CHAPTER 732: CHAPTER 736: FAIRY TALE TOWN (25)

The insurmountable class conflict soon became evident.

Especially since the newly appointed Princess, aside from her beauty, seemed to be good for nothing.

Her mother had passed away early, and she hadn’t learned from her stepmother how to be a good wife, how to manage the household relationship, and what was more important, she didn’t understand at all how to deal with worldly affairs.

Social and financial interactions, she... understood none of it.

She was like a fairy untouched by the mortal world, completely ignorant.

It was then that Cinderella finally understood her father’s painstaking efforts.

Why he had swiftly remarried after the death of her biological mother, bringing home a new mother for her.

There were many things that a girl could not learn from her father alone.

Many things had to be taught gradually by the mother, to pass on to her children.

That is why the choice of housekeeper was so important to many upper-class families.

A good mother could benefit three generations.

Cinderella was forced from a fairy tale love story into the harsh reality of cliché life, compelled to mature quickly.

But now, even though she realized her former ignorance and willfulness, it was of no help.

It brought no greater benefit to her marriage.

She, who had never received guidance from a mother, even after recognizing her weaknesses, still didn’t know how to deal with them.

And so it was under these circumstances that the Prince went out to clear his mind, harried by a mix of conflicts.

He took a few followers and headed to the western coast.

But no one expected that just as he left, a violent storm was brewing.

By the time the search party caught up to their pace, the Prince had long since departed on a steamship.

That night, the storm was terrifying and fierce at sea, with lightning and thunder as if the sky had been pierced, heralding the end of the world.

In such weather, the insignificance of mankind was laid bare; no one could survive alone in such a hateful natural environment.

Even the search party couldn’t advance a step further in these conditions.

Only when the storm abated the next day, turning into a drizzling rain, did the guards prepare to set sail for the search and rescue at sea.

Although everyone felt that in such circumstances there was little hope for survival, they still had to complete the formal procedures; otherwise, it would be difficult to report to the King and Queen.

Just when all hope had been lost, someone unexpectedly discovered the Prince’s figure on the backside of a reef.

He was completely drenched, and aside from a faint breath, he looked just like a dead man.

What was strange was that something had torn open the collar around his neck, revealing two small bite marks.

The bite marks were deep, and the flesh turned outward was already gray-white from being soaked in seawater.

Even stranger were the not-so-obvious drag marks not far from the Prince.

Everyone guessed that the Prince had been saved, dragged from the sea all the way to the rocks.

But some unexplained phenomena were the traces scattered by the seawater, with lingering strands of slime, slippery, and mixed with tiny scales.

However, although everyone found it odd, no one had the time to ponder further.

The greatest relief was that the Prince was still alive.

After the Prince was brought back, it took him three full days to open his eyes.

The first thing he did was to have people search for the Princess who saved him.

Just as some had speculated, the Prince was indeed rescued and brought ashore.

Groggily, he opened his eyes, and saw the most beautiful figure, crowned with a petite diadem.

His Princess... love at first sight had caught him off guard...

The search this time was not as difficult as the previous quest for a Princess; the Prince’s people hadn’t even had the chance to carry out the Prince’s orders when the Sea Princess appeared before them, as if on cue.

It was said that she was very worried about the Prince’s health.

Though the Sea Princess came alone, without any Maids or guards by her side, no one who saw her ever doubted her royal identity.

Even on her own, she always managed to produce handfuls of precious jewelry; the tiny crown atop her head was an invaluable treasure in itself.

Everyone in the Imperial Palace warmly accepted the Sea Princess’s arrival, everyone except for the newly appointed Princess.

Cinderella was furious and upset, but before her jealousy could completely distort her face, she uncovered something far more horrifying.

This left her with no energy to think of anything else.

It all started with the disappearance of a Maid who served her.

At first, when her personal dresser didn’t show up the next day, Cinderella was very annoyed, certain the girl was just being lazy.

Because of the Prince’s attitude, the servants had been treating her with an air of perfunctoriness.

This caused the already sensitive Cinderella to secretly hide away and cry numerous times.

Cinderella felt that if that Maid didn’t want to serve her, then she need not come back at all.

But the disappearance of this Maid seemed to be just the beginning; someone from her entourage would vanish every other day.

It took three or four continuous days of disappearances for Cinderella to realize something was amiss.

She questioned the palace’s housekeeper, but the response was indifferent; they suggested that perhaps these people had gone home to visit their families.

Indeed, the palace Maids each had designated times off every month when they could leave the palace to visit their families.

But the consecutive daily disappearances were suspicious indeed.

The people serving her had all become anxious and fearful; those with connections were using various reasons to be reassigned away from her.

Only an old woman and a Maid remained.

Because someone had discovered signs of struggles at the places where the vanished had last been seen.

Eventually, there would even be blood stains that hadn’t been cleaned up in time.

Cinderella was scared too, but with no way to reach the Prince, she could only continue to write letters to her father, telling him of her fears.

The palace was like a monster that devoured people, overshadowing her in its dark embrace.

One night, unable to sleep due to the recent strange events, she got up and stood on the balcony, quietly breathing in the cool air.

She reminisced about her days at home; the days she had considered full of suffering and hardship now seemed almost charming.

Suddenly, a faint cry for help sent her heart racing.

Her gaze involuntarily followed the sound.

She saw a Maid she had seen during the day, one who had been transferred away from her.

Now, she would say, the Maid had turned from a living being of daylight to a cold, lifeless corpse.

She saw the body lying on the ground, neck punctured by two large bloody holes still oozing fresh blood.

And beside the corpse knelt a figure she recognized.

Suddenly, the figure turned its head, looking up, locking eyes with her.

There was fresh blood still smeared across the stranger’s lips.