Chapter 1
"Sometimes, I wish I was born with the opportunities not afforded to my sex" whispered Violet as she stared at herself as she prepared for dinner that night the mirror seeming to sparkle as it showed her lovely in her evening gown even as the corset underneath cut off her breath.
"To be a woman now, is to be sold, used for breeding, and put out to pasture someday" thought Violet as she turned away from the mirror then suddenly remembering a time when at six years old she had been unaware of the restrictions placed on her just because she was a girl and how they had been told to her by her mother when she dared to tell her she wished to be a great doctor of miraculous inventions like her father only to see the sadness as her mother prepared to shatter her with the knowledge that this could never be. Even at six, Violet had been quite serious, but her mother's eyes had flashed with humor too.
"Don't be silly, darling, that isn't a young ladies place" whispered Beatrice Baudelaire smiling only a moment before returning to her needlework.
"My brother is meant for great things while I am left to birth children that I can only hope will inherit my ideas" thought Violet exiting her room in a silence that she had become accustomed to as she closed her eyes before going down the stairs taking the moment to let the resentment, she felt slip away reminding herself that she loved her brother as she took the first step down the stairs.
Klaus was brilliant and Violet knew that he would do great things later on in life, but there was always part of herself that wanted to do those things herself. She hadn't realized how much she had wanted that until she really began to see the way their educations differed. They may have learned the same facts and figures, the same reading and writing and history, but that was where the similarities ended. After all of that Klaus got to know all the things, he needed for his future following in their father's footsteps while Violet was reduced to learning the ways of a woman. Hours of needlework and learning to walk straight, it all consumed her days, but it was never what she really wanted to be doing. When Klaus spoke, the whole table looked at him to hear his ideas while Violets were smirked at in amusement for how silly they were. Violet wanted nothing more then to switch places with him, to have him have to sow and walk perfectly straight, but as she became older Violet knew that the time of her womanhood was fast approaching. Soon she would be sold off and made to be some man's wife. For Violet that time was coming far sooner then she realized. Violet didn't become fully aware of the depths of her restrictions until one night over dinner her father announced that Count Olaf had accepted her hand in marriage. The moment itself took her completely off guard. Her whole life Violet had been preparing for this moment, but at fourteen she didn't feel ready to enter this next stage in her life. She didn't feel prepared to be someone's wife despite the years hearing how a marriage arrangement were in her future. It was how her mother and father had come together. A loveless arranged marriage that had turned into love somewhere along the way. Her mother had said the same would happen to her, but that didn't make it any better as Violet took in the news her father had just given her. As the people around her rejoiced at the news, Violet didn't know what to say, but as she stared at her father there were no words.
She knew she had never met Count Olaf; she knew any protest she made would be ignored, but also that was the sole thing that her heart longed to do.
"When do I get to meet Count Olaf?" whispered Violet finding they were the only words she could say as she stared at her father while somehow also staring right through him.
"You'll meet him tomorrow night, I've invited him for dinner, and I want you to wear your prettiest dress. Let your future husband see what a beautiful bride he's getting" said Charles Baudelaire his smile directed right at her. Violet knew it was meant to reassure her, but it didn't. Instead, it made her stomach churn heavily even as she returned the smile her eyes leaving him to stare at her plate. She just couldn't make that smile reach her eyes because as prepared as she had been for this moment, Violet had thought she might have some choice in the man himself, but as that too was taken from her, she felt something in her sinking until it disappeared altogether. She had known the path her life would take for many years, but she had hoped something in her circumstance would make her lucky like her mother. Her parents hadn't married for love, but somehow found it along the way.
Violet had hoped that the man who would be her husband would be the kind of man she could find love with too. That he would be someone that eased the uneasy shaking in her stomach that came whenever she thought of her future, but there was something about this that told her that wouldn't be the case. Something in the very name Count Olaf that made her feel like she was being served up to a hungry lion. There was something that told her she couldn't love this man and she hadn't even met him yet. Violet took those thoughts with her to bed that night and they made it so she couldn't sleep.
