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Once upon a time, there lived a lonely little girl.

She lived in a cold house full of horrible monsters who never left her alone.

Every day and night, the little girl shivered in her thin clothes and had to work very hard to keep the monsters happy.

No matter how hard she worked to make them smile, the monsters were never pleased.

More and more they demanded of her.

Work harder!

Work faster!

Don’t sleep!

Don’t eat or drink!

Don’t look at us!

Despite these hardships, the little girl kept working hard for the dreams she saw.

A dream where the monsters were gone.

A dream full of colour, food and laughter.

A dream where she wore pretty clothes and rocks.

A dream that would never come true.

One day, the monsters hit her.

They had hit her before, but not like this.

Not this hard and not with so little care.

It was so hard that she never got back up.

The monsters panicked and yelled and blamed one another, but all they agreed to do was abandon the little girl who had worked so hard for them.

So, they left her, alone, on an empty grassy field as the snow fell, burying her deep within its warm embrace.

Yet, the little girl continued to dream even as she got encased in snow.

It was a long, happy dream, one she wanted to stay in forever, and then she was woken up.

Someone found her in that field.

They told her everything would be okay and that she was safe.

Yet, the little girl was not happy.

She was sad.

The long, peaceful dream that she had seen was gone, forever.

She wasn’t happy, even knowing the monsters were gone forever.

The people around her kept saying strange things to her as they smiled at her.

You’re cute.

You’re safe now.

We’ll buy you nice clothes and delicious food.

When you’re older, you’ll just think of all those dark times as bad dreams.

What were they saying?

Dreams were when the little girl was happiest.

Why would she ever call them ‘bad’?

Dreams were wonderful places.

How she longed to return to them.

But she wasn’t allowed to.

Whenever she tried, they stopped her.

Whether it was with the small, tiny sweets only adults were allowed to take, the ties, the scissors or knives, they kept stopping her.

They eventually began watching her closely and keeping all the ‘dangerous’ things away from her.

Why did they stop her, she always asked.

That question made the people around her cry.

The little girl didn’t know why.

She continued to try and return to her dreams, even stopping to eat and drink, but that was too painful for her, so the little girl gave up.

She ‘lived’ as they wanted her to and then the little girl grew up, but her heart was forever left in the dreams she once saw.

So, the little girl wondered how she could ‘live’ in those dreams.

She started with drawings.

Illustrations and paintings. At first, it was small, but the little girl couldn’t enter those.

So, she turned entire rooms into her dreams, though they were always too small and isolated.

Then, the whole building came next, yet even that wasn’t enough for the little girl.

Then, she learnt of something that would allow her to enter her dreams.

In fact, she discovered two.

One was with special glasses and something that would attach to her ears.

That was something nice and allowed her to experience some things she’d never seen before, but it wasn’t real, not like her dreams.

That feeling, those sensations, that reality - this wasn’t enough.

The other way was something she found in a book.

It was a very rare, very ancient, very mysterious tome, one she found by pure chance though her memories of when and where escaped her.

It told her many things, many secrets, of things most people could never see or feel, and it taught the little girl exactly how to access it.

It required very specific ingredients, and it needed lots of red to be painted in the right way.

So, the little girl tried and tried again, every single method in the books, sometimes more than once.

Her blood didn’t work.

Rats and mice weren’t enough.

Neither were birds or cats or dogs.

So, then she thought, what about someone like her?

A little girl, just like her?

But no matter if it was one or two or ten, it didn’t work.

Worse, scary monsters began looking for her with their bright lights.

Yet, the little girl continued on to find a way back into her dreams.

So, she took people like the monsters, but it didn’t work.

Nothing did!

Then, one day, the scary monsters found her, and she bravely fought them off.

They tried to take her, so she ran and ran and ran.

And then-

She jumped.

When she next opened her eyes, she was in her dreams.

She had done it!

Finally, thought the little girl, I have made it back to my dreams!

But then something began to change.

The story she wanted to see began to shift and distort when a little fairy appeared.

No! screamed the little girl, don’t take away my dreams!

So, the little girl cursed her and all the others who tried to act out of line in her dreams.

She haunted their dreams.

She said mean things to them.

She used their own voices against them.

For her dream, there was nothing the little girl would not do.

For her dream, the little girl would stop at nothing, just like before.

She would defeat all the big scary monsters.

No matter what.

***

“It’s rare for you to call us all together at the palace, Prince Cain,” Marcus said. “It looks like everyone but Lord Ah-Rahm has-”

“Ah-Rahm won’t be joining us.” Prince Cain looked at each of the student council members in turn. “I believe you all know why we’re here, yes?”

“My cousin and her sister.”

“Poor Lady Yui, having to endure that tyrant’s whims,” remarked Cederick.

“Not only that, Lord Marcus, but she has even been forced to take part in her vile schemes,” Prince Cain muttered.

“That whole conspiracy at the ball.” Marcus shook his head. “To put all that pressure on Lady Yui and then cruelly abandoning her. If she hadn’t forced Prince Cain to give her that Royal Decree, we would’ve-”

“I heard a rumour on the way here, prince Cain, that Princess Claudia invited Lady Raena and Lady Yui here for a tea party,” Cederick mused. “Does this mean she’s trying to sink her claws into your older sister next?”

