So, just by the first chapter, can you guess the fairy tale? If not, continue reading. I know Lucy and Natsu haven't come up yet, but they will soon. This is kind of a backstory.
II. The Rampion
The very next morning, King Jude Heartphilia rode out to Phantom Lord Castle to discuss matters concerning the rampion with Sir Jose Porla. But, not wanting to pay a fortune for the rampion, the king decided to go disguised as a poor peasant.
It was a day's journey from Acalypha to Oak Town on the reliable but slow mule that the king had chosen for the trek. Phantom Lord Castle was dark and ominous, huge even by King Heartphilia's standards. Twenty foot brick walls topped with iron spikes surrounded the entire perimeter, but through the delicate curlicues of the gates he saw a flourishing garden made up of bizarre plants that he had never laid eyes on before.
Just as a dull drizzle started pouring down, the gates opened and a swaying figure came into view. It was a slim, springy man with a monocle, who appeared so suddenly that King Heartphilia had first thought he'd sprouted right out of the ground.
"Salut, monsieur! Are you, perhaps, lost?"
"No, sir. I've come to see Sir Jose Porla of Phantom Lord Castle," the king replied steadily, though the man's strange appearance disturbed him.
"You've come to see Monsieur Jose? Non, non, non." The man shook his head, twisting his thin green mustache between his thumb and forefinger. "Monsieur Jose is busy, he can not see anybody right now. Perhaps you will come back later, oui?"
"Please, sir, I've traveled very far to see Sir Jose," the king persisted. "If I could just talk to him for one moment..."
"Non, non, non," the man interrupted, shaking his head so vehemently that his body was swaying with the movement. "I am a gentleman, monsieur, so I will tell you once again that Monsieur Jose will not be seeing you today. Come back some other time. Adieu."
"Please, it's important, I have payment - "
"I said, 'adieu,'" the man repeated dangerously, glaring at King Heartphilia. "Don't make me say it again, or I'm afraid I will have to force you off of Phantom Lord property."
The king scowled from under his hood, angered. Sir Jose was obviously not going to see some peasant man, no matter how far or long he'd come to get to the castle, but perhaps he would make an exception for the King of Fiore.
He straightened up on his mule and pushed back the hood of his shabby cloak so that the man could see his face. "I am King Jude Heartphilia, and I demand that you take me to Sir Jose Porla immediately," he boomed. The man's eyes widened with recognition.
"Mon Dieu," he whispered. Then he contorted himself into an impossible bow. "I am very sorry, King Heartphilia, I will inform Monsieur Jose that you wish to speak with him. Please, follow me into the castle. Monsieur Totomaru will take your mule to the stables."
A man with a torch blazing with - King Heartphilia shuddered - black fire that flickered on even when assaulted by the rain came forth and took the reigns of the mule, leading him down a cobblestone path that seemed to curve around the castle.
The first man, who informed the king that he was named Sol, lead him down a straight path through the garden and towards the glossy black doors of the castle. There was a large sign that read "Phantom Lord" in spiky, foreboding letters bolted above the door.
"Monsieur Jose doesn't like trespassers," Sol explained with a small smile, opening one of the heavy black doors and gesturing the king inside.
The interior of the castle was about as quaint as the outside suggested. There was an echoing, cold emptiness about the place that sent shivers down King Heartphilia's spine. It was very different from his own castle, Love and Lucky.
There was a roaring fire - with normal flames, King Heartphilia was happy to see - crackling in a huge fireplace, which was stationed between two graceful staircases of black marble. There was an assortment of sleek chairs that Sol urged the king to rest on while he went to find Sir Jose.
Moments after the king was warm and sipping tea that a maid named Sue had delivered, Sir Jose made his arrival. He was a tall man with a sinister mustache and long dark hair, dressed as extravagantly as a king. He slowly descended down the marble staircase, his shoes making a distinct click every time he stepped. Sol bounded behind him at a respectable distance, followed closely by a hulking man who, although he was blindfolded, never missed a step.
"I'm terribly sorry for my butler's incompetence, Your Majesty," Jose began suavely, cascading into a graceful bow. "I'm a busy man, so I'm often forced to turn people away. But I will gladly put a hold on whatever I am doing to loyally serve Fiore's beloved king."
King Heartphilia told Jose about his wife's predicament and about Porlyusica's solution, finally concluding with his need for the rampion. Jose was deep in thought by the time the story was over, stroking his mustache and tapping his foot. The blindfolded man, King Heartphilia noticed, was still standing in attention although Sol had long disappeared.
"Well, I will certainly give you the rampion," Jose said finally, snapping his fingers. Sol sprung into the room once again, coming to an abrupt stop beside his master.
"What can I do for you, monsieur?"
"Get me one - no, two - heads of rampion out of the garden, wrap them up, and bring them here for the king."
"Yes, monsieur."
Jose addressed King Heartphilia once again after Sol was out of earshot. "Now, as I'm sure you know, my services don't come free. I have a price for the rampion, you know."
"Name it," the king said.
"I have one offer, and one offer only," Jose warned. "If you don't like the deal, I won't give you the rampion."
The king nodded, though he considered this very unfair. He, as a customer, should have the right to bargain, didn't he?
"First thing's first," Jose began, "do you wish for a prince or a princess?"
"A prince," the king said automatically. "One who will rule Fiore with an iron fist yet still be fair."
"Very well," Jose said. "I am giving you two heads of rampion, meaning this: if the witch uses both heads in her potion, your wife will give birth to twins. One will be a boy, the other will be a girl.
"As you can see, my castle is very hallow without the sweet presence of a child to fill it's halls with laughter," Jose said, suddenly switching off topic. "I don't have a wife, I'm much too busy. Therefore, when your wife gives birth to that darling little princess, you will bring the girl to me and I will keep her as my own."
"What?" King Heartphilia cried. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid that I can't make that decision. My wife will never stand for it."
"That's just it; the queen doesn't have to know," Jose said. "When the midwife takes the twins in to be inspected, you will pay her off and she will tell the queen that one of them has died. You will then bring the baby to me, under the pretext of burying her body."
The king gaped at Jose's polite, patient smile as he waited for an answer. Lie to his wife? Kidnap his own child? King Heartphilia wasn't sure he was capable of such dastardly deeds; until, of course, he remembered Layla's sallow face, giving a now rare smile at the thought of giving birth to a child, a child that the king honestly didn't even want.
"Very well," he agreed, shaking Jose's cold, dry hand. "When Layla gives birth, you will have the girl twin."
Sol came in and gave a grinning Jose the rampion, wrapped up in a cloth. He placed the leafy heads into the king's trembling hands with a devilish glint in his eye.
"A pleasure doing business with you, Your Majesty."
