The beauty is a beast

The tales of ruin

Damien watched Princess Pandora, as she poised and politely listened and pretended to be interested in both of her suitors. Prince Varnick and Prince Harrold had both arrived, leaving only Prince Hale to have yet to make his arrival.

"Yes, I find that very interesting," she agreed to some observation regarding war equipment that Prince Varnick had made. "Especially with the war going on in the east. Mr. Arrent here is from the east, are you not Mr. Arrent?" She asked pointedly and shifted her gaze and the attention of everyone in the room to him.

Damien shifted in his chair, not prepared to suddenly have all eyes on him. Everyone had been ignoring the beast at the table, probably assuming it was some kind of entertainment the princess had brought. "Ehm, yes, your highness. I am."

"How is it there?" Prince Varnick asked interested. "Has the war completely drained the country yet?"

He didn't know how to answer that. He had left his home many years ago and there had not yet been much talk of war. "I will have to owe you an answer to that question. I am afraid I left home before the war really took hold,"

"Oh," Varnick answered, "I am sorry, I thought a big guy like you would know of the war."

"Malcolm," Pandora warned lowly. "I am sure Mr. Arent has had other battles to fight. Tell me Mr. Arrent, what was the name of your village?"

It was a harmless question, but the mere touch of his past made Damien tense up. "Unnoe, your highness."

"Unnoe," she repeated. "What a curious name. What does one do in Unnoe?"

He had a hard time deciding if she was being sincere or not, but it didn't really matter either. She was the princess, and she had asked him a question. "Mostly farming, your highness. It is a very small village."

"I see..." She took the delicate crystal wineglass in front of her and made the liquid swash. "Were you a farmer?" She asked nonchalantly.

"No your highness. My father was chief and a trader. I was to take over the business," he explained.

"I see..." She took a sip of wine. "How interesting. I assume it has been a few years if you have not been there since the war?"

"Yes, I have searched most of the land east. I do miss home sometimes," he admitted, not that he would ever be able to return.

"I can imagine," she agreed. "Is it beautiful there? In the east?"

Damien finally relaxed. She had elegantly avoided anything relating to his curse. "Yes, very beautiful. Perhaps you would like to see it sometime?"

A slight smile graced her lips. "Perhaps..."

"If you are ever able to leave the castle," Joseph Harrold bit in. "Perhaps if Vucan had a king-"

"Let us not get too hasty," princess Pandora cut him off. "It was a hypothetical idea. Anyway, it is getting late. I will be retreating to the lounge. Princess Olive, Prince Varnick, Prince Harrold, and Mr. Hastings - will you join me for tea?" She asked, politely taking aside the royals and her personal advisor.

Damien retreated to the garden, not included in the invite and not welcome with the staff or the knights. The sun was setting, bathing the fields in a rosa light. "Mr. Arrent!" A voice called and he turned to find the doctor sitting on a park bench. "Here to enjoy the sunset?"

"Yes, I felt the outsides calling to me." The doctor seemed nice. He was a very objective man, and Damien hadn't met a lot of those.

"As did I. How are you finding yourself in this castle?" The doctor asked and invited Damien to sit with him.

"Fairly well thank you." He sat down beside the wise man and watched the sunset with him.

"I noticed you have met princess Pandora," the doctor commented. 

"Yes, at breakfast and dinner," Damien answered dutifully without disclosing too much.

"I am quite curious: What did you think of her?" There was a twinkle in his eye that Damien couldn't quite place.

He hesitated. What did he think of her? It was a good question. "She seems very... Burdened," he decided.

The doctor laughed a heartfelt laugh. "Yes, that is true. Don't worry: This is our private conversation."

"May I ask: What happened? She is much too young to be a ruler." It had bothered him all day. While obviously, the king had gone to war, shouldn't there be someone else to take over the kingdom in his absence than a fourteen-year-old girl?

"It is a tragedy," the doctor sighed. "But I guess you deserve to know: Yes, Anhtimos went to war, leaving Pandora to rule alone, but there is another part of the story: Anhtimos had a brother Aristothelos. They were always at each other's throats, it was their father's fault. He refused to name an heir. They had to compete, show who was the better, who would make the best king..."

"Anhtimos won?" Damien guessed.

"No... Aristothelos was the better man. He was to be king. Sadly he caught scarlet fever in adulthood and died. Anhtimos took his place. Married a beautiful woman of his father's picking, Princess Demi Luna. They had two kids: The firstborn a son Loukas, the second born a girl Pandora. Loukas was to take the throne but Anthimos always favored Pandora for some reason. Demi got obsessed training Pandora to be nothing more than a pretty doll, all while Anhtimos took her to war meetings and introduced his advisors to her. He didn't do the same for Loukas. They would fight about it constantly. Then almost six years ago Demi was murdered. It was brutal: Someone had crossed the wall and stabbed her in the inside garden. Pandora was the one to find her - she was never truly the same after that."

"And Loukas? Wasn't he to take the throne?" Damien questioned.

"He was," the doctor agreed. "But he disappeared the night of the murder. No one has seen him since. All of this death: Leaves only Pandora to take the throne. No uncles, no cousins, no parents, no siblings. She is all alone..." he trailed off.

"The rider: Mr. Hastings. Where does he fit in in all of this?"

"Ah yes, Archer Hastings," the doctor seemed to cheer up. "An orphan that the king took in. His parents were nobles but they lost their land... The king took in poor Archer when he was just three years old. He and Pandora grew up together, spending an equal amount of time in his office, further fuelling Demi's anger of course."

"How oddly kind of the king," Damien noted. The tale didn't strike him as the story of a caring and kind man.

"Don't misinterpret," the doctor warned. Anhtimos was not an unkind man. He loved his daughter very much, and he was a good ruler. He is greatly missed by his people for that very reason." The doctor sighed and stood up. "It is getting late. Good night Mr. Arrent. I hope to see you around."

He left Damien in the darkening garden to mull over all of this information.