Later that night, Charlotte was woken up by the sound of the door to the her chambers being opened. It was Frollo. He quietly approached the bed and stood over it, watching her sleep. Charlotte immediately pretended to be asleep, as she could see his shadow in front standing over her. She could even make out his triangular chaperon in the shadows. After a while he left, not knowing that she had seen him. Saying she was creeped out was an understatement. She was scared half to death, more so than what she was the day he saw his at the market. She just tried to forget about it, but she laid there awake for most of the night.
The next morning, she was exhausted. Not getting enough sleep put a toll on her. She was woken up again by a knock on the door. It was Gertrud. She sleepily got up with dark circles under her eyes and let her in.
"Good morning dear," she greeted her. "You should get dressed, the minister will be waiting for you shortly." Charlotte quickly snapped out of it.
"Oh my God, I almost forgot!" she cried out. She quickly ran over and grabbed the dress she wore last night to supper and threw it on.
"You still got about 15 more minutes," Gertrud reminded her. Still, Charlotte would rather had been early than late.
"Do you want me to braid your hair?" she asked Charlotte.
"Thank you, but I can do it myself," she responded politely. After Charlotte finished braiding it, she then followed Gertrud to the dining hall where Frollo would be giving her lessons. Frollo was already waiting there.
"Good Morning Charlotte," he said formally to her.
"Good Morning," she said back.
"Sit up straight, girl!" he told her sternly. Charlotte was trying not to fall asleep.
"First we must have breakfast," Frollo said again formally.
Breakfast was soon brought out and after they ate, lessons started. Most of it was very strange to say the least, unlike anything Charlotte ever learned during tutoring before her father sent her off to live here. For example, Frollo taught her his version of the alphabet along with his version of Bible study and mastering Latin. She also had to recite each bible verse in Latin and if she got something wrong or if she wasn't quick enough to answer, she would get the back of her head or her hands whipped with a ruler. She did at least learn a little more Latin from his lessons though.
When she wasn't doing lessons, she was either exploring the rooms of the palace, spending time in the palace garden, or standing on the big balcony in front of the palace watching the world go by. Occasionally, Frollo would catch her and remind her that she was to stay in the walls and never journey out of them again, unless if he says so otherwise. She was very lonely and had hardly anyone to talk to. Sometimes, she would try to talk to the maids or guards but they were way too busy to give her the time of day. Gertrud, however, was one of the few that Charlotte was able to talk to at times. She missed her friends Marie and Odette more than anything, along with her mother and siblings, still being unaware of her mother's death. She also got used to Frollo standing over her bed at night, watching her sleep for even longer periods of time, now stroking her hair or shoulder, than ever before. She continued to have lessons with him everyday each morning until he would leave to go patrol the streets of Paris.
Very often times, he would tell and teach Charlotte horrible things about gypsies and that they were all thieves, rapists, murderers, devil worshippers, demons, etc. He also told her that God sent him to to wipe them and all wrongdoers out of existence and that he was sinless. This man was dedicating his life to eradicating them to extinction. Even Charlotte's own parents didn't like gypsies very much, not even her mother. She always told Charlotte and her siblings to stay far away from them much as possible and if one ever approached them, they must run home immediately. Her father, however, was much more extreme about his hatred towards gypsies. She remembered hearing about a time he got into a bad fight with one and nearly killed him in a drunken rage at a pub a while back. She could see why him and Frollo got along so well. But Charlotte never had any problem with them. She and her friends would go to the market and there would be gypsies selling things there and they were acted really nice to her and her friends.
A little over a month had passed since she first came to the Palace of Justice and one evening while filling out paperwork, Frollo had called her to his study to make an announcement. The study was a small room with very tall ceilings, a big desk stacked with law books, papers, and a candle stick holder. And there were also two big windows bringing in light to the room with crests mounted on the walls.
"We shall me married in one day from now. Your father has just confirmed it with the Archdeacon this morning. And you'll be all mine!" he said with that same sinister grin on his face.
