At the tender age of five, Maria Blanca was the apple in everyone's eyes. She was joyous and brought smiles to everyone, the palace servants especially. Maria Blanca was growing sunny like her late mother, graceful like the swans, and blooming each day like the edelweiss flower in the garden.
As she played along the halls, her long white hair swayed behind her, fascinating the servants while they did their duties. Her pale skin glowed amidst the gloom that hovered above the kingdom. She was like a little pretty ghost who wanted nothing but good graces for all. There were her eyes—oh, those alluring eyes that gave empathy to those who needed them most. Maria Blanca was a burst of white sunshine in the large palace that locked her away from the world.
However, good sentiments from the servants for the little princess were not shared with the king. He remained distant from his daughter and became ruthless in his reign. Indeed, his heart died along with his dear Queen Isadora. He saw Maria Blanca as a spectre. He saw her not as the flower the late queen saw but as a reminder of her death. Her uncanny appearance—her pale skin, gold eyes, and long white hair was a curse that brought dreariness to everyone; hence, he sealed her away from the kingdom. The regular folk no longer even remembered her existence. They had these slight glimpses that they had a princess, but no one knew where she was now.
King Arnulf wanted nothing to do with Maria Blanca. Yet he also had no strength to throw her out. But foreseeing the future, she could be a pawn to expand his kingdom—a marriage to a neighbouring crown prince perhaps? If he does not falter at his daughter's strange look.
Soon, after thinking it through, King Arnulf enlisted the aid of his cousin, Countess Gertrude, to discipline Maria Blanca into becoming a likeable princess.
True enough, discipline was what the little princess got.
The moment the countess set foot on the palace, the dreariness that hovered on the kingdom became gloomier and heavier. She never wasted any moment and did her duty by calling the princess out for her unruly behaviour. "No running, no playing, and simply no singing! Princess always listened to the king and became prim and proper until she became a wife and bore children!" She told her, pointing a finger at her nose.
Since then, little Maria Blanca diligently complied with Aunt Gertrude's order. There were now household chores for her, and the princess did not complain nor lift a finger—she just simply finished what she was told to do. The servants were appalled by this kind of teaching, but could not do anything for the countess warned them, "If I ever saw you shouldering Maria Blanca's chores, I will have your head on a pike!" And she was firm on her words when one sympathetic maid finished the little princess's task of taking out the weed in the garden at midnight. Once caught, the maid was dismissed and thrown into the brothel, devoured by lustful men until she ended her life at the end of a knife. Countess Gertrude indeed brought along with her hell and unleashed demons to the palace.
The king knew of this but turned a blind eye to the situation. Poor Maria Blanca was subjected to scolding and careful persecution from her aunt, but she remained ever-gentle and ever-kind. The servants who sadly watched admired her even more.
'Heartless Witch' was what the old servants called the countess behind her back. They loathed and cursed her with misfortune for being too cruel to their little princess. They even noticed the growing vanity about her, acting like she was some queen. The servants became restless as they also saw the dwindling glory of King Arnulf. He cared no more and was reluctant to do any of his duties. Somehow, he now relied on his cousin, Countess Gertrude, for his monarchial duties as he slowly gave her the authority to do so. This worried his subjects, especially the servants who knew what travesty was brewing behind closed doors.
Little Maria Blanca's sunshine was threatened and gradually eclipsed by the chilling shadow of her Aunt Gertrude—always observing and always seeing the little mistakes she made.