Gwendolyn was not a person who enjoyed mornings. Her most productive time of the day came only when she was awake in the wee hours of the night. Her lessons had never begun until after lunch, mostly because her tutors wanted to spend little to no time teaching a student who, for all intends and purposes, was nonexistent within the world. All of her previous governesses had left her alone in this regard; to be quite frank, they had been terrified at the ease of which a child was able to go without sleep for too long to be normal. Therefore, because of these factors, she was used to awaking at whatever time she pleased.

So then why was she being roused from her sleep, in a very hurried sort of way, by a person who must have been a drill-master in a past life?

"Wake up!"

In a flurry of a move, Gwendolyn felt herself rolling off of her bed and onto the hard, freezing floor of her room. Making a sound that was a cross between a groan and a moan of pure agony, she finally sat up, blearily looking up at the one face she was never in the mood to see.

"Leave me alone, Prudence." Garbling her usually precise words because of her exhausted state, the teen wrapped the worn bed blanket around herself and settled on the floor.

If I lay very still, perhaps she'll take me for a corpse and leave me be.

"As much as I sincerely want to, your highness," There was an extra sting to the title Prudence (the person who controlled everything and everyone who had duties within the castle) used, as though here words were meant to cut right through the remaining pieces of Gwendolyn's heart.

"The king has demanded that you join 'the family' for breakfast. So, with that being said…Get. Up!"

Yanked harshly by the collar of her nightgown, Gwendolyn felt two things happen at once. One, she was forced into a sitting position, which meant that she was torn away from her somewhat-warm bed blanket. Two, something ripped loudly, allowing for the collar of her nightgown to expose her shoulder. Looking up with a dirty glare towards a mildly surprised Prudence, the teenager gave a huff of annoyance and snatched the ripped part off the ground.

"Pathetic, cheap fabric." Prudence said, as close to an apology as Gwendolyn would ever receive. The teen shot an irritated look up at the woman.

"Sometimes the cheapest things last the longest." The teenager retorted, narrowing her eyes as she stood up and then promptly fell back into her rather uncomfortable bed. At least it was better than the floor.

"Don't act like a peasant." Prudence snapped back, her tone filled with a distaste that only a pretentious person could acquire. Gwendolyn rolled her eyes. Arguing, however fun, would be useless.

"No matter." She said aloud, trying to brush it all off as though it meant nothing. Then, suddenly, she heard a noise that made her head swivel sharply in the direction of her wardrobe.

Two young maids, presumably in their early twenties and most likely friends, were busily messing with the clothes that lay within the wardrobe. While neither of them spoke aloud, there expressions were set tight with anxiety and worry. This probably explained why they were looking over at Gwendolyn every so often with a type of fearful awe.

Gwendolyn, however, met their awestruck gazes with a sharp one of her own.

"Who are they?" The teen demanded, her voice concealing the fury she felt. Her room was her sanctuary; no one was allowed in without her express consent. Even her past governesses had followed that rule.

"They are the only two girls who actually have the stamina to walk all the way up here for very little reward. They are going to make you look somewhat like an important person, though it escapes me how." Prudence wrinkled her nose in strong revulsion as she looked over at Gwendolyn. The teenager, in turn, scowled at the woman with all her might.

"I'm failing to see a correlation between them," Gwendolyn gestured to the two maids "making me look as though I matter, and me waking up at this wicked hour. You've failed, not just in life, but in explaining all this nonsense."

Prudence gave a scowl back towards the teenager, who looked upwards with a challenge in her eyes.

"As I stated earlier, your highness," The title was said through gritted teeth, as though there was no other way to spit it out "the king has demanded that you join him, the crown prince, and the princess at breakfast this morning. I've already gotten a chew-out by the king because of your absence at the table; I don't intend to get anymore. Is that a clearer explanation, or do I have to dumb it down even further?"

Prudence seemed annoyed, Gwendolyn noted, more so than she usually was. The king must have really torn into her. Speaking of the king…

"He's never wanted my presence before. Most especially during meal times." Gwendolyn frowned, a look of deep confusion filling her features. Then an idea hit her. "Do you think he wants to do a public humiliation to make up for the fact that his men could find no trace of me for over three weeks?"

Gwendolyn looked up; she was awaiting an honest answer from the one woman she knew would have no trouble supplying it. However, if anything, Prudence looked taken aback at this question. Actually, if the teenager looked particularly into it, Prudence looked…flustered.

"I…well, I mean…all I know is that he is not in a good mood today. Then again, he's never in a good mood on the anniversary of the queen's death."

Gwendolyn sucked in a breath, earning her an odd look from Prudence. She quickly released it, and tried to control her emotions before they ran wild. Mentally, she started counting down the days, trying to figure out if today really was that day. Then, her heart sank like a stone when she found that the numbers all matched up. Today really was the anniversary of the queen's death.

On an unimportant side note, today was also Gwendolyn's sixteenth birthday.

But this wasn't making any sense. From an early age, Gwendolyn had known that the day of the year to stay away from the king was on the anniversary of his wife's death. Her birthday or not, the king was never in his right mind on this day, which meant that any little thing could tick him off. That's why the teenager constantly hid on her birthday, appearing only for dinner so that she could collect whatever cheap trinket someone had reminded him to buy. And even then he seemed extremely agitated at her presence. So then why would he want her at breakfast? He must have something humiliating in mind.

Giving a dramatic sigh as a way to hide the true feelings reeling inside of her, Gwendolyn rationalized that it was better to get whatever punishment the king was planning out of the way early. Maybe then she could spend the rest of her day, or rather, birthday, in peace.

