Chapter 140: Cinderella's Happily Ever After
Frankly speaking, despite how bizarre this pocket dimension was, this was the first time Lin Sanjiu witnessed "magic".
Lila’s ear-piercing scream was still in her mind. That was already the second main character in danger. Lin Sanjiu tried her best to compose herself. Even though she had no idea if it would work, she stood motionless in the shadow and did her best to slow down her breathing and heartbeat, hoping no one would spot her.
The guard outside Cinderella’s room was fast asleep and was lying limply on the ground. From a crack in the door, Lin Sanjiu could see that there was a glowing floating figure between herself and Cinderella.
The person was in a gray cloak and had a high hunchback like a tortoiseshell. The person’s locks of gray, curly, messy hair hung from her shoulders onto her back. The wrinkly skin under the cloak was in no state better than the person’s hair. The fairy’s transparent wings looked like two deformed wings of a fly. Even if the person had all the features of a fairy, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t accept that the person was the "Fairy Godmother" in the story.
As her view was blocked by this figure, she could not see Cinderella’s expression. Lila’s image disappeared from Lin Sanjiu’s mind like a drowning person and finally, Lin Sanjiu calmed herself down. She turned her ears towards the door to listen to Cinderella’s words, "I... I know. But the person who captured me and brought me to this palace isn’t the prince…"
"Dearie, don’t worry needlessly," the floating figure spoke. Lin Sanjiu was shocked by his voice. It was the voice of an elderly man. Even though he sounded old, there had been a slightly obsequious tone, "Our initial deal is that you would be with the prince. Since you already paid your end of the bargain, the outcome wouldn’t change…"
When he said this, he seemed to remember something and started giggling like a little girl. The elderly man lifted one of his hands and picked his long gray fingernails, "Of course, your wish was to leave your previous lifestyle and be with the prince. Don’t worry. I don’t break my promises. Though there might be some twists and turns, your wish will come true very soon."
"Thank you. Thank you!" Cinderella was finally relieved after she heard such a direct promise from the man and gave a heavy sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her chest. "The current events are too strange, so it scared me a little. Oh. That’s right. Did you come to the palace to look for me?"
The old man giggled again. "There is a pathetic young man who wants an incredible amount of wealth. I’m here to make a deal with him."
"Is he a person from this palace?"
When she heard how cautious Cinderella was when she spoke, Lin Sanjiu took a step backward. Lin Sanjiu didn’t care if she was seen as a person who judged a book by its cover, but she couldn’t bring herself to trust that Old Man Fairy. If she wanted to know why the head steward and that stranger kidnapped Cinderella, couldn’t she just ask them herself?
Almost soundless, she moved away quickly and nimbly. In a short time, Lin Sanjiu had turned around the corner and was some distance away from the room. Thus, when she heard the Old Man Fairy speaking again, she didn’t catch what he said clearly, "Oh! That’s not it, dearie. It’s because of the color of his… weird, so he works in the circus entertaining people. He is way more pitiful than you…"
Lin Sanjiu stopped.
[What weird color?]
Her heart raced when a vague thought formed in her mind. Cinderella’s slightly surprised voice seemed to ascertain her doubt, "Huh? So there is really a person with a natural beard of that color?"
[Bluebeard! It must be him!]
She heard the Old Man Fairy muttering something like "Wife... a few". Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt enlightened. She felt that she finally found some sort of logic in this pocket dimension. Bluebeard must have made some sort of deal with the Old Man Fairy in this palace where Cinderella was. After that, he became a wealthy man and then married Lila, which leads to that story...
He must have killed Lila and offered the King her mirror. Therefore, in Cinderella’s story, something should also affect the future. If she managed to find Bluebeard and kill him, then Lila would be saved! Once Lin Sanjiu came up with this logic, she felt very relieved. The conversation in the room continued when she spotted a flicker of light nearby. She quickly picked up the soldier who was still asleep and hid with him in a corner. Two female attendants walked past her in a single file. One of them was carrying a plate and the other a candlelight. When they stopped at the door, Cinderella’s room suddenly became quiet. After a few seconds, Cinderella uncertain voice came out from the room, "Who... who is outside?"
