death is the only ending for the trash queen

Part 2

The princess Penelope Crossman was known to be a cold child.

She didn't laugh like the other children did and she didn't play around recklessly. She was said to have a stare that was old enough to make those in her presence feel deeply uncomfortable.

She was a really creepy child.

No one dared to reproach her though. In comparison to her mother, she was the perfect princess. It was somehow amazing to observers how such a deranged woman had such a mellow-mannered and calm child.

It led people to compare her to her father rather than her mother.

Penelope wasn't blond and she didn't have blue eyes. She took after her mothers appearance more than anything and she'd inherited a genetic mutation that gave her unsettling teal eyes.

Under any other circumstances, the court would have spent all of their time criticizing how unsuited she was as an heir. The Crossman Royal family valued the aesthetic of blond hair, it was a symbol that they were blessed by the sun god or some such legend.

It meant that children born without those traits were often scorned or criticized, perhaps not by their relatives, but certainly by various nobles with political aspirations.

No one considered the queen's daughter seriously as an heir regardless.

As the current king's current offspring, it ought to have been without question that she would receive some form of expectations from the court. But not a single person was willing to place their hopes in the mad queen's progeny.

Especially since it was impossible to even place support behind Penelope. Queen Cale didn't play the political games. She didn't accept support. She didn't vie for power. She drank, she spent her allowance luxuriously, and she criticized everyone and everything around her with her infamous temper.

She was the sole reason that any of Penelope's hopes of achieving her birthright were entirely nullified. Instead, the hopeful nobles placed their support behind the king's nephews and ignored the princess.

People felt sorry for Princess Penelope for having such a bad mother. How many opportunities were lost merely because that lush of a queen couldn't hold her temper even for a brief conversation. What a pity that no matter how bright Penelope was, she would never achieve true greatness with that disgusting mother of hers holding her back.

Not even one of them ever considered that removing a small child from the speculation and political aspirations of slimy and disloyal aristocrats was what any loving parent ought to do for their child.

Cale in particular knew exactly how scaring it could be to be the center of hopes for despicable and self serving vassals. She'd lost so much and been broken down in so many ways because of the greed glowing behind friendly eyes of 'allies'.

She would not expose her child to that.

She could easily imagine what they'd say about Penelope, should they ever lay their degenerate eyes upon her beloved daughter.

First would be the criticism that she was a woman. Women were able to inherit within the Roan Kingdom but the prejudice against it was still a real obstacle that many faced.

Then it would be her hair, how little she resembled her father, questions over whether she was actually her fathers daughter at all, and how her every little movement simply wasn't good enough. How she needed to move more elegantly, speak more eloquently, embody what was expected of a future ruler with absolute perfection.

And then, worst of all, they would begin their manipulation. Molding her mind this way and that in order to ensure that she would value what they felt was valuable. Have her dance along on puppet strings for their amusement as they groomed her into a person who could no longer recognize herself in the mirror.