Beauty and the Damned

4 | For the First Time in Years

A match could light an ocean.

Those were the words she used to hear before. She doesn’t remember where she heard it but she is certain it is around the walls of her castle. Or perhaps on the nooks and crevices on her walls and the cracks on the side of her doors and windows. 

A tiny mistake could make drastic changes.

The maids. Yes, it was the maids who talked about it. They didn’t know she could hear them through the walls of her chamber. They didn’t know how angry she is every time she hears them talk about it. She was trying to forget that day and yet all she could hear are their gossips as if telling her not to forget. She was bad, she was cruel. 

Because of one mistake she made, she ended up cursed. Worse, she doesn’t know the cure for it. An old woman cursed her because she did not accept her offering of flowers. What could she do with flowers? She had a whole yard full of them. But the woman was a witch. She doesn’t know much but she knows for sure not to get on a witch’s bad side. That was her mistake.

Her chamber was thrashed. The walls were full of scratch marks. The curtains too. Her bedsheet is all over the floor and the cotton from her pillows is everywhere. She couldn’t remember ever thrashing the whole room. Ariadne looked at the chamber. She couldn’t recognize it anymore. Once upon a time, it was posh. A room fit for a Queen. But now, it wasn’t anymore. It is now a room fit for what she is during the night.

For years, she has sent all her men to find the witch and to teach her a lesson after she's gotten the cure. But for years, her men are also declining. Some of them did not go back to the castle. Some of them left while still in the castle. Some of them died for unknown reasons. Or perhaps those were just excuses so she wouldn't bother hunting all of them. She couldn’t care less. Not anymore. All she cares about is how to get the old woman and reverse the curse. But for years, she had no luck.

Ariadne’s castle became lonelier and lonelier each passing day. Her castle that was once the most beautiful place in the whole Kingdom, is now filled with trees around it. She could barely see the sunrise unless she stays on the highest floor of the castle. Massive trees were planted around the castle as if the townspeople were imprisoning her there. They know the woods isn’t going to stop her from coming out. What stops her from going out was the shame.  Shame that Queen Ariadne, the fairest of them all, turns into a beast at night.

She closed her eyes as she felt the ray of the sun going in through her window. When she opened them back she found herself naked on the bed. As if on cue, a soft knock echoed in her chamber. Ariadne did not bother to respond and the maid came bringing new sheets and pillowcases. She was still lying on the bed until she saw Delilah’s face hovering over her.

“What?” she asked.

Delilah blinked and tilted her head. “You’re pretty now,” Delilah answered.

Her brows furrowed. Delilah has been getting alarmingly close to her. Amongst all the maids she had that swore their loyalty to her once upon a time, it was only Delilah who actually stuck to that oath. In fact, it was only Delilah who lives in the castle with her.

“The beast is only at night, and the beauty comes out in the morning,” she said at decided to get up. Years after she had lost all her maids and her soldiers, she has learned to do things on her own. She didn’t need to have the maids get her off the bed.

“Did you stay by the door all night again?” she asked Delilah the moment she was tying the robe around her waist. She looked at her and Delilah placed the sheets on the bed the proceeded to remove the torn ones.

“I didn’t, Your Majesty. I was at my chambers,” Delilah answered while changing her sheets.

Ariadne sat on the chair next to the window and looked at the vast forest behind the castle. The sun seems to have been having fun coloring the misty leaves with a hue of orange and yellow. It looked beautiful. 

It was then that she realizes her castle is now surrounded by trees with a thick canopy. The people—her people literally isolated her. Dumped her. Abandoned her.

She looked at Delilah and asked, “Why didn’t you leave?” It was a random question.

Delilah stopped flipping the sheets but didn’t look at her. She knows that Delilah knows what she was talking about. She was silent for a moment before she finally removed the torn sheets.

“Because I have no other place to go, Your Majesty,” answered Delilah.

She scoffed. “Of course—“

“And I also don’t want you here to be alone—“

“I don’t need a lowlife like you to pity me, Delilah,” she said coldly.

“I don’t pity you, Your Majesty. I have nowhere else to go. My family abandoned me when I…when they considered I was a disgrace to the family. They cast me out. I was alone. I knew what it feels to be alone. I don’t want you to feel that kind of pain. And I don’t want to be alone anymore,” Delilah said, still not looking at her.

Ariadne was silent as she watched Delilah fix the chamber. She decided to go into the bathroom to have her bath. Once she was inside, she remembered the very first time she met Delilah. She threatened had once threatened her and Delilah just obediently followed everything she said.

“And she said yes when I said I would take her youth one day,” she mumbled to herself as she rested her back on the door. She sighed and looked at the water tub in the middle. It’s already filled with water. She removed her robe and dipped into the warm bath. Ariadne closed her eyes as she tries to calm down. It’s been almost five years since she was cursed. There was no luck. The witch didn’t really give her enough clue to solve it. But she isn’t giving up. Ariadne is hell-bent on breaking the curse.

When she was done with her bath, she met Delilah in the dining where she ate breakfast alone. Delilah stood a few steps behind her seat while she ate the breakfast her servant made.

The hall was silent and the only thing she could hear was the sound of the cutleries as she moved them. She is used to silence. Ariadne's been used to it ever since she was young.

The silence was broken when Delilah talked.

“I will try again today, Your Majesty,” Delilah said. Her voice echoed across the columns of the massive dining hall. Ariadne stopped eating. Delilah must have noticed it and thought she was irritated with how loud she talked so Delilah apologized.

