The Fairy Tale
The words “thank you” were far too short and inadequate to express the feelings swelling in my heart.
Strangely, my chest kept tightening with a heavy, aching sensation.
On the day I sent May away, I had asked Hellion whether he could stay by my side whenever I needed him. His appearance here tonight was the clearest possible answer to that question.
“Thank you so much, Hellion. For not leaving me alone.”
I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around his waist. Startled by the sudden embrace, Hellion’s eyes widened, but he soon lifted his hands and drew me into his arms.
After a moment, I pulled back slightly, then looped my arms around his neck. Rising onto my toes, I slowly closed my eyes.
Unlike the earlier hug, Hellion showed no tension at all. Instead, he accepted the kiss with quiet eagerness, as though he had been waiting for this moment.
What began as a gentle kiss gradually deepened. Our breaths mingled, and the warmth of our bodies pressed close. His hands, resting on my shoulders and waist, caressed me with careful reverence, as though handling something precious.
The kiss had started on impulse. I had expected the greatest nervousness at the very beginning, yet the longer it lasted, the more fiercely my heart raced.
An unfamiliar, fluttering sensation bloomed inside my chest. My fingertips, curled around his neck, kept tightening with unconscious force. It was both wondrous and startling to feel such intensity during our first kiss.
After a while, Hellion slowly drew back. Blinking, he whispered with a mischievous smile.
“If we were the only ones in this mansion, I would want to do far more than this… but I suppose I must endure.”
“O-of course you must.”
How could he say something like that so casually? Heat rushed to my face once more.
“You should head back now. It’s already late.”
I fetched the cloak he had left draped over the chair and handed it to him. Hellion slipped the dark garment over his shoulders, then pressed a light kiss to my forehead.
“I’ll see you at the Imperial Palace.”
He descended the stone wall with unhurried grace and landed safely on the ground below. Turning toward my window, he waved once before disappearing beyond the mansion grounds.
Once he was out of sight, I turned and walked to the bed. Sitting on the soft mattress, I opened the box he had given me.
Inside lay the fairy-tale book my nephews had torn in two, along with a small card. I picked up the card and read the message written on the back.
Happy Birthday, Ishtel. I thought long and hard about what to give you and settled on this. It’s a story passed down in the North that I adapted into a book. I hope you enjoy reading it. — Hellion
“He made this himself?”
So that was why he had looked so devastated when the children tore the book.
I examined the two halves more closely. Fortunately, only the endpapers connecting the cover and inner pages had come apart; the text itself remained perfectly readable.
“Hellion has a talent for drawing.”
The illustrations were rendered in soft sepia tones, built from delicate layers of pencil strokes. There was a faintly melancholic yet whimsical quality to them—an utterly unique style I had never seen before. Turning the cover, I began to read.
Like all stories, Hellion’s fairy tale opened with a beautiful princess.
Long ago, in a certain kingdom, a baby princess was born. Kind-hearted and lovely, she grew up showered with everyone’s love.
Time passed, and on the princess’s sixteenth birthday, an uninvited guest arrived at the palace.
It was the Demon King. Captivated by her beauty, he wished to claim her love for himself alone. So he cast a terrible curse upon her.
“From this day forth, the princess’s heart shall freeze over. She will be unable to love anyone, nor feel joy or sorrow. Only her fated partner will be able to melt the ice in her heart!”
With those words, the Demon King vanished in a swirl of black smoke.
After that day, the princess became a person devoid of emotion. Her gentle smiles and warm voice disappeared without a trace, leaving only a cold, expressionless face.
The king and queen resolved to find her fated partner and break the curse. Yet no one could thaw the ice around her heart.
Fearing the Demon King might return, the princess begged her parents,
“Build a high tower and lock me inside so he can never find me.”
Grieving, the king and queen did as she asked, constructing a tower deep within an untouched forest.
Living alone in the tower, the princess often gazed out the window to ease her loneliness. The days she loved most were the rainy ones, for the sound of frogs croaking made her feel less alone.
One such day, while she sat by the window in a light drizzle, a tiny visitor appeared.
