Prologue
“Once upon a time in a kingdom, just outside the forest walls, lived a beautiful woman. Like every other day she left her house to attend the marketplace in the village.”
The story begins as the small girl lean inward, snuggling the fur blanket draped around her. Her guardian is sitting on a stool telling her a bedtime story of the past.
“The beautiful woman met a man, who was mesmerized by her appearance that day. He was none other than the Greedy King, already married, he sent soldiers to retrieve her. Removing the young woman from her home, she was forced to live in the Castle,” the man continues.
The fire in the one-room cottage crackles soothingly and warms the girl into a sleepy yawn. She leans down rubbing her face against the blankets beneath her.
“Forever this woman was caged as one of the King’s trophies, no different than the deer heads he collects after a hunting trip. She spent the rest of her life separated from her Family, dishonouring their name as the King had deflowered her. The True Queen, unable to bear heirs for the King, was sentenced to death, and the beautiful woman was forced to marry this Cruel King,” he continues as she falls into a deep slumber.
“Now a Queen, she had more freedom. She made one last attempt to escape the Castle, only to have died mysteriously in the process. Never forget the story of the Cruel King and his Captured Queen.”
The man leans down, planting a kiss on the sleeping child’s forehead, a tear rolls down his cheek. She stirs in her sleep as the tear trickles down onto her face.
The man pulls away, “Never forget young one, the world is a dark place,” he whispers.
