Chapter 3: Cinderella
Faust hesitated. “Have we… t before?”
The girl smiled and shook her head, her golden hair swaying with the motion. “Mm-hm. It is only that I know you from my side alone… In every sense, this should be your first ti seeing .”
Faust wanted to ask a few more questions, but the mysterious girl moved first, pressing her soft body close. Her lovely nose twitched slightly, as though she wished to carve into her heart the intoxicating masculine scent clinging to the man.
“Hee hee…”
With a satisfied little sigh, she closed her eyes and let out a delighted sound like a kitten’s purr, as though humming so secret tune while savoring the closeness and quiet of the mont.
Seeing this, Faust could only match her steps and wait for the dance to end.
Yet her stamina seed inexhaustible. She showed no intention of stopping at all, and one song followed another. It was not until the night had deepened and dawn was nearly approaching that the golden-haired girl finally parted from him with obvious reluctance.
“It is ti. I have to go back.”
Her pale fingers wound around the lock of hair at her shoulder, and her face was full of reluctance.
“Can you not stay a little longer?”
Faust tried to keep her there. He had barely spoken a few proper words with her.
The mysterious girl lowered her eyes slightly and said nothing.
Seeing that, Faust could only sigh. “What a pity. Then let escort you.”
Yet even this perfectly reasonable request was rejected. The girl shook her head gently and said in a subdued voice, “Though I would very much like to invite you to co ho with , by then… you would not like anymore.”
With that, she lifted the hem of her skirt, turned, and hurried away, almost fleeing as she leapt into the carriage.
Tap, tap, tap—
At once, the unicorns drove the carriage away from the royal palace with a speed no ordinary carriage should have possessed.
Faust imdiately ran after it, only to stop at the palace gates.
Because before his very eyes, the unicorn-drawn carriage plunged straight into the wall. Ripples spread outward, and then it vanished.
At that mont, Yosewood walked over. The princess’s teal eyes were fixed on the ruts left behind by the departing carriage, where specks of dim light still flickered.
“It was 「Mystery」…”
“「Mystery」?”
The mont his royal sister said that, Faust understood.
So-called 「Mystery」 was the very elent that gave this world its fantastical color.
It might be an inward-seeking talent, a deeply cultivated art, a strange and wondrous tool, or a blessing bestowed by the Fae… anything supernatural could be called 「Mystery」.
There was no need to say more about soone like Yosewood, a high-level mage by any standard. As for Faust himself, he had inherited a sovereign’s legacy from his exceedingly valuable adoptive father and was a genuine aristocrat of the occult.
But 「Mystery」, too, ca in countless grades. In a situation like this, Faust could not analyze anything at all. Along the path of 「Mystery」, he had followed the sa 「Hero」 lineage that had been passed down through the old king.
It was an exceptionally orthodox and kingly inheritance of 「Mystery」, one specializing in rule, conquest, and subjugation.
But in the realm of scholarly understanding, it was far inferior to the path of a 「Mage」.
“Royal Sister, can you tell what pathway of 「Mystery」 this belongs to? Or perhaps track it directly?”
Yosewood rubbed the glowing dust left behind by the unicorn carriage between her pale fingers, then shook her head. “It is a Mystery of extraordinary depth. I can neither interfere with it nor comprehend it.”
The silver-gray-haired princess was no ordinary mage, but a high-level mage whose attainnts upon the path of Mystery were exceptionally profound. It could be said that had Yosewood not been a mber of the royal family, the Kingdom of Cleartide would likely never have been able to command her service.
For even her to be unable to decipher it, the level of this 「Mystery」 was no trifling matter.
“You like that girl?”
Yosewood cast him a sidelong glance. As always, the silver-haired princess’s gaze was utterly calm, and her clear voice betrayed no emotion one way or the other.
“Is it really that obvious?”
Smiling, Faust pressed a hand to his chest and admitted it frankly. “Yes. It has been a very long ti since I… no, I should say I have never felt my heart race like this before. This feeling of joy is truly rare.”
Yosewood said slowly, “There is sothing strange about your condition… Are you truly only bewitched by her beauty?”
“Though I have said before that when desire overtakes you, you are like an uncivilized monkey in heat, still, no matter how wantonly you indulge yourself, you have always known where the line was. You yourself once said that the wise do not fall in love.”
When Faust had mixed with the noble ladies of the capital, whether they were pure and lovely, charming and mature, noble, spirited, saintly, or youthful, the prince’s attitude from beginning to end had always been the sa.
He was willing enough to take them to bed, but no more than that.
For a man like that to be truly captivated… it felt unlikely.
“Is beauty alone not enough?”