“Greetings, beautiful princess. I am the Frog Prince.”
A green frog bowed gallantly. Startled, the princess asked,
“How can a frog speak?”
“I was once the prince of a neighboring kingdom, cursed by the Demon King to take this form.”
After introducing himself, the Frog Prince asked,
“I have seen you sitting by the window every rainy day. Why do you look so sad?”
“How strange. The Demon King’s curse has stolen all my feelings. Yet you say I appear sorrowful?”
“A frog’s eyes see more than a human’s. I can tell how lonely you are. Allow me to be your friend.”
From that day on, the Frog Prince visited the princess every single day, sharing delightful tales of the world beyond the tower. Though she had found him bothersome at first, the princess gradually opened her heart to him.
One day, she asked,
“Frog Prince, they say only my fated partner can melt the ice in my heart. Is it true that one recognizes such a person at first sight?”
“I do not believe it must be so. Even if love does not strike at first glance, those meant to love will eventually do so.”
“Truly?”
“Of course. Some loves crash over us like a storm, impossible to escape. Others seep in like a gentle rain, unnoticed until we are already drenched. Both are love.”
The Frog Prince pressed a soft kiss to the back of her hand.
“I think you are that person for me, Princess. At first I came because you seemed lonely, but little by little, I grew fond of you. If I ever become human again, I will ask you to marry me.”
The princess burst into laughter. Thereafter, the Frog Prince continued his daily visits, and the two became precious friends to each other.
One drizzly evening, the princess stood by the window, waiting for the Frog Prince as usual.
But the figure that appeared was not the Frog Prince. It was a handsome human prince with a charming smile.
“Princess, I am the prince of the neighboring kingdom. I have come to free you from the Demon King’s curse.”
The princess found herself quite taken with him. She liked his gentle yet courageous demeanor. Believing him to be her fated partner, she descended the tower with the prince.
The king and queen welcomed them warmly and began preparing a grand wedding. Yet as the ceremony drew nearer, the princess’s heart grew increasingly uneasy.
She could not stop thinking of the Frog Prince she had left behind in the tower. Memories of their time together kept her awake at night. Then she realized,
“The one I love is the Frog Prince!”
She decided to return to him. First, however, she sought out the human prince and said,
“I am sorry, Your Highness. The one I love is not you.”
The prince, flustered, flew into a rage.
“That cannot be! I am so handsome and splendid—how could I not be your fated partner?”
At that moment, a small shape appeared at the window. It was the Frog Prince, who had leapt for days to reach her. Seeing the human prince, he cried out,
“Princess, he is no prince! My eyes can see it—he is the Demon King!”
Black smoke billowed from the prince’s body, and in an instant he transformed into the Demon King.
The Demon King tried to seize the princess and carry her to his castle. The Frog Prince leapt at his face, blocking his vision.
“You insolent frog!”
Enraged, the Demon King swung his staff and hurled the Frog Prince against the stone wall. The frog tumbled helplessly to the floor, still clinging to the staff.
“Princess, quickly—take the staff and strike him down!”
The princess seized the fallen staff and drove it into the Demon King’s heart.
With a tortured scream, the Demon King dissolved into black smoke and vanished. The princess rushed to the Frog Prince’s side.
“Frog Prince, we have defeated the Demon King. Please, wake up.”
Yet no matter how she pleaded, he did not stir. Cradling him in her arms, the princess wept.
“Open your eyes, Frog Prince. I understand now. Even a love that seeps in like gentle rain can be fate.”
She pressed a kiss to the Frog Prince’s closed eyes. In that instant, something miraculous occurred.
The shard of ice lodged in the princess’s heart began to melt, falling onto the Frog Prince’s body. The magic within the ice enveloped him in a dazzling light.
Moments later, a beautiful young man emerged from the glow. He approached the astonished princess and kissed her hand.
“Thanks to you, Princess, I have been freed from the curse. Though I am no longer a frog, will you still love me?”
The princess nodded, her face radiant with joy.
Thereafter, the two were wed in a grand ceremony blessed by all, and they lived happily ever after, loving only each other.