The Ash Queen

In 1698, the court of King Louis XIV recorded a scandal surrounding Cendrille de Lucigny, a servant girl who rose to marry a baron after attending a masked ball. The story became legend — but the truth was pure gothic tragedy.

The “fairy godmother” was no myth — she was the king’s alchemist, Madame du Rochefort, known for experimenting with mercury glass and early forms of gunpowder. She created a pair of crystalline shoes by fusing silver with phosphorus — shoes that glowed faintly blue in the dark.

At the ball, Cendrille’s entrance caused chaos — the lights flickered, chandeliers cracked, and witnesses said her gown shimmered like flame.

She vanished before midnight, leaving behind one shoe — which, according to royal records, exploded when struck by sunlight.

Her ashes were found scattered near the Seine.

The baron kept the other shoe until his death, when it too began to hum softly — before shattering into dust.