Chapter 9: Witch’s Temptation
PRINCESS took in her private chambers, gazing at the once-familiar room. Under normal circumstances, it would have been the safest place in the world for her. But she’s not the least bit happy to be here. Her canopy bed has a fluffy silk-down comforter with gold embroidery. Green velvet damask drapes the walls, and a plush rug with the night stars woven into it decorates the floor. Inside her dresser drawers are her brushes, ribbons, hairclips, and a small jewelry box containing her prized possessions. Stored away within her closet are stools, a table with a potpourri bowl on top, and her unfinished embroidery work. Not a thing has changed since the day she left the castle over a year ago. Nothing—
“Open this door!”
Aside from the fact her bedroom door is firmly locked and she isn’t allowed outside! She kicks the door. SLAM! WHAM! It doesn’t even creak. “Open up…”
She tries again. This time, she retreats back to the opposite side of the room, takes a running start, and leaps at the door, ramming her body into it. “Open up this instant!” The door creaks slightly. But that’s all it does. “Ooowwwie…”
Princess Lala Lilia clenches her throbbing shoulder and squats on the floor. The door she had once opened freely with her hands is now securely locked and won’t open for her. Frustration, sadness, and dread whirl around within her.
“I want to go home…”
When Princess lived in the forest, this nostalgic place always showed up in her dreams. But now she clearly understands: I want to go home to our treehouse in the forest.
Despite being in her own room surrounded by her own possessions, she isn’t happy at all. Regardless of how familiar you may be with a place, even if that place is your home or your room, if you aren’t allowed to leave whenever you want, it is no different from a prison. In reality, it becomes nothing more than a jail cell.
“I won’t lose.” Princess Lala Lilia drags a chair to the window. “Upsy-daisy!” She vigorously hoists it up and is about to swing it at the window when—
“A spoonful of sweet milk every day for the tiny people to feast~ ♪”
She hears singing.
“…!”
The singing she wanted to hear again; voices she wished she could hear again. She soaked her pillows many nights when she was alone, remembering their voices.
“Round, round, fluffy-uffy roly-poly Brownies~ ♪ Tiny people, protective spirits of your sweet, dear home…”
She jerks her head to look over her shoulder. Someone is standing in front of the door. They’re who she wished on a star to see again, even if just their shadows or in a dream or a phantom illusion. Standing there are the two people she wanted to see so badly that the sense of loss had clawed at her heart.
“Mother…Father!”
They stand there looking just like they had the day they hugged goodbye. They’re smiling.
“Come here, Lala Lilia.”
“You must have been so lonely.”
Mother holds her arms out.
“We can stay together forever now.”
“Ah…ahhh…Mother. Mother…!” Her expression torn with emotion, Princess runs over to her parents, tripping along the way.
“You must’ve been lonely.”
“We can stay together forever now.”
Princess falters, slowing down until she comes to a complete stop. The queen stretches her hand out farther, inviting her confused daughter as she sings, “But, but, be careful. If you forget the milk… ♪”
Princess stomps her feet. The light of her noble, stubborn will shines in her verdure eyes. “You people aren’t Father and Mother!” she yells, the force of her voice rising from the pit of her stomach. “AWAY WITH YOU!”
In a blink of an eye, the king and queen fade to faint shadows and softly crumble away. They disappear far too quick and easily, like ashes whisked away by the wind.
“Aww, that’s not very endearing. And here I was, kindly reuniting a child with her parents.” A willowy figure steps forward. Kinkless golden hair shrouds her shoulders and flows to her waist, and her blue eyes match the sapphire adorning her finger flawlessly. Her pearl-embroidered blue dress rustles as her skirts shift.
“Megan!”
From the very first line, Princess noticed a slight difference in the song. It was what told her something was off. Her mother had taught her the Tiny People Song after all.
“A spoonful of sweet milk every day for the tiny people to feast~ ♪” sang the shadow.
“A spoonful of sweet, sweet milk every day for the tiny people to feast~ ♪” was what her mother had taught her.
It was different from Mother’s song.
If that were her real mother and her real father, they wouldn’t have stood unmoving, waiting for Lala Lilia to leap into their arms. Mother would have run to her. Father would have knelt down to match her height as he welcomed her into his arms, so he could catch her no matter how much speed she lunged at him with.
At the very least, the parents she remembered would have done that. But they didn’t.
Tears blotting her verdure eyes, Princess balls her fists, stands her ground, and shouts, “Liar!”
“There is such a thing known as kind lies, Lala Lilia.”
“I don’t need that.”
“You really aren’t an endearing child.” Knitting her thinly manicured brows, Lady Megan’s lips curl downwards. “And yet why—”
“Why’re you doing something like this, Megan?”
The slight downturn of her lips disappears, a smiling mask plastering itself onto Lady Megan’s face in its place. “You needn’t be lonely. You will live with them once again soon, anyway.” She turns on her heel to leave. “Good for you, little cousin.”
“Wait!” Princess runs after her, but the door is ruthlessly shut on her face. KER-CLACK! The cold sound of the door being firmly locked echoes throughout the room. “Why? Megan! Why?”
Princess turns from the door and totters over to her bed on shaky legs, as if she herself is changing into shadowy ashes.
“They really did die…” She falls prostrate on her bed and buries her face in the cold pillow. “Father…Mother……”
Her cries for her lost parents dissolve into disjointed, hiccupped sobs. No one is around to hear her cry. Nor is there anyone to wipe away her tears.
“Uuh…uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah…”
I want to see you. I want to see you, Mister Dragon…Gideon…
The sounds of her feeble crying gradually weaken and eventually fade away.
After crying as much as she could, Princess fell asleep for a short time. Upon waking up, she immediately goes to pour water from the ewer into the basin and washes her face. Then she fetches her favorite handkerchief from her closet to dry herself without the help of servants, friends, or family.
“…I won’t lose.”
Living for more than a year in the forest changed Princess Lala Lilia. She’s grown up—into a princess capable of wiping away her own tears.