During dinner that evening, Dawn expected them to talk about her and ask how school was but they didn't even pay much attention to her.
"Harry, I heard there was an accident." Mister Anderson asked.
"Yes, but luckily, Lilah didn't get hurt."
"It's good you protected your sister but did you get to the bottom of it?" Mister Anderson asked. "It would be a problem if there was someone targeting our family and most especially Lilah."
"Don't worry. I checked and it had nothing to do with us. In fact, it was actually a blessing in disguise." Harry said, smiling proudly. "I'll discuss the details with you later, Father."
"Very well." Mister Anderson said and then turned to Lilah who was eating slowly and carefully. "Lilah, dear, how are you? Were you scared?"
"Not at all, father. I had brother Harry to take care of me." She said, smiling warmly and her smile warmed their hearts.
"That's good." He said. "Make sure to eat a lot, okay?"
No one was talking to Dawn and Lilah noticed it. She decided to stir the conversation to her for a bit.
"Dawn, how was school?" Lilah asked and this caused Dawn to clench her fork while forcing out a smile.
"It was great. I did well in the exams as well. I think I'm going to make the top of the class again." She said, expecting praise, but it stopped there.
"I'm sure if Lilah could see, she'd do so well in school as well." Patrick said and her father supported it.
"Yes, but it's quite unfortunate."
"I don't think I'd be as smart as Dawn, though." Lilah said but they laughed it off.
"What are you saying? Of course, you'd do better."
They were talking about Lilah again. It got Dawn angry.
She turned to Lilah and a plan came to mind. She couldn't see and just ate whatever they put on her plate, right? She should have a taste of pepper every now and then.
She sneaked pepper inside Lilah's plate while giving her some meat.
"Here, sister. Eat a lot of meat."
Lilah paused for a second and then smiled.
"Thank you, Dawn." She said and used her fork to gently stab the plate till she got the meat in her fork but she didn't just get the meat, she got the pepper as well.
Dawn secretly grinned.
"You need to eat a lot of meat, Sister. It'll help you stay healthy." She said, acting innocent with a friendly tone and Lilah nodded.
"Yes." She said but she was reluctant to put the meat in her mouth. 'With all the attention on me, I doubt she gave me the meat with a good heart.' she thought. 'There must be something in it. But I can't ignore her.'
She decided to just close her mind off and eat it. Whatever it was, she would bear with it.
But just as she was about to eat it, Harry stopped her.
"Wait," he said and Lilah sighed in relief.
"What is it, brother?"
"There's pepper." Harry said with a cold tone and Dawn flinched, feeling she had been caught.
He took the fork from her and then frowned at Dawn.
"Dawn, you know Lilah can't see, so there's no way for her to know if there's something like this on her plate."
"I... I didn't know either." Dawn said, acting innocent.
"You should've been more careful. You should act as Lilah's eyes at times like this so she doesn't get harmed." He said. "If Lilah had eaten the pepper, it would've been bad."
"I... I didn't know." Dawn trembled, her eyes tearing up. "I didn't mean to harm sister in any way." She cried softly, hoping to touch them with her act but they weren't even looking at her anymore.
"Eat this instead, Lilah." Patrick said, taking her plate away and putting an empty plate in front of her, filling it with meat he had cut and some vegetables. "This should be fine."
Lilah nodded.
"Thank you." She said and then turned her head in Dawn's direction. She could not see what she was doing or the expression she had on but she could feel the rage directed towards her.
She could feel Dawn's hostility and this made her sigh.
"I know Dawn didn't mean it." Lilah said. "So please don't be hard on her."
"You're too kind, Lilah," Patrick said, but Lilah shook her head.
No, this was the only thing she could say at a time like this. Besides, it didn't really matter what she said, Dawn would still hate her.
If she stayed quiet, she would hate her, if she said something good so they wouldn't blame her, she would still hate her.
So she decided to just say that to make her family think warmly of her.
'This is fine.' Lilah thought, her head down softly. 'I know this care is just for this period. It will soon come to pass because Dawn... You'll live a happy life once I'm gone. So, for now, just... Let me experience this warmth too.'
Dawn never expected a day to come when she would be the neglected child. And she didn't even know how it happened.
She could only think of the worse like the maids tattling about her plans to her father and brothers.
If not, there was no other way to explain why they were neglecting her.
But she only did those things because everyone hated her so why was she the only one at fault?
They neglected her and wished she would pay for what they did to their mother so she just did whatever she wanted to feel better as well.
Still, even though they found out what she had been doing, it didn't mean they would come to love her all of a sudden. They hated her. They were supposed to neglect both of them, so why were they neglecting only her now?
She watched how they paid so much attention to Lilah at the dining table, how they changed the guest room to her own room, and even had tea with her every afternoon.
They used to have tea with her, Dawn. Only her. So why were they doing this to her now?
No one was on her side. She was alone in the house and it made her so much hateful.
She wanted to get back at Lilah for this but how? There was always someone with her and she was never alone.
'I know, I'll get back at her during the birthday party.' Dawn thought, her eyes hollow and dark from thinking and plotting so much.
She looked like she was going mad.
'I'll be wearing the most fashionable dress, and I'll be the only one to socialize. I can get people to talk bad about her. They'll bully her. Yes, yes. That's the only way I can feel better. Only if everyone scorns that wrench.' she bit her finger and then cackled under her breath.
She'll be humiliated.
Whereas Dawn counted the days to Lilah's humiliation, Lilah counted the days to her death.