Chapter One
A bird's chippering pierced the air as Mademoiselle Rosace Moche awoke from her slumber. Her book smashed into her nose, reminding her that she needed to take it back to the bookshop to get the next one immediately,
To go from the big city to this small provincial town had been quite a shock and change for Rosace who had once been a joyful carefree merchant's daughter, She had grown up quite comfortably but still wise and kind. Her father had made sure she had an excellent education and upbringing that fostered a care and concern for the word at had remembered the times when the two of them would bring the unsold goods from the month to the less fortunate than them.
Those were the good times before the horrible accident at sea had happened. It hadn't been Rosace's first sea adventure with her father on one of his trading ships. She had gone on other trips to far off lands with him before since she had hit the age of twenty two. But something went wrong on that trip. The ship caught fire as it left the port Rosace had been spared and saved, but her father had not been quite so lucky.
He had died in the accident. With that his wife, Rosace's mother, and Rosace soon could not afford to live in the big city. The two grieving women moved to the calmer countryside to a small village her mother found charming.
Dipping her hands into the wash basin in her room Rosace's hands brushed her face. It was smooth and perfect except for one side of her face next to the right deep chocolate colored eye was scared ever so slightly Her pale cream skin was rough at that one spot. Rosace thankful to be alive after the accident, still was left scarred in a few places on her body, ruining what some had called the fairest beauty of her city.
The few scars on her body could be covered by clothes but her facial scar had to be expertly covered every day not just with makeup, but by carefully maneuvering her golden brown hair over the section and hoping nothing would let it slip out of place, Sometimes she could also just wear a hat and the problem would be solved. Not today though. It was lovely outside and Rosace wanted to feel the sun's beams play with her nose.
"Rosace are you up yet?" The voice of her mother downstairs fueled Rosace's morning prep work.
"Yes mother! I'll be down after I dress," Rosace went to her closet to find a pink and purple silk dress. They may have lost enough of the fortune to not be able to live in the city but out in the small town it seemed to the rest of the villagers that the Moches lived a life of wealth beyond their dreams.
Twenty five minutes later she rushed down the stairs fastening her hair in the proper hairdo to cover her scars and still trying to hold the book in one hand. Her mother was at the bottom of the stairs, she saw the book in Rosace's hand and scowled.
"Dear daughter you are almost twenty six years old and you still do nothing but read. How are you to procure a proper husband before you get even older?" She asked. The woman had been born into a lesser level of nobility and had high hopes for her own daughter one day.
"Why do I have to marry mother? I mean I could be perfectly happy in this present state of life alone without some man to hold me back, make a servant out of me, or feel obligated to bear children for," Rosace started on her tirade.
"Still daughter I think your father and I both wanted to see you cared for, and as progressive a man as your father was he knew as well I that in society still a woman needs a man. Your chances are growing dimmer by the day dear please know that," her mother said with motherly care and concern.
"Alright mother I understand. Today I am going out into the village. I'll think about it then," Rosace grabbed the basket to put her book in. She closed the door behind her. The large home that the women lived in was about a quarter of a mile away from the village. Rosace followed the path to the village. From the distance she could start to hear the village come alive.
Walking past the village square fountain she went into the bookshop. The little bell clanged and rung to let the elderly owner know a customer was present. He came to Rosace, "hello darling how are you? Did you finish that book already?"
"Yes I did, I can't believe I reread it for the fifth time, and yet nothing new has come in yet has it?" She asked.
"Yes my dear the shipments are slow. But I should be getting the next installment of one of your other book series in soon," he said expressing his regret to not have a new book for her.
"Its alright. I just read too much, I guess Momma would love to have me do it a little less. Can I borrow another one again though?" The enthusiasm for more literature from her bubbled over.
"Yes my dear. You know my whole shop is opened to you. One day if you wish I feel this could be all yours. Its just you remind me of a lovely girl who used to live here," his tone seeped of nostalgia remembering that girl.
Rosace browsed the shelves quickly and picked out a book she had read three times previously, "I'l borrow this one."
"Alright Mademoiselle Moche, I feel though as if you really love this book as much as you do to keep it," he said as she was making her departure.
"Thank you so much! I am very appreciative of this," Rosace told him as she left the shop upon exiting she looked over her shoulder at the villagers. Finally the day was in full swing. It was weird though, Rosace covered her scar pretty well but she always felt as if the villagers were judging her for something else about her all the time behind her back.
She always tried to bury herself further into her reading to rid herself of the sense of paranoia and discomfort, Little did she know that the villagers did actually frequently discuss her. They remembered and likened her to the other strange but beautiful girl of previous times. They also talked about how she would probably die old and alone with her mother and all that "money", they seemed to have.
One villager though seemed to take a particular interest in her beauty and money, and what he would do with both in his power. It was a prideful man whom had survived a horrendous fight with a beast and lived to tell the tale. He had grown a bit older but somehow his looks stayed with him into older age. Many much younger woman actually still found him attractive, this man was named Gaston.
While on the way back to her home Rosace had become engrossed in her book to the point of not noticing Gaston's frequent attempts to obtain her attention, It was that or she had tried to tune his annoying advances out as frequently as possible. It wasn't until she was passing the bakery that Gaston kicked up his antics and stood in her path. She bumped into him and yelped.
"Dear Rosace. Whatever are you up to this fine day?" He asked as he put his hand over her reading material. She now figured it was going to be pointless to try to read again knowing he was going to pester her more, and thus put her book away.
"Gaston. What a wonderful and delightful surprise to see you today," she was being generous with trying to hold back a certain degree of contempt from her voice but still it being as strong as it was dripped a bit.
"Ah yes, you know you should be lucky to have my attention so undivided and all. What are you up to tonight? May I be seeing you at the tavern you know I am there all the time. It would be my honor to have you at my special table," it seemed to him that was the highest honor he could pay someone.
"I don't know Gaston. I don't feel a need to drink tonight. And while your company does seem so tempting I will have to decline. Thank you monsieur," she said leaving him in the dust as she picked up her pace to head home.
"Wow, she just like ditched you flat," Gaston's friend and ever faithful follower, Lefou said bluntly.
"That's what she wants me to think Lefou, She loves playing hard to get for me She knows how much I love the hunt. That's why she's doing this because she wants to make me happy," Gaston obviously was too wound up in his own world to pick up on what truly Rosace felt for him.
"At least she's got some wealth to her. I mean that Belle beautiful but like had nothing to offer. Rosace older hag as she is does have some moolah to give a guy," Lefou pointed out what some of the villagers thought about the comparison of the girls.
"She's not a hag Lefou I don't deserve hags. Granted she's not as perky as other young girls, but she's got a beauty of herself that nobody could deny, and yes she is the wealthiest available woman in town. All that makes her the best, and what do I deserve?" Gaston asked.
"The BEST!" Lefou mindlessly retorted.
"So, Lefou we have to get Rosace to the tavern tonight, I'll put on my best and I will have her by the end of the night. Within the next night I will have her giving me her pretty body and money," Gaston said.
"But she turned you down Gaston, how do you expect to get her there?" Lefou asked.
"Oh, I've been chatting up that mother of her's for awhile now. I extended the invite to her mommy dearest and she'll be there I am assured," Gaston said with a cunning smile. His thoughts of Rosace overwhelmed him, she was going to be his unlike Belle. He wouldn't lose her to anyone if he had his way about it.