Once upon a time in a castle that dreams were made of there was a princess named Snow White. She was small, with raven hair and a complexion as fresh white as fallen snow. With this considered she was by the standards of most of the world at that time a rare sort of beauty and she held more than just physical fairness, instead her soul was pure. When she cried the whole kingdom sobbed with her and when she smiled even the hardest of hearts were drenched in the warmth of summer. This happiness wasn't to last however.
Her father was the reason for this. He was a monarch bedecked in majesty, with all the wisdom a king could want. Two things thing he lacked however were immortality and a wife. He had one years ago when Snow was first born who shared many of her looks, but she quickly sickened and passed away leaving a hole in his kingdom and his heart. The princess and her father were left distraught by her loss, emptiness eating away at them little by little, even if they didn't wish to admit it to each other or themselves
One day however another queen was thrust into their lives, by fate or by force it was yet to be discerned. Out riding through the green rolling fields Snow's horse began to buck and whinny then it galloped uncontrollably to a clearing, by this time the poor princess was screaming for help to anyone who would listen. But no assistance had come. That was until a woman in a long blue dress came cantering across to her, and reached out to drag her from her mount.
The princess crumpled appreciatively into the arms of the stranger and told her in tones of incredibly high praise that this stranger had saved her life. Being so thrilled with the escapades of the lady Snow brought her back to the castle. Where her father showered her with even more thanks.
In time the princess and Regina became friends, and then almost like family. Snow would tell Regina all sorts of things, the locations of special trinkets she'd left for the wood-sprites and what presents she had acquired for her father for his birthday. In turn the older woman felt safe to tell her things as well. She told how the king wished to marry her and all sorts of tiny pieces of gossip. It all went swimmingly until the day she told Snow that her heart belonged to a commoner.
Daniel (for that was his name) was a stable boy with a sweet and tender heart who loved Regina with all of it. Every time he laid eyes upon his love a great feeling of hope swelled within him, that maybe one day he would find a way to escape the manure and hay. She, being sweet and pure of heart, much like her adopted daughter refused to quash this, even when she first began to move in royal circles.
It was unfortunate then that she had brought her mother with her, for Cora was a woman of an iron will and a cold heart, previously a miller's daughter who had fought tooth and nail to get to where she was. Now she was a woman that hid all her actions behind one pretense, that she was doing everything for her daughter.
It was in this way that she wormed her way into the mind of Snow White. Who believed her to be sincere. Around her Cora put on a voice of grandmotherly devotion and tricked the princess into confessing all sorts of things and she even divulged the existence of this common lover her beloved daughter had ferreted away in the lands around the castle.
At this the miller's daughter's heart turned fiery red with rage, and she felt resentment grow not only for the knave but also for her daughter with every passing second.
She stole into the stables and ripped out his kind heart, crushing it between her fingers leaving Regina distraught.
And this we believe is the origin of the Evil Queen, For she took the resentment and surpressed it, letting it ferment inside for years upon years until it turned her cruel and horrid.