Mockingly, the wind screeched outside her window as though howling with laughter. She had woken up wanting it to all be a dream, wanting it to all be over. 

"We must get you ready for the carriage ride!" Said her maid excitedly "To think you're going to marry a prince!"  The maid quickly got a out a blue dress and got her dressed, she was beautiful. Long, wavy, dark hair and rosy cheeks; she had blue eyes that looked like they were part of the ocean. The girl muttered a word of thanks to the maid before heading down stairs. 

"Cordelia, darling I can't believe your going to France, hopefully you will prefer it better there than here in England!" it was her mother. She was acting like she hadn't done anything, like she hadn't just given her daughter away to a man she didn't even know. Cordelia was angry. She yelled "Mother I'm only sixteen, why must I marry some man-"  she was interrupted by a slap across her face, she fell to the ground, tears welling up in her eyes. "You will listen to me, and not be an ungrateful girl!" her mothers voice carried through out the whole estate, even the servants stood still in horror. "The carriage is ready miss" squeaked a small maid from the doorway. Cordelia stood up and wiped down her gown still blinking back tears. Cordelia furiously  whispered in to her mother ear "the only good thing about France will be getting away from venomous snakes like you." Before she could receive another beating she jumped into carriage and rode away, only looking back to say a silent goodbye to the cherry blossom tree under which she'd spent countless summers under.

Once she'd arrived at the ship, a shiver went down her spine. She hated the sea that's how her father died. Swiftly, she got on to the ship by herself refusing the help of countless men, she only replied with "I perfectly capable of walking on my own two feet, thank you.". Cordelia wasn't one to act like a damsel in distress. The ship journey went so quickly Cordelia wondered if she'd fallen asleep. Once in France, she was greeted by a carriage, which took her all the way to the palace. It was the middle of the night so she wasn't expecting anyone to come and introduce themselves when she arrived, but she was proved wrong when everyone was standing on the steps ready to greet her, everyone except the prince. A young man othered his help as she got out the carriage, He whispered "Sorry the prince isn't here to greet you he was - er - tired."  She replied with "That's quite all right, I understand." For a second she could have sworn to see a look of guilt cross his face. "My name's Cordelia Bellamy, pleasure to meet you." She outstretched her hand to shake his. "My name's Adrien." He lowered his voice to a whisper "The Queen's illegitimate son."  Slightly surprised, Cordelia politely smiled and said "Well I hope to see you around, Adrien." She gave him one last smile before following a maid to her room.

To her surprise her room was lovely, filled with tapestries, a canopy bed and even a stone balcony overlooking the lake and the woods. As the maids were leaving one whispered to her "Miss Bellamy a word of warning ... don't go into the woods." Her face was serious unlike before. "I won't . . . and please just call me Cordelia." She replied . The maid looked slightly bewildered before saying "Of course . . . Cordelia."  and then she left. 

Cordelia didn't sleep, she stood on the balcony until sunrise. At around what looked like five in the morning she snuck outside, trying her best not to wake anyone. She wondered around the garden, before finding a stone slate to sit on, it was next to the lake and the woods, although Cordelia took the maids word of warning and didn't venture in. She watched the sun reflect on the lake, it look like a diamond. Calmly, she got up to get closer to the lake and dip her hand in. All of a sudden, she felt two sturdy hands push her in the lake, she couldn't swim. Her heavy gown was pulling her down as she was gasping for air, trying to scream for help. Her eyes started to feel heavy as she felt a strong person pull her out, by the time they pulled her out she had nearly fallen unconscious. She managed to whisper "Help me." but quickly after everything went black.

Hi I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! This is my first ever piece of writing on Wattpad so I would love some feedback on what I could improve on. I really hope you like the theme of this and please tell me if you would like a second chapter.

The character Cordelia is slightly based on Cordelia from 'Anne with an e' (great show btw) so I can't take full credit on this one. I know the chapters quite short and rushed but I really wanted to write about her getting to France. If you guys want a second chapter it would be about Cordelia meeting her future husband (Prince Phillipe) and a lot longer than this one.

Again please tell me if there's anything else I could do to make this story more enjoyable for you. (: