Candy Candy manga is written by Kyoko Mizuki, Yumiko Igarashi.
Avatar is drawn by Elsa, colored by Lucy.
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CHAPTER 1: How It All Started
Candy, a blonde cute little girl, was busy scrubbing the floor in one living room in the Leagan mansion. She had been doing it for hours. Now, the job was almost done, in a few minutes she'd finish. Her arms were stiff, her hands were hurting, and her stomach was hungry but knowing lunch break would come soon, motivatedly she scrubbed a little harder. She planned to take a walk outside after lunch. Who knows she could meet Anthony and his cousins.
Suddenly, the door slammed opened and she saw Neal and Elisa enter with shoes covered by mud. They laughed devilishly and deliberately walked around the room to make the floor covered by mud. In seconds, hours of her hard work became futile and the floor was dirtier than before she started.
"Mom! Mom!" They yelled and soon ran outside the room, giggled evilly.
Hearing her children call her, Mrs. Leagan entered the living room. She was stunt to see mud all over the floor. Needless to say, she was fuming.
Mrs. Leagan yelled, "Candy! You've been here for hours but look at the floor. What have you been doing?"
Mrs. Leagan rattled trains of hurting words which Candy didn't bother to listen. Knowing there's no use to explain the truth, Candy stayed silent. She felt so desperate, she felt tired already and now she had to skip lunch to redo her job.
A few hours later, finally, she's done re-mobbing the floor. She left the living room and saw Neal and Elisa were looking at her and laughing at her from the far. That did it. As soon as she entered the resting room and closed the door, she just cried to vent all off. Other servants sympathetically listened to her ordeal and tried to comfort the poor little girl as much as they could, but nothing could make her stop crying.
"Take the bright side, Candy dear," said Mary the cook. "You're a beautiful little girl with a golden heart. Who knows one day master Neal would notice that and fall in love with you. He'd regret how bad he was to you, marry you, and treat you much better than anyone else."
Candy stopped crying right away.
"Phew!" she said. "No way! I hate him ! I hate him! I hate him!"
"Love or hate... Our destiny... It's not something for us to decide, dear."
Candy was about to protest but Mary cut her
"I am an old woman, I know more than you," Mary said gently. "Don't cry anymore. Come with me to the kitchen, we baked a delicious cake just now, your favorite. I saved a a piece for you."
Just like any other children, knowing she'll get her favorite cake, Candy forgot about her life problems right away and with a bright smile she followed Mary to the kitchen. Other servants could only watch her with deep sympathy.
She ate her slice of cake happily. And as usual, since the dining table in the servant resting area was too high for her petite body, she had to sit on her little stool to eat. She's tired and hungry. Without bothering to change her clothes and properly wash her hands, she ate heartily on her little stool. It's a touching scene for everyone to see.
After a hearty lunch, Candy felt better and took a walk outside hoping to meet Anthony. She saw him coming from the far with roses in his hands.
"Candy, the Brightons are here. Aunt Elroy wants me to accompany them but I sneaked out to see you," said Anthony with his most enchanted smile. "Look, these roses just bloomed today, I picked them for you."
"Beautiful, Anthony," said Candy. In fact, to her anything from Anthony was superb.
"Bye Candy," he kissed her cheek lightly and ran back to he mansion.
Anthony, I love you, thought Candy, one or two drops of tears trickled on her face. She laughed thinking what Mary told her today. Anthony, I want to marry you when I grow up. Definitely you, you, you! Not Neal! She made faces and stuck her tongue out.
She stood until the boy's shadow disappeared and turned around to go back to the Leagan mansion.
Archie who had been looking for Candy finally found her.
"Candy!" called Archie.
She's alone. This is rare, Archie thought joyously.
"What happened to your hand?" asked Archie worriedly. His sharp eyes caught her hands were extra reddish that day. He gently took her hands and examined them attentively.
Candy told him what happened. While listening he was staring at her face and got sunk deeper and deeper in his emotion.
You are beautiful, Candy. I have to marry you in the future, thought Archie.
Uncontrollable, Archie kept moving closer to kiss her.
"Annie is here, Archie!" He suddenly heard Stear's extra loud voice call him.
Archie stopped right away, taken aback.
"So?" asked Archie. Ignoring Stear he took Candy's hand to take her to somewhere private.
"Nothing, I am just a messenger. She asked me to tell you that she's waiting for you in the piano room."
"Right, I promised to teach her piano today," Archie grudged. He sighed, glanced at Candy one more time.
"Bye Candy, I'll see you later," Archie said.
Archie disappointedly turned around to go back to the mansion with his brother.
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Without anyone knew it, Neal and Elisa saw it all from the far.
"Archie falls for her too!" said Neal. "Disgusting."
"Lucky you don't, Neal," said Elisa.
"My actions are driven by intellects not emotions, sis. No way I'd fall for that orphan," said Neal proudly.
"I'm proud of you, Neal," said Elisa.
"We should find a way to get rid of her, Elisa," said Neal. "Then Anthony will be yours."
"You understand me best, brother. I hate Candy!"
"We'll think of a plan. But in the meantime we could make her less desirable for Anthony."
Neal giggled mischievously and pointed to a pile of logs nearby. Together, he and Elisa ran and kicked the logs so they rolled scattered everywhere across the lawn.
Then he yelled, "Mom! Mom! Can we ask Candy to pick up the logs?"
"Sure, dear," shouted Mrs. Leagan back.
"Hey orphan, did you hear that?" shouted Neal cruelly to Candy. "Stop holding the roses, stack the logs instead."
"Look how dirty and rough her hands are," mocked Elisa.
"It will get dirtier and rougher soon," said Neal with a wicked grin. "Anthony will be disgusted."
Neal and Elisa laughed out loud enjoying torturing Candy. The gardener nearby silently heaved a deep sigh witnessing the girl's little hands picking up the heavy logs. Especially those logs had exceptionally tough and thorny dry skin.
Poor girl, he thought, shaking his head.
-To Be Continued-
Thank you for reading.
