𝐌𝐫𝐬. 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 | Choni

Two

The eldest daughter of King Clifford and Queen Penelope had recently celebrated her sixteenth birthday.

She didn’t find this as exciting as she thinks it should have been. Her life had been the same for the last three years since her father ascended the throne of Riverdale. She was the eldest and had many expectations thrust upon her. She wasn’t sure she wanted any of them, but she was stuck and didn’t know what to do. With every day that passes, she falls further into the suffocating void that is the life of a Princess and future Queen.

She knew that the birth of her brother weighed heavily on her parents' minds as it changed the course of her future. If she were being honest though, she didn’t mind; it freed her up to be more of the woman she was and wanted to be.

If she wasn’t the future Queen of Riverdale then there should be less pressure and expectations of her too. She could breathe in what felt like the first time in sixteen years. But there was no making sense of that to her mother and father. They now seemed to worry that after their actions, they needed to take responsibility for Cheryl’s future happiness. She’d prefer if they left that up to her.

One way she liked to escape was with the written word. Books were her portal to other far-off lands; she could share in the adventures with like-minded characters. She could lose herself for hours while exploring new ideas, environments, and emotions. Books were her salvage in this suffocating, oppressive atmosphere. She felt selfish for thinking such things while being a Princess and living in a castle full of people solely there to wait on her and her family.

Her mother insisted that she work on the letters she’d promised to write to the young men who attended her birthday ball, but she much preferred to escape to another world for the afternoon.

The Princess had planned to hide from her mother in the library. She’d been looking at her with that look in her eye all morning.

Cheryl knew her mother only had her best interest at heart, but she’s had enough. She didn’t want to be forced into a box and made to look like the perfect example of the royal class, a Princess Riverdale would be proud of. Cheryl would prefer if her parents could be proud of her for being her. She knew that would never happen though and so settled for an afternoon in the library instead and avoid all her responsibilities for the day.

________

Every day she woke up to the sight of the same ceiling suspended above her head. The same sigh and huff escaped from between her parched lips as usual.

It was an early start once again for the young Serpent woman. Her first task of the day would be to open all of the curtains in the main rooms of the castle while checking them for wear and tear. Next would be helping set up breakfast in the dining room for the family before stripping all the beds and getting them cleaned and repaired if needed. This was just the start of her day like it was every day before it. She and her brother’s existence bought such great sadness and anger to the Serpents in Riverdale.

The former King was a bitter and scathing man, who didn’t deserve the following he had. He decided her parents were to be made an example of; it wasn’t enough that the Serpents were enslaved in every sense of the word, but also were restricted from any form of relationships.

So when the twins were born, Edmund took it as a personal offence and acted most horrifically and selfishly possible. He ordered their deaths. Just like that, the twins were orphaned; their parents were murdered for loving one another. That was her existence. To be the reminder to the Serpents that their enslavement was unwavering and all their future held was darkness.

There had been a foolish hope that when Edmund died and Clifford took the throne things would change for the better. It would be an insult to the King for them to say it hadn’t but they were still stuck in Riverdale, with no Southside in sight. Not that Toni knew what that would look like; all she’d known were the castle walls and maybe the gardens if the right person asked.

The sun was low in the sky casting the grounds in a warm light that streamed in through the large windows of the library. Toni knew this castle like the back of her hand; she’d even wager she knew it better than any member of the royal family. The girl had known the castle her entire life and had been taught everything there was to know about running the large home.

As her skills had advanced and her capabilities greatened she was entrusted to carry out a large number of tasks each day. The task she was completing right now was patching and sewing the freshly cleaned linen. Toni was so confident about how the house ran and was so familiar with the daily going ons that she was sure she could get away with working in the library with the view. So she set to work. Deft fingers searched and darned the fabric while a familiar song slipped from her lips.

The young woman was so engrossed with her work that she failed to hear the large, heavy door when it was pushed open and closed behind someone.