Hope

I walk down the huge hallway of the palace and all the maids and guards towards my left and right are assembled in a perfectly straight line. I walk straight keeping no eye contact with anyone with my head held high, I notice a shimmer from a maid's pocket.

Taking a step back I can see the sweat dripping from her forehead as I watch her intensely, walking towards her I dig in her pocket to find a silver necklace that was mine. She falls to my feet and grabs my legs.

"P-Please forgive me, your highness! I-I stole it because my son is sick and I needed the money to save him!" her voice cracks with desperation but I don't give in.

"If I remember correctly I think I pay my maids quite handsomely, even though some of them are useless, just like you." I snicker at my own remark

"Please have mercy on me! I can't leave this work. My son will die!"

"And if he does it will be your mistake. Get out" I try to move my leg but her grip is too tight

"Guards, get her out" I walk forward ignoring the pleading cries she gives me

"It is true what they say! You really do have a Black crown on your head!" I stop, I have heard the rumors but hearing it right now enraged me

"I deserve this crown! And that is why I have it and you or no one else does!" I have not lashed out like that in a while. I would like to kill her but it's not like the ancient books of kings and queens, I need a valid reason to do so and bring that to the royal court. For now, all I can do is watch her leave my palace and never come back.

I step inside my big bedroom fit for a royal. I start getting ready for the ball tonight. This is going to be my first time out of the palace. My parents died when I was 21, the image of their bodies lying outside the palace is still burned in my memory.

Two years have passed and still, I haven't stepped a foot out of here. I have never been close to my parents but nevertheless, they were still my parents. If my parents taught me one thing is never to let anyone disrespect you, always be on your guard, trust no one and you will live. I snap myself from my thoughts and look at my reflection.

I look quite decent. Dark brown hair with effortless curls falling in my sides, my lips which are fuller in the bottom than the top, and my greenish-blue eyes which shine like emerald, that was my nickname that my first caretaker gave me. The only person I trust is her, Elena.

"Are you done emerald" I smile as I see her behind me from the reflection of the mirror.

"I am. I will miss you and this place" I felt a sting of pain but soon brushed the sadness away

"Don't be so gloomy now Lillian. This ball is to celebrate your marriage! I heard Prince Reece is very handsome" And there she does it again. She always uses my real name whenever I am sad or even pout a little. She is the closest thing I have to a mother.

"I hope so"