Marie Adrienne François de Noailles was always a kind girl. But not only was she kind, she was also beautiful. This drew many to her, including a certain Prince. But that is in the future. Our story begins when Miss de Noailles was no more than nine years old.

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"Mama! Papa!" the young blonde yelled, running to her parents. "Rosie said her first words!" Rosie was her younger sister, Rosalie. The baby was only a year old, but hadn't spoken yet. Some thought she was deaf. But Adrienne knew her baby sister was alright.

Henriette and Jean ran to see what Adrienne was talking about. Rosalie was under their dining room table, laughing and shouting, "Mama!"

Henriette shot her husband a look then picked up Rosalie. "Oh, my sweet Rosie.. You finally spoke! I'm so happy baby..." she said softly, pain lacing her voice, confusing Jean, Adrienne, and the rest of the children.

Anne, the third youngest, went up to Henriette and tugged her sleeve. "Mama, why do you sound hurt?" she asked innocently.

Henriette shook her head. "It's nothing, precious," the woman said softly.

But Adrienne didn't believe her mother. So that night, while everyone else was asleep, she listened in outside her parent's door. She could hear sobbing, and her father's comforting rumble.

"I promised the King a mute servant," Henriette had sobbed. "So I was going to give Rosalie to him in exchange for food. I knew it was wrong, but we needed the food to survive winter! A-and since Rosie can talk, I can't give him his mute servant! So I-I'll--"

Jean cut her off. "Hen, everything will be okay," he said, his voice cracking. But that was all Adrienne needed to hear. She ran back to the room she shared with Louise, Ne, Clotilde, and Anne and shut the door. She hugged her knees to her chest and tried to convince herself that it was just a bad dream. She eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

The next day, Adrien, Louise, Adrienne, Ne, and Clotilde were awakened early. They were dressed in solemn black clothes, then escorted to a carriage outside, along with Jean and Henriette. One of Jean's sisters stayed with Anne, Rosalie, and Louis.

The group were taken to the palace, where Henriette embraced her children, tears streaming down her face. "Goodbye my children," she whispered to them, choking on her words. Then Jean led Ne and Clotilde back to the carriage. Adrienne was clinging tightly to him, not entirely understanding what was going on. She could see Louise and Adrien nearby, close to a guillotine. She didn't know why it was there, but was scared.

Jean tried to get Adrienne into the carriage when the king himself came up. "Let her watch," was all he said before walking away. Watch what? was all she could think as her father led her to where her older siblings were. When she saw her mother walking to the guillotine, realization dawned on her. She tried to run to her mother, stop her, but felt Adrien and Louise's arms around her. She struggled against their grip, yelling for their mother. Henriette closed her eyes and mouthed two words to Adrienne. Be strong. The girl fell limp in her siblings arms, her father sobbing on the ground. Before she could think, her mother was dead.

Jean was a broken man afterwards. He sent all his children but Adrienne to live with his sister. She helped him cope with the loss as best she could-- by singing. When he was working, she would sing for him. When he was lonely? Sing. When he seemed sad? Sing. Soon the pair sang every day from sunup to sundown. While Henriette was still gone, the other children with Jean's sister, the father and daughter pair were happy.

When Adrienne was 15, her father remarried.

Her stepmother was a beautiful woman named Wilhelmine Justine, but she went by Justine. Justine had two daughters, Mary and Jane.

Justine seemed to think her children were the most beautiful and perfect beings in the world, while Adrienne was a demon child. But Adrienne didn't mind. As long as she had her father, everything was okay.

One day, just after her sixteenth birthday, something terrible happened. Jean was supposed to have arrived home from a trip on November 1. But he never came. On November 6, one of his friends came to the de Noailles household. Through tears, he told them that Jean had died. His carriage had been attacked by wolves, and only his friend had escaped. This brought grief upon the home. But it also brought hard work upon Adrienne. Justine fired all the servants, leaving Adrienne to do the work. She wasn't allowed to sleep in a bed, so she slept by the hearth, earning the nickname "Sooty" from Jane and Mary. She kept her spirits up by singing, though. No matter what happened, she sang the song she and her father shared.