Stuck with a Monster

CHAPTER 3.1 MY FAE

“That is not a pitfall my dear daughter. That is a disguised habitat of a creature that owns the forbidden forest,” he said. My mouth went wide open as soon as he finished telling me that.

I flooded him with questions that I wanted him to answer. “Father, who is that? Why didn’t you tell me that mythical creatures are living there? And how did you know that?”

But he just ignored my question and asked me again, “What did she tell you and her conditions?”

“That I would die in three days if I can not guess her name through answering the riddle she gave me,” I confessed. He frowned upon hearing this. He is angry. No, he is furious.

He stood up and called the royal messenger. He ordered him to send a message of request to all of the royal advisers and wisest people living in all of the two kingdoms of Levitas, the west and the south. He also included that the one who can answer the riddle that I will give them would be the princess’ husband. I can not go against my father’s decision because he is the king. He was just doing this to save me. If this is the right way to save me from the fae, I am going to accept my fate by marrying the person who can answer the riddle.

I know the southern kingdom will send their royal advisers or even their prince because the prize will be marrying the princess. Nobody knows the face of the princess. Only royal guards, maids, and those who were staying in the castle were the ones who could recognize the princess. The people in our kingdom do not know that I am their princess for they only knew me as the adopted daughter of the King’s third cousin. I grew up secretly hiding as their crowned princess for me to be safe.

King Lucas is now sitting on the throne. There are exactly ten men who are at present, others came from the southern kingdom. The door opened, guards came in and the crowned prince of the southern kingdom made his entrance. He bowed his head to King Lucas and let him sit near him to pay respect to him as the crowned prince of his ally. Twenty men entered and the last to enter the hall was an old woman. I looked at my maid who was walking towards me and signaled that the old woman who entered was her grandmother. King Lucas stood up and all of the people at present, including me, bowed at him.

The King spoke, “You were all here not because you are going to witness the princess’ face, but because you are going to answer a riddle the princess wanted you all to answer. Due to the princess’s shyness, I am going to be the one to relay the riddle. You all have one chance to answer the riddle. If you can guess it, present your answer to me and you can be able to marry the princess. If you can’t, you can go home.” The people nodded.

“Your majesty,” my maid whispered. “I was just going to inform you that we are going to get some food to serve our visitors.” I quickly hushed her and looked around us to see if there was someone who heard her. Luckily, their attention was in front. I was dressed in a maid’s gown so no one was going to notice that I was the princess.

“I will just wait for you here as you get some food that I am going to carry and serve to the people inside the kingdom hall,” I told her and she nodded.

I looked up at King Lucas as he began to speak. “This is the riddle. ‘I am always hungry and will die if not fed, but whatever I touch soon turns red. What am I?’ If you can not guess the riddle, you can leave. And I will repeat, you only have one chance.”

I looked at the old woman and she also looked at me. I smiled at her and she nodded. The maid approached me and gave me food to serve the King and also to the crowned prince of the south sitting near him. As I was walking towards them, the royal recorder stood up beside the King as one man gave the king his answer. The royal recorder noted his answer and the royal adviser shook his head expressing that his answer was wrong. I served food at the prince’s table and his companions. Suddenly a foot tripped my feet and I fell on my knees. People laughed at me, especially the prince. The food that I was going to serve to the king was now on the floor. The King noticed this, stood up to his chair, and approached me. He helped me to get up and declared words that made the entire hall go silent.

The King stated, “We do not treat our maids here as slaves. We treat them as people, as our own. Maids serve us and to repay them, we treat them right. They are not laughing stocks and not someone to be tripped on. They are humans like us.” I whispered my thanks to King Lucas and left the hall to change my maid gown. My maid apologized for what happened to me but I said that I am fine.

“Princess, I want to say something,” she uttered.

“Go ahead,” assuring her.

“My grandmother wants to speak with you but I let her go home because she is not feeling well. Would you mind meeting her tomorrow then?” she requested. I nodded and uttered yes to her. I wonder what her grandmother would tell me. After changing my clothes, I got out of the bathroom and went to the hall. A line of people formed at the center as they gave their answer to the King. The royal recorder lists down their answers while the royal adviser was the one saying their answers were wrong. This went on for the whole day and no one got the correct answer even the rude prince. After the event, I talked to King Lucas about their answers and called the recorder and adviser to state all of their answers.

The royal adviser said, “Here are the following answers that are likely to be close to the answer: snake, stick, crocodile, insect, sun, heat, moon, snow, boiling water, and steam. All of them do not seem to be connected to a name.” The King nodded and the two of them left the hall.

“I know someone who can help me, father.” He looked at me confusedly and asked who the person could be.

I answered, “My maid’s grandmother wanted to talk to me about something and she knows about faes.”

King Lucas stared at me hesitantly and nodded. He said it was my last day tomorrow and he wanted to go with me but he could not because he did not want these people to speculate that I am the princess.