"I suppose this means that I'll have to get dressed and go downstairs, doesn't it?"

"Obviously." Prudence retorted, rolling her eyes at the teenager's simple answer. "Of course, by the king demanding your presence, this means you'll have to wear something fitting for the occasion."

"Um…Prudence, ma'am?" One of the maids squeaked out, causing both Gwendolyn and Prudence to snap their heads in her direction. "Speaking of fitting…"

The maid gestured to the five dresses, the only five dresses Gwendolyn had, that she was able to find. Even from a distance it was obvious they were worn down to the point of almost-tears and would barely cover the top of the girl's calves. That would mean more than the princess's ankle would be in view. Prudence looked back at Gwendolyn with an air of extreme irritation.

"Don't you have anything that would actually fit?"

"Nothing." Gwendolyn replied, innocently shrugging as Prudence narrowed her eyes. But, as this was a well worn conversation between the two, Gwendolyn already knew what to answer before Prudence had even said it.

"Trollop."

"Prude."

By the time Prudence was gone, and Gwendolyn all but stared down the two maids so that they would leave as well, the teen had wasted a good twenty minutes. If she hurried, she would be able to catch the tail end of breakfast. As it was her stomach was grumbling for something to eat, and a good meal would wake her up considerably.

However, Gwendolyn was in absolutely no rush to go downstairs.

The teenager took her sweet time dressing for the day. She considered wearing the slacks she'd hidden beneath the lumps in her mattress, but banished that thought altogether when she realized that she didn't need to cause trouble for attention. She was courting it by simply being here, and being alive.

Sixteen years, the teen mused as she all but stuffed herself into a skin-tight-dog-vomit-colored dress. Sixteen years ago she was given life, and then quickly snuffed out the life of the person who had given her this chance. While Gwendolyn rarely entertained thoughts of the queen, she always did wonder, on this specific day, how things could have been different under other circumstances. Most likely things would have been better…correct?

"Stupid." Gwendolyn cursed herself, finally managing to pull on the ridiculous monstrosity called a dress.

As a chemicist, she was a firm believer in the probability of two physical objects reacting. She was not, however, a firm believer in the probability of what if's. After all, why guess when mathematics could distinctly prove?

Shaking her head disapprovingly at herself, the teen brushed her fingers through her waves of carrot-colored locks before slowly, oh so slowly, starting to walk down to breakfast.

"Gwendolyn!" Cinderella's too-chipper voice was the first noise the teen heard upon entering the dining room. Almost immediately, she regretted ever coming down.

Keeping her head down in an attempt to block the idiotic woman out, the teenager slipped into her usual seat and pretended to look extremely interested in the cold plate of food in front of her.

"Hi." Char managed to say aloud, bowing his head slightly towards Gwendolyn. The girl looked up with a blank face, but bowed her head all the same so that she didn't come off as rude.

"Hello."

The mere fact that she was here, at this time, with these people, was amazing. And Char actually speaking to her, even one word? It rather touched her. At least he wasn't diving headlong into this get-to-know-the-other-princess ordeal like his wife. That would just be annoying.

"You're late."

Those were the words that first escaped Eadberht, albeit with a deep wince afterwards. It was just that…he didn't know what to do. It wasn't exactly a good day to start trying to win back the affections of his daughter, with it being the anniversary of his wife's death and all.

"You're an absentee legal guardian." Gwendolyn shot back, a scowl suddenly taking the place of her blank features as she stared down the king. She would not go back to being someone's doormat again. "I'm glad we've established the obvious, your majesty."

The tension in the room suddenly reached a ten-fold height. Cinderella felt herself holding her breath, praying that this wouldn't turn out into another full scale meltdown-argument. After all, Gwendolyn had only been here for less than five minutes! And she hadn't even been at home for a full twenty-four hours! War couldn't break out in that time…could it? Oh dear…

"I'm your father, you know." Eadberht said in a quiet voice, trying to control his anger which was merely a way for him to express his pain. He bowed his head, not in an attempt to look subdued, but so that he didn't shoot off Gwendolyn. The girl seemed to particularly enjoy feeding off of his fury.

"You are my legal guardian." Gwendolyn shot back calmly, avoiding Cinderella's blue eyes.

For certain, the woman would be begging for her to stop this madness and just pretend to eat her cold food. Perhaps she could even make conversation with her brother and sister-in-law, while also pretending that breakfast had ended almost an hour and a half before and the king was not forcing them to remain sitting there, waiting for her to finish her own plate of food.

"I'm your father." Eadberht gritted his teeth, trying to keep his anger in check. It was working, but just barely.

"We can't prove anything." With a smirk, Gwendolyn stared unabashedly into her king's eyes.

He suddenly seemed to snap, jerking back violently in his seat. Cinderella and Char cried out in alarm, but before either of them were able to even jump out of their seats and attend to the king, he had grabbed Gwendolyn's arm and was forcibly dragging her out of the dining room.

Let the punishment begin.

Just a quickie update, something to hold you guys over until the final chapter. :) I have to say, the beginning of this chapter with Prudence was especially hard to write, mostly because I had absolutely no idea how I could accomplish what I wanted. But I'm happy at the way it came out. And the last part was more or less a teaser (another cliffhanger, sorry!) for the last chapter.

I'm super happy with the reviews guys! Your all doing a great job, and its really warming my heart to see how many people like this story. Because you are all so great, I've decided to pose a challenge: if this story makes it to 200 reviews, I'll make a sequel. So review! :)