The familiar names

No matter how hard she tried to think, she wasn't able to exactly pinpoint it. But the sense of familiarity did not allow her to have a peace of mind unless she confirmed it.

Creases appeared between both of eyebrows while she pulled her lips into a thin line, trying her hardest to recall. In the eyes of others, this expression of hers looked endearing.

"What are you thinking so intently, Lady Seraphine?" the maid asked while her eyes were filled with adoration towards the small child.

"What's your name?" Seraphine asked— her voice being little incoherent.

"Lady Seraphine, did you forget my name again? It's Betty," the maid voiced out, "Lord Lyle and Lord Clayton was looking for you to play with them earlier. Let's go to them."

All those names caused something to click within her.

The name of a certain novel came inside of her mind— The Lady's Possessive Prince— and thinking about it, she found it funny how she had to dream about the novel now.

The novel was quite popular amongst her workmates, and the reason she took interest in it was because of how the female lead had the same name to her— 'Seraphine'. 

Reading it, Seraphine got to learn how it took place in the western historical setting, and the era wasn't quite clear to her. The story centered around the female lead, 'Seraphine'.

Like all the female lead, 'Seraphine' was kind and well-liked by most around her, and throughout the story, she gained love of more people. 

In order to achieve the things she liked, she worked hard, and being the perfect example of a good female lead, there was difficult to find anything to hate in her.

But she thought otherwise. In her eyes, 'Seraphine' was too weak and pathetic. Although she had a lot of good qualities, it was for the sake of helping others most of the time, and that was what made Seraphine to feel angered.

The flaw of the story was to have such a selfless character. It wasn't realistically possible to have such a person. Then again, since this was merely a story, it was possible.

However, it wasn't this that managed to anger Seraphine that much. The main problem to this was that the 'Seraphine' was that she was so docile and a prime example of a masochist.

Her brothers, Lyle and Clayton Vougeious, played various kinds of pranks on her and ordered her around from the young age. Despite all of that, she was never enraged towards her siblings, and at a small action from them, she would be pathetically touched.

If it was Seraphine, she would have knocked senses into both the brats from a young age, so that she wouldn't have to deal with their lack of manners. It would only take a few punches from her to make that happen.

Other than her older brothers, 'Seraphine' also had a brother, who was younger than her by almost a year, Eugene. Since the female lead was a prime example of a masochist, that brother of her was more or less of a sadist as well.

Unlike the other two, he didn't bother her. For the most part, acting her part as a female lead, it was 'Seraphine' who bothered her brother into things and wanted to build up a relationship with the aloof child.

In this case, Seraphine believed that the female lead was being too annoying. If someone wasn't willing to come out of their shell, they shouldn't be forced to leave their comfort zone.

No wonder the third brother, Eugene, was seriously pissed off at female lead at times. 

However, as cliché as it could get, this aloof brother of hers was touched by her relentless efforts, and at the end of the story, he became more warmer to her. 

Although seeing that was a huge accomplishment to 'Seraphine', Seraphine found the progress to be still unsatisfactory.

°°°

Without her knowledge, as she was in deep thought, Seraphine was brought to the play room, where both Lyle and Clayton was waiting for her.

"We are here, Lady Seraphine," Betty spoke out.

At her words, Seraphine raised her head to look at the maid before turning her gaze towards the room. Her eyes instantly fell on to the two small boys before her.

At the age of merely seven, their oldest brother, Lyle, had an outstanding presence. From one glance at him, one would easily be able to guess how he was from an influential family.

His dark blue hair was styled neatly as he was dressed in a white shirt and blue dress pants. Those blue eyes of his held serenity to them.

His styling was immaculate and a vibe of maturity to it, which was to be expected seeing how he was the oldest son.

As for the other one, Clayton had blond hair like Seraphine, and mischief was visible in those green eyes of his. His hair was styled messily, giving him a wild look at the age of six.

His shirt was pulled to his elbow, and seeing how dirty it was, it seemed that he had gotten into trouble again.

Unlike the first brother, second brother's personality was much harder to control, and he loved to get into fights regularly for barely any reasons. Coupled with his arrogant personality, Seraphine absolutely hated this kind of person.

While Seraphine was assessing both of the boys before her, her maid placed her down and carefully put the shoes on both of her feet. 

Clayton was the first one to take step towards her. Seeing that playful look in his eyes made her sure that the man was up to no good. Both of her eyes glared at him strongly, hoping that it would be scaring him.

However, not only did he seem affected by it, he moved his hand closer to her and pinched on the tip of her nose. This caused more creases to form between both of her eyebrows.

"What are you trying to do to your face? You already are ugly enough," he said as chuckles continued to leave his mouth.

She let out a heave of breath.

Seeing that it was the first day, she was going to leave this jerk alone. But it seemed that one would not improve if they were not taught from a young age.

"Please let go of my nose," she said, "Or else it will turn as unflattering as yours."

She did not think that this much of harsh words would be astonishing. Having met a fair share of toddlers in her life, she knew that they could be much more blunt and rude than this.

Nonetheless, the shock was evident on everyone's face in the room with some managing to hide them better than the others; Lyle was an example of that.

This was to be expected for this was the first time the young lady spoke out against Clayton, and it didn't seem that she was fearful as well. 

Although strange, it seemed that the girl was angry and staring intensely at the boy. However, such an expression on the toddler was quite adorable, instead of frightening.

All of the maids present there had their heart swell up due to how cute the girl was. Some tried their best to hide in their squeals.

The strongest reaction was shown by Clayton, and her words led the boy to move his target to her cheeks. His pinching caused sharp pain to go through her cheeks— something she detested.

One thing the girl was aware of that she couldn't use her strength on him for she was much smaller and weaker than the man. Obviously she would be in the disadvantageous side.

"Aren't you disgusted at yourself for abusing child?" she questioned. "You better change your ways before you turn into a violent monster in the future."