11.

Nao Yuuki's Fairy Tale Theater

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young woman who was a princess. She was the Spider Princess. Now, she wasn't an idle princess, captive in a tower. She was a princess who hunted through her kingdom for evil men who would dare to prey on innocent girls.

There were actually many princesses, of many kingdoms, in those days. Some were idealists and dreamers. Some were active in their kingdoms. Many were friends. Some were enemies. Together, they would fight monsters who attacked their respective kingdoms.

One princess, from a group of priests and priestesses, fell in love with a devious and wicked man. He was a real smug piece of…well, he wasn't very nice. But he pretended to be. He posed as an Artisan, but he was scheming and shrewd.

One day, the Artisan, desiring to seize more power for himself, convinced the Priestess Princess to lie for him, and claim that the Spider Princess had attacked her without provocation. He knew, you see, that the Spider Princess was both powerful, and because she was used a monstrous spider as her familiar, regarded as suspicious by her fellow princesses.

Now, one Princess in particular, the Wolf Princess, was convinced by the Priestess's lie. Now, the Wolf Princess was not fond of most people. She preferred to work alone. But for all that, she was a good-natured person, if gullible. Believing that Priestess had been attacked, she set out to find the Spider Princess. In fairness, she didn't intend a fight, but to demand an answer from the Spider-Princess.

But a scheming ally of the Artisan made use of a weapon similar to that of the Wolf Princess, and attacked her, thus making the Spider Princess believe that she was under unprovoked attack by the Wolf Princess.

Thus deceived, the two Princesses did battle with one another, using their powerful familiars. The Wolf Princess was distracted by the arrival of other princesses, but an attack by her familiar badly injured the Spider Princess.

The Spider Princess escaped, but was now enraged. She had only ever sought to help people, and now she was being unfairly attacked by someone she'd considered, if not an ally, then at least someone she needn't have worried about.

Not knowing that the Wolf Princess had been deceived, the Spider Princess laid in wait for her along a lonely road she knew the Wolf Princess would travel, and set a trap.

She managed to capture the Wolf Princess. But she found that the Wolf Princess wasn't acting defiant and proud, as she'd expected. The Wolf Princess was filled with a terrible grief, because she'd learned that her queen mother had plotted to sell her out to their enemies. Her love extinguished, she had lost her powers, and was not only unable to resist the vengeance of the Spider-Princess, but she was unwilling to resist.

At this point, the Spider Princess almost inflicted the same injuries on the Wolf Princess that she'd received herself. But what the Spider Princess was unaware of was that the Vizier of another land was, in fact, secretly the Hydra Princess. And the Hydra Princess had another deep and powerful secret. She secretly loved and longed for the Wolf Princess.

She attacked the Spider-Princess, and because of her surprise attack, she was able to defeat the Spider Princess. But she made the mistake of leaving her for dead. The Spider-Princess had survived, though, and was furious.

And so, she went to the Wolf Princess's kingdom ahead of her, and laid another trap. But now, her goal wasn't to hurt the Wolf Princess. She had a desire to slay the Hydra Princess, fearing that her power would make her too formidable to fight directly. So she held the Wolf Princess prisoner.

And without fail, the Hydra Princess showed up, and spoke of her love and desire for the Wolf Princess. The Spider Princess, who had always been alone, spoke of her disdain for such feelings, but her words touched the Wolf Princess's heart, for she realized that without the love and friendship of the Hydra Princess, she, too, would have been alone. And so, even though the Spider Princess was rendered powerless and helpless, she pleaded with the Hydra Princess not to slay the Spider Princess. For she had seen that the Spider Princess was a lonely and pitiable soul, and she felt her worthy of mercy. And her love for the Hydra Princess restored the Wolf Princess's lost powers.

But the Hydra Princess was lost in a storm of madness. She had believed that the Wolf Princess had come to hate her, and it had unbalanced her heart. And so, the Wolf Princess went out to do battle with the Hydra Princess, and her sanity was restored as the two ascended to Heaven.

But the Spider Princess had learned of the terrible deception that had befallen them all. And she begged the most powerful Princess of the Phoenix to restore her friends. But those who had fallen in battle were trapped in crystal pillars, and so they had to call on the power of the Silver-haired Swordswoman to use her enchanted blade to shatter those pillars, so that the Princess of the Phoenix could restore them all to life. And with the restored Wolf Princess and Hydra Princess, the Spider Princess destroyed the alter of the Black Prince, who was secretly the Artisan's master.

Then, the Wolf Princess and the Hydra Princess left together to be wed, and through a combination of magic and love, they were able to have a child of their own. And to show the Spider Princess that they held no grudges for their past battles, they invited her to serve as their daughter's fairy godmother.

And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

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Miyu finished playing the recording for Shizuru and Natsuki, who both looked at the increasingly red Nao with mixes of amusement and consternation.

"So," Natsuki crossed her arms, smirking, "The Wolf Princess is 'guillible', huh?"

"Ara, I think it's a fun story, Natsuki. After all, it's far easier to tell Saiyuri that than to try and explain to her where she came from."

"Do not encourage her," Natsuki sighed.

"I just thought a bit of bed time stories were good for children," Nao offered hopefully.

"Oh?" Natsuki raised an eyebrow.

"Well, doesn't Alyssa say that 'It's only the fairy tale that they believe.'?"