The Queen

Prologue

"Uwaahhh...Uwaahhh..." The sound of a baby crying resonated through the hospital room. A young woman barely in her 20s was breathing hard. Her breathing was ragged and her face was flushed. Next to the young woman was a nurse carrying a newborn baby girl. The nurse was wiping the blood off the baby and held the baby close to her.

"Mrs. Marl, you have a healthy baby girl", the nurse said as she handed the young woman the baby girl. The young woman looked at her newborn daughter and felt a swelling feeling in her chest. Suddenly she felt tears running down her face. The nurse looked at the young woman strangely.

"Ma'am, what's wrong?" The nurse asked concerned for the young woman in front of her. The young woman's tearful face looked almost pitiful yet you couldn't tell whether she was happy or sad.

"It's nothing. I'm just so..." The young woman couldn't continue with her sentence for she felt something in her chest. Her baby was so small yet she looked like she could do a million things yet she felt fear. The baby was beautiful in so many contexts but her face... Her face was her only flaw. She had wrinkles on her face oddly for a newborn baby, her eyes also looked unequal with heterochromatic. But even with those flaws, the young woman couldn't help but love her new daughter.

"I feel so happy", a smile finally gracing the young woman's face. The young woman could be called a beauty. Even with her tearstained face, she would still be called a beauty. Yet, her smiling face showed something other than happiness, it showed sadness and fear.

"Ma'am, do you want me to inform the father that he should come in?" The nurse asked and as soon as the young woman heard the word 'father', she immediately stiffened and shook her head. The nurse tilted her head to the side.

"No, could you please not say anything yet", the young woman says and looks down, her hair covering her face, her frail body shaking in fear.

"Ma'am, a-are you okay?" The nurse stuttered seeing the young woman looking scared made her feel scared as well.

"Yes, don't worry. I just want to be alone right now", the young woman said. The nurse left the room and as she left, she saw the sign next to the room and it said, Ms. Victoria James Marl.

The woman named Victoria was looking at her daughter. She was hugging her daughter tightly as though if she let go, her daughter would disappear. Her tears were spilling, she felt pride, she was finally a mother and she couldn't wait to hear her daughter say 'mom'. But, even with that feeling, she couldn't do anything but fear what her husband would say knowing that he had wanted beautiful children. After all, the only reason he had married her was because she was beautiful and she grew to accept that.

"No matter what he says, I will protect you with my life", Victoria says looking at her daughter with soft eyes. Her moist eyes were glistening with tears at the thought of her husband, father of her baby taking away the baby she worked hard nurturing.

The thought of it alone made her cringe. The man whom she called her husband was nothing like her dreams as a baby. She was so naïve as a baby, dreaming of marrying a handsome prince and living in a castle made of gold and silver. She had so many dreams as a baby and she had always believed that happily ever after's were true however that was just babyhood. A phase of her life she wanted to forget but couldn't, that memory made her feel complete because she was just like every other little girl in the world hoping she could be someone famous. She just laughed a humorless laugh.

Victoria thought back to when she was in labor, rushed into the emergency room. The thought of it made her glad she didn't die in childbirth or else who would care for her baby. She knew for a fact, her husband wouldn't have cared for her baby.

"Miss Victoria, your husband is outside asking to see you", the nurse came back. The look on Victoria's face showed fear and anguish.

"Tell him that I want to be alone for now", as soon as the words left her mouth, the door slammed open. There stood her husband, eyes raging looking around the room before locating his wife in the middle of the room. He looked as though he were running towards his wife but in truth he just wanted to see his daughter.

"Vicky, where is she?" His nickname for her sent shivers down her spine. The nickname had never been her favorite, it was chosen for her without her own consent.

The next words he said shocked everyone in that hospital room, "Give me my daughter. She belongs to me!" The way he asked for his own daughter sounded like a baby whining for its toy.

"Sir, please be quiet. There are other patients in the next room who are all recovering", a nurse scolded him. However, the complete opposite happened, instead of quieting down, he slapped the nurse on the cheek.

The impact of the slap had the nurse on the floor touching her cheek. The sound of the slap still echoed in the now quiet room. Victoria covered her mouth, the blood drained from her face looking at the embarrassing scene in front of her.

"Doctor, there is a maniac in this room", the other nurse in the room was now calling a doctor to come to the room to restrain the man. As soon as the doctor came, the man still restrained against the doctor. In the end it resorted to violence but the man won against the doctor.

"Sir, please. If you wish to see your wife, be a bit quieter. If you do, I will let you go", the doctor said yet the man still didn't pay attention. He struggled again and again until finally he was free of the doctor's grip. He walked to the bed and took the baby from his wife. He peered at the face of his daughter and immediately threw the baby away.

A collective gasps went around the room. The nurse went to catch the baby and had caught the baby but her half her head had hit the floor. The sound of crying soon erupted in the room.

"Shh...Shh...Little baby please don't cry", the nurse pleaded but the child didn't here her plea. It was probably her motherly instincts kicking in because as soon as her child was harmed she felt the wish to strangle her husband no matter how much fear she held for him.

Victoria lifts her frail body up from the hospital bed and walked to the nurse who was holding her baby. "Let me hold her", she said and took the baby from the nurse's grip.

"My darling, please don't cry", Victoria said softly while shushing the child with her melodic voice.

"Victoria, let that monster go now!" Her husband shouted. The doctor restrained the man and her husband fought tooth and nails to get free but it was all in vain for he couldn't get out the doctor's grip.

"Ma'am, please sit down. Your still quite weak as it is so please stop straining your body", the nurse tried to calm Victoria down but just the memory of her own daughter being thrown away could have already given her a heart attack.

"Leave now, you will never see me or your daughter ever again, I'll even file the divorce papers for you", her voice was just above a whisper but anyone who heard her voice heard the sound of malice in it.

"Fine but don't forget the amount of money you owe me or the debt you still have to pay for your parents". He used blackmail in order to make her cower in fear and it seemed to work because if you were to see her hands that were holding her child protectively, they were shaking in fear.

The man who was once her husband left the room and out of their lives forever, or so they thought.