Once upon a time , somewhere around 1864 , in an ancient kingdom located in Shanghai , China , there was a prince named Jesse Wang . He was the prince of the Chinese kingdom . His father , Raymond Wang , wanted his son to marry . However , he couldn ’ t decide whom his son should be married to . So , he organized a ball and invited all the town citizens to attend it so that his son could choose whom to marry . However , on the other side of the kingdom , somewhere in a small village , there was a poor family . It was so poor that they couldn ’ t afford to pay taxes . I ’ m not even talking about their clothes and food supplies . Curtain ’ s family was probably the poorest out there . It was a family of a stepmother , two stepsisters , father , and his only daughter , Lisa . Lisa ’ s biological mom died of starvation , because Lisa ate too much , and Cho , her father , fell in love with an amazing woman named Emma . Emma Curtain was ‘ preppy ’ and ‘ slay ’ but a bit of a poor woman . After losing her husband in a tragic accident , she married Cho Curtain . Why ? Because he was gullible enough to believe that love exists . Emma Curtain already had two daughters : Zoe and Anya . Anya was an extremely kind-hearted , gentle , optimistic and compassionate girl who saw the good in everyone she met . However , Zoe used to be very grumpy and violent . Anya considered Lisa to be her sister , but Zoe was quite jealous of their relationship and hated Lisa . Emma treated the poor girl horribly , she and made her sleep on a dusty haystack and do all the house work . Lisa spent most of her childhood punishing herself , believing she deserved to be bullied and ostracized for what she had done . So , despite the difficulties , Lisa persevered with her tasks , which infuriated her step mother . When the Curtain family heard about the ball , they were really excited — but not Lisa . However , Emma said that only her daughters were allowed to go . Cho was outraged and stamped his feet .
“ Why ?! Why can ’ t my daughter go ? Why do you treat us like we ’ re your slaves ? We are not your slaves , we are a family , Emma !”
“ No ! Don ’ t you understand ? I never liked your daughter , and I never will ! Also , be thankful that I even married you ; listen to what I say !”
And so , they argued ‘ till midnight , resulting in Cho getting kicked out . In the morning , Emma told Lisa that she must sew three unbelievably beautiful dresses in two hours or she ’ ll go through the same fate as her father . Lisa was annoyed by her stepmother , but she didn ’ t want Anya to marry a prince , because losing a sister was the worst thing in her life . Therefore , Lisa decided that she ’ ll also go to the ball .