Introduction

Someone asked the question, “What if Danielle had stood up for herself at the masque?”

When Danielle arrived at the masque and the Prince ran to where she was standing, I believe in response to Prince Henry’s third question, “Then you are not engaged?” Danielle, instead of saying, “No, I am not,” should have replied, “How could I be? Nicole de Lancret was my mother. My name is Danielle de Barbarac and the Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent is my stepmother. Will you please let me explain?”

Then, I believe, Prince Henry would have listened to Danielle and everything would have been fine.

However, even if Danielle had waited until the scene with the Baroness, I still believe there could have been a way to save the day. Even on the assumption that Prince Henry would have acted the way he did and turned cold toward Danielle.

Of course, with all the yelling by the baroness, the outbursts from the King, and the questioning by Prince Henry, it would have been difficult for Danielle to say anything. However, when Henry said, “Tell the people who you are,” I believe Danielle should have ignored his request and simply said, “The baroness locked me in the cellar to prevent me from revealing her conspiracy to force Your Highness to marry Marguerite, but Signore da Vinci opened the door and let me out.”

Then, I suppose there would have been a lot of hullabaloo and posturing by the baroness. However, I believe that sentence by Danielle would have been a nightmare for Rodmilla and Marguerite. It certainly would have put Rodmilla on the defensive. Furthermore, it would have raised so many questions, not the least of which is “Why was Signore da Vinci involved?” I cannot imagine anyone, not even the Prince, walking away from that intrigue and refusing to allow Danielle to explain in private.

However, if Prince Henry still kept asking her to speak in public, Danielle should have said, “Your Highness, I must insist on explaining in private, because I refuse to say in public things that would embarrass the Royal family. I will be on the balcony if you wish to hear the whole story.” Then walk away.

Now at that point, it would not have been possible for Prince Henry to be from the planet Earth and not want answers. “What conspiracy could force the Prince to marry Marguerite?” Moreover, “What is it that would embarrass the Royal family?” Therefore, Danielle would have an opportunity to speak with Henry in private, which was her goal in the first place. Regardless of the outcome, at least Danielle would have had her revenge on Rodmilla and thwarted her plans for Marguerite to marry Henry. Since Danielle’s goal was to be alone with Henry so she could explain without the noise from Rodmilla and King Francis, the exact answers to the questions she raised in Henry’s mind were not important and might have been very simple. In response to the plot to force the Prince to marry Marguerite, Danielle might have responded by saying, “By spreading lies and rumors about Marguerite’s competition, Rodmilla knew you would marry Marguerite as the only choice left.” To explain how the Royal family might have been embarrassed, Danielle could say, “I thought Your Highness would be embarrassed if people found out that a servant girl was able to deceive you.”

If Danielle had been allowed to explain to Henry, away from the threats and intimidations of Rodmilla and King Francis, I believe Henry would have understood and accepted Danielle. However, in that event, Danielle would not have run away and lost her glass slipper, the essence of the Cinderella story.

Nevertheless, between the assaults of Rodmilla and the intimidation of King Francis, Danielle’s position was very precarious. Therefore, it is understandable that she did not respond with near-perfect answers.

Nevertheless, I thought Danielle should not have conceded so easily. Therefore, I also wondered, “What if Danielle had faced up to Henry and defended herself after Rodmilla attacked her at the Masque?” This story is what I believe to be a plausible sequence in which Danielle stands up for herself before running away and losing her glass slipper.

In several scenes, I was able to use the words, with only a few modifications, from the original story.

Chapter 1 starts with the fanfare and Danielle’s entrance into the ballroom. Except for minor modifications, I followed the book and/or movie up to, but not including, when Henry was going to walk away from Danielle after saying, “I’ve heard enough.”