"We were ordered by the head steward to bring your dinner, Miss Ella," one of the attendants replied cordially.
Cinderella’s real name was Ella. To mock her, her stepsisters gave her a nickname called Cinderella, which also meant cinder girl. Cinderella sounded emotional when she heard her name after such a long time. She sniffed as she said, "Okay. Thank you."
When they pushed open the door, Lin Sanjiu peeked in and saw that Cinderella was alone. If she looked for Bluebeard now, she might meet the Old Man Fairy. Even if her combat skills had improved significantly, she did not want to take the risk of fighting against magic. If she was turned into a mouse, it would be too late for any regrets. After considering her options, she decided to target the head steward.
Though the palace wasn’t large, it wasn’t that easy to search every level and every room. The strange thing about this palace was that every room and hall was draped with black curtains. Though they provided Lin Sanjiu with great hiding spots, they also created a heavy atmosphere in the palace. Following the corridors covered in black, Lin Sanjiu came to one of the palace’s side gates.
A stern sounding voice, which Lin Sanjiu had heard once in Cinderella’s house, came from behind the two large doors. Although the voice was barely audible, it definitely belonged to the head steward. Lin Sanjiu rendered the guards at the door unconscious and walked softly to the doors. She lifted the curtains and pressed her ears against the door.
"Prince Cedric, we are all sorry for your loss." The head steward voice was deep and sonorous as if he was also in deep sorrow and was controlling his emotions, "But now that the crown prince is dead, the future of our kingdom depends on you…"
"But my brother didn’t deserve to die like that!" a young man spoke in a forceful intensity, which broke the heavy silence. It was a voice that would make anyone retreat. After he said that, he seemed to be unable to continue. The head steward quickly comforted him with a few words.
Controlling her impatient nature, Lin Sanjiu waited a little longer. Prince Cedric seemed to regain his composure and spoke again, "Is his coffin ready?"
"It is almost done. We didn’t think that the lady would be so petite. The first version was too large so they had to make some adjustments…"
"Aren’t you a little over conscientious! The size of such things don’t matter—"
Prince Cedric, with his reddened eyes, had not even finished his sentence when he was interrupted by a sudden clash. Before he could even see what had happened, he had been knocked over by a force. Suddenly, he felt someone grabbing his neck tightly and didn't even have time to cry out in surprise before finding himself unable to even breathe.
It took a few seconds before the head steward realized the sequence of events which unfolded before him. He backed away nervously and pulled out a decorative saber on the wall. Before he shouted, the weird woman who had pounced on the prince warned in a cold voice, "Don’t you dare make a sound! If you do, I will strangle him to death."
The head steward nodded, half stunned.
"In your conversation, you said that you were preparing a coffin for a petite woman. Who is she? Is she dead?" Lin Sanjiu used her arms to keep the struggling prince down. He was a tall young man with thin hair. Half his face was covered by bulging veins now, but his stubborn expression showed that he would rather die than let the woman strangling him get her way.
"Please be gentler," the head steward said quite a few time before he held the saber in his hand tighter and replied. "The coffin is for Cinderella!"
Though she had already roughly guessed his answer, Lin Sanjiu’s expression changed slightly as she was still shocked by it.
"That woman is a great sinner in our kingdom!" The head steward seemed to have forgotten Prince Cedric, whose face was now fully red, and tears poured down his eyes as if he had remembered something, "Prince Peter, the crown prince who would soon take over the kingdom, spent all his time thinking of that woman once he met her... He even set off on a journey throughout the kingdom to look for her himself. In the end, in the end, he met with a terrible fate…"
Lin Sanjiu was drawn to what he said and accidentally loosened her grip. Once Cedric felt air gushing to his lungs, he hollered, "My brother traveled in the rain at night just so he could see her sooner. In the end, he was bitten to death by a beast! I will have you buried with him, no matter what!" Cedric face flushed red with fury, accompanied by a slight greenish tinge. The temporary lack of oxygen also caused his eyes to bulge slightly, making him look even more deranged.
[A rainy night… a beast…]
