Chapter 2: All for the Princess
ELSEWHERE, Princess uses every muscle in her face to display her disapproval.
“……”
Deep creases form in her brow as she narrows her eyes to slits. Clenching her teeth, she turns the corners of her lips down, and tightly, tightly balls her tiny hands into fists. Her hair and clothes are a mess. Not even a shadow of her former appearance remains in her current disheveled state. On top of that, blackberry leaves and juice are sticking to her hair and dress.
“Pardon me,” a voice had said.
She had been engrossed in eating blackberries when a bag suddenly pulled down over her head. Her captor paid no attention to her feeble struggle and screams. They carried her away without listening to a single peep, and then, just moments ago, tossed her on the ground with a thump.
I’ve had enough of being stuffed in bags! Princess thinks, and quickly squirms out of the bag on her own. She grabs the twigs stuck in her hair and pulls. They’re too entangled to remove just by tugging.
“I won’t pardon you!” She pushes against the ground and stands, whipping her head sharply to glare at the person before her.
“Ooh. Ooooh! Beloved Princess! Please don’t be angry. Your charm simply pierced through my heart at first sight. You see, these hands of mine just couldn’t help taking a tiny bit of action.”
Her captor is a man with golden curly locks and jet-black eyes. His facial features are accentuated by a straight nose, which some may find handsome. His beard is cleanly shaven as well; the complete opposite of her uncouth black knight. He’s a man with a soft nasal voice who uses honeyed words. The entire time he had her stuffed in the bag, he tried placating her with sweet nothings.
She didn’t find him scary. Even though his skin is blue, his ears are pointy, horns jut from his head, and batlike wings sprout from his back. More than fear, she just can’t help being offended by how he treated her.
“Do you always walk around with this on you?” She kicks the bag across the floor.
“Of course I do, adorable Princess.” The blond, horned man gives her a sophisticated nod. “I must have it on me in case I come across my soulmate!”
“What’re you gonna do then? Lemme guess, put the bag over their head and kidnap them?”
He doesn’t answer. He merely ogles her and laughs with a crooked smile. Princess Lala thinks his face looks just like the masks worn at the castle festivals.
He’s kinda scary even though he’s smiling.
“I have everything you’d ever need here. Take a look. Isn’t it a marvelous room?”
He isn’t lying. Everything in the room is flowery and pink. Though the shade varies per the object, nothing is anything other than pink. It’s altogether PINK. The curtains, the bed canopy, the throw blankets, and the pillows. Everything, everything, is made from ample amounts of shimmering, smooth silk, with lace carefully lining the rims and edges. The rug is also dark-pink. Blooming flowers from every possible season are woven into the rug with striking gold silk.
Pink-painted wooden tables, chairs, footstools, closets, and the dresser have elegantly curved feet with golden vines patterned along their sides. Embedded pearls outline the shapes of flowers, grass, and butterflies. A dreamlike flower garden is sealed within each of the furniture’s wooden surfaces.
And on top of a small round table lies a crystal bowl full of candied fruit. The skins had been peeled, the fruit chopped up and pickled. She doesn’t even know the names of the fruit, their shapes even less. Flowers she’s never seen before sit arranged in the matching crystal vase beside the bowl. The loose, hanging thick flower petals vaguely remind her of the bodies of living creatures. Flowers, fruit, sugar, and spices mix together, creating a sticky sweet smell that fills the room. Just by inhaling, the sweetness encroaches upon her body.
I don’t like this smell.
Princess Lala instinctually blocks the smell with her hand. She covers her freckled nose and her mouth, where a new front tooth stands out. Her purple-dyed hands smell tart from the blackberry juice. But it’s a much better smell than the alternative.
This is a birdcage. A pretty, large birdcage.
The room only has a single window. And that one window is sealed off by thick iron bars.
“You are absolutely charming. Just beautiful! But it’s too bad that you are just a tad too young.”
“I don’t get it.”
“BUT! My aesthetic senses are absolute! Besides, you’re human, while I’m of the Daemon Clan. The passage of time is but a trivial thing.”
“I don’t get you at all.”
“It’s simple, Princess. I’ll raise you. Until you grow into a beautiful lady.”
Daemon. Dae-mon. Dae? Mon? The unfamiliar word repeats in her head. Over and over again. She doesn’t know what it means, but she knows one thing for sure. This person…is seeing something I’m not. Even though we’re standing in the same place, we will never see the same thing.
“Now then, you are to live in this room today forth. I shall give you whatever your little heart desires.”
This is a birdcage. I’m gonna be locked in.
“No.”
“Come now. Strip out of those filthy clothes and change into this dress.”
The golden haired, horned man snaps his fingers. The closet doors spring open, sending pink fabric dancing off the hanger into the room, rustling as it does. The dress features balloon-like round sleeves and a generously puffed out skirt. It fits Princess perfectly, but the hem is clearly too long. The dress gracefully drags along the floor as it cuts in front of her small steps towards escape.
Princess Lala stomps her feet on the floor and turns her back on the dancing dress.
“I hate it here. I’m going home.”
“Home?” The horned man swivels around her, closing in without a sound. His golden hair flutters and his batwings spread out, effectively blocking off her path. “Your castle is no more, Princess Lala Lilia.”
“Why…do you know my name?”
“Of course I know you, Lala Lilia. Princess of Reverfeat, the kingdom that fell in a single night.”
Princess Lala freezes in place. Her cheeks stiffen; her arms, chest, legs, and feet grow heavy like lead. It’s as if she’s being swallowed whole underneath an invisible layer of ice and sinking fast below its surface.
“Where do you suppose you will go home to? Poor, poor, little Lala Lilia. Didn’t your dear father and mother already die on you?” A kind smile is plastered on his blue face that draws nearer. He coos in his soft nasally voice and blows his sweet breath on her. Hands caress her cheeks.