༺༻
The Beast
As I tried to sneak back into The Castle, I was greeted with The Queen's back.
"Where have you been?" Queen Minji asked coldy, not even turning to look at me.
"Put your crown on.... I'm tired of playing games with you" She ordered as she turned to hand me the crown I had been refusing to wear all this time.
I sighed and did as I was asked, knowing it was finally time to stop hiding from my responsibilities.
Yes, I am to be wedded to The Queen.
The secrets and stories in this castle are endless. The information is selective. I for one, have never been a fan for learning more than I'm supposed to know..... but information always finds its way to me.
During Coronation Day, Queen Minji and I had learnt that we were to be wedded.
It's one of the reasons I didn't find her coming to my room that night all that weird... of course, I think she's beyond beautiful but things in this castle always a double meaning.... possibly more.
"Done?" Minji asked as I exited my room.
She had been waiting for me this whole time.
"Yes, my queen" I answered her sternly.
I raised my hand for her to hold and we walked hand in hand to the dinning hall.
As we walked in The Princess rised. Me and The Queen took our respective places and The Princesses followed.
The kitchen staff soon came flooding in, placing our food and drinks on the spots they were meant to be.
I wasn't expecting this to start so soon.
"I'm glad I got to spend my last day with Winter," I thought to myself as we all waited for Queen Minji to take her first bite of food.
Minji coldly stared at me from across the table as she took her first bite.
The Princesses followed and then me.
Minji then set her chopsticks down and asked, "You knew this whole time.... yet you chose to dissappear for the day. Why?"
I took a deep breath, dreading what was to come.
The Princesses had learnt the impeding story already written for all of us.
It's why they didn't follow after..... it's why they took so long to howl.
The Priest had finally disclosed the tale waiting to happen.
I knew this for a long time... that's why I wanted to let myself fall for Prince Fuman.... that's why I chose to spend my day with Winter.... I knew I had to enjoy the little happiness I could get before being tied down and used as propaganda for this Kingdom.
"I just wanted to enjoy the little time I had left.... alone," I answered her as I took a sip of my wine.
"Alone?" Princess Hanni asked with a corsed tone.
"Such an enjoyable time, ALONE, you must have had with hickeys on your neck" Princess Danielle spoke with an annoyed tone as she too grabbed her wine glass and drank.
"Dammit," I thought to myself as I tried my best to heal my wounds and marks.
Such smalls things were so easy heal... as if I was a full blooded beast..... but, much deeper wounds like the scratches on my back.... the were harder to heal. It could take a max of 48 hours to heals such deep wounds.
"Hiding them won't make a difference," Minji spoke cold as she grabbed her wine glass and drank it in full.
"I feel cheated," Hyein-ei suddenly spoke.
"The Beast knew this whole time.... yet you never returned our feelings," She spoke to the girls refusing to look at me until halfway through her sentence.
"Who were you with?" Hanni asked as my ears rang from Haerin playing with her food.
The chopsticks hitting the plate was driving me crazy on the inside.... I just wanted to yell at her.
"Winter, Your Highness!" Head Guard Philip spoke up from his post.
"Shut up!" I yelled at him not even bothering to look at him.
"Who or What, is Winter?" Princess Hanni asked angrily as she completely shattered her wine glass.
"The Bunny, Your Highness!" Philip spoke again.
"SHUT UP!" I yelled at Philip throwing my wine glass in his direction.
She stood still like a good little soldier.
I felt bad but I was too angry to do anything about it.
"Oh. That stray animal you healed," Queen Minji coldly said then took sip of her soup warmly served.
"Excuse me?" I asked feeling offended by her comment.
"You heard me," Minji spoke as she set her spoon down.
"You turn into a beast yourself and you the audacity to say such derogatory words!?" I angrily asked slamming my hand on the table.
I had heard the girls fall into the prejudices against Beast many times but this was beyond what I thought I'd ever heard.
"Minji!" Princess Hanni exclaimed.
The night had turned sour. I threw my crown across the table and it landed right in front of The Queen.
I then marched to my room.
Both parties were left upset.
They weren't happy with me spending my time with someone that was them and I wasn't happy with the way they spoke about me.... about my kind...... OUR KIND.
I got ready for bed not long after..... and....
As upset as The Queen and The Princesses were, they couldn't stay mad for too long.... It didn't take time before they all came flooding to my room.
First it started with Princess Hanni and her fear of the dead. Then, Princess Haerin had a guard open my door for her to walked in.... in her cat form.
She laid on my chest yet again.
"Ugh, why is this happening to me?" I asked myself in annoyance.
Princess Hyein followed after, saying she had a reoccurring dream of a war.
"With her.... I won't be able to even try to guess my next step," I thought to myself as she laid in bed next me.
Princess Danielle then came rushing in as she had cut her cheek trying to experiment with her powers and a glass of wine.
Of course, I rushed out of bed and attended to her wound.
The Queen was more stubborn than the others. It took her a few hours before coming to knock on my door.
"Join the party," I said coldy as I opened the door for her to see her princesses on my bed.
Minji rolled her eyes and walked in. She skipped over a sleeping Hanni and laid herself on my chest, petting Haerin in the process.
༺༻
Queen Minji
It was a hard day for all of us.
None of us could control ourselves. It was like we had no idea who we were or what we were doing.
The day got worse when The Kingdom Priest told us the stories to come. It made us upset to think our lives were just a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled.
"Is she just acting things out for the kingdoms sake?" I asked myself as The Priest spoke earlier.
I kept wondering if The Beast's behavior was ever genuine. It was always hard to tell.... she'd be smiling and flirting with us then it'd turn cold. So cold you could actually feel a breeze in the air.
Of course, learning all these secrets didn't stop the uncontrollable feeling of jealousy I knew we all felt.
The Beast eventually returned home and I couldn't even dare to look at her. However; it was time to play my part.
We had learnt the reason I was crowned Queen at 18 was to start fulfilling a prophecy. A prophecy where The Beast was to act as King.... and we were all to fall in love..... which would turn The Beast fully human..... and The Kingdom would finally accept beasts.
Of course, love doesn't fix a thing in this story. If anything.... it makes things worse.
We had all been in love with The Beast, one way or another.
Yes... I said, 'In Love' , because that's what it was.
Love.
Although growing up she didn't do much or say much, her actions always told us what we needed to know.... it's what kept us from going insane in this prison of a castle.
A jar opening there... a cold shoulder that turned in an eye roll, that turned into a sweet questure of opening the heavy castle doors for us... a loving smile that she tried to hide everytime we tried to bond with her. It was all a comfort to watch.
Now, it's all just a question.
I don't know if I can trust her, but love makes you do stupid things.
As I walked into her room, I was a bit surprised that the girls were already there. It wasn't nothing I didn't expect but i was surprised they got here before me.
The Prophecy said that 'The Beast will fall in love and the curse will lift'. Pretty Cliché if you ask me.... this isn't beauty and the beast.
The Beast was to fall for one of us and none of us had any hope for that. The Beast seemed to love someone else by the look of those hickeys earlier.
.... of course, I knew.... that's not how things work. Even if it was forced, The Beast had to fall in love and we had to cooperate in that.
It's for the sake of Our Kingdom.
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