Marie

Celestia was busy preparing the foods she will later bring to Adam, she remembered that lobsters were his favorite and now, she's sneaking in the kitchen to give him one, she remembered that there were at least three leftover lobsters from their lunch a while ago, it's a good thing that the maids were off duty during these hours, she'll seem suspicious if someone caught her sneaking foods.

With a white old tote bag at hand, she put one lobster from the refrigerator, she added a couple of fruits, grapes, and apples to be exact thinking that it will help Adam recover quickly. She was about to head out the kitchen when she saw the figures of the two ladies, Marie and Stella, they are whispering and snickering that made Celestia have a glimpse of time to hide the tote bag she was holding below the table.

'Why now of all the times? Me and my rotten luck' she mumbles under her breath, knowing that she will face a troublesome scenario.

The two stops from walking when they saw the person in front of them, no other than a pale Celestia.

"It must be true that you have a fever, judging from your looks today," Stella remarked, assessing her sister's face. Why can't she have those bright green eyes? She is pretty, beautiful in fact but she knows that she can never rival those eyes, green and bright like a precious gem, hers were also green but more like a moss kind of green, the opposite of Celestia's bright emerald eyes.

"Don't be fooled easily Stella, for all we know, this is just her acting, haven't you learned enough? Remember the time when Celestia made your late grandfather hate you, us?" Marie said seething with anger, she recalled all the humiliations she faced when Celestia made a public scene by telling her grandfather the cruelty Marie did, she even showed the bruise and blood cloth which made her look the evil stepmother she is.

Celestia, on the other hand, is shivering with cold, now that father is gone, who cares if the mask of her stepmother falls off? No one will dare to offend the queen, no one.

When she recalls when did her nightmare started, a blurry image appears, a vague memory of her childhood when her father introduced her new mother to Celestia. It was when the second queen fell ill and died after one month of marrying King Froilan. Nobody knew what happened to the second queen, however, just two weeks later, her father brought back a new woman, Marie.

The second queen has been good to Celestia, she even wished that she will be her true mother, even in that short amount of time they've spent together, she grew fond of her, Queen Veronica.

Marie's captivating beauty lured the King Froilan, a King who fell in love with a maid, a classic love story that no one in Thusha will disagree. Celestia thought that she will be accepted by Marie like what Veronica made her feel. Indeed Marie has been good to her but changed later on.

She recalls the time when Marie sang her a lullaby.

"....Lay thee down now and rest,

May thy slumber be blessed…" Marie sang as she gently pats down Celestia's head.

"Get well soon my dear Celestia," she said, kissing the forehead of a 5-year old Celestia.

Stella is already 3 years old at that time yet Marie still cares for her, well, not until everything changed 5 years later.

"Thank you mommy"