Daylight

01 | Countryside

It has been a year since she and her daughters were banished from the southern part of the charming kingdom. The wicked stepmother and the ugly stepsisters they called them.

It was a year full of karma and despair for her and her daughters. Her menacing plans had failed again and again as they looked for a new place to call home. Every single person in the kingdom slammed their doors closed in front of their faces.

Even the ones she used to call old friends.

It has been months since they or at least she started looking for a new place before the royal guards are ordered to kick them out of their new queen's old childhood home. Their new queen that she mistreated and tried to hide from the world.

Another week after she once again failed to find a place and they had been kicked out, only staying in an old, crappy inn, she finally stumbled upon a place in the east for them to reside in. The place seemed alright in the paper, it was a lovely home by the woods, near a crystal lake and far from the lively village, in the countryside. She supposed it will do for them for now before she finds her daughters noble and rich husbands and gets their lives back.

Her eyes fell on the bottom of the paper, it said there was a single woman that lived on the cottage next door to the place and that she was the owner of both houses, now accepting new renters.

Well, a single neighbor wouldn't be a problem, she just hoped the woman wouldn't be a bother to her and her daughters. Having to live in the countryside was bad enough, having a bad and unbearable neighbor was another thing.

"Mother, are there yet? Do tell me that we are close, I cannot stand this small and old carriage any longer!" Drizella exclaimed, frowning extremely hard with her hands flying everywhere, hitting everything it concluding her sister.

Anastasia yelped, putting a hand over her red forehead where her sister had hit her "That hurt!" she raised a hand and slapped her sister's arm in return, starting another one of their annoying bickering.

Lady Tremaine watched her daughters fight and bicker, screaming at each other's faces. She inhaled sharply, rolling her eyes to herself before her gaze fell onto the gray poof of fur that sat on her lap, busy purring and sleeping. She ran her fingers through her cat's gray fur to calm herself.

She glanced at the paper in the empty space beside her, some information about the house was written on it. It was a house with two floors, two bedrooms with their own restrooms, two common rooms, a kitchen, and an attic. Well, that sounds like a house. It was located near a lake, the market was a walking distance but the village would take a carriage to get there, it also said the people were very friendly and known for their hospitality.

It was easy to manipulate friendly and innocent people, she thought. But everything that happened to her in a year, all that karma and despair, she wondered if she could still change her cruel ways.

After what seemed like hellish years of listening to her daughters scream and bite each other's heads off, the carriage finally stopped. Lady Tremaine looked outside the window, staring at the exterior of the house in front of them. It looked fairly comfortable and cozy, it wasn't a small space either, she supposed it was enough for her and her daughters. It will do fine to keep them alive.

There were three windows, one from the attic, two from the first floor, between them was the wooden door. There was a stone pathway towards the door, surrounded with grass and small flowers.