------ London, March 1837------
The weather was cloudy in the early morning, as it usually was this time of year. You could slowly start to hear London waking up to a brand new day, as the people started to get up and out on the streets to begin their cores of the day. The wheels from the carriages could be heard running over the cobbles of the street, as also they began their morning like the rest of London.
By the port, there were large numbers of ships, all sailing to and from London, some in the hope of finding a new life, some in the hope of selling goods, like textiles, spices or some even more exotic goods from the East. Everything there were having a purpose, whether they were going or arriving to this mighty port of London. Not far from the port, the bigger area filled with factories, producing all kind of things to the people of London. The high chimneys creating a thick smoke, which would spread over the sky, cover it in a gray color.
In the area close to Hyde Park, a mansion, two stories high, surrounded with associated buildings, the family of Grigorov lives. The mansion loomed proudly behind a tall iron gate, at its yard center stood a refined fountain, the water softly running down the side, creating a calming sound. A small rose garden had been planted in the front. As the doors open, a great wide hall would greet the guest of the house with a long green carpet, following by a great staircase, splitting into two and guiding up to two long hallways filled with rooms. In the hallway, a doorway was on either side of the hall, one leading into the kitchen area and the rooms of the servants, the other, into a grand dining room. The walls were decorated with large paintings of some of the great men, who have ruled London in the past.
In the back, a big yard had been established with trees, flowers and green plants to create and form an imagination of life.
The corridors on the second floor, were filled with wooden panels along the side, leading into each on of the room, occupied of some of the members of the family.
As there were knocked on the wooden door, a deep sigh was heard from under the blanket on the bed over at the end of the room. Rana Grigorov the daughter of the house, hated to put it lightly, to get up early, especially if she had been running around the city in the night, like she sometimes would do for fun, to explore the city in the night. She would love to roam around and particularly sometimes in the wooden area, just on the outskirts of London. The night before had not been any different, as she had explored some of the forest not far from the Northern part of London.
“You should not be here yet Violet, it is way too early” Rana’s head peaked out from under the blanket and looked with tired green eyes at her maidservant. Her silver hair covering most of her face, as she clearly had been turning a lot in her sleep. Even though it was not that early compared to when servants had to get up, Rana had only arrived home 4 hours before. She softly rolled out of bed as Violet was preparing a warm bath for her. She pulled and twisted her hair up in a messy bun and walked out to the bathroom to Violet and smiled tiredly “have you at least slept well? I’ve heard that my father has some kind of announcement today, not really sure what to expect, hope it has something to do with Adrian and not me” she just smiled before pulling off her white nightdress, reveling a big scar covering most of her lower back, a scar Violet had seen multiple times, but something that has not been shown to other in the world.
Rana lowered herself into the hot water and after some time, she stood up again, grabbing a towel Violet were holding for her “Please don’t tell anyone I sneaked out again last night, but I seriously found a great area in the forest, I need to show you some day” a sweet smile just appeared on her lips. In the evenings when Rana would sneak out, she often had help from Violet to cover up from her.
While Violet would do her hair, Rana was sitting, considering what kind of deal her father would be planning now, what kind of things he would do to change their daily life around. Alwah Grigorov indeed was feared in the household, sometimes even Rana feared him, however she was raised to obey his words, at least until she once would be married of to some sort of family, that would give her father more power and at that time, she would have to obey her new husband. Sometimes the thoughts of her own life, own rules ran through her head, it would be amazing to be able to decide things on your own, rather than running around, hiding the things she liked doing the most.
Rana zoned out and when she finally came to herself, Violet was closing the last of her buttons on her dress. “Thank you Vi, for always helping out” Rana smiled sweetly at her before walking out in the hallway, making her way to the grand hall for the announcement of the day.
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