"My life is tumbling down a series of unfortunate events and there is nothing I can do about it" whispered Violet her eyes staring at the silver moonlight as it streamed unabashedly through her window. The sentence didn't leave her after just merely saying it. It stayed in her mind, repeating constantly, especially when her mother and all her maids arrived to help Violet prepare to meet her betrothed. They pulled her hair back away from her face with her favorite purple ribbon after brushing and bathing her. They tightened her corset taking her breath away even more so than they ever had before when they tightened it much more than they'd ever dared. The finishing touch came when they dressed her in her prettiest dress just as her father had instructed. A dress of blue silk with cap sleaves that flattered her budding cleavage. She barely felt them put on her blue slippers to match, for in that moment her mother was kneeling in front of her, and in one movement she was clasping her silver locket around her neck. Then she was taking her hands and suddenly, Violet found that she was being led out of her room, and down the stairs to a future she didn't want or have a choice in. They had said Count Olaf would like her and that didn't make Violet feel any better. She entered the parlor after Count Olaf had already arrived.
When the man faced her, she tried to smile, but nothing came. If truth be told Violet had always been expecting the worst, but the man before her was far more then her visions had prepared her for. Before her was a tall, skinny man with eyes as shiny as the floor they stood upon. His receding hair line and unshaven face did little to flatter him as did the tattoo of an eye that was clearly visible on his ankle. There was nothing handsome or demure or loving about this man and Violet found in that moment that she wanted to fall to the ground as a new type of anxiety seemed to overtake her.
"He's practically the same age as father and he is staring at me like some piece of meat that he intends to devour" thought Violet her heart stopping in her chest as the man seemed to take her in just as she did the same to him.
"Violet, this is your paramour, Count Olaf. Sir, I present to you my daughter Violet Baudelaire" said her father, taking her hand and placing it in that of the man she would marry.
"My dear how lovely you are" said Count Olaf, when he spoke Violet smelled his foul breath, and when he smiled, he showed yellow teeth.
Violet could only stand in silence as she looked at him. She couldn't smile or show any emotion at all. In truth, she feared doing so because in her heart she only wanted to cry.
"Say something, girl" snapped Count Olaf, his tone different now. Until that moment, Violet had completely forgotten anyone else's presence in the room, but as the man snapped at her suddenly her mother's hands were on her shoulders. They seemed to pull her away from this man and placing her behind her, Violet felt something in her give in that moment, and she had never been more grateful for her presence. For in that moment, she was reminded that she still had a mother, and that she was still protected. This man couldn't hurt her and yet in the back of her mind, Violet was always aware that soon enough he would be able to do just that. It made the relief she felt in that moment all the more intense.
"Violet is just overwhelmed, sir, but that will change. I'm going to take her now…we must begin the design for her wedding gown" said her mother taking Violet and leading her out of the room. Violet let her mother take her to her rooms and serving her tea, Violet didn't speak until her mother spoke her thoughts for her.
"You don't want to marry Count Olaf, do you?" said her mother leveling her eyes on her daughter. It was the exact words she had wanted to say and setting her teacup on the tray before them, Violet breathed a visible sigh. The relief that flooded her was short lived though, for even as Violet was thinking that her mother could save her from this man that was not what her mother was prepared to do, and she knew that when she met her eyes. After a moment of staring into those eyes, Violet realized that her mother was simply asking her to acknowledge her feelings for this man now before she was forced to stand beside him before God, and maybe that was why she dropped every barrier she knew. Maybe that was why she chose to cry as she sat there before her mother because somehow Violet knew it would be the last chance she would ever have to do so.
"I cannot marry this man, mother, he is horrible in every way. He is not handsome and is of father's age. I know none of these things should matter—" whispered Violet speaking so fast that she found she couldn't breathe.
"His teeth, his breath…everything" finished her mother finding her daughter suddenly at her feet.
"Please, mother, speak to father…don't make me marry him" exclaimed Violet feeling her mother's fingers in her hair to sooth her yet when she looked into her face nothing had changed.
"Violet, I know Count Olaf doesn't seem right for you. He was not my first choice, but your father must marry you to someone. Count Olaf is offering to save us from a debt that I know very little of. Your marriage is what is required. You must simply remember that though you love him not now, you may come to love him later" whispered her mother, but even as her circumstances didn't change, something in Violet fell away. She let her tears fall and laying her head in her mother's lap, nothing else was said between the two women.