A cough sounded out throughout the large hall in the Tremaine household on a cold February morning.
A young girl, with once pristine, but now greasy blonde hair, and eyes with a shade of blue similar to the clear sky, was coughing loudly, and very badly, too, having to support herself to the old, worn mop.
She may have appeared to be a maid to the household, but, in reality, she was the stepdaughter of Lady Tremaine, Ella. She is now referred as "Cinderella" by her two step sisters along with their mother.
Her father, Henri, and her late birth mother, Pauline, had been long dead. She knew that her father had died of food poisoning when she was 12, about two years ago, but she didn't know when and how Pauline died. She was 11 when her father married her stepmother. At first, things were okay. Her stepmother was a kind and proper woman, teaching all three the basic manners, etiquette, and all sorts of things needed to act a proper lady. That was before Henri died. She then saw the monster hidden in her new mom's personality after his death.
Now, ever since then, she had become the maid of the house. At first, she didn't like it, but after a smack to the face, she knew that she was gonna have to go along with it, and maintain her positive attitude. And so she did. All she had left from a bygone era was her faithful dog, Bruno. She wished she could go back to the better days.
Currently, at the moment, she felt miserable. Her throat was sore, she was stuffy, prone to sneezing and coughing attacks, a fever was forming, and her eyes were watery. Just as she stopped coughing, she suddenly lost grip on her mop, and fell to the floor, causing the bucket of dirty water to spill everywhere. Unfortunately, just as that happened, Lady Tremaine walked down the stairs, with Anastasia and Drizella, her two stepsisters, right behind her.
Eyes pooled with coldness, she glared at her stepdaughter. She strode over to Cinderella, and roughly pulled her up to her feet.
"Get up you foolish girl!"
Cinderella then got herself straight, and looked at her stepmother. "Yes, mother."
"Now, explain to me why the floor has not been mopped," The tall woman snarled.
Cinderella cleared her throat. "I am sick. I-I was in the middle of mopping when I-"
Smack!
A stinging sensation was brought to her cheek as her elder lowered her hand. "Blaming it on sickness is not a excuse. You will do as you are told. Henri might have coddled you, but I won't, for he is dead, and you're now our maid."
"But-"
"Are you arguing with me?" Lady Tremaine asked in a soft voice.
Ella knew to stay quiet at the sound of her soft voice, for she would get another smack to the face. She shook her head.
"Good. Now go and get some water, and mop this floor, you incompetent child!"
And while you're at it, get my lunch ready," called Drizella.
"Yeah, and mine, too!" Anastasia called.
Cinderella trudged slowly down to the water well, which sat outside the house not far from the main road, coughing along the way, along with a small sneeze.
She tied the bucket of water to the rope, turned the creaking handle which lowered it, and lifted it back up.
"Ella?"
Said young woman turned around, and saw an old messenger, who had known the girl and her family from when she was young. She used to have long chats with him. Now, ever since her stepmother gained control, the chats were now short.
"Ella? Are you alright?"
The young lady looked up, and saw concern in the old messenger's kind brown orbs.
"I-I'm fine, sir," she assured. Naturally, he didn't fall for it, especially when the young maid now coughed a lot. Before she could continue denying it, a firm, feminine like hand laid on her shoulder.
"What, is going on, Cinderella? You should be in the hall mopping away!"
'Cinderella? Mopping? Were they really that low in money?' The messenger was flabbergasted, but did not show it. Despite this not being his business, he knew he should bring this matter to her.
"Milady, I'm sorry for intruding, but, have you seen this? Ella's obviously not well!"
Lady Tremaine just scoffed. "She will be fine. She only has a cough."
Once more, he was floored not only by her response, but the way she said made it seem so casual. His eyebrows furrowed. "You're joking, right?"
"Do I look like I'm a joker?"
"If you can't see your stepdaughter is ill, clearly the only children you are fit to parent are those brats of yours, Drizella and Anastasia!" The messenger snapped.
Upon hearing this, Lady Tremaine just gaped for a second or two, before sending a glare that would turn Medusa into stone. Her grip on her cane grew tighter, as if she were holding back the urge to whack him with it over and over again. One could tell she was seething on the inside.
Naturally, the old man noticed this, and his eyes widened slightly, and recoiled, before regaining confidence once more.
"I honestly don't understand what Henri was thinking when he married you. Just look at the mess you made! All your wealth was squandered by investing heavily on Ella's stepsisters, your daughters, the chateau is falling apart, you got rid of all the maids, servants, and cooks, and, you replaced them with Ella, your own stepdaughter! If he were witnessing all of this right now, Henri would turn in his grave. The same can be said for Pauline, as well! To think, a late nobleman's daughter not getting the needed medical attention. It's foolish! If you won't take Ella, then I won't hesitate once on taking her."
Lady Tremaine just scowled. "Need I remind you that Henri isn't here anymore because of food poisoning, and this Pauline is absent because of whatever way she died?" The old woman spat, clearly annoyed at the mention of her late husband's former wife.
"I find myself thinking back to those old rumors, you know, after hearing how only Henri got food poisoning," the messenger calmly retorted, clearly putting emphasis on the late man's name.
Once more, cold green eyes widened in shock, along with fear, which the messenger did not catch. However, she recollected herself, and glared once more at the old man.
Cinderella could only look on in bewilderment. 'What did he mean by that? What rumors?'
Lady Tremaine calmly asked, "What are you implying?"
"Nothing, nothing," the messenger stated calmly. He didn't want outright say it with Ella in a poor condition nearby. He would never forgive himself if he caused her to pass out from shock.
there was a tense silence between the 3. Cinderella looked back and forth from her elder, to the man from her childhood. Finally, her mother spoke.
"I will take Cinderella to the doctor. However, once they realize nothing is wrong with her, the payment is on you."
He only rolled his eyes in response, but silently sighed in relief that he finally persuaded her.
All Ella could do was send the messenger a grateful look. However, she was promptly turned around, and was walking towards the carriage that sat in the front.
"Cinderella, go get the chauffeur and tell him to prepare the carriage. I need to have a word with this gentleman." Cinderella nodded, before getting into a sneezing fit.
As soon as Cinderella was no longer within earshot, Lady Tremaine walked forward, and slapped the man in the face two times.
"How dare bring up my late husband, and how dare you for accusing me for his death. I would never do that to him. He died of food poisoning, and that's final."
'So there is some truth to that rumor, hm?' the messenger thought to himself, wanting to bring this out loud.
"Now, begone! Never come back."
And with that, she walked away, controlled fury racing through her eyes.
As Lady Tremaine walked away, all the old messenger could do was mentally make the sign of the cross, and say a prayer.
"God be with you, dearest Ella."
No sooner than he said those words, he somberly walked away from the old and worn out looking structure.
That would be the last time Cinderella would ever see the messenger again. When she asked her mother about it, she stiffly replied that he got deployed to a different route. Knowing that her mother had control over some of the neighborhood, Cinderella wasn't very sure whether to believe her or not. When she asked her mother on what the rumors were about, she never got an answer, instead receiving a cold glare.
She never brought it up again.
For those of you that were expecting something Hetalia related, I am so sorry to disappoint. It just that I had this story shelved for months, and I wanted to get it out.
I have decided to go on a little hiatus. It will be for a month. Don't worry, I'll still review stuff and send out P.M.
I hope you enjoyed it. I did some research, and Pauline and Henri were some very common French names in 17th century France.
I personally believe Lady Tremaine killed her husband. That's why I included that little insert for the messenger.
I think I could have done a better job with this story. Anyway, I'm out.
Cheers.