Cinderella's Tears

Cinderella's Tears ~ Chapter 17

Dylan P.O.V.

“Parents,” I addressed them, “Uncle, Aunt.”

They were all sitting down. They nodded and beckoned for me to sit down. I frowned and shook my head.

I went all out, “WHAT THE HELL?”

The king looked at me coldly, “Mind your language, we are all adults here.” He went back to sipping tea, as if he was a normal gentleman. Believe me, he is not.

“What just happened in there?”

“Well there was a trial for a girl who apparently murdered a full grown man, not only but he was the next in line to throne,” my mother answered simple, “Quite absurd isn’t it?”

I stared at her but she wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“I expected this,” The queen added on.

“What do you mean?” I questioned her.

“Well,” she looked at me before returning her gaze at the tea she was holding, “There were rumors that Stefan-“

“What about Stefan?” I interrupted.

She glared at me before continuing, “Stefan might have ‘witnessed’ the death of Kristina Savye.”

“So?”

“Geeze Dylan! Don’t you understand?”

I thought for a moment. Kristina Savye seemed familiar.

“Isn’t she that singer that died a decade ago?”

My mother covered her face with her hand, in shame, “I’m embarrassed to call you my son.”

My dad chuckled. I shot him a glare but he looked away.

“She wasn’t any singer. She was a gorgeous and charming singer who had the most amazing voice in the whole world. She was very well known all over the world.”

“We were the best of friends,” the queen bragged. My mother accidently shot her a dirty look but continued.

Before I go on, you have to know that my family is weird. We can act mature and well behaved in public but when we are alone we are a bit immature and impolite. It fun though.

“Kristina died 10 years ago in a fire that was supposedly, accidently caused by her daughter.”

Isn’t Savye Diane’s last name? Maybe I heard it wrong. It was a very common last name but it is also spelled differently.

“But after the incident there was a period of depression and suspicion. Her daughter kept crying and claiming there was a man in the house. Mind you, her daughter was very young at the time. That man had killed Kristina and set her body on flames. No one believed her but it got me thinking. It was impossible for a little girl to imagine such things. If she truly saw that, then who knows. Her thoughts could be darkened.”

The queen nodded in agreement, “I pitied her but she disappeared before I could go and ask her myself, but I heard rumors. A rumor that the man had a thin white scar down his jaw line.”

The queen ran her finger down her jaw line in a dramatic way.

“Stefan has a scar like that!” I exclaimed,

The queen nodded gravely. The king, on the other hand, flashed me a devilish smile.

“Do you know how he got that scar?” the king barely contained his laughter.

I frowned at him, “Of course. During a duel, which then he won.”

My father turned away and hid his laughter while the king explained to me, “Well you see, everyone loved Kristina since she was really bea-“ The queen elbowed the king in the chest. The king corrected himself, “she was very pretty and fair, not as beautiful as your aunt of course.” The queen smiled smugly. “Including Stefan. Kristina, though didn’t love him back. There was a lot of fighting and jealousy, Kristina was very violent and a trouble maker though she seemed like an angel in public. Well what happened was that Kristina was fed up with rejecting him that she took a knife and slashed him. She didn’t really have good aim though. I’m sure it was a bit more complicated but that’s just a summary.”

I stood there frozen, “that means then-“

The queen cut me off, “That’s right. Stefan killed Kristina out of jealousy.”

I fell to the floor, clutching my head. The kind man I knew all my life, the one who always helped me and gave me advice, was just an act. He was a terrible person, a murder.

I looked up; tears were forming in my eyes, “What does this have to do with Diane?”

They all looked at each other. My mother was the one who spoke, “Well, we believe that Diane is Kristina’s daughter.”

Somehow, this wasn’t too shocking. All the pieces seem to fit. Both were violent, beautiful but I never heard Diane’s voice. And her leg! It was a scar from a burn so she was in the burning house. Her face appeared in my head. Her voice was indeed beautiful. How did I not notice this before? I suddenly felt very sorry for her. Diane was just a victim.

While I was having an epiphany, my family was discussing.

“Maybe no one knew it was her because she never sang in public.”

“No it was the last name that threw people off?”

“Maybe everyone tried to forget her because they thought she killed Kristina?”

“Why?” I asked.

“Wha-“

“Why!?” I asked louder.

“I don’t under-“

“Why did she keep it to herself? She could have told me. She could have told them! Then she wouldn’t have to be sold!” I yelled at them, mostly at the king though.

They all stared at me.

“You really are dumb,” my father sighed, “Let me explain this to you. Diane is smarter than you think. She knew everyone in the jury hated her and would not believe her. If she said something as absurd as that, they would have her killed. Admit it, you wouldn’t believe it either.”

I didn’t argue with that.

“Then answer this question, why did you have her sold?”

The king smiled, “I was waiting for you to ask that question. I did it for you.”

I blushed, “What?!”

He chuckled, “Well of course you are going to buy her.”

“What? No way.”

“Ok then, she can get bought by some perverted old man or maybe by a woman who will work her to death or maybe...”

“They can’t do that!”

“Oh yes they can because after she is bought she is only property. Anything can happen to her. DO you understand? There are a lot of people out there that hate her and are willing to buy her just to kill her or maybe rape her.” He flashed me an evil smile.

“You disgusting human being.”

He shrugged, “it won’t happen if you buy her. And you know what else? She can’t reject any of your requests. Why she can be your personal maid or maybe you can even marry her.”

“What would make you think that I would want to marry her?”

The queen grinned, “There are many reasons. Perhaps you want to get out from marrying those other girls at the balls, because you know you have to get engaged by the end of the next ball or maybe, this just a possibility, you might actually LOVE HER!”

They all burst into laughter. Angry and annoyed, I stormed out of the room and into the hallway.

The king called after me, “BE THE HIGHEST BIDDER OR SHE WILL BELONG TO SOMEONE ELSE!”

The laughter grew louder. I covered my ears and closed my eyes. After bumping into a tree, I opened my eyes and went to my room.