@Leeneia: Someone told me that vodka tastes horrible.

Actually, the story's fantasy/cyberpunk, but your idea's still a good one. Thanks!

There's actually a similarity between this tale and older variants of Cinderella. Both Kullervo and Cinderella are of noble or prominent birth and forced to work as servants for surrogate families. Their surrogate mothers ill-treat them, and are killed as punishment.

La Gatta Cenerentola (The Cat Cinderella) has the heroine have two stepmothers. The second one starts out kind but turns out to be much crueller than the first.