“Ridiculous. She’s not even trying to hide her power-hungry ambitions.” Marcus clicked his tongue. “She’s clearly aiming to usurp Prince Cain’s position. As it is, she already has Lady Victoria and Lord Michael Wessex on her side. If Princess Claudia is added to their number, then-”

“Lord and Lady Wessex can easily be swung to our side once Raena von Armina is toppled from power,” Prince Cain said coldly. “Once it becomes apparent that she’s lost everything, they’ll come crawling back to us.”

“Any progress on putting the happy couple back together?”

“Not yet, Lord Cederick,” Marcus answered. “Lord Michael’s feelings haven’t changed, but it seems Lady Victoria will be harder to convince.”

“She’ll change her mind once she sees Raena von Armina for who she really is.”

“Have you reached out to Lady White, Lady Riley or Lady Urquhart yet, your highness?”

“I’ve sent them warnings but made it evident that I’m extending them an olive branch too. No doubt all three will do anything I ask just for a chance to cling to my coattails.”

Cederick chuckled. “You say such scary things with a handsome face, Prince Cain.”

“This is a temporary thing,” he said. “Once the monster is gone, so shall these darker thoughts.”

“Hmm~ is that so?”

“Your highness, what do you plan to do?”

“Repay the humiliation I’ve had to endure a hundred-fold, rescue Yui from the Arminas and see their household fall,” Prince Cain boldly proclaimed. “They, in recent years, have gained far too much power and influence. It was harmless at first, and I had even been saved by Lady Raena once upon a time. Since that night, Raena von Armina has continued to grow her power and influence, with her most notable feats being her feud with the Wessex family and the scandal at the ball.

“There are two-faced rats among the nobility who have referred to me as a puppet king, someone under the thumb of the Arminas. This is unacceptable. Power-hungry fools will be looking to support them over the royal family.

“We can’t rely on the future duke of Wessex or my sister. The current head of the Wessex family is an old man, but he’s not the type to forget a grudge. We can divide that house from the outside. Once Ah-Rahm realises the influence he’d lose if Raena von Armina gained more power, he and Claudia both will side with us.

“For far too long, I’ve let the Arminas get away with their misdeeds and treasons.” Prince Cain’s hands locked together tightly. “We’ll drag them down from their high horse and save Lady Yui.”

And I’ll make her mine, they all thought.

***

“Can I not convince you to stray from this path you have chosen?”

Michael shook his head firmly from side to side. “Not now, not ever.”

His father sighed, weary as he gazed upon the son he was once oh so proud of.

The star of a public disgrace.

A stain on the once proud Wessex family.

A useless slave dedicated to two mistresses.

The old head of the Wessex family had heard every single rumour, piece of slander and lie spun about his son, and he wanted nothing more than to crush them all into dust.

But for this to be possible, his son would need to stop taking them so much in stride.

No, that’s not right.

He’s waiting, like always.

He’s letting them gather like flies around a rotten corpse, and then-

“Your dedication to Lady Victoria is commendable, but I cannot say the same about your relationship with the Arminas. Have you forgotten what-?”

“Father.” Michael’s icy voice was enough to silence his own father. “This is my choice.”

“…I see.”

If you are so insistent on dividing us and watching us fall apart.

Then you hope you understand that you will not be spared that fate too, my son.

***

“Should the time ever come where you have to choose between Princess Claudia and Prince Cain, who would you support-?”

“You dare ask their father such things?” The king sighed quietly at the prime minister’s question. “It won’t come to that. I know it won’t.”

No, your majesty, you know it will.

***

Lady Anastasia Urquhart was excited.

Yes, she had been embarrassed and humiliated in public on the highest of stages.

Yes, her plan to become Prince Cain’s bride had suffered some major setbacks that could prove irreparable.

However, two letters had arrived on her desk that night.

The first was from Prince Cain.

Its contents had made her elated, though she knew he was just looking to enlist her as an ally, and not as a potential candidate for his queen.

The second letter had been one she’d never anticipated would come; it was from Lady Raena von Armina, the very person who had tried to destroy her life.

It had made similar promises and claims as Prince Cain’s, but with a much mor lucrative promise attached.

“I won’t make you his queen; I’ll make you the queen.”

It was, in many ways, a dangerous letter.

If the wrong people laid eyes upon it, it could be considered treason.

It could even be used as blackmail material against Lady Raena.

If she told the papers and gossips, it would shake the very foundations and peace of the country and label the Arminas as enemies of the state.

There was no way Lady Raena didn’t know this too, yet she sent the letter anyway.

That was what made Anastasia Urquhart excited.

“Why play as they want when I can play them both?” She giggled with glee. “A double agent in both camps, setting up all the dominoes so they come tumbling down beautifully. Or maybe I’d help dismantle your web, Lady Raena, only to seize all power from Prince Cain myself? That could be fun. Oh, there’s just too many things I want to try!

“And there’s not enough time to do them all!”

Lady Anastasia Urquhart didn’t care if she won or lost the game.

All she cared about was playing it.

And that’s just what she would do.