The Red Maple Tree

The sun shining through the clouds,illuminating the small kingdom surrounded by the sea accompanied by sunlit water

The climate is clement,the eagles are soaring in the vast blue sky and the sound of bird's chirping could be heard

The Azov kingdom has villages,towns and an overly luxurious castle with the Bardin royal family living in it

Behind the royal family there is a small wooden cabin where the sunlight couldn't even be reached because of the enormous castle in front of it,the broad towering mountains behind it and dense trees surrounding it

The small cabin has only one window and one door with four normal guards guarding it and inside the cabin only a wooden bed and a table and a chair are there for the furniture.There is not even a single candle to illuminate the surrounding darkness inside the cabin

Inside the small wooden cabin, a girl was sitting quietly on the table chair,She rested her elbows on the table and cupped her chin in her hands as her vacant gaze turned to the window,where not even a lost sunbeam could enter the room.

-knock-

At that very moment a knock was heard but the girl sat unmoving on the table chair as if she didn't hear the knocking on the door and the person seems to know that the girl wouldn't response as she only knocked once and then opened the door and walked in

"Your highness,I brought you some cereal and a glass of warm milk for you."said the person in a cheerful voice who has just arrived.The person is wearing a maid outfit and she has shoulder length brown hair with beautiful brown hazel eyes

"You must have bought the milk with your money again,Mia"the girl spoke in a gentle and helpless voice and her empty eyes turned gentle.That selfish man will not be so considerate enough to give her milk given how much he hates her and wants to avoid her

Mia is the daughter of her nanny who was the personal maid of her mother when she was still alive,the two grew up together under the care of their mother/nanny and their relationship is better than that of biological sisters and they know each other the best.After their mother/nanny died due to an illness three years ago the two depended on each other.She told Mia many times to change the title to 'sister' but the girl shrugged nonchalantly and said something like "it's just a title,it won't change a thing about how I treat you so why bother"

Mia didn't feel guilty or embarrassed to be seen through by her sister and this isn't the first time she did this anyway,she put down the tray on the table and looked at the girl sitting on the table chair she couldn't help but sigh in the beauty of the girl even though the girl isn't in her best appearance

The girl has brittle,tangled and listless voluminous ruby like wavy hair loosely placed on her waist,she has dull pale porcelain skin,she has a very thin figure and is wearing a below knee tattered dress and at last,her golden eyes which resembles the golden hour of the day can make one mesmerise to the point they are willing to sacrifice anything for her and it's weird how the girl has dark brown eyebrows and eyelashes,which accentuate her eyes,when her hair is red

Her flaws could not conceal her beauty even though Mia looks beautiful but her looks are not out of ordinary,being a maid in a castle she knows very well that being beautiful will only bring her unwanted attention so she lowers her head and let her loose hair cover her face when talking to people and just in case she needs to reveal her face she disguised herself by painting some freckles on her cheeks and nose and a big black mole near her nose

Comparing the girl's beauty with her she seems like an ordinary stone comparing itself with a ruby But fate seems pretty ruthless to such a beautiful girl

The girl is Princess Rebecca Annabella Bardin the daughter of the King Burton Bardin with his first Queen Asteria Chauvet Bardin

The King had many concubines but he only loved his queen Asteria because of her well known beauty in the kingdom,nobody found it strange but after a year the queen didn't become pregnant the King's vassals started becoming anxious so they urged their King to produce an heir for the Kingdom

The king with no choice went to his most favoured concubine and after a week the concubine was found pregnant but at the same the Queen was found pregnant as well

The king was happy to know that his beloved queen became pregnant but after some days he found that his queen was treating him coldly he immediately knew that his queen is angry with him for looking for his concubine and making her pregnant so he asked for her forgiveness but no matter how much he importuned her to seek her forgiveness the queen just didn't bother with him

The king was feeling helpless and started blaming the innocent unborn baby in the queen's stomach,he felt that it was all the child's fault for not coming earlier for which he would not had to look for his concubine and his queen would not treat him coldly

After nine months,the concubine gave birth to a son while the queen died after she gave birth to a girl

The king was heartbroken and furious to know that his beloved queen died after giving birth to a useless girl and was terrified to know that the girl has golden eyes which the kingdom has never seen before and he concluded that the girl must be a jinx since since she killed her mother right after being born

The king wanted to kill the child on spot but at that moment the queen's personal maid,Anne lowered her head to cover the sadness for the death of her master and the hatred for the disgusting king and advised the king in a trembling voice to not to do so as the child when fully grown may come use for political marriage which hits the spot for the king as he always wanted to extend his power in the kingdom but he wasn't going to keep her in the castle as he believed that the child just like her mother,would kill him and his family if the child stays inside the castle and he doesn't want to spent money on her either so he made his people build a small wooden cabin behind the castle and some guards to guard the cabin behind the castle and let the little child stay over there Anne volunteered to be the little princess's nanny and the king approved of it

From then on Anne has been taking care of Rebecca with her only child Mia who is of the same age as the princess

Little Rebecca who grew up into the small cabin knew nothing about the outside world,she of course was curious to know what is sunlight,blue sky,mud,wind and many from Mia's mouth so when she was ten years old Mia suggested Rebecca to disguise as her to sneak out of the castle to explore the world and Anne also approved of it so the two,mother and daughter started making plans for it

Rebecca was afraid and nervous that she will be caught but the temptation to see the beauty of the world made her feel less nervous and more courageous so she helped the two made plans for sneaking out

The next day Mia disguised herself as the princess and made the princess disguised as her,it was difficult but at last it worked out well after all Mia is the expert of disguising anyone into anybody

Anne took the disguised princess out of the castle,along the way Rebecca was very nervous as she lowered her head and closed her eyes tightly and let Anne guide her towards the back entrance of the castle.After coming out of the castle Anne nudged Rebecca to open her eyes

When she opened her eyes she was so fascinated that her mouth went wide open,she saw the sun,the vast blue sky with white fluffy clouds,colourful flowers and she sat down to feel the soil and took a deep breath to breathe in the fresh air,at that moment she felt happy she wasn't feeling suffocated anymore only felt free

After that she went to the town and Anne brought her some books and some delicious food for her to eat at first she was happy to roam around the town but later she got nervous worried that Mia would get caught but Anne wasn't she told the princess that the guards won't care to see inside the cabin and even if they do Mia would handle it

After that day Rebecca started going out often to understand the world so it isn't that she doesn't know anything just because has been living inside the cabin most of her life