Charlotte felt like throwing up. The day she was dreading the most was almost here. She began to panic on the inside, but on the outside she nodded in fear of what Frollo would do if she were to show how she really felt. She still cried herself to sleep at night. But then Frollo said something that she that would crash her world even more; forever.
"Such a shame that your mother won't be able to join us," he said as he continued looking down and writing with his quill. "What a misfortune it was for her to pass on so soon." Charlotte shot her head up from eating upon hearing this.
"What?! No!" she cried out in absolute shock and horror.
"Oh, I thought you had already had known. Yes. Sadly, she succumbed to suicide by drowning herself in the Seine River the night you chose to run away, heartbroken by the choice you made to abandon your family. You are the only one to blame, my dear." he said, pretending to sound sad.
Charlotte froze at this. He's right. It was her fault she thought. If she had not run away, her mother would still be alive right now. All then sudden, her hands began to shake.
"No, no, no, no, it can't be, it's not true, you're lying, no, no, no!" she said shakily getting ready to cry and tears pouring out from her eyes. She then quickly stood up and before Frollo could say anything else, she dashed out of the room in tears all the way back to her chambers. Frollo just continued to finish writing out court papers, deciding he'd punish her for this later. Just then, Gertrud saw Charlotte run by.
"Are you ok, my lady?" she asked as just Charlotte kept on running ignoring her. She then ran into the room, threw herself on the bed and she began crying into the pillow, harder than she ever has before. Not too long after, the door opened. It was Frollo. He sat down on the bed next to her and put his hand on her shoulder and said,
"My, my what have you done, dear Charlotte?"
"I didn't mean to, I didn't know," she said still crying in the pillow sounding muffled.
"Of course you didn't, child. I know you didn't. But your mother is dead nonetheless. If it weren't for you, she'd still be alive," he went on. "What will your father and siblings think? Not only has your own father disowned you, but your siblings will as well if they already haven't yet already."
"I'm sorry," she said in the pillow still in tears muffled.
"There, there, I know it hurts, so I'll allow you to cry for today and I expect you to be back to your normal self tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?" he said sternly changing his tone of voice. Charlotte nodded in her pillow.
"Good," he replied. He then got up and left the room, locking the door behind him. She then looked up from her pillow, hearing the door lock. But she didn't care. She just buried her head back in the pillow and continued sobbing nonstop. She, at this point, was considering suicide as well. But how could she do it? There was no balcony that she could jump off of, no way to hang herself, nor did the windows in the her chambers open up. At this point she TRULY wanted to be dead. There was nothing more she could loose at this point. She just learned that her mother had died and she was to get married, literally tomorrow, to a man either the same age as or older than her own father. So she just cried and cried until she no longer could.
Charlotte didn't have anything to eat or drink for the rest of that day, but she didn't mind. She wasn't hungry anyways. It wasn't until the next morning that the door was finally unlocked by Frollo. He said told Gertrud to wake her up and left as she came in. She quickly ran in and gave Charlotte a huge hug.
"Shhhh! Shhhhh! There, there. I heard about your mother. You didn't do anything wrong, there's nothing you could had done," she said trying comfort Charlotte. Only this didn't do anything at all.
"Yes it is, it's all my fault!" cried Charlotte into her shoulder.
"No, no. Not at all. Don't blame yourself, child," she said still trying comfort her.
"It is too. She wouldn't be dead if it weren't for me." cried Charlotte once more. Gertrud then stopped hugging Charlotte and looked at right in the eye.
"Did the Minister tell you that?" she asked sternly. Charlotte nodded yes. She hugged Charlotte once more.
"That is not true!" she said to her. Just then, Frollo knocked on the door impatiently.
"Are you finished yet?" he growled. Gertrud and Charlotte shot their heads towards the door.
"Just about, my Lord," replied Gertrud in a hurry. She then turned back to Charlotte.
"Wipe those tears now, let's get you ready," she said opening the wardrobe and pulling out a white silk wedding dress trimmed with gold and matching headpiece to go with it. She quickly helped Charlotte put on her underdress and then the wedding dress over it with the headpiece as Charlotte slipped on her shoes. Just then another angry knock was heard.
