1 Chapter 1

It didn't take long for Duchess Dalben to make what she called "necessary adjustments" after Papa left. Cinderella found herself living in the attic, dressed as a maid, doing the housework within days of Papa's departure. The duchess had dismissed the previous housemaid so she could use the pay for nicer dresses and hats for her daughters. The only servant left was the elderly Pierre.

It was a difficult change for the girl who had been raised as the daughter of a nobleman. Thankfully, Papa thought that cooking and cleaning were not below anyone of any rank, so Cinderella was not completely inexperienced. It still took a couple weeks before she had the hang of things. The laundry was the hardest. Cinderella had never done her own laundry before, and her stepsisters wore so many gowns, there was a lot of laundry to do.

By the third week, Cinderella was starting to feel settled into her new routine. She missed Papa terribly, but she didn't dare write to him. If he knew how the duchess, her stepmother, was treating her, he would probably come home directly. Cinderella couldn't let him risk his work as an ambassador for the Kingdom of Emaldia for her comfort.

Cinderella began to take comfort in Patch, Papa's big sheepdog. The duchess wouldn't let Patch in the house, but he followed Cinderella around outside as she did her chores. On particularly difficult days, she poured her heart out to him in the stable before bed. He was a great listener, looking at her with his big, sad eyes as though he felt her sorrows with her.

One day, Cinderella did all the laundry, baked bread, swept floors, and cleaned the kitchen. She was exhausted by the time the sun set. Before she could retire to her room, the duchess called to her. "Cinderella, please come speak with me for a moment."

Cinderella returned to the dining room to find her stepmother sitting in her usual seat. She didn't invite Cinderella to sit. Instead, she began speaking. "Tomorrow is the Flower Festival in town. I have entered Jeanne and Catherine in the Excellent Young Lady Competition. They will have to dress and prepare very early tomorrow. I expect you to be up and helping them by the time the sun rises. We will need an early breakfast as well."

"Will you want a picnic lunch?"

"No, we shall eat at one of the tea shops in town. While we are gone, I will have a list of extra chores to do around the house."

"Yes ma'am," Cinderella said, her dreams falling. She had hoped she might get to go watch.

The next day's sunrise found Cinderella lacing up Catherine's beautiful, deep blue gown. Jeanne was already dressed in a lovely lavender gown. Once the girls were dressed, Cinderella served a simple breakfast of bread leftover from the previous day, butter, and cold milk.

Before the sun had burned away all the night's mist, the carriage was on its way and Cinderella had her list of chores for the day. Patch followed her, as always. He seemed to understand that she was having a very hard day, and even managed to help with some of her chores, digging up some potatoes from the garden for dinner and fetching the laundry basket for her. The duchess had assigned her to wash the curtains, beat the carpets, and wax the floors.

With Patch's help and a lot of luck, Cinderella finished all her usual chores as well as her extra work by high noon. She knew that her stepmother and stepsisters would be gone until around dusk with the festivities of the Flower Festival.

"Patch," she said, sitting on the front steps for a short break. "What if we walked to town? It's only an hour's walk, if we go quickly. I'm sure there will be crowds enough that Mother and the girls shan't even know we're there. We could enjoy the Festival for a few hours and be back well before them." Patch barked, and Cinderella took that as agreement.

She changed into her nicest dress, which was her work-dress before Papa left, of simple, dark material trimmed in forest green. She didn't look like the daughter of a nobleman, but she also didn't look quite as much like a maid. She pulled her lovely golden curls out of her headscarf. She didn't have any pins to put her hair up, so she just left her curls down and blowing free. When she passed some blue wildflowers on the trail, she stopped to make a simple flower crown to wear.

By the time Cinderella and Patch arrived in town, the Excellent Young Lady Competition was starting and people were coming out of the tea shops from their lunches to the stage set up in the town square to watch.

