How to Stay a Side Character.
For once, you are a TRUE side character.
You can’t say for absolute sure as you have NO idea what story you’re in but it’s got all the feel and vibe of a light novel and, unless you do something to change it, you, as the oldest and only legitimate daughter of a noble, mage line family, are due to be married off profitably. You’re actually looking forward to it as it's a way out of the family and, more importantly, away from the house and its messes and drama.
You just want a quiet life…
At the same time, you can’t ignore the poor illegitimate kid who’s locked up in the attic.
You KNOW they aren’t treating her right… but, you don’t want to draw attention to yourself or cause trouble, and protesting about your tiny half-sister’s treatment very much would.
You don’t want her latching onto you either.
It might be cowardly but you DON'T WANT TROUBLE.
When you can, you sneak her books, dry foods that store well, water, blankets… none of it’s flashy or of great quality but you’re taking things that, hopefully, won’t be missed and that your small sister can hide them if she needs to.
You told her the first time you dropped something off, the door between you, that you were sorry and you will try, but you can’t go against father… or something worse than what is being done to her will likely happen to you.
Right now, your match is arranged with a perfectly agreeable guy who you think you could come to love… but if you anger Father, who knows who you’ll be matched with? You can’t risk it. You're sorry that you are such a coward but you just... CAN'T!
The best you can do, when the kid is six or seven, is ask your father if the thing in the attic can even read or write… and isn’t it shameful for any of his bloody to be peasant ignorant?
How can they trade her or marry her off if she can’t read or write and doesn’t know her manners? The family should at least get SOME use out of her. She’d make a decent offering for someone’s concubine at the least.
Your father, in his usual manner, decides that you may have a point but he’s not admitting it and, if you’re so worried about it, YOU can teach her.
You aren’t happy, but you’ll take it.
You had checked the attic and made sure she had the basics, bed, desk for studying, wash jug, and basin. Blankets… you are quite annoyed to find the child didn’t have shoes or socks and had only a ragged smock for clothing. That’s truly pathetic. Necessities are slowly added.
You take snacks with you when you teach and have a small meal sent up.
You warn her not to get attached. It’s Father’s order that she be taught so as not to shame the family further…
You remain stern and firm... but the snacks are often left behind along with other small tokens that won't be missed.
You are to be married when you turn sixteen and you are seven years her senior. Unless the marriage is delayed for some reason, you’ll have a few very short years to teach her. It's a good thing your far too small sister is bright and determined. She learns easily and quickly.
The manners part was the hardest bit.
The girl had been raised in complete isolation and ignorance. She didn’t understand the whys for most of it, which, fair. Most of these ‘rules’ didn’t make sense.
You told her to learn them anyway or be punished.
You couldn’t be too soft with her as you would be judged on her behavior.
Finding the perfect balance of fearfully stern, ‘doing my duty so I also won’t get punished’ so she didn’t get attached, and sneaking in small kind gestures so she didn’t completely hate you was hard. You don’t want complications and you want to rest this life, but at the same time, you aren’t willing to completely screw over an innocent kid. It isn’t HER fault your father couldn’t keep it in his pants…
You didn’t interfere directly when the maids mistreated her but snuck her what you could later on.
If you let her occasionally overhear mutters of ‘How could they treat a child like this?’ and ‘If my husband were to bring one home, I’d make HIM pay… not an innocent child,’ ‘and that you HATED this family!’, then that was fine right? Because that was how you genuinely felt. You just didn’t want the girl getting attached to or reliant on you.
You made it clear that you couldn’t act in the open and she was best relying on herself… You did help her learn whatever she wanted though because she was probably going to need it for whenever she made her break.
The child, a pretty little thing with white hair and crimson eyes, joined her first family dinner at twelve… and it was also then that the missive for a mage of your family to be sent to the North to support the lines there against the monster hoards came.
Your shit of a little brother volunteered your sister for it and you’ve never wanted to hit anyone so much in your life. The girl is fucking TWELVE.
You slip her some Magic books for the journey and hope it will be enough.
You’ve no doubt that one way or another, that tiny brat will be back to rip this ‘family’ to pieces and hope to be out of the line of fire by then.
Collateral damage is NEVER been an ambition of yours.
She does not attempt to contact you for which you are grateful and your marriage goes smoothly. The youngest sister is NOT contacted or invited.
Later, you watch from a distance as the Lord she was sent to serve under takes her as his adopted daughter and the bio family is disgraced and ruined and consider it a job well done.
You’d raise a glass in her direction but you are pregnant with your second child and anything alcoholic has you grabbing a bucket.
You've done it.