from the tray, and sipped some.
"It's lovely, just what I needed," Catherine said warmly.
She set the cup of tea on a night-side table next to the bed. Elizabeth was still clearly uncomfortable with how nice Catherine was being. No doubt she couldn't put the thought out of her mind that there was something seriously wrong with the young noblewoman.
Claire looked at her again. She was going to ask for the paper, but decided she wanted to do something else first.
"Elizabeth, could you fetch me a hand mirror?" She asked.
There was a vanity to the left of the room near the door, but she couldn't see herself in it from the bed. Claire was literally a different person now, and she wanted a better idea of what she looked like.
"Of course Ma'am, I believe there's a hand mirror in the vanity drawer," Elizabeth replied.
She quickly made her way over to the vanity, opened the drawer, and promptly returned, handing the mirror to Catherine.
Now holding the mirror Catherine gazed into it. Her eyes went wide and she let out an audible gasp. This immediately garnered Elizabeth's attention.
"Is everything OK Lady Catherine?" She asked worriedly.
"Oh everything's fine," She lied, "I'm just more worse for wear than I thought."
Well it was true that she looked a little unkempt, Catherine's face honestly looked perfectly fine. As Elizabeth had done a diligent job of keeping the young lady clean over the last few days.
What had actually caused her astonishment was her completely snow white hair.
Have I made a mistake? Am I not actually Catherine? No,I have to be. These memories couldn't possibly belong to anyone else.
The reason for the confusion was that Catherine had jet black hair, in fact all the Blackwoods did. It was a defining trait of the family.
Then it hit her.
Oh yeah there was that big reveal when Catherine got drenched.
What Claire was referring to was a dramatic moment in the game. Catherine was knocked into a body of water in a prank gone wrong, revealing her white hair. The idea behind this was to put the Villainess into a position of vulnerability and shame.
The developers probably thought it would be too on the nose to reveal she actually had buck teeth, or something along those lines. So they opted for something a bit more feasible.
Frankly it was kind of a weak reveal. The average player merely shrugged at the idea. In fact quite a few fans thought the white hair looked really cool.
It probably didn't help that the game didn't do a very good job at explaining why Catherine was deeply ashamed of her natural hair color. It was merely presented as fact and then glossed over.
Claire once again had to wrestle with new (well new to her) memories making their way to the forefront. It seems while she had gotten a basic overview of Catherines life in the midst of the fever, other details were still making themselves known in a piecemeal fashion.
Due to the complicated childbirth Catherine was often very sick. As she grew older, however, her ailments slowly began to lessen before ceasing all together.
One thing that never went away was that her hair lacked any kind of pigment. Resulting in completely white hair. The doctor theorized a lack of nutrients in the womb, but that was just a guess.
The fact that the rest of her immediate family had jet black hair bothered a young Catherine quite a lot.
Play-dates weren't exactly common among nobility, but if Catherine did meet with any other children her age she was often teased relentlessly, only adding to her self consciousness.
Still Catherine was always reassured by her mother that there was nothing to worry about. That her hair was quite beautiful, and that she would grow to appreciate it in time.
Soon though Emilia was no longer there to reassure her daughter. Elizabeth tried to, but her assurances were promptly rejected.
Catherine could not help but view the color of her hair as a reminder of her mother's death. She also assumed her father felt the same way, though he never outright stated his feelings on the matter.
Catherine was desperate to please the Duke as well as herself, and quickly took to having her hair dyed. This is not like the chemical dying that's present in modern society. Instead the desired effect was accomplished through natural ingredients.
It was probably less damaging to your hair follicles, but good lord was it uncomfortable. It's hard to imagine anyone liking the feeling of "gunk" in their hair. On top of that it had the dual effect of being extremely itchy.
Catherine hated it. But her father gave a slight expression of approval, and that was all the motivation she needed to suffer through it.
Claire was beginning to realize how uniquely cruel the reveal of Catherines white hair had been.
I do have to wonder if the game writers even put that much thought into it. How much of this backstory did they even come up with?
Claire was acutely aware that Catherine had far more lore than was ever present in the original game. Did the developer's intentions that never made it into the final product go into forming this world?
Was there a huge game bible lying in some office closet that outlined every intricate deal of all the characters in a generic otome game?
Somehow Claire doubted it. However this world came to be, it's likely all the gaps we're filled in by the force that created it.
Who knows? Maybe this was the real world and Claire had initially been trapped in a game called "Shity Life Simulator."
She finally set the mirror down. She still needed to read the paper which could hopefully help illuminate things. Before she could ask for it though it suddenly occurred to her how tired she was.
I guess the shock of the white hair really took it out of me.
She promised herself she wouldn't sleep, there was a lot to accomplish if she was going to make sense of these jumbled memories.
I'm just going to rest my eyes for a minute or two, and then I'll get to it.
In the next moment Catherine was fast asleep. Elizabeth adjusted her pillows and blankets before taking the mostly un-drunk tea back to the kitchen.