Emmeline Early Childhood
For the first few years of her life, Emmeline was raised as a badly kept secret, and hardly saw anyone besides her mother. At that age she saw nothing wrong with the young girl who was responsible for her wellbeing, but Gwenna was still a child - and a previously pampered child at that - and things did not always go exactly to plan.
Stuff would happen (maybe for example) like Gwenna not noticing Emmeline's mittens were missing and her little hands would get numb with cold. Clothing went unmended or sloppily worn. Once or twice Gwenna perhaps mismanaged their little households resources and they spent a day or two hungry, or living off one sad little vegetable stretched out into several soups. I also like the idea that one time she started a small fire or flood or something and Em had to put it out/mop it up/deal with the problem.
While she would not have thought anything of it at the time, once she began to be exposed to more people and more aware of what they thought, Emmeline grew self-sufficient and resentful of Gwenna's shortcomings. Before that, Gwenna was Emmeline's whole world and she loved her completely.