"I'm coming in," barked Frollo. He then walked in and paused upon seeing Charlotte wearing her wedding dress. His anger turned into satisfaction. Frollo was wearing his usual justiciar outfit (The same one he wore in the prologue of the movie as throughout the this whole story).
"Why my dear child, you look so beautiful," he said in awe. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace made with exquisite rubies, sapphires and emeralds and put it around Charlotte's neck. Charlotte was doing her best to keep it together.
"There. You're ready," he said with a gleam in his eye. He then said,
"Come along my love, it's time to leave for our wedding," he said as he lead her out of the palace to his carriage for the first time in over a month since she's been out there.
Gertrud waved as they rode off towards the cathedral. It felt surreal to finally be out of the dark depressing palace for a change. She even knew where everything was in that big place at this point. When they got there, it was mostly empty except the Archdeacon and her father waiting towards the back. The cathedral was huge, similar to the Palace of Justice only the door plan was more open such as more open hallways, columns, and less furniture. The only other people who were there besides Charlotte and Frollo were the Archdeacon and her father. Frollo then dragged Charlotte by her hand towards where her father and Archdeacon were standing even though she could feel her feet involuntarily dragging along. As she got closer, she could see her father glaring at her, while the Archdeacon was looking at her sympathetically. Even he could see that she was scared to death right now. He sighed, and then started the sermon.
WARNING: Sensitive Content
The entire time vows were being taken, Charlotte was silently crying the entire time. Her father had noticed and yelled from several feet away, "You stop that this instant! You have humiliated me enough in front of the Minister! This is will be the last of it!" She also felt sick to her stomach more so than what she ever had in her life. This was worse than when she found out that she was to marry Frollo within a short amount of time, which was currently going on right now. She wanted to die. Truly.
Frollo, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying her emotional pain. He was smirking the entire time and even whispered a threat into her ear if she tried anything and what he would do to her. Only the Archdeacon showed her sympathy. She just realized she lost her mother and now she is being forced to marry at the tender age of 10 years old to a man much, much older than her who she barely knew. She still thought kissing was gross and swore she would never ever do it to anyone nor let anyone else kiss her. This was horrifying for anyone, let alone a child. All she wanted now was her mother.
Then Frollo pulled out a beautiful jeweled ring and gave it to the Archdeacon to bless which after, he handed it back to Frollo. Charlotte wanted to die at this point. She was praying in her head that she'd drop dead before he could even put it on her, but much to her dismay she didn't. Frollo then told her in a low threatening voice,
"Try to pull your hand away and I will break every single bone inside of it my dear," with a cold glare similar to what her father gave her.
He then grabbed her right hand and put the ring on her finger (that was done for females back then) with her whole body shaking with fear and started reciting a phrase in Latin, which Charlotte barely heard. She was too lost in thoughts to pay attention. "Please don't kiss me," she repeatedly said in her head the entire time during prayer. She looked over to her right and saw a giant Virgin Mary statue holding baby Jesus. Then she then prayed to the statue in her head as well. Then heard the "Amen," afterwards she then felt even more sick. She knew what was coming next. And next thing she knew, Frollo bent to her level and pulled her closer to him and kissed her on the lips. At first she tried squirming and pushing him to get away but couldn't. She was this tiny thing compared to a fully grown man more than twice the size of her. And then Charlotte lost touch with all of reality. She thought she was going to throw up right there in front of everybody on the marble floors of Notre Dame out of disgust. Never in her life had she felt so violated, dirty, uncomfortable, and downright disgusted. She also heard her father clapping in the background. Frollo then looked down at Charlotte and said to her,
"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" while grinning with pride. She couldn't even look at him, let alone be near him or hear his voice. The marriage contract was then signed by the Archdeacon as the pastor, Gauthier as a witness, and last but not least, Frollo and Charlotte as the wed couple. He grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her back to the carriage. She never felt so betrayed in her whole life. She couldn't even sign the contract without having her eyes get blurry with tears. "How could her father do this?! To his own flesh and blood?!" she wandered as they rode back to the Palace of Justice.
