ToOH: yes, something along those lines. However, there are two HGs in this story and the other HG will be introduced very soon!
Guest: hahaha thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the story! ^^
Chris Shino: the pleasure is mine! And I'm pleased that you found the newer version to be more enjoyable (I do, too) ^^ as for why Neil left Reine behind, his reasons will be explained in this chapter ^^
ScipioPB: Nope, it's not Vivi, sadly to say.
The castle physician's face was grim when he faced Neil and Allen outside of Reine's room. "There's no use in extracting the poison," he said, "If we had found it out earlier, maybe… but now is too late."
Reine insisted that she felt fine, only a bit light-headed, but with every minute that passed in the cursed castle, her complexion became more and more congruent to the snow, which she had almost been buried in earlier if she hadn't come back. Rod and Jessica were now attending to her bedside, their bullheadedness against her own since Reine was not used to being attended to.
"Can't you make an antidote?" Allen urged.
"Yes," he replied, much to the relief of both men, but his next sentence quickly overturned that sentiment, "but the ingredients of the potion mainly come from outside the boundaries of the curse."
There was no saying that area outside the boundaries of the curse was a no-go for any of them—with the exception of Reine; what would happen if someone were to spot them, enchanted furniture—or even a beastly man—walking around their forest? Imagine the unrest it would cause among the surrounding settlement—most likely they would be bound and burned.
What should they do?
That was the question both men had in mind but dared not to speak aloud. Neil turned his back and ran away, his figure was one of defeat—if anything were to happen to her, her blood would be on his hand; but now he could do nothing but to watch her to slowly wither.
When dinner was served to her room, Reine was unable to prop her own body to a sitting position. Seeing that, Allen went over from the fireplace and held her up.
"Don't say you're fine—you're obviously not. I dislike disobedient women." Allen warned her pre-emptively.
Gill was the one pushing the tray. However, instead of leaving the tray there like he would usually do, this time he waited until Reine was leaned against a stack of pillows and he served the tray carefully before her.
"It's clear soup and porridge," he said in a gentler and warmer tone, "I hope it's to your liking."
Reine chuckled. "…thanks."
Gill cleared his throat. "I would like to… apologize for my previous demeanour, mademoiselle." He said, "You… you are so kind to the Master."
Reine took a deep breath, but before she could answer him, Gill said, "Please do conserve your energy, mademoiselle,"
"I… uh… I will be outside in case… you need me."
Reine managed to smile and Gill took his leave. She took a deep breath once he left and stared at the food. She reached for the spoon, but her fingers were unable to curl around the handle, much less to lift it.
Despite the blazing fire from the fireplace, and the thick blanket, Reine couldn't hold back a shiver. Seeing that, Rod took a step closer, "Is it warmer now?" he asked worriedly.
She couldn't tell him that actually she felt colder by each second, even now.
As the night sky darkened, Reine's condition took an even worse turn. Her face was chalk white, she completely lost her voice and if one was to touch her, she was almost as cold as a dead body. Rod and Allen desperately tried to keep her warm by covering her with extra blanket and Rod standing very near to her with all of his candles being lit to its maximum potential while Allen tried to keep the fireplace going, "Please, mademoiselle, please…" he begged at the verge of tears.
Reine could only look at the candelabra helplessly; she didn't even have any energy to smile at him anymore. Breathing was now a labour to her, and each inhale felt like putting ice spikes into her body.
She had heard the physician telling Neil and Allen that it was too late for her. She initially thought that it was the reason why Gill bothered trying to be nice to her before he had explained himself.
Reine didn't hope for much. She had been hunting and fighting all her life ever since her father had left that she began to think that maybe this was the time for her to stop.
She closed her eyes, wondering how long the poison would take to really take her over.
Neil was alone in his room. He knew everything about Reine's condition, forcing Gill to tell him since the butler previously refused to disclose anything in fear of aggravating his master. After Gill left, Neil turned to find the glowing rose floating on the table, encased in glass.
An eerie laugh then broke the silence in the room, and Neil saw a dark figure standing next to the rose. Once he saw the silvery hair, Neil growled in anger. "You… what are you still doing here?!"
"Hello, Prince Charming," the unwanted visitor greeted mockingly as she stepped into the light, revealing a face that hadn't been changed since a decade ago. "I see that you're in distress."
"You witch!"
"A, a, a," the witch flicked her finger, "The name's Witch Princess Vivi, you know." She smiled, "I'd say, you have a bad taste for women. I'm waaaay better than that uncouth huntress!"
Neil lunged forward, wanting to tear her into pieces. However, Vivi immediately took the rose and shielded herself with it, forcing Neil to halt, his claws almost touching the glass jar. "Ah, you still have some brain, apparently." Vivi remarked derisively before she studied the rose, "Really, Prince, it seems to me that you've kept this little gift of mine well."
The Witch Princess recited what she had told him that night:
"If thou find someone who lovest thou as thou art before this rose shed all its petals, thou shalt be saved. Otherwise, thou shalt remain in this form. Forever."
She then glared at him, "You cheated, Prince. I know what that damned Sephia had done." The Witch Princess then put the rose back to where it was. "I was the one who told her to go to this wing—in hope that the rose would take her over. Consider that a warning from me."
Having said her piece, she disappeared in a flash, leaving Neil alone with the rose.
That rose was the beginning of everything: the curse, his despair, and now her undoing. He left her back there in the snow thinking that all she wanted to be was to be free from him, and from his cursed castle but now he cursed himself for having done so—maybe things would turn out to be better if he had brought her back earlier with him. But now, who had the answer to that? Not even the Goddess.
What should I do…? He asked inwardly; confused, clueless, hopeless.
It was then a faint figure appeared before him. He knew her, he had seen her before—she was the one who had guided him all these years with a promise of hope. However, lately her presence had been so faint that his faith began to dwindle again—at least until today. Now, he could even see clearly the features of her divine face; her deep blue-green eyes—the same shade with her long flowing hair, her small nose, her faint pink lips. He could see the sympathetic gaze she gave him now, but there was no other word to describe her being than 'sympathetic' in the first place.
Sephia, The Goddess-Patroness of his family, whose existence he had never believed in until the curse was placed upon him.
"Why…?"
"I came at the most desperate of times, remember?"
Neil remembered the first time she appeared before him well; the time when the Goddess had given him a grace period of ten years before the first petal dropped, allowing the curse in the area surrounding the castle to weaken so that a brave enough soul might be able to pass through the forest to reach the castle. Looking at her, he felt that he had no more strength left in his body.
"Please save her…" he beseeched in a voice that almost sounded like a sob.
The Goddess smiled, "Why do you think I guided her back here?"
With Reine losing her strength and willingness to fight with every second,
the Goddess seems to have a plan to save her!
What will she do?
Stay tuned for the next update!
Thanks for reading! Please rate and review! ^^
A/N: just to clarify, so Vivi was disguising herself as one of the enchanted furniture (the mirror) to guide Reine to the forbidden West Wing in hope to incite Neil's anger or the destruction of the rose that will immediately set the curse to be permanent. So, yeah, Vivi is one of the antagonists, and yes, Vivi was the one who placed the curse around a decade prior to this story. She is like the Enchantress in the Disney's version, but as you might've guessed, her motives were different from the Enchantress.