Beauty, Roses and Attitude (The First Book of The Reversed Roles Series)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“What do you mean she’s not going to be here again? Is she out of the country or something?” I ask harshly. It wasn’t the maid’s fault that she was the one who is going to face my wrath today. “No madam, she’s still sick but she has instructed me to tell you that you only need to read this book and evaluate it when you’re finish.” I fiddle with my charm bracelet, shaking it around and only stopping when the rose charm was at the bottom. “Fine.” I grit my teeth, snatching the book away from her. She bows her head to dismiss herself.

Twirling a piece of my dull brunette hair, I flip the book over so I could read the title.

‘Beauty and the Beast’

I’ve read this book once; it was when I was 10. It was okay in my opinion but the only thing that was bothering me was that how could a girl fall in love with a beast? He’s a beast. No one can ever fall in love with a beast. Even though he’s a prince and he’s rich and all, I still wouldn’t even touch or even come near his palace. He’s a mythical creature that looks disgusting. Who would want to even be friends with such a thing?

I’m blessed of course. I’m rich and beautiful. Everyone would come flooding towards me once I get out of this hell of a damn place. Don’t get me wrong, I love that it’s very spacious and it has nooks and crannies that even I haven’t discovered yet from all the years I’ve lived in here but I want to see the world and to see if everything that Fiona tells me is true.

“Luis!” I shout, bringing the book with me to my study. I sit on my comfiest and definitely my favourite chair, facing the roaring fireplace. A few seconds later, the lanky man came tumbling in after me. He looks like he needed some rest after the many flights of stairs I must have made him run through. Not my problem.

 “That took you long enough, I was getting impatient. Anyway, I want some tea. Have Mrs. Pots bring it to me.” That wasn’t really her name. It was just a nickname I’ve grown accustom to just because she brings me a pot of tea or coffee every time. “Yes, Annabelle. Anything else?” I take one look at the book then remembered that I need to evaluate it. “Yes, some paper and pen.” With that, I dismiss him.

I already have one negative point for the evaluation and that is the girl’s incompetence. I still need to find out a positive point . Should I say something about the writer’s excellent imagination? No, that’s too vague. It should match my negative point as well. Maybe reading the book over again would help me, besides; this is what I was supposed to do from the start.

Turning the book so that I could read the blurb to refresh my memory, I find that this version did not have a blurb written for readers. Annoyed, I flip to chapter 1. I’m ready to read until I finish the whole thing or if I get bored. It wasn’t like I had anything better to do. I’ve already showered and eaten, I was not needed to do any chores. The only ‘chore’ I get to do was to water my lovely roses in my room’s balcony.

 I’m always careful with handling the roses. I came to liking this hobby when I was 5 years old. I came across a book about gardening and immediately requested for the prettiest and finest of quality seeds from Luis and Cole. Luis and Cole are my most trusted servants and they are who I come to whenever I have a problem or when I need everyone to know something. They were both near their forties.  Anyway, there are two reasons why I choose to handle the roses carefully; it was because if you don’t, the petals would fall off almost immediately. I even considered placing them under a glass cover just so those damn birds or anyone really won’t ever touch them. The other reason was that the roses bore thorns and they are extremely prickly. I’ve learnt that the hard way. I had to have my whole hand bandaged by Cole.

“Ms. Annabelle?” There was a knock on the door. “Come in.” I turn to find Mrs. Pots balancing a tea tray with both hands. “Good afternoon Annabelle, I threw in your favourite cookies just in case you get hungry.” She was always considerate like that. “Thank you, place the tray on that coffee table and you may go.” She’s done what she was instructed and went.