Cinderella managed to find a good spot near the back of the crowd where she could still see, but she was hidden well enough that her stepsisters and her stepmother were unlikely to notice her. She watched all of the beautiful young ladies float onstage in their colorful gowns and fancy hats. They answered questions, sang, danced, and showed off their nice manners and good breeding.

As the competition drew to a close, Patch barked. Cinderella looked over to see him sitting behind her. "What is it?" she asked. He just barked again. Looking up, she realized that the sun was getting pretty low in the sky. She'd been so busy watching the competition, she hadn't noticed how late it was getting.

Turning, Cinderella began running back towards home. She looked back for one last glimpse of the stage, only to feel a thud as she ran into something, and then she was falling.

Looking up, she saw a young man next to her on the ground. "I am so sorry," she said. "I wasn't paying attention. Please forgive me. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm alright," he said with a good-natured smile. He jumped up and reached a hand to help her up, but she was already on her feet. "Are you okay, miss?"

"Yes, thank you. I'm sorry to be rude, but I must go." With that, Cinderella turned and began running again. She checked to make sure Patch was running by her side, then kept her eyes focused on the road ahead. She had a long way to go and she had to beat the duchess home. She reached up to grab her flower crown, but it was gone. She must have lost it when she ran into the boy.

Cinderella was well outside town when she heard someone yelling. "Please stop! Miss, wait up!" She looked back to see the young man she had knocked over running behind her.

"Oh, what does he want?" she asked, trying to decide if she should stop. She almost didn't, but decided it would be terribly rude to ignore him. She slowed enough for him to catch up, afraid that if she stopped right out, she would be too late getting home.

"You run very fast," he panted as he caught up.

"I'm late. I must get home," she said, trying to keep her voice even.

"I don't mean to hold you, but you dropped something."

"My flowers? Did you run this far to return a crown of wildflowers?"

"Not just the flowers." He stopped talking for a moment to catch his breath. "You also dropped a key."

"Oh!" That made Cinderella stop. She checked the pocket of her dress. Sure enough, the key to the mansion was not there. "Thank you," she said, turning to the boy. She giggled when she saw him, bent over with his hands on his knees, panting even more than Patch.

"You're welcome." He held out the key. As she took it, he reached with his other hand and placed the crown of flowers on her head, his fingers lingering for a moment on one of her windblown curls.

Cinderella jerked away and began running again. "I must go! Goodbye," she called back.

"Wait! What is your name? Will I see you again?" he yelled after her.

"Maybe!" With that, she increased her pace, quickly leaving him behind.

When Cinderella arrived back at the mansion, the last rays of sunlight were still lingering on the west wall. She quickly unlocked the door and hurried up to her attic room, where she changed back into her maid's garb, wiped the sweat and dust off her face, and hung her flower crown to dry.

Pierre was with her stepmother and stepsisters as their carriage driver. She had the house to herself for a few moments of peace. After getting dinner ready, she used the time to peruse the library, something she rarely had time to do anymore. Her stepmother and stepsisters never set foot in the room, except to inspect her cleaning. She missed having time to read.

Cinderella was halfway through a lovely story when she heard the carriage outside. Jumping up, she replaced the book and hurried down the stairs to meet the ladies. Her stepmother burst in, Catherine and Jeanne close behind.

"How did it go?" Cinderella asked, though she realized from her stepmother's face what the answer was.

"Those fools chose an annoying little pixie over my girls," the duchess almost yelled. Cinderella knew who her stepmother was talking about. She remembered the short, slim girl with a lovely singing voice.

"I'm sorry, Mother," Cinderella said. "I have dinner waiting in the kitchen."

"It better be good. I'm starving!" Jeanne said. The women filtered into the dining room while Cinderella hurried to the kitchen for the stew, bread, and cakes she'd made.

After the ladies finished eating, they headed to bed. Cinderella quickly cleaned up the meal and retired to her small attic room. The last image in her mind before she fell asleep was of the face of the young man she had almost met when he smiled that first smile at her.