The mont he heard his sister’s doubt, displeasure rose at once in Faust’s heart, and he retorted almost instinctively, “Thank you for your concern, Royal Sister, but I am completely—well, at least ninety percent—certain that she is my destined partner!”
Yosewood replied flatly, “Did you not say that you needed a princess who could bring the kingdom allies and support?”
“Uh…”
At that, even Faust froze. He seed to realize that this conflicted deeply with everything he had believed before. The prince frowned and pondered for quite so ti, only to force out one final line:
“She does not necessarily have to be a foreign princess. What matters is value. Her Mystery is so profound that if the position of queen could bring the kingdom a great mage, that would not be a loss.”
“In any case, she is different!”
Likely feeling that even he himself found that excuse unconvincing, Faust hurried away under the pretext of having official matters to attend to, fearful that the silver-haired princess might continue questioning the very foundations of his convictions.
“Mm… is that so?”
Yosewood lowered her eyes and watched Faust’s departing back with those beautiful teal eyes, then gave a faint shake of her head.
The consort-selection ball the king had held for the heir was not a single night’s event, but a grand celebration lasting three days and open to the entire kingdom.
Though in truth, “the entire kingdom” only ant the two hundred thousand people in the royal capital of Cleartide had any real chance of reaching it.
Even so, that was no small number. The entire Kingdom of Cleartide had a population of less than five hundred thousand. Even in this fantastical world, where kingdoms stood side by side, it counted as a small country with a sparse people. Accordingly, the number of nobles in the kingdom was small as well, and most of them were acquainted with one another.
The position of the heir apparent’s queen was coveted by every noble house in the entire Kingdom of Cleartide.
Any unmarried young lady with the slightest confidence in herself rushed to the banquet to compete.
And every last one of them beca no more than a foil.
On the second night of the ball, that mysterious girl appeared again at midnight and departed only when dawn was near.
Throughout the entire night, the prince danced only with her. In Faust’s eyes, all the other beautiful noble ladies may as well not have existed.
Seeing this, many of the won at the ball were bitterly disappointed.
No one expected to win the prince’s favor anymore. Every onlooker could see that all of Faust’s thoughts were fixed upon that mysterious golden-haired girl.
And on the final evening, Faust arrived at the dance floor very early. As he engaged in absent-minded conversation with the guests, he kept glancing toward the palace gates.
Dong, dong, dong—
At last, after the bell rang, that magnificent carriage drawn by unicorns once more ca into view.
Faust glanced at his watch. It was precisely the midnight hour.
The prince walked naturally to the front of the carriage and extended his hand just as the door opened.
“Your Highness!”
A slender hand rested in the prince’s palm, and the girl leapt forward, throwing herself into Faust’s arms. She spun in them lightly before landing on her feet.
The mysterious girl had changed into an entirely new gown, but it was still as impossibly gorgeous and dreamlike as ever, setting off her transcendent beauty to perfection. A soft smile rested on her delicate, lovely face.
“I have kept you waiting.”
“Not at all. You are perfectly on ti.”
With elegant courtesy, Faust bowed, then took her hand and led her to the dance floor.
The girl’s full breasts pressed tightly against the prince’s body, and with their fingers interlaced, the two looked every inch like lovers in the midst of a passionate romance.
“Ever since the night we first t, I have thought of you day and night. No matter how many tis I look at you, I feel I can never have enough.”
Faust gazed fixedly at the girl’s exquisite and gentle face as he spoke softly.
Feeling the prince’s burning gaze, the mysterious girl’s cheeks seed to flush faintly.
“I have felt the sa, looking forward to seeing Your Highness again… It is almost like a dream.”
The golden-haired girl murmured, “For soone like to be able to dance with Your Highness…”
The dim golden lights of the plaza fell across the girl’s face, making her already transcendent beauty seem even more dreamlike.
rely looking upon such a sight made Faust’s breathing catch. Unable to help himself, he grasped her shoulders.
“What do you an, soone like you? If you are willing, then after the ball ends, you may co sit in the palace for a while longer. No… what I an is, you may stay. This ball—there is only you…”
Before the prince could finish speaking, the girl frowned and shook her head. “The charm I display now will vanish completely after this ball ends. You would not like my true appearance. It is so dull and laughable, so hateful to your eyes…”
“How could that be!”
Faust cut her off and clutched tightly at his own collar. “No matter what your status is, no matter what you look like, none of that matters!”
“Your very existence makes happier than anything else in this world!”
At those words, a faint light rose in the girl’s violet eyes, and a heartbreaking lancholy appeared between her brows.
“Your Highness… hearing you say that makes very happy. Though it may be greedy of , I want to ask for one more thing. A kiss. May I?”
“Of course.”
Naturally, the prince would never refuse such a request. In truth, he had wanted to draw close to her long ago, but out of tenderness he had not dared overstep.
