"You bitch!! Why did you join the military?! We wanted you to marry at least a noble and let him take over our family business!! And because of you, our family business is set to doom!! You wretch!!" The end of a belt hit your back. You covered your head with your hands protectively, taking all the lashings and insults quietly.

It wasn't the first time you had to endure this, as your parents had wanted a son to inherit the family business of jewelleries, but a daughter was born instead, and that was you. They also wanted you to marry a noble that owns multiple properties, but you didn't want to as the noble treated you like a dog, and not giving you basic respect. He would humiliate you in closed doors, but act loving towards you during banquets. This disgusted you, and you decide to join the military to evade him. You'll rather stay single then marry that shitty noble, you thought.

After endless lashings, your parents kicked you out of the house, not wanting to see you. It was winter, and snowflakes came raining from the cold and dark sky. You touched your bruises, and it hurted a lot that you had to bite your lip and prevent yourself from saying a word. You wore back your brown jacket again, and walked back to the HQ, limping.

Pain no longer felt painful to you anymore.

~♤~

The next day, you woke up with Sasha shaking you like a lifeless corpse. You were so exhausted from yesterday's beatings and the long journey back to the HQ. You went to prepare yourself, removing the long sleeve shirt that you wore for sleeping purposes. You examined your wounds at your back. Bruises covered your entire back and including your arms. A wound was bleeding, leaving a trail of blood at your back. You sighed and took out a roll of bandage from your pocket, and struggled for a while before you managed to bandage the wound up, stopping its bleeding temporarily. You winced as you wore back your white shirt and the straps. The straps pressed on your bruises, hurting even more. But you tried your best to ignore.

"Another day starts..."

The brown jacket completed your outfit.

"Hope today ends smoothly without trouble." You said to yourself in the mirror, before heading out of the room.

~♤~

Today's training was on combat skills. You dreaded. Not because you were bad at it, but it worsens your injuries even more. The last combat training left you stranded in bed for 2 days, and you had to beg Hanji to lie to Erwin and Levi that you were just sick, as Hanji knew your suffering behind closed doors. She pestered you to tell Erwin, but you didn't. You thought that it was troublesome and only cause more beatings when your parents knew about it.

After gathering at the field, Erwin ordered that cadets are to pair up and fight against each other. A competition was to be held and the final winner gets to combat with Erwin himself. And if the cadet wins, he or she would be granted 3 days of vacation. Every cadet was motivated to get the vacation, and thus fought hard. You managed to defeat your partner Annie and continuing defeating other cadets such as Mikasa, Eren and Jean.

In the end you emerged as the final winner among the other cadets.

"Cadet F/N, congratulations. Now fight me. Do your best!" Erwin said as he removed his gear. Punches and kicks were thrown, and Erwin evaded them nicely. You intend to swipe his leg to tackle him, but Erwin foreseen that, and locked your arm with a swift movement. You cursed. It was a rare chance to pit your skills with Erwin.

"Sorry cadet L/N.. you lost. It's a good fight. Keep on the good work." Erwin said as he released you from the arm lock, giving you a handshake. You gave a smile at him. After a few more "mini fights", it was lunchtime and all cadets were dismissed. You joined Eren and Mikasa before walking to the dining hall, but your injuries hurt even more. You gritted your teeth and remained smiling and laughing at Eren's jokes. It didn't take long for Eren to notice.

"F/N are you okay? Your face seems pale. Is it from the injuries that Commander Erwin caused?" Eren stopped walking and turned back to look at you, obviously hurt but you denied it.

"No, Eren I am fine. Let's go! I can't wait to eat freshly baked bread! " You plastered a smile in your face, hoping to fool Eren and Mikasa. However it didn't work.

"No F/N, you are not fine. Let's go to the infirmary." Eren said as he dragged you to the infirmary. "I'll tell shorty that you are not going for the 3DMG training later." Mikasa said as she ran to Levi's office to report your absence in training later.