Times have been hard in the forest.
It doesn't come naturally to her. The whole 'stealing for a living' thing, that is. Each time she sees one of the queen's carriages coming up the path, she has to consciously remind herself of the hunger she'll feel if she doesn't jump now.
For some reason, that doesn't make it much easier.
If it were up to her, she'd settle down somewhere nice and never leave. Maybe then she'd still have to forage in the woods for food, but at least there would be one place that would be entirely hers. No hollow trees. No sleeping on a branch, only to wake up to sore limbs. No constant feeling of there's-a-noise-outside-where-do-I-hide.
A home. That's what she wants.
The posters spread across the kingdom describing her as a murderer don't help. Every time she sees one of them, she tears it down with conflicting feelings of hate and regret: hate for what her stepmother has done to her, and regret that it has come to this.
In the end, the hate always wins out.
But she can't concentrate on that now because there's a carriage coming up the road. She frowns, because it looks different from the queen's usual ones, but she quickly brushes that thought away. Only the queen ever took this route. And anyway, how does it matter? This may be her chance to finally, finally escape to another kingdom and get that home she wants. There's just the matter of stealing the money left, and right now, there's no one who can stop her. Especially not the queen or some fat old duke.
She waits as the carriage rolls to a stop below her. Any moment now.
Poor helpless royals, she thinks with a smirk.
And she jumps.