Even for the most observant people there are days when you realize things that you have missed for a long time. For Anastasia that day was the day the duke came to her house, the day Cinderella fit the slipper. Of course she knew that it was her at the ball, a terrible disguise, really. In the back of her mind she might have known, but until the day the glass slipper fit, she never realized that she was the bad guy.
Anastasia had read books. She knew that the bad guys never got the happy endings. It struck her that none of them did. What made it so unfair that if you weren't pretty or graceful or sweet you didn't get to be happy? She was clumsy and awkward and didn't have a talented bone in her body, but she didn't have a bad bone either. She was crabby and jealous at times, but she obeyed her mother's every command and never broke a single rule.
Maybe people were just born to be the bad guy so that the others could get a happy ending. That didn't seem right either. As she watched them, Cinderella and the prince, ride by on horses every day passed her home she couldn't help but wonder why she couldn't fall in love. Once they had spotted her watching them and called for her to come over and speak to them but she just ran and hid. Why would they want to talk to her, a bad guy in the story of Cinderella's life?
When Cinderella had married the prince everything changed. Her mother especially, she apologized and pleaded and begged, even claimed that she was jealous of the fact Cinderella spent more time with her father than she had. The worst part, they bought it. They now lived in the house made for in-laws of the bride. Drizella had become a lady in waiting.
Anastasia was far too young to do that and didn't want to. She wanted to be an author so she could give the bad guys happy endings and run away from stereotypes, but she was a girl and her mother forbid it. It would disgrace the family. This meant she either had to marry a rich man she didn't love or become a lady in waiting. Frankly she didn't like either option and would much rather marry for love.
Why couldn't she live happily, happily ever too? Didn't she deserve it? When Cinderella married the price Anastasia lost her happily, happily ever after.