WARNING: EXTREME Sensitive Content. If you cannot handle any of this, I highly recommend you skip to the next page from here. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!
When they finally arrived back, Frollo again grabbed Charlotte by her wrist and dragged her back into the palace. Up the stairs past the guards, through the great foyer, down the halls, across the balcony overlooking Paris, and finally down the hall and up to the doors where she was not supposed to go. She then realized that he was taking her through the doors and into the room that she had forbid her to enter.
"I can't go in there," she said shakily, shocked that she was actually speaking to the man who just kissed her minutes ago at the cathedral.
"That was then and this is now, my dear. As of now, you may enter through these doors," he said as he was opening the two big doors. Inside was the the luxurious room she had ever seen in her life, far more so than even the guest bedroom she stayed in. The bed was a giant four poster with red curtains all around and lots of pillows. The walls were decorated with Virgin Mary tapestry, paintings, crucifixes, torches, and stain glass windows. There was also a very big fireplace with a giant cross above it along with heavily ornate furniture and a large area rug that filled most of the stone floor and a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling with many, many candles on it. It was by far, the most prettiest rooms in the whole palace. Not to mention a private balcony and a second washroom inside.
"Beautiful isn't?" he asked her with a gleam in his eye. Charlotte, still very much traumatized by the event earlier, nodded.
"Well my love, this is where you will be sleeping from now on, instead of the guest chambers. Now that you are officially my wife, we shall share a bed together," he said with a evil grin. This couldn't get any more worse for Charlotte, so she thought at that moment. She then gagged once again. At this point, she was starting to filter out things he was saying to her now. However, she was able to hear this;
"I must claim you now," he said with the most creepiest grin and tone of voice she has ever heard as he led her to his bed. Charlotte was confused.
"Claim?" she asked. "You already did that," she said confused and feeling disgusted, but deep inside starting to feel another rush of fear. Frollo then chuckled.
"No dear girl, I mean, we must consummate our marriage," he said again. "Right here, right now," with another creepy sinister grin on his face.
Charlotte started to think. Then she remembered what Marie had told her and Odette the night they tried to ran away together. But what was it exactly? It wasn't kissing or anything like that but something much, much worse. After a couple minutes, she finally remembered exactly what it was. Immediately, her body went cold. She was now beyond terrified and was literally white in color. She then screamed out,
"NO!" and then tried to run out of the room, but Frollo quickly had grabbed her arm, as if he knew she would do this, and threw her onto his bed as hard as he could. Her headpiece fell off as well. He then jumped on top of her, held her down, and pulled out a dagger from the nightstand drawer then stuck it up to her neck.
"If you EVER scream like that again, you will be whipped 50 times by me personally and thrown in the dungeons once again without food or water for two whole weeks. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" he yelled now fuming with anger. Petrified, she nodded.
"Good," he said now putting down the dagger and letting go of her somewhat. Charlotte then sat up and curled in a ball, burying her face into her knees and began crying.
"Please don't do this, please. I'm begging you," she whimpered. Frollo began stroking and twirling her hair.
"Shhhhhhhhh, there there my love, everything is going to be just fine. I know it's frightening at first but you'll get used to it eventually," he said, trying to calm her down by stroking her cheek.
"You can't do this, you just can't! I'll do anything else but that!" Charlotte continued to cry and sob into her knees, ignoring what Frollo said to her. But he didn't care.
"SHHHHHHHHHHHHH! My dearest Charlotte, look at you. Look how beautiful you look in your wedding dress," he lightly said trying to calm her. It didn't matter how much she begged, pleaded, cried, or anything. Frollo was going to get what he wanted, no matter what. There was nothing she could do or say to stop him. Nothing. He then started praying and chanting something on Latin.
After, he then positioned her to lie down, got on top of her once more, and pinned her down.
"No, stop!" she cried out, but it was no use. Frollo was completely ignoring her. And the next moment, there was a loud, blood curling scream of pain and horror that could be heard throughout the palace halls.