Ariadne held up a hand. She gave She did not bother giving Delilah a look and continued eating her food.

“What do you plan to do?” she asked and sliced the piece of meat. When she was done slicing a bit of it, she brought it to her mouth. She chewed on the meat and waited for Delilah to give her some explanation of what she was planning.

“I…I heard about this seer in the village. I am going there and ask around. Maybe the seer will give us the answers, Your Majesty.”

She knew it was all about that. Like her, Delilah has never given up on finding the cure to the curse either. Like her, Delilah was always seeking answers on how to break her curse. But every time Delilah goes out and looks for answers, she would always come home wounded. She knows how her loyal servant got the wounds. The villagers have been taking delight in throwing rocks at Delilah every time they see her. They aren’t scared of their Queen anymore.

“Make sure you will come back with answers this time, Delilah,” she said coldly. “All those wounds you get and you still bring me nothing. Don’t waste your pain,” she went on.

Delilah was silent for a moment and Ariadne continued to enjoy her meal. And then Delilah said, “Yes, Your Majesty. I will be back before sundown.”

Then she could hear her footsteps walking out of the dining hall. She did not look back and continued eating her meal.

Delilah has been roaming the Kingdom to search for a cure. The first time she set out on a journey to find the cure, Ariadne thought Delilah was leaving too just like the others. She knew it would come one day and she let Delilah go, not expecting her to come back. But much to her surprise, Delilah came back but then she brought no cure with her. She remembered getting mad and almost hurting Delilah right after she transitioned into a beast. But then she remembered that Delilah is all she has left so she let her live. Delilah has proven herself useful.

The second time, it was less severe. Ariadne was still mad as Delilah once again found no cure. But she was able to hide in her chambers before her talons could grab Delilah. When morning came, it was like nothing happened and Delilah still came into her chamber and help her prepare. Ariadne was expecting Delilah to leave eventually but it’s been years. And now that she has asked her why she didn’t leave, Delilah says she had nowhere to go and that she knows the feeling of being left alone. It was something Delilah could have gotten herself beheaded but Ariadne realized Delilah is right. She is alone. She’s just too mad to accept that to herself. Especially the fact that the cause of her loneliness was also her.

She used to scream at the top of the spire, questioning the bitter fate she ends up with. It was when she still has her servants and her soldiers. It was the only place where nobody could hear her. Now, she would thrash her whole chamber and Delilah would come in the next morning to change the sheets and other things she has thrashed the last night.

She leaned on her chair and placed the knife and fork on the table. She stared at the piece of meat on her plate. Ariadne couldn’t help but wonder if Delilah had eaten yet. But then her brows furrowed as she looked at the meat.

“Why would I even think about whether she’s had her meal or not?” she asked herself. Ariadne tried picking up the knife and the spoon but then she had lost her appetite.

“Stupid girl,” she mumbled and stood. She walked out of the dining hall. Now that she was alone, the only sound that echoed through the hallway was the sound of her footsteps.

The hallway was filled with portraits of her family: from the very first ruler, until the last one, which was her.

Once upon a time, she was a Princess. Her father was the King and her mother was the Queen. She had an older brother but he died while on a journey. Life was good. Too good. She has lived to get whatever she wants and to do whatever she wanted to do. She did not realize it would turn her into something her own people hate. Something that made her end up getting cursed. 

She found herself in the garden. The flowers once reminded her of the curse as it was the thing that was present the day the witch cursed her. But somehow, she doesn’t hate it. “Ironic,” she mumbled. She closed her eyes and let the scent of the flowers fill her nostrils. Maybe it was because of the curse that she had come to like the flowers. She never once appreciated them before. And maybe it was the curse that made her talk to herself whenever she was alone.

“I think I am going crazy,” she said and walked towards the edge of the garden, watching the flowers sitting all colorful and pretty.

“When the sky turns red, the bones break,” she whispered in the air.

“When the sun goes down, everyone hides in town.” She crouched down and gently touched the flower.

“When the stars shine bright and the moon delights, the doors are shut preventing any light.” She plucked the flower from the soil.

“When darkness is visible and fear feasts, it was then that beauty becomes a beast.” And she broke the flower’s stem before she dropped it to the ground. She looked at the poor flower coldly and stayed there until it was almost sundown.

She knew she had to go back to her chamber once again but she figured she should stay for a bit longer. Reminding herself not to hope for too much she sat and waited patiently at the garden where Delilah could easily find her. And when she heard Delilah’s footsteps, she heaved a deep breath.

But then her brows furrowed when she realized the footsteps sounded different.

She whirled to see what it was about only to find a man, clad in clothes covered in mud. His hair doesn’t seem like it originally looked like that but she could tell they were once styled elegantly. And he was looking at her as if he had the worst day of his life. She could tell just by looking at him.

For the first time in years, he was the first person she saw besides Delilah. She doesn’t know but she’s nervous and she never felt nervous before.

Ariadne tried her best not to grimace and show how nervous she was while looking at the man but then she remembered it is almost sundown and she had to get to her chamber.

“I am so sorry to barge in without notice,” the man said. Even the way he talks shouts too much. Too much elegance and grace and staggering beauty. “But I have had an awful journey and—“

“Leave,” she said and walked away but not before she saw the man’s confused look.

She walked faster but then she heard him say, “What an overwhelming hospitality.”

Ariadne did not look back and stormed through the staircase and back to her room. When the sun came down, she curled in her bed, muffling the sounds of her grunts as her delicate body changes into something far from it. 

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