1. The Replacement Bride

There was a lot of ruckus in the Layorn household that day.

Maids were rushing around the corridor in a final spree of cleaning. The butler was fervently checking details and making sure the decorations were in place. The manor had to be immaculate. For today, they would be hosting a guest they couldn't afford to upset

In a room in the farthest corner of the manor, a shabby place where even the servents didn't usually venture, a princess was being refined.

"Make sure her hair looks shiny and lustrous."

"Who did her eyes? They look hideous!"

"The makeup is smudging. Would someone correct that!"

" Doesn't the dress make her look skinnier?"

"Well, even if it does, what are you going to do about it?"

"She's right. After all...."

"The mistress has already dictated everything."

'The maids were hard-working,' Lilian Layorn thought amidst all the pulling, pinching and dusting. 'It's no small feat trying to make a wretch look like an heiress.'

Her ashen lips had been dusted with the softest shade of pink. Her sallow skin looked healthy and whiter than it should be. Her dull brown hair had been once straightened and then curled after an unanimous call. The dark circles under her eyes had been fashioned to pull off a smoky,sexy look.

But in the end,she wondered,did it do enough? Did her dark brown eyes look any less hollow?

Maybe it did, because one of the maids whispered gently in her ear, 'It's done,' and the impromptu ladies in waiting came to her side, ready to escort her to the study.

She wondered how much they had been paid to do so and how much they had paid for the fact to remain anonymous.

She didn't recognise either of the pair's face. She had never been to any formal gatherings. However, she accepted their help in getting up and walked ahead, letting them drag behind her.

Walking in a fancy, bejewelled dress was tough. But she managed not to trip.

She knocked on the ornamental wooden door. The gruff voice of the man who had adopted her rasped an irritated 'Enter.'

As expected, they were both there. And they both had worried scowls on their faces.

"My God, their work hardly had an effect on you," the man's wife spat. "With you looking like this, the Grandmagus would sooner leave our house in offense than agree to marry you."

She furiously bit her nails.

"Why did Cassia decide to run off at this moment. What was she thinking! Was marrying the Grandmagus not enough for her?"

The man, her a morose look-over and curtly said. " You look well enough not to disgrace our name. As long as you keep your eyes down and talk as little as possible, he wouldn't ever notice."

'Notice what?' Lili mused. 'Notice how poorly you've been treating a child you had adopted with the vow of loving and caring for her? Or how the high-born wife he was promised is actually a malnourished commoner masquerading as a lady?'

It didn't matter. They were the ones who should have put more thought on how to raise their foster daughter. She could care less if the Grandmagus killed them for the offense of deceiving him.

But, it would be troublesome if she got killed as well. She had survived through twenty years of hell. She would not die because of some arrogant aristocrat's temper.

Mr Layorn scratched his chin in contemplation.

"Perhaps, we should cast a charm to make you appear healthier, but this is the Grandmagus we're talking about. The less magic involved the better."

They had been giving her hearty meals for about a week or so. Just after her older sister had decided to renounce her family name and run away.

The mister and missus were in quite a bind as they tried to do damage control. They scoured the city for any trace of Cassia Layorn. But her older sister had seemingly disappeared without a trace. She could have gone to the backwater farms in the south to the inhospitable mountains in the north. God forbid she ended up in one of the western islands.

Alondos, their country, was powerful but it's proud Magus families could do nothing to those who sought sanctuary in any of the other sovereign countries.

The marriage of the century, between house Layorn and Isord was in jeopardy.

And that's where Lilian Layorn had come into play. The ten-year old shivering child the Layorns had adopted as a public charity stunt. The child with filthy blood that also had the audacity to be talentless.

At least she was somewhat nice to look at, so they had allowed her to live. But she had to live as if she didn't exist at all, as if the scraps they fed her were more than she deserved, as if being born without an affinity towards magic was her sin and she had to spend every breathing moment paying for it.

Truly, she held no illusion of love for her adoptive parents.

" My daughter...Cassia ...my beautiful daughter...why must this wench take the spot that by all rights should belong to my precious baby..." Mrs. Layorn muttered glaring at Lilian.

'Perhaps, I should have them killed by the Grandmagus after all.'

" We can't let an opportunity to ally ourselves with the chairman of Anchor and the reigning Grandmagus slip by. Even if it means disowning our blood daughter and letting a commoner who can't even practise magic take her place."

Lilian silently congratulated Cassia for making her parents writhe in fury and indignation like this. The thought of commoner blood mixing with the noblest of family lines must be nauseating to them. Not to say, what the Grandmagus might think of such a devious switcheroo scheme.

'What expression would he be wearing? Would he be mad? Or disgusted? Or silently indignant?"

"You," her 'father' finally decided to address her. "Wait here until we call you in. Don't shiver or stutter or else none of us would be alive. The Grandmagus is the most prideful man to ever live in Ersalia, city of nobles. So don't even think of acting impudent in front of him."

Lilian nodded her head. Her 'mother' glared at her again.

"Have you forgotten your manners already, girl?"

'Oh,' Lili thought as she slipped into an awkward curtsey. "

'I'm supposed to be a princess now.'

"I swear not to disappoint you, mother,father."

She could hear them exhale loudly with relief.

'They really think they have me in the palm of their hands.'

She smirked in secret.

Now just was not the optimum time to act. The thought of meeting the Grandmagus face to face was terrifying but she had to brave through it. She would go with their little charade and be the perfect puppet.

But she hoped they didn't expect any attachment from her side.

Because they wouldn't know what hit them.