The Crown's Obsession (WN)

In the East Carswell village, Elizabeth Harris walked down in the market where her mother had asked her to fetch wool from a store, as the ones they had, had got over. With a basket on her hand, Elizabeth continued to walk before she finally reached the store. While she was standing in front of the store, she heard a lady greet her,

"Good afternoon, Beth. How are you doing? It feels like I haven't seen you for a few days."

Beth turned around to see it was Mrs. Winkle who lived two houses away from her own house. She bowed her head in greeting, "Good afternoon Mrs. Winkle. I have been doing well, how about yourself?" she asked. The shopkeeper at the same time came with the ball of wools she had asked for.

"You know me. Never been better," replied Mrs. Winkle and saw how the older daughter of Harris took the ball of wool in her hand and inspecting it, "By the way, I heard about your sister's marriage to the King. Is it true?" asked the lady, her eyes looking at Beth who raised the wool to indicate to the shopkeeper that she would be taking it, "It must be really hard, isn't it?"

Beth turned her head to meet Mrs. Winkle's gaze, "No, the King is taking care of everything," she offered the older woman a smile. Beth had not stepped out of the house much because of the rumours of her sister getting married to the King that had started to circulate in the village. She noticed the looks she received from the villagers.

Mrs. Winkles nodded her head, "Of course, the King will look after it, but I meant how you are doing," saying this, the woman moved closer to Beth and placed a comforting arm on the young girl, "It must be truly hard on you. I mean your younger sister marrying before you," the woman shook her head in pity. Beth felt the prick but she tried to put a smile on her face.

"I told them I am okay with Madeline marrying first," said Beth, trying to show that she was a better person here, letting her younger sister marry first while she was still unwed.

The older woman nodded again, "You will need to, considering Mr. Danvers chose not to go ahead with you. I hope God gives you strength," the words spoken were not comforting. It felt like the woman was rubbing salt over her open wound.

In the past, Beth would have never imagined that she would have to go through a humiliation like this and her hands clenched, trying to control her anger. When her family had gone to the ball of Hallow, it was Beth who was looking for a suitor and by custom, the King should have picked her. Madeline had no interest, worse, she had her interest in the tailorman. But the King chose her, and the tailorman was a coward to give up on her sister.

"It wasn't Mr. Danvers but I who rejected him," answered Beth, which was indeed true but Mrs. Winkles and some other women around them tried to hide their giggles.

"That is understandable," patted the woman and then said, "I will see you later."

Beth had rejected Mr. Danvers so that she could focus herself on the King. But rumour now spread that it was Mr. Danvers who had rejected her. To make things worse, the appeal that she held before had been lost in the eyes of her admirers. Men spoke less to her and didn't try to court her, even if they did speak to her, it was all about Madeline this and that, and how they could get favours from her sister. She was nowhere in the conversation.

She found it hard to come in terms that her popularity was plummeting so fast; while Madeline who was betrothed to the King was rising up in the conversation.

When Elizabeth had turned twelve years old, she had started to receive attention from everyone because of the contrasting colour of her black hair and green eyes. She loved every bit of the attention. The attention that she received had been taken away from her, by her very own sister. The shame she felt, the embarrassment was all because of Madeline. Beth's hate only grew that much more.

When her eyes moved around, she noticed how the women whispered to each other and the men only bowed to her from afar before leaving from there without speaking to her.

"Do you think she is going to end up as a spinster?" she heard one of the lady's question to another, without looking at her but Beth knew they were speaking about her.

"Considering her age, she might be walking that path," said another lady.

Beth felt internally humiliated. She had turned to be part of the bad side of gossip and the news was only manipulated and tweaked to the point where it was outrageous and not true! As she walked back home, she couldn't help but question herself if what the women said in the market was true. Was she going to die alone? She had always wanted best for herself, and she believed she would get it but what if her own sister stole what was rightfully supposed to be hers?

After meeting the King, the jealousy in her mind only grew that much more towards Madeline. The King was wealthy, handsome and everything Beth had always wanted. But stolen, came the thought in her mind.

Beth continued to walk on her way home when she noticed five men who were destroying the shop that her father owned. The shop was made out of wood, big enough to keep the collected logs of wood in there while having space to sit inside. She ran quickly towards it,

"Papa!" Beth shouted for her father who stood at the side of the shop with a look of shock on his face who was held back by another man, "What's going on?! What are you doing!"

"Beth!" her father called, and Beth quickly pushed the man who was holding her father back, "I don't know what happened but they suddenly pulled me out and started to destroy it. They said it was the King's order."

"What?" Beth frowned. She could feel an ache in her chest as the dream of having a shop for her family was being ruined right in front of her, "He wouldn't do that," she said to her father, after all, it was him who had provided it to the family

Her father shook her head, "The minister is not here to stop them," he looked at the shop being torn down until it turned to be part of the woods that was on the ground, "I don't know where the men went who were helping in the shop," he pursed his lips after saying this.

Beth, trying to be brave, stepped forward to ask, "Why are you sabotaging, where is the King's orders?" on her question the buff man who had a scar across his neck glared at her.

"It was the King's orders to pull it down."

"I demand to see the order that has the seal on it. You cannot come-" the man stepped forward to catch hold of Beths' face, squeezing it.

"Are you trying to stand against the King?"

Mr. Harris' eyes widened and he tried to pull the man's hand away from his daughter's face, "Please forgive my daughter, she meant no harm. Please!" and the man pushed Beth away.

"If the King hears about the interruption, he wouldn't like it," glared the man.

"The King would not do that, he was the one who g-" Beth's words were cut when the man took another step.

"Is that how you treat a lady?" said a voice behind them and Beth along with others turned to see a man who was dressed in expensive attire, "You should be ashamed of yourself." It didn't take much time for Beth to realise that this man was not from the same village as her. He was a vampire and one who appeared to belong to a wealthy family.

The man walked to where they were and then asked, "What is going on with the commotion?"

Mr. Harris was the one who answered, "These men came out of nowhere and started to pull down the shop. They said it is the King's order but he never said he would be taking it back." When his younger daughter Madeline had arrived home with the King, his wife had told him that her daughter was trying to come in terms with the marriage that was going to take place. Therefore, he didn't understand why the King would do something like this.

"Allow me to speak, Sir," offered the stranger, who then turned to speak to the men, "Do you have an order from the King?"

The one who had threatened Beth pulled out a scroll of parchment from his coat and handed it to the man. Beth came near and tried to take a look at what was written in it. After the vampire was done reading, he gave the scroll back and turned to speak to Mr. Harris.

"The seal on the paper looks like it is from the King. I can confirm it because I have received and seen seals like this," said the stranger and Mr. Harris' heart sunk in his chest, "Did you perhaps do something that the King didn't like?"

Mr. Harris shook his head, "No."

Why would the King try doing something so cruel when their daughter was going to get married to him? Asked Mr. Harris to himself. His shoulder slumped down.

"I wouldn't be too surprised by his actions, he's done this before when people have stood against him. Probably something from the past?" asked the stranger. The vampire's eyes fell on Elizabeth, the brunette who had green eyes and he offered her a smile, "I apologize for what happened here today. Pardon my rudeness."

The stranger bowed his head before raising his head, "I am Markus Wilmot."

"Emmett Harris," Mr. Harris introduced himself, "This is my daughter Elizabeth," and Beth bowed her head.