Faust bent down, suppressing the mad pounding of his heart, and kissed the golden-haired girl.
Her lips were cool and soft. The instant they touched, Faust’s mind went blank, as though he had turned into so innocent, inexperienced boy, utterly at a loss.
Thus he could only let the mysterious girl take the lead, but she, too, was visibly awkward and unpracticed.
She clearly had no idea how to kiss properly. She rely brushed clumsily against him, as though that alone counted as a kiss.
And yet, even such a childish kiss left the mysterious girl deeply satisfied. Her eyes curved gently as she smiled.
“Ah… this mory alone will be enough for to cherish all my life. Let it end here, Your Highness. For now, I am still not ready to go any further.”
With that, she turned and left, departing with the sa decisiveness as on the previous two nights.
“W-Wait!”
As though waking from a dream, Faust glanced at the girl’s retreating figure and instantly panicked.
A carriage drawn by unicorns was clearly a high-grade Mystery conveyance. Such vehicles were said to travel through the Void Spirit Realm, and no ordinary ans could ever track them.
If he allowed the mysterious girl to leave like this, finding her afterward would beco desperately difficult. How could Faust possibly tolerate such a thing?
The prince gave a loud shout and imdiately lunged after her, but the girl deliberately kept her distance. Tilting her lovely head slightly, she smiled with deep aning.
“If you desire so much, then co and find . If it is you, I am certain you can find . Is that not so?”
Click—
Just before she leapt into the carriage, one of her dancing slippers accidentally fell to the ground.
But in her haste to leave, she could no longer concern herself with such a thing. The carriage accelerated, broke through the encirclent of the palace guards, and charged straight into the void, disappearing from sight.
“So she is gone after all…”
Faust looked down the empty avenue and let out an unwilling sigh. Then he bent and picked up the slipper the girl had left behind.
Each night, the mysterious girl had appeared in a different outfit.
But every one of them had been magnificently beautiful beyond reason. It was not just her gowns; even her dancing shoes changed from night to night.
On the first day, she had worn a pair of dazzling silver boots. On the second, golden high heels. And tonight, it was a slipper like crystal itself.
As he rubbed the smooth crystal slipper in his hand, Faust sank into thought.
He certainly had no intention of giving up so easily. If the mysterious girl no longer chose to appear before him on her own, then he would go seek her out. At present, this slipper was the only clue he possessed.
In that case, he would simply see who could wear this slipper. Even if he had to turn the entire kingdom upside down, he would—
Just as Faust was steeling his resolve, he suddenly shuddered, and his reddish-brown pupils widened slightly.
Wait. A prince… a slipper… a mysterious girl attending a ball…
Cin… Cinderella?!
Dong—
As those familiar elents ca together in his mind, it felt as though sothing had suddenly surged up from the depths of the sea, or like the peal of a great bell crashing through his skull.
At once, the prince felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.
“Your Highness!”
Seeing the prince stagger several steps and nearly collapse, the attendants at his side rushed forward in alarm and supported him, then escorted Faust back to his bedchamber.
They had wanted to summon a physician, but Faust refused. After dismissing everyone, the prince sat down at the edge of his bed, wiped the sweat from his brow, and stared at the crystal slipper in his hand with a grave expression.
He reviewed everything that had happened over the past three days, and cold sweat nearly broke out across his body.
Sothing was wrong. Very wrong.
The instant he had seen that “Cinderella,” it had been as though he were possessed. His mind had been filled with nothing but her figure. He had lost all appetite, tossed and turned through the night, and thought of nothing else.
He had even cast aside his own principles and turned into the very shape of a love-struck fool. Was that really normal?
Love at first sight? Do not make laugh. I have read Schopenhauer.
No matter how perfectly she matched his tastes, Faust would never abandon his reason and dignity and debase himself into such shaless infatuation.
And more than that, though they had only just parted, if Faust tried now to recall the face of that “Cinderella,” he found that he could not rember at all what she looked like.
Given that this was a fantastical world, Faust had every reason to believe that soone had tampered with him.
But that made no sense. Though the Kingdom of Cleartide was rely a backwater little nation, as a mber of the royal house, Faust carried protective artifacts specifically ant to guard against Mystery. Even if they could not block sothing, they should at least have warned him.
Not to ntion that Yosewood, a high-level mage approaching the rank of an Archmage, had been present as well.
Even if it were magic from the Fae, she should have been able to detect it. How, then, had he been struck without either of them noticing a thing?
Just as Faust was at a complete loss, the place on his arm where the sigil rested began to grow hot.
At the sa ti, a whisper sounded by his ear, like a song drifting from so distant, mist-veiled place—
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