The little Duchess

Chapter one

The snowy scene created by the winter weather was dreamlike. No place was that more apparent than the Diamond Palace that sat at the head of a large community. It always looked stunning but during this season it was especially beautiful. The pastel blue coloration went perfectly with the white snow that dusted the tops like powdered sugar. Icicles hung off the roof gleaming in the light like the namesake of the castle. The reason it was called the Diamond Palace was said to be because there was once a miner whose bad luck suddenly turned around when he found diamonds in a mine. From there he took his fortune, gathered up his large family and created a life for them by first building an enormous house.

As the family got bigger and richer, the house grew until it became the castle seen today. A lot of the family ended up marrying into wealth and now it was owned by a proper royal family. Though no one saw them much or spoke to them things were still known even if it was more often just rumor. The lady of the house was the Duchess Demetria with caramel brown hair and charming brown eyes. She seemed to love high fashion from the way she dressed and how many shopping bags her servants always carried. Nothing seemed denied to her which led people to believe she was spoiled rotten and very high maintenance. Often one could catch snippets of conversation where she would be talking about going to the salon or getting her nails done.

Some thought of her as vain and prissy even though none had met her or talked to her so they didn't truly know. Her husband was the Duke Marinus. He was tall but his wife was taller with her high heels. He had a beard and mustache matching his dark brown hair with a white streak in it. Whether it was from old age or a strange style choice nobody knew. If it was old age it was the only thing that gave away how old he truly was. He had a young face, as did his wife, and it was enhanced by his blue eyes. As far as anyone could tell he liked to go outside the most and not just for shopping. The royals had a high wall surrounding the palace but everyone could hear him outdoors, laughing and enjoying himself by the pool. He also played with the family dogs but he didn't seem to walk them, that was deemed servant work. From that people assumed he was lazy and too reliant on his staff to do everything.

He was deemed to be a man who relaxed while others did the hard work. Some thought the servants might be disgruntled, underpaid, and seen as lowly. The duke just loved the toys and luxuries of his wealth including his yacht which seafarers could see him on and he would at least give a friendly wave. His wife would be on the deck tanning herself in a revealing bikini while sipping from her umbrella decorated drink. Always there was a servant or two waiting on her hand and foot and perhaps the dogs would be there, enjoying the breeze. The main servant seemed to be a butler who always looked tired which most attributed to being at their beck and call all hours of the day. Since he walked the dogs people saw him and were kind to him.

He didn't stop to talk much because he had work to do. The townspeople felt bad for him because he seemed so old, too old to be doing so much work. He should be enjoying retirement and visiting his grandchildren, if he had any, not slaving away. His name was Pavel and most thought he never knew anything outside of working for rich families. He took very good care of the dogs, who were pedigree as to be expected. One was a white husky named Belosnezhka and the other was a dark grey of the same breed named Polnoch. Most didn't pet them because they looked scary but they were assured that the dogs were friendly as long as you weren't hostile.

Now there was one more member of the family, the youngest, and people knew very little about her- in fact, they only saw her once. The only child, the daughter, that no soul outside of her own family had seen the face of. Nobody knew if she was a pretty girl or not or if she had brown eyes, like her mother, blue like her father or all together some other color. When the family moved in everyone got a glimpse of the girl but it was a dreary day and all anyone saw was the back of her head. She seemed to have long dark hair and that's about all they could gather. Those that were nosy, nosier than the rest, could see her hand grasping onto the black umbrella and saw that it was very pale. It started to become gossip spread around that she was anemic and sickly, which would explain the abnormal paleness. It would also explain why she never seemed to be outside or went to school.