The princess Penelope Crossman was known to be a cold child.
She didn't laugh like the other children did and she didn't play around recklessly. She was said to have a stare that was old enough to make those in her presence feel deeply uncomfortable.
She was a really creepy child.
No one dared to reproach her though. In comparison to her mother, she was the perfect princess. It was somehow amazing to observers how such a deranged woman had such a mellow-mannered and calm child.
It led people to compare her to her father rather than her mother.
Penelope wasn't blond and she didn't have blue eyes. She took after her mothers appearance more than anything and she'd inherited a genetic mutation that gave her unsettling teal eyes.
Under any other circumstances, the court would have spent all of their time criticizing how unsuited she was as an heir. The Crossman Royal family valued the aesthetic of blond hair, it was a symbol that they were blessed by the sun god or some such legend.
It meant that children born without those traits were often scorned or criticized, perhaps not by their relatives, but certainly by various nobles with political aspirations.
No one considered the queen's daughter seriously as an heir regardless.
As the current king's current offspring, it ought to have been without question that she would receive some form of expectations from the court. But not a single person was willing to place their hopes in the mad queen's progeny.
Especially since it was impossible to even place support behind Penelope. Queen Cale didn't play the political games. She didn't accept support. She didn't vie for power. She drank, she spent her allowance luxuriously, and she criticized everyone and everything around her with her infamous temper.
She was the sole reason that any of Penelope's hopes of achieving her birthright were entirely nullified. Instead, the hopeful nobles placed their support behind the king's nephews and ignored the princess.
People felt sorry for Princess Penelope for having such a bad mother. How many opportunities were lost merely because that lush of a queen couldn't hold her temper even for a brief conversation. What a pity that no matter how bright Penelope was, she would never achieve true greatness with that disgusting mother of hers holding her back.
Not even one of them ever considered that removing a small child from the speculation and political aspirations of slimy and disloyal aristocrats was what any loving parent ought to do for their child.
Cale in particular knew exactly how scaring it could be to be the center of hopes for despicable and self serving vassals. She'd lost so much and been broken down in so many ways because of the greed glowing behind friendly eyes of 'allies'.
She would not expose her child to that.
She could easily imagine what they'd say about Penelope, should they ever lay their degenerate eyes upon her beloved daughter.
First would be the criticism that she was a woman. Women were able to inherit within the Roan Kingdom but the prejudice against it was still a real obstacle that many faced.
Then it would be her hair, how little she resembled her father, questions over whether she was actually her fathers daughter at all, and how her every little movement simply wasn't good enough. How she needed to move more elegantly, speak more eloquently, embody what was expected of a future ruler with absolute perfection.
And then, worst of all, they would begin their manipulation. Molding her mind this way and that in order to ensure that she would value what they felt was valuable. Have her dance along on puppet strings for their amusement as they groomed her into a person who could no longer recognize herself in the mirror.
It was a grim and cruel future that Cale didn't wish upon any child. But she drew the fucking line when it was her own child.
Cale had spent the majority of her life acting like trash to confuse and manipulate these exact sorts of politicals. She could go on forever if need be.
There was no sacrifice that Cale wouldn't make for family.
The unfortunate snag in her plans was that one very specific individual wouldn't give up his interest in Penelope.
Everything Cale knew about Alberu Crossman led her to believe that the moment it was clear that Penelope was unsuited as an heir, he would ignore and disregard her. Much as he had with his queen.
Alberu and Cale had not chosen one another.
It was a marriage of convenience. One that was meant to fortify Alberu's claim to the throne and to raise the fallen status of the Henituse family. The Count had been against it, strangely, but Cale had agreed.
She'd fucked up badly enough to drag the Henituse name through the mud and it was paramount that she recovered it before Basen inherited the title. For her, it made perfect sense and she'd likely make the same decision again. She really would do anything for her family, especially her younger siblings.
Alberu Crossman had not met her even once leading up to the wedding. He'd hardly even looked at her on the wedding day. And on that first and only night when Penelope had been conceived, the darkness in the bedroom had been so complete that Cale could barely see him.
Alberu never made any effort to get to know her and when they did meet eyes, she saw the disgust there. He saw exactly what she wanted him to see.
A worthless drunkard of a queen who was no good for anything at all.
She quite liked the look in his eyes too, because she'd hated him before she ever met him.
Crown Prince Alberu Crossman had climbed to the top of succession through oppressing his brothers and crushing their own political aspirations.
Cale hated that sort of person.
She lived to raise up her siblings. Her family. To provide them with the opportunities to survive and protect them from scrutiny.
In her eyes, Alberu Crossman was nothing more than a self-centered greedy bastard driven by selfish aspirations and hiding an underlying cruelty behind a gentle smile.
It was amazing that a child as perfect as Penelope was related to that cretin at all.
Which was really where the confusion set in.
Alberu had made no effort over the years to bond with his wife or learn anything about her other than what was apparent on the surface but his daughter...
Even Cale could begrudgingly admit that he was sweet with her. Even if she trusted his sunny smile about as much as she trusted those damn nobles, it was good that he was kind with her.
Not that he spent very much time with Penelope.
It could be said that the king never really got married to Cale. How could he? He was already in a committed marriage to his work. Alberu spent more time in his office than anywhere else in the entire palace.
Cale didn't mind that at all though. It made it easy to avoid seeing his stupid face.
"Mama." Penelope tugged at her sleeve and Cale looked down at the sweet girl walking at her side. The pair of them had twin blank expressions as they walked the hallway in the palace. It was the compromise Cale made to avoid scaring Penelope but still appearing unpleasant. Penelope just copied her mother it seemed.
"Yes?" Cale's voice lacked the warmth from the bedroom. The kind warmth was gone and replaced with a clipped and vicious tone that would have scared most children. A servant in the hall flinched at the tone, glancing at the pair in disbelief.
"Can we go to the library instead of the garden?" Penelope's large teal eyes looked up at Cale with a stoic impassiveness that was truly unnerving on such a young child.
Cale scowled darkly at the question. She wasn't upset by it but the library was so obnoxiously close to Alberu's office and the bastard even sometimes took his breaks there.
How tiresome. She didn't want to have to see his face today. She'd actually been hoping to make it an entire month before she saw him again. She used to go months at a time without seeing him at all before Penelope was born. Now he always wanted to make time to see her.
One day she'd figure out what exactly the bastard wanted with her daughter and then twist off his fucking head for daring to have any manipulations planned for her.
That wasn't today though.
Looking as though she swallowed a lemon, Cale nodded to her daughter and changed direction towards the library at a curt pace.
The servants who had observed the interaction had the same feelings that most people had upon seeing the pair. Pity for the princess, dislike towards the queen, and a general feeling that everything would be better in the palace with Cale gone.
It was a sentiment that had imbedded itself deeply in the mentality of most of the citizens of Roan and it would assist greatly in allowing them to dismiss Cale's murder.
No one wanted a villainess for a queen.