I grimaced as the strings were pulled taut against my back. I despise corsets, I thought, and I most certainly despise you…The maid continued her work, unaware of my effort to reflect the intense burn of my glare through the mirror.

"Ahh! There you are Miss Renée! Your corset has been put on and now I must hasten to set the table for the guests are coming soon. I trust you can put the gown on yourself?" she asked, quickly dusting the vanity table.

"Yes, yes. Go." I waved her off while attempting to squelch the lovely idea of ripping off the torture device.

Giving me a warning stare as if she knew of my thoughts, the maid scurried out the door. Sighing, I let my hand tug uselessly at the tightly crossed strings that were sure to leave a mark on my back. I trudged towards the deep blue dress that I was required to don for the evening.

I never was quite sure as to why corsets were in the fashion. I would much rather attend wearing just my gown without anything underneath. After all, the gown itself was tight enough. Thankfully, only my flamboyant party dresses required the wearer to lose consciousness by the end of any festive event. My normal dresses, however, were beyond comfortable. Blissfully loose and plain, my everyday clothes would be considered inappropriate by the rest of society for they went quite a bit above my ankles.

Father didn't mind, though. He was often too busy in his office to notice or care much about my appearance and it wasn't as if the maids would concern themselves in reprimanding me when they had work to do. Still, just in case, I had befriended most of the maid population in our home and was working on obtaining the trust of servants in other households as well. It wasn't very difficult to do so, actually, since Father consistently took me out to parties and balls. He felt guilty that we could not spend much time together and, in turn, be as close as we should be. But should we? Just because Mother had died giving birth to me didn't quite thrust me into a constant longing of the approval or attention of my only parent. Rather, it taught me not to take life for granted the way many other aristocrats did.

I had not lost a mother and transformed into a desolate child like the one that the jaded women in church would whisper about. I still had my dignity, my worth, and definitely my potential. The presence of a mother was unneeded in my household. That matter was one of the first I had tackled with my father as soon as I began to comprehend what advice the pitying ladies would whisper to him. I refused to be part of a romantic fairytale setting as in Cinderella. I would not sit there under any stepmother's impudence and pine away for a faceless handsome man to rescue me! That simply would not do! I was always wary of fairytales despite Father's attempt to encourage his only child of indulging in the misleading fantasies.

"We are soon to begin the 1700's, Father. Fairytales happened almost fifty years ago!" I would say, scrunching up my face in annoyance.

"They are still an art!" he would reply defensively. "I just wish for you to have a topic to discuss with the other girls. You know I dislike the gossip young women make a fuss of nowadays."

I would soon afterwards roll my eyes and refrain from giving him a rebuttal that would not only be biting but rather too easy to deliver. He was, after all, my father and being the daughter, I knew too well how sensitive he truly was despite the strong exterior business men and suitors would face when met with Sir Gavin, the sharp yet honest shipbuilder of Eseria. I could not trouble him into emotional distress by informing him that I was rather to indulge in debates than two-faced gossip.

This mellow relationship between my father and I did not require us to work with each other to solve the other's problems. It instead demanded trust and understanding of each other. When Father would sit with his head in his hands, silent tears filling his closed eyes, I would become be aware that he desperately wished to be alone and I would, in turn, take my leave. It was humiliating for a man to suddenly take leave of a client in order to recollect himself in a corner while his daughter silently stood by. I understood that…

So that was why I had made it clear to myself that I was not to cause Father any more stress than I already did. I had to refrain from being a child, for whom else could make up for Father's gullibility? We depended on each other, and I wasn't going to take more than give." Always have others indebted more to you than you are to them". That was my motto. But, unfortunately, I was quite in debt with Father. I had been a burden since I was the cause of Mother's death and it was imperative that I had to make that up to him somehow.

I will, one day, I vowed silently as I gathered my curly mane of dark brown hair into a twisted bun. Securing it with pins, I stared back at myself in the mirror.

I appeared close to perfect. I was gifted with meek luscious locks and heavily lashed amber eyes that were the epitome of a blazing fire. My skin was close to being flawless save for those few bumps on my cheeks, causing me to appear as if I was constantly blushing. And equipped with a killer body that often went unnoticed, I was gorgeous. Just one mistake.

I tapped my lips. That was the only problem. I gave myself a small smile. Ahh, yes…It was horrid, indeed. My teeth were straight and white, but they did not flow well together. I tapped my fingers at the side of my face, lightly gripping my jaw and chin. These were the only undesirable parts of me that people were often dismayed with. My tiny chin and my childlike jaw.

Ever since I was young, my bottom jaw hadn't grown whereas my top jaw was perfectly normal. So, while I gained pearly new adult teeth in one row, I never lost all of my stubborn baby teeth in the bottom row. Smiles, laughs, and even a normal placement of my mouth was beyond the clichéd definition of the word ugly. When I grinned, the bottom teeth would not be present for show. When I gave a lipped smile, the chin refused to allow my bottom lip stick out as it normally should. Even when my mouth was closed and still, my bottom lip would just make itself missed and leave me looking rather deformed in the eyes of the people with ordinary jaws and mouths.

But I liked my unusual lips, even my dreadful smile! I liked that while I could not charm anyone with my disturbing smirks, I could move my bottom jaw in any direction I wished whether it was to the side or forwards or even a little bit backwards. I could even make an array of animal sounds and I excelled in special kinds of squeaks. Needless to say, I was rather proud of this defect of mine. It did help me make my father laugh after a long day of strenuous business, after all.

And even though no one was particularly ignorant of my abnormal mouth, that didn't stop me from having friends, smiling, laughing, and –my favorite one- smirking arrogantly. I didn't care if people saw or insulted me; I was rather intrigued at how others would react than ashamed and scared as I was told I should be.

I was always hilarious and boisterous around friends and often took on the persona of cool and composed person near strangers or unpleasant people. I was an open person to befriend, yet I was rather argumentative and hardheaded once a person got to know me. And, because of that, I never found myself sobbing to God over my shrunken bottom jaw. Instead, I thanked Him. After all, it's a challenge isn't it? I thought. An interesting dilemma, indeed!

Satisfied, I left the room and stepped onto the spiraling staircase. Hopefully this evening would be worth at least the trouble of putting on a corset.

A/N: Hey guys! It's my first story, so please review to criticize me on grammar and idea! I also want to know if I blabbered too much in this chap? I think I did and I hope I didn't bore you! I hate it when authors write and describe a lotta things that don't need to be stressed over so I'm trying to stop myself from doing that. Also I want to know if I skimped on the plot or something since I planned for this first chap to be a bit of background stuff though I clearly didn't get to fit in all the things I wanted to and I don't really have a great outline going on here as to where I want the story to go but still, it's bout time I followed my gut! So, tell me how it is and please include on compliment so I don't totally stress over how much my story sucks! Lol thanks for reading!