It Started With A Mask (A Cinderella Story) [revised]

Chapter One

DAY PRIOR TO THE EVENT - 4:00 PM (1 DAY AND 8 HOURS TO MIDNIGHT, 1 DAY AND 3 HOURS TO THE BALL)

"Danielle!!! Get the door!" screeched the hag, my Aunt Agatha Antoinette Duxelle, of the House of Duxelle.

I have lived many years working under the rule of my supposed ‘family members’. When my mother died in childbirth, my father, Lord Charles Sebastian Rousseau, raised me as best he could. Mourning the loss of his wife as he was, he did pretty well. Those were the best days of my life. Learning to one day be ‘Comtesse Danielle Rousseau of the House of Rousseau’, living in a loving household, holding secret midnight snack sessions with the servants, and wrestling with my best friend Mouse were honestly the glory days of my life. The Golden Time as I like to call it. But then one day, my father wanted more. He wanted another wife. I was excited at the idea of a new mother. Her name was Analissa. In all honesty, she was a fair and just woman. While she was not my true mother, and I was not her true daughter, she was caring and sweet. She was the amazing motherly figure I’d missed all my life.

But not all thought that to be true. Enter my aunt. Yes, Aunt Agatha. In truth, she was an adopted child that my father’s mother wished to have, since she wanted a daughter, and could no longer bear children. The worst decision Grandmere Yvonne could have made. Despite her naturally beautiful features, she always had this bearing about her that seemed as if she were permanently displeased with the world.

Aunt Agatha was quite displeased with my father’s wife. You see, my Aunt is a very jealous woman. I believe that at some point, she cared for my father in more ways than in a sisterly way. They weren’t after all, blood siblings. I believe she tried something towards my father, and he denied her. So, when she saw this wife, that both I and my father seemed to adore, well I suppose she wasn’t happy. All I know was that for the rest of the evening, during and after dinner, she was laying underlying insults in every word she spoke.

This is where my true hate for her lies. I was hiding in the kitchen, waiting to sneak some desserts and even a sip of wine from the kitchen when my aunt slipped in to talk to the chef. She seemed to be asking something, and the chef pointed at the three plates on the bench. Agatha waited for the chef to turn his back, and brought out a vial, and dripped a clear liquid into two of the plates.
The next day, my father and step-mother were found dead in their bedchambers.

Unfortunately, Aunt Agatha was my only living relative, and she moved herself and her daughters into my house.

"Danielle! The door, you worthless child!" Aunt Hag yelled once more over what seemed to be a dying cat. Biting back an unladylike curse, I got up; dropping the brush I had been using to scrub the floor. I walked toward the tall oak door, where I heard the bell tolling loudly.
I opened the door to reveal a man, dressed in a fine red and black tunic, with shiny leather boots up to his knees. On his right breast was a crown with crossed swords behind it. The Royal Insignia. It must be a big occasion if a squire from court was attending to things personally.

The squire gave a cough before pulling out a roll of parchment. He handed it to me.

"By Royal Decree, there is to be a Royal Masquerade in honour of His Highness, Prince Pierre Cristophe François Marcel of the Royal House of Marcel tomorrow evening, at the seventh hour. By order of the King, ALL eligible maidens of the house MUST attend the Royal Ball as The Prince is to choose a bride. Signed His Royal Majesty the King" the man announced before bowing to me, and proceeded to the next house. I shut the door.

A ball? It has been a long while since a ball of this magnitude has been organised by the Royal Family. It is tradition for a Prince to hold a ball for all eligible maidens when he is ready to marry. Or well, when his parents want him to be ready. I took the carefully sealed parchment, and walked up the stairs to where Agatha was holding music lessons.

As I approached the music room, I could hear a loud wailing sound that sounded like a half dead cat choking on a parrot. Ah, the sweet sounds of my dear cousin, Arabella. Gertrude sounded far better on her flute.
"Arabella, what a beautiful voice you have! Gertrude, did I not tell you to practice, your flute playing is atrocious!" Agatha reprimanded the lesser-liked child. I know that some parents like to favour certain children, but Hag takes her favouritism to the extreme. Gertrude could never catch up to her elder sister in Agatha’s eyes.

"Danielle! I told you not to interrupt our music lessons!" she shrieked, as I knocked and entered.
"Sorry Aunt Hag- Agatha. There was a Royal Squire at the door. There is to be a ball for the prince. He's apparently looking for a bride-" I was cut off as my aunt snatched away the parchment, her eyes reading the words as if they were the solution to all their problems. In a sense, they were. Arabella started squealing, which I must tell you, is no improvement from her singing. Gertrude was still silently practising her flute.

"Oh mother, this is my chance! I can finally meet the prince, and he will marry me, and we shall live in the palace and I shall be queen!" I blinked at her presumptuous attitude. Well, she’s confident.
"Come Arabella, we must shop for a new dress, and jewellery, and shoes, and of course a mask! Also-"
"Mother, what about me?" Gertrude interrupted. Arabella scrunched her nose, a faint look of distaste colouring her expression before she hastily covered it in a simpering look of supposed sisterly affection.
"Oh Gertie…well, I do believe we have enough money for a new mask, but I’m afraid we cannot afford you a new dress" Gertrude looked crestfallen, but was quick to hide her feelings.
“Don’t worry Gertrude! You can have all the things you wish when I move into the palace and become Queen!” Arabella exclaimed brightly, once again lost in her royal fantasies.

"What about me?" they all turned to look at me, Gertrude with a kind smile, and the others with distaste.
"What about you?" Arabella scoffed, disdainfully. Her sister was one thing; their servant whom they’d seemed to forget was their cousin was an entirely different prospect. But I have reasoning behind my request.

"By order of the King, ALL eligible maidens have to attend. Besides, it's not as if I'll get in your way, I'll just hang on the edges of the crowd. You won't even know I'm there. I promise not to interrupt your potentially momentous occasion with the Prince" Or potentially disastrous. My aunt looked at me thoughtfully, a curious glint in her eye. My Aunt was no fool. She would do anything and everything to keep me from my right to a night out.

"Mother, you aren't SERIOUSLY considering this" Arabella screeched.
"Hush Arabella. Danielle has a point. An eligible maiden she may be, but it’s not as if a PRINCE would ever take notice of her. So very well, you may attend the ball only if you complete all your chores, as well as find a suitable costume" I smiled politely, containing my excitement before bobbing a curtsey.

“Thank you m’lady” I murmured, before hurriedly dismissing myself from the room to attend to the long list of chores I know I’d have, and know that more would come.

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A/N: First chap redone...hope you like it ;P