Not all princesses have the gift of happiness and freedom. I would know.

"My pleasure, your Highness."

I curtsied back, trying to hold back the tears as best as I could. But it was no use. I was not a Fairy Tale princess. There was no prince, no true love, no happiness… nothing but a life full of fear and anxiety, trapped in a tower high above.

Once Upon a Time…

…There was a castle in a far away land. The far away land was just ordinary, ruled by a King and his Queen. And their Princess and a young Prince. The castle was launched on somewhat a hill, with blue, crystal clear sea beneath them. Everybody believed that the King and the Queen and their children were happy. The royal family tried to look happy.

In fact, they tried to hide the worst fact of all – that their daughter, Princess Juliette, was condemned at her birth.

Juliette didn't know. But she felt it at times. Like those times when she was unusually unhappy or suffered from a horrid stomach ache. Or when she realized that she had no friends, and nobody would realize if she were dead.

The King and the Queen spent every hour of their days praying to the gods to undo the curse upon their child – nothing worked. Only they knew of the curse, and their royal faithful servant – Sir Edmund – who would sacrifice his life for the royal family.

When Princess Juliette was born, on a rather windy day – she was accidentally dropped into the water. The King was on horseback, carrying his child, and a sharp wind came along and blew her away. The King thought he had lost his daughter. Fortunately, she was alive, and the servants were able to rescue her.

After an incredulous nursing and infinite kisses and embraces from her mother and the maids, something strange had happened. Juliette's legs grew hot, her garments and blankets that covered her burned. One maid had her hand burned, and the baby Princess was instantly on fire.

Horrified, the Queen shrieked and water was instantly brought upon the baby. The baby cried as the water touched her legs – and a strange voice came from ceilings above:

"When she finds her true love, her legs will pain as if set on fire, and she shall throw herself into the sea and drown to death."

And with that, the fire was gone, and baby Juliette was back to her warm body temperature.

Nineteen years passed. The King and Queen kept Juliette locked in her room, forbidding her to talk to strangers and any man – a servant, pageboy, or a royal tutor – was instantly beheaded if they came into Juliette's sight. All her servants and maids and tutors and royal advisors were women. She was forbidden to exit the castle, and she was forbidden to meet any visitors, unless they were her family.

It was one sunny day that Juliette sat in front of her desk, trying to decipher the German language in front of her. She's been studying for hours, and the sun on her back made her feel dizzy and tired. The maid brought her a cold towel to wrap around her back, already burned from the light and somewhat tanned.

At a fair age of nineteen, Juliette had grown into a beautiful young woman. She didn't know this, however, as most young women did her age. Her hair was silkier than silk, and the colour of ebony like the midnight water. It fell gracefully down to her back, wavy in the right directions. Her long eyes were dark and honey-coloured and covered with light lashes. She had rosy cheeks, and red lips just the colour of a ripe apple.

"You're getting rather dark, my lady."

Her maid, Rosaleen, a plump woman with striking green eyes, said. It was true however, for Juliette's ancestors acquired some Spanish blood.

"I know." Juliette replied. "Did I not tell you I do not enjoy sunlight?" she said, frowning at the bright sky out of her long, glass window.

"But Queen's orders, her majesty wants you all the goodness you shall get from the sunlight. It is not healthy to stay indoors all the time, she says."

Juliette narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going out into that horrible courtyard again. I could barely breathe thanks to all the walls!"

She blankly stared at her parchment of German letters. She felt her eyelids becoming heavy.

"Where is my brother?" Juliette asked. "Is Antonio back from hunting, yet?"

"Yes, madam, I think he had arrived an hour ago. Forgive me for saying this, but I think he's not been on his best behaviour – again." Rosaleen said, bowing.

"I know that." Juliette said, rolling her eyes.

She stared longingly into the ocean below. It was dark blue, and looked frightening. It must be very deep. She thought, wondering what kind of creatures lived down there. She had dropped her quill without realizing, as she stared and stared at the sea, as if to look deep down into the bottom. She sat in a shadow, where the sun would not bother her and give pains in her head again.

"Professor will be arriving soon, your majesty."

It was Claudia, her bedchamber maid. Juliette nodded in understanding. She quickly neatened her dress and skimmed through her works of Arithmacy to make sure she had understood everything.

…………………………

After another boring day or work and waiting, Juliette could not find herself able to fall asleep in her bed. There was a cold towel on her forehead, to ease the headache she felt. Juliette blinked. Sometimes she imagined she saw spirits flowing around in her room. The thought sometimes scared her, and she'd turn the lamp on. Sometimes the maids scurried forward and massaged her feet with rose oil. Mostly, she liked to be left alone.

Tonight, Juliette was not scared. She wondered if they were her friends instead. She also wondered if she could have friends like the characters she read in her books. She also wondered the meaning of strange things she felt at times. It didn't feel so innocent, or normal. But it felt good and tickly inside, just beneath her stomach. She felt her stomach lurking – in a good way. Sometimes she had dreams of herself leaning on a man – much like her father, but younger and of her age. Someone whom she loved, differently than how she loved her parents or her brother. Someone who could make her feel good physically and emotionally.

Sometimes she also dreamed sleeping beside the young man, face unrecognizable afterwards. And it made her feel tingly inside her chest. The young man was unclothed, and had black wavy hair that fell above his shoulders. He was always asleep.

In the morning she would wake up, rather sweaty and bothered. She would not know how, or why, or who the man was that had embraced her so dearly in her sleep.

Tonight, Juliette wondered about the man again. She hadn't had dreams of him for almost a month, and now she thought of him once more. She secretly wished that her dreams would come true one day, so that someone very much like the man would embrace her and meet her lips warmly with his own, passionately and wet.

She hugged her old velvet teddy bear that was given to her when she was thirteen years old tightly to her chest. She closed her eyes. Oh how dearly she wanted to see him again…

But her parents – her parents did not like her meeting anyone. Juliette knew men actually existed, she wasn't stupid. She knew that humans like her father and her brother and her uncles and grandfathers and cousins existed very much like young women herself. However she was forbidden to meet or talk to them. King's orders, servants would say. She was even forbidden to question.

Sighing, Juliette closed her eyes as the serene moonlight danced on her eyelids. Feeling and hearing the ocean waves below at the same time, Juliette drifted off into sleep and her cold towel fell from her forehead to her pillow making it wet.

That night, she dreamed of him once more. And this time, he kissed her for a very long time as their tongues intertwined with each other.

I hope you enjoyed this…something different, but I wanted to write something real. This story is going to be interesting…very unexpected and quite mature. Nothing excessively and inappropriate though.. but rated T, obviously.

I'll update regularly. Thank for reading, and comments would be very much appreciated.