Chapter Text
Prologue
᪥──❀──✾─𖥸─✾──❀──᪥
Once upon a time, in a far away land, a young prince lived in a shining castle.
Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince and his company were self-centered, spiteful, and unkind…
But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar woman came to the castle, and requested shelter from the harsh storm, in payment, she presented a rose.
Repulsed at her appearance, the prince’s second hand man sneered at the woman, commenting on how her end is near, why not make it come quicker? And mocked the pitiful gift of a rose.
The prince, eager to get the approval of his servants and wealthy followers, turned the woman away.
She warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within.
And when he dismissed her again, the old woman’s ugliness melted away, to reveal a beautiful enchantress.
The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart.
As punishment, she transformed him into a monstrous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there.
Ashamed of his terrifying form, the beast concealed himself inside of his castle, without any window to the outside world.
The rose she had offered, was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-first year.
If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken.
If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.
As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope.
For who could ever learn to love a monster?