Chapter 1 (The Castle in the forest)
To escape the arranged marriage my father set for me, I went hunting despite being warned about the dangers in this forest. Have I ever listened? No. I was as headstrong as they came, and had never been known as anything but.
With my favourite horse, I went into the forbidden forest. Catching prey wasn’t difficult for me. I only had to use my arrow once, and it hit the mark. However, the animals I caught were small ones.
I needed to catch the bigger ones, so I could flaunt them in front of my stupid brothers, whose faces would have nothing but jealousy on them.
“Come on, boy.” I petted Starlight. “Let’s go deeper. The predators have gone into hiding. We need to seek them out.”
Starlight neighed, and off we went. He was faster and eager, just like I was.
However, the deeper we went into the forest, the darker it became, until I was unable to see anything in front of me.
“What’s going on?” I turned around. Sure enough, in the distance, the sky was bright. However, around me, it was total darkness.
“Let’s get out of here, Starlight.” I tried to steer the horse towards the place the light was coming from.
But he neighed, rose high in the air, and threw me down from his back. Before I knew what was happening, my horse galloped out of the place, leaving me alone.
“Starlight!” I called out to him, but I heard no response.
The entire place was quiet. There was no other sound aside from that of my heavy breathing.
“Starlight!” I called out to him as I blindly touched the ground.
I stood up from the ground and blindly dusted my butt. “Starlight!” I called out once more, but there was no sound.
My feet hit something, and when I felt the ground, I discovered it was my bow.
“Thank the gods.” I clutched it as I made my way towards the light I saw in the distance.
The more I walked toward the light, the farther it grew, until I was fully engulfed in darkness.
“What’s going on?” I turned around, yet I wasn’t able to make out anything. I couldn’t even see my hands.
Blindly, I walked, with my hands and the bow outstretched, to prevent myself from hitting my head on a tree by mistake.
Everything that was happening was strange. I’d been to this forest before, but never had I encountered such a strange thing as this.
Never had I been in this kind of predicament before. Even on the nights I spent alone here, it had never been this dark.
I kept on walking until I saw a light in the distance. It was like a breath of fresh air.
I hastily walked towards the light. Blindly, I escaped hitting my head on a tree right in front of me. It was a tricky thing to do, but at last, I managed to leave the forest without hitting my head on a tree.
“Thank the gods.” I sighed heavily as I approached the light, which grew brighter the closer I got.
As I got closer, I realised the light was coming from a house. And the closer I got, the more I discovered it was a castle. The light came from three of the windows.
“What’s a castle doing in the forest?” I wondered as I approached the palace’s great gates.
It was dark out here, so I had to touch the iron gates before I was able to find the entrance. It wasn’t locked as I thought, so I slipped in.
“Hello?” I called out but got no reply.
The place was silent, and no one was in the dark courtyard.
“Hello?” I called out once more as I walked closer to the palace. “Hello?” I glanced around, confused. Why was the entire place deserted?
Those should have been my first warning signs, but I ignored them because I was just too proud to show my weakness.
“Hello?” I called out as I walked to the door, half hoping the butler would come and open the door at the sound of my voice. But that didn’t happen.
Aside from the sounds of my footsteps, there were no other sounds to be heard. It was as if I was the only one around here.
Who was I kidding?
I was the only one around here. There were no guards around. Not even the busy sounds of maids walking around could be heard.
The entire place was as silent as a graveyard.
Yikes. Why was I thinking of a grave in this situation?
I glanced around the place before I hastened towards the door. The crunching of leaves under my feet made me frown.
However, I didn’t allow myself to dwell further on the thoughts of why there were leaves in a supposed palace. I reached the door and knocked.
“Hello?” I moved aside to avoid being hit in the face by the door.
“Hello?” I knocked on the door once more. This time, I made sure to knock loudly enough for them to hear me. “Is anyone home?” I called out when I heard no response.
I knocked on the door once more before I accidentally pushed it open. The heavy oak groaned as it opened. It sounded as if the door hadn’t been opened for ages.
“Hello?” I called out, even with the open door.
Inside, it was as silent as outside. However, unlike the outside, there was a dim light coming from somewhere in the palace.
“Who’s here? Hello? I lost my way while hunting in the forest. Can I spend the night here? It’s okay if you don’t want me to. I’m just a lost princess searching for a place to rest her head until morning.”
