The second twin born, christened Reichard Alexandre, was now around eleven. They stared at themself in the mirror, wearing one of their sister's dresses. They gave the mirror a twirl, quietly gasping at how it moved. It felt magical.
[RENÉ] clapped as they grinned. They craved approval, and for the first time since they were quite young, they received it from themself. As the children were collected for dinner, Alice cooed over them.
"[You're so pretty Rei! You're like a princess!]"
"[Really? You think so?]"
"[We know so!]" [RENÉ] chimed in, striding down the hall. He was always so confident in himself, Reichard was terribly jealous.
The small merriment the children found was struck down by the father's reaction
"[What are you wearing?]" He demanded
"[A… A dress…]" Reichard mumbled, shrinking back a bit.
"[I knew you'd fail me. You always do.]" Father growled. "[Get out of my sight.]"
"[It was my idea!]" Alice protested, linking arms with her sibling.
"[Well consider yourself both out of the running for taking over the family. Go to your rooms.]"
[RENÉ]'s fear was visible, but what could he do? Make him angrier? Or try to calm him down so he could reconsider. He tried to give the two a reassuring look as they left, defeated.
"[What does that stuffy old man know, anyway? Come along, I learned a new butterfly knife trick!]" Alice clapped, trying to cheer up Reichard.
"[... Am I really always a failure?]" They asked, unsure
"[Not at all!]" She said, blissfully unaware of the war between their parents back in the dining room.
This was the final straw for mother. She was to be filing for divorce soon. She plans and would later get as much custody as possible of Alice. That's the only one she wanted.