"I just turned thirteen a few weeks ago." She replied, taking small bites of her porridge. Despite being hungry, she knew her mother would throw a fit if she acted in any way besides 'that befitting of a lady'. Thirteen... that left only three more years until she would go to live with Vadim and become his 'wife'. Belle worried over what would happen when that day happened. After all, her life was a lie.

Born a boy, while her father was away at war, her mother had raised Belle, or rather, Beau, as a girl. No one else knew aside from Giselle and the midwife who had delivered Belle... And the midwife had no intention of ever telling anyone, either. The thought had never occured to Belle to admit that shameful secret to anyone either, though it could save her from a life of being married off to whomever her parents thought best.