Cinderella's Stepmother

I do not know how I was fixed as a villain in the collective memory and became a cautionary tale against greedy women, when all my life I wanted to be remembered as a kind and compassionate maiden.

All I wanted was for people to love me and feel sympathy by understanding my story. I wanted to be loved more than to be alive. I wanted to be erased from history rather than be remembered as a callous monster.

I admit I have done mistakes. I admit I am envious, manipulative and insecure, flaws a heroine should never carry. Yet there is compassion, kindness, goodness inside of me, which nobody, not even Cinderella, can deny and you ought to know them, before judging me.

Nevertheless, I know my greatest fault. It is being born ugly. I would have been much kinder if I was beautiful. This vice of mine stacked all the cards against me and caused my downfall. After all, beauty is a woman's greatest weapon, and I was sent to war without any protection.

My mother would have been kinder to me. I would have been more popular with the girls my age. My husband would have loved me from the first sight if I was beautiful. My daughters would have been happier if I had given them the gift of beauty than my good intentions.

Either way, as a last service, I leave this book to you. Judge if you like, but learn from my mistakes.