A Bitter Lullaby [Splendorman Fanfic] #CPThroughTime

Chapter 1

One fine afternoon, a woman sat against a tree with a book on the ridge of her lap.

The breeze was chilling, fog rising from an unknown source. The distant birds chirped to an invisible symphony that seemed to call on the listener's ears. Beautiful notes, tunes that shadowed the silhouettes of branches casting shade over the inhabitants. Indeed, it was a 'fine' morning. But amidst the clamoring of her fellow settlers, Susanna Edwards was simply too busy reading her father's book. A book that he brought with him from England, a book filled with knowledgeable storytelling. A woman such as herself should never be caught dead with such a thing. Women were to learn simply about cooking and cleaning and keeping oneself civil and pure. Which is why she stayed secluded behind this very tree, so her mother would not find her. And it was probably why she was wearing such a heavy cloak, possibly to hide her book within her protective shield.

As of now, Susanna was already being met with the hurdles of womanly life. She would have to admit, she grew up rather spoiled because of her father. Being the only child, her father tried to raise her to be a knowledgeable young woman. However, cooking regularly, keeping proper manners, and having to speak politely to the people around her was something her mother was now pressing onto her. Particularly the suitors that kept knocking at her door, visiting her as she walked to milk the goats. More men were starting to strike their fancy with her, her youthful beauty attracting men with high social status, as well as men who had nothing of the sort. More and more often, her fellow male companions would try earning her favor by helping her do her chores, even stopping down to visit her while she was cooking for her family. But she knew better. 

If she were to ever marry, they would not appreciate her ability to read, or the ability to think for herself, to say 'no' whenever she felt like it. So, as of today, she was trying to read as much as she wanted before that day came.

She read each word as if each one mattered, her tongue coated with words she could not yet understand. Each vowel was pronunciation with beautiful significance, each consonant tied together in a wonderfully arranged as if she were still unaware of how to use them, on how to string the alien words together.

"... hast enchanted her... For I'll refer me to all things of sense, if she in chains of magic were not bound, Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy, So opposite to marriage that she shunned..."

With her shoulders hunched over the book, her house was distantly peeking between the branches behind her, a distance that would've scared her mother to death if she had found her so far away from home. Yes, the safety of their fences was what kept certain beasts out. Her fellow colonists feared an attack from a wild beast that would eat away at their flesh. And above all, they believed that the fenced gates kept monsters from entering their domain (or so they hoped). There was a rumor spreading around about a faceless monster that wandered these woods. The same monster that caused the disappearances of people who were colonized here before Susanna was born. She forgot the name of the colony, however...

Unlike her mother, Susanna couldn't have cared less about the little creepy crawlies of the forest. Susanna found these rumors to be silly. Like everything else, it was unnecessary to speak of such things like monsters. What is important is to live, to not live in fear...

Regardless of that fear, however, Susanna would not be able to escape from fate....

From a distance, a voice echoed into the ears of a wandering passerby, catching its attention as it made its way to a clearing, its pale fingers enclosed around a stack of twigs. It stopped midstep, naked feet planted into the thick, dry leaves, head curving to the direction of the unfamiliar voice. It was.. curious, interested.

"That as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes, So may he with more facile question bear it, For that it stands not in such warlike brace."

The wandering passerby dropped the twigs into a stack on the floor, each twig pulled into an incoherent mess. Though it should've been returning to its brother, this was by far more important right now.