The Dandelion System

Chapter 4

Once downstairs, outside the tower, Princess Oda put the lock on the door again and flashed me a look.

"What did you think?" she asked, and I knew it was a leading question, but I didn't know what she wanted me to say.

What did I think? I asked myself. I thought that you were cruel to him. I thought that you loved him. I didn't understand.

But of course I couldn't say any of that, so I tucked my chin in.

"He seemed like an ordinary boy, but he's very unhappy and lonely," I whispered instead. I looked at her to see if she was satisfied. She had on no noticeable expression. Then the princess walked through the slightly chilly air, towards the castle. It was already late noon, time went by quickly.

"Did I say something wrong?" I trotted to her side.

"No, you didn't."

"Then why were you so—well, strange back there? Prince Otto is normal."

She whipped her head to look at me, strands of her hair falling down, brows furrowed. I drew my shoulders up, expecting something unpleasant.

"His other side," her voice droned on angrily, "is a monster—a monster!"

I remembered the rumors I heard at the ball about him being possessed by a demon. Was such a thing possible? Or did he have a bad tempter? Or was he pretending, acting that way?

"You must treat him that way, his wild side can appear anytime, and when it does, no amount of cruelty stops him!" Her ice-cold eyes focused on me.

"But—" I stopped myself.

"One day, Karina, you will see for yourself." She started walking again. "One day."

The rumor that he was locked up turned out to be true and I didn't believe it at first. Maybe it was also true that he was bad enough to be locked up.

I bit my lip and kept quiet.

Once we entered the castle, Princess Oda and I split ways. A guard directed me to the ballroom where the other ladies had gathered, and in the wide hallway I noticed a familiar figure standing there, admiring the paintings on the walls.

"Oriana?"

Oriana turned to me.

"Karina! All the contestants have gathered in the ballroom already. I was waiting for you." I smiled.

"Thank you."

Talking with her was different from Oda. She was cheery and polite and I never had to worry about upsetting her. We walked down the hall decorated with paintings of dark-haired royals. Further down there were paintings of the albino siblings. I asked Oriana to wait and inspected the portraits rimmed with gold.

The Queen in the portrait had lustrous black hair and brown eyes. She was stunningly beautiful; she had a small face with deep, sunken eyes and shapely lips. The children looked to be about the same age, and Prince Otto was smiling happily and stood by his mother while Princess Oda, on the other hand, was frowning, sitting in a chair by herself. She reminded me of a forgotten doll.

"A lovely family, aren't they?" Oriana said with a dreamy smile. I wondered about it, but nodded.

"Yes. They are beautiful." That wasn't a lie at least, on the outside they were beautiful. Even the prince was more feminine than me, and Oda did have fine features. Then I remembered. "Why aren't any paintings of the youngest princess?"

"Princess Odette? She's only but a child," Orianna said. "Since children die so easily, they are only officially a member of the Royal Family after they reach the age of ten. Even so, we don't know much about them."