Countryhumans oneshots

Not my best work but here

I'll be honest here I gave up

Victoria- UK

Julian- France

Piper- Native America

Philip- Paris

Owen- Canada

Eric- America

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The nightmare was reoccurring; there was never a night when she didn't dream of what happened. She felt like it was her fault he died, after all, everything was always because of her actions. She learned that she can't blame anyone else for anything unfortunate that happened to her; so the fault was hers and hers alone.

Victoria didn't like to sleep unless she wanted to wake up as a sobbing mess, lately, it was just harder to get up from the bed; wishing for the bed to swallow her whole. It never happened, she had to get up; especially for her daughters.

Maybe her daughters would have been better off without her; being raised by their uncles and aunt. Maybe Victoria needed them more than they needed her.

She sat in the garden, looking at one of the last pieces of her marriage; a wedding ring. It remained the last because you couldn't burn a wedding ring like the countless portraits and letters and poems she had.

Why did this happen?

Was she too outspoken with her opinions? Was she too quiet? Was she too easy on the eyes? Or was her appearance unpleasant? Was there something wrong with her?

Why did Julian love that Indian more than her?

She felt pathetic to know that the memory haunted her and that she wasn't good enough.

. . .

Julian spent most of his time in his office.

It was odd to see him so hard at work, but with the colonization of the New World, Victoria thought nothing of it.

She spent most of her time watching little Philip and baby Owen. Philip was always so fascinated with his little brother Owen.

Maybe she should've been suspicious when Julian would only pay attention to his sons; always turning his back on her. It always made Victoria feel horrible, she felt like she did something wrong.

One day, Julian was on a journey to the New World to visit one of his colonies and came back with a small boy around Owen's age. Julian explained that he found him and took him back home. Owen and Philip seemed to buy it; Victoria, on the other hand, knew something was up.

Eric looked too much like Julian: eye shape, nose shape, the way their lips pursed the exact same way when they were concentrating.

Julian was known for infidelity, so Victoria knew what exactly happened, but she never could confront Julian about it. After all, what could she do about it?

So she kept silent.

. . .

It was Victoria's idea to start a colony in the New World.

It was mainly because she wanted to check up on Julian to prove if her suspicions were correct or if she was really paranoid.

She prayed that she was just paranoid.

After meeting Piper (after a brutal attack on little UK ball), Victoria confirmed two things.

Piper was a menace to people and balls

Piper was undoubtedly Eric's mother

. . . .

Victoria didn't mean to find out the truth.

To this day she swears that she didn't mean to find out.

She was helping the servants clean up and little Owen wandered into his father's office while playing hide-and-seek with Philip and Eric. No one was allowed to enter Julian's office and Victoria rushed in to get Owen out.

Owen had just learned how to read and discovered some letters in his father's office; it was only natural that he began to read them.

It wasn't his fault that Owen held on to some of the letters even as Victoria rushed him out.

It wasn't his fault that Owen asked for the definition of treasure.

It wasn't his fault that Owen gave Victoria the letters.

It was Victoria's fault that curiosity killed the cat.

It was Victoria's fault.

As Victoria read the letters, emotions overflowed in her.

She felt disgust, jealousy, rage, and heartbreak.

So much heartbreak.

She wondered why Piper loved Julian so much, the way she did. She had never heard a woman talk that way about Julian; with affection but also pointing out his flaws that many women ignored.

Rushing to Julian's office, she desperately searched for a letter; a letter he'll use to respond to her.

And the letter she found.

She spent the entire night reading, scanning, studying, and breathing the letter. Words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs. . . .

Everything he used in that letter truly described his passion for Piper; he really loved her. Piper made Julian happy in ways Victoria could never.

. . . .

Victoria would like to be honest, she had never wanted to marry Julian. The marriage was arranged by her father and Victoria was raised to be a good little girl. Some days she wished she had defied her father, mutilating herself or even going to lengths of ending her own life to prevent the marriage from even happening.

As Victoria stared at the ring that once meant something, she really wished she could turn back time and never arrive at the bloody chapel.

Victoria wasn't sure how she fell in love with Julian, but she was pretty sure it was her fault that her stupidity got the best of her.

Either way, the past was in the past now: like Julian and Piper's relationship, like Piper's life, like Philip's life. All of those things Victoria had to move on from because she had two young daughters to look after and she had no intention to pull a Julian and neglect them.

The sun was rising, painting the sky in oranges and light purples, signaling the start of a new day. Victoria was tired of living the past, she was tired of blaming herself for every little thing. She wanted to focus on being a good mother to her children.

She was tired alright?

So she just dropped the ring, got up, and returned home.

Maybe she would sleep better after this day.