This is just the prologue. Sorry it's so short. :/ I hope you enjoy the story though.
Once upon a time in 18th century London, there lived a young girl named Lilly, named after her mothers favorite flower. When she was just five years old, her mother died of a deadly disease, but before she passed she told her daughter to always be kind, have courage, and to always follow her heart. Keeping her mothers words close to her heart, the little girl grew up to be a kind and beautiful young woman. But life isn't always fair, and soon after her 16th birthday her father was sent off to war. Because of this she was sent to live with her uncle Aleister and his two children, Alois and Lizzy. They treated her kinldy enough and she felt like she was part of their little family, but a year later everything changed when a soldier sent word of her father being killed in action.
Greiving for her father who she loved very much, Lilly didn't even realize until it was too late that her uncle had deemed her unfit to be his neice and turned her into a maid of his household, forcing her to wear peasant clothes and a cloth cap to cover her hair. She actually didn't mind the clothes, they were a lot more comfortable than the corsets and dresses she wore before. He couldn't stand the sight of her to be honest, she had the beautiful auburn hair of her mother and the baby blue eyes of her father, his brother. He had loved Lilly's mother with all his heart, but she loved his brother and they were soon wed. So in his eyes, seeing her share both traits made him remember the heartache of losing his love and he treated her coldly because of it.
Soon her cousins were treating her as nothing more than an insignificant bug and gave her the nickname, Cinderella for she was always covered in cinder ashes from sleeping in the kitchen next to the fireplace. And even though they treated her so coldly, she still held love for them in her heart. They were family and they did take her in when her father had been drafted for war, so she felt she owed them for at least that much and wanted to do what she could to repay them.
A few years later, the trading between Japan and Europe was once again allowed and her uncle took this opportunity to open a trade between his company and the Japanese. She didn't know what business her uncle was in to be honest, but he was one of the wealthiest people in Europe. He was even given the title, Viscount of Druitt by the Queen herself. So after a few weeks, they all headed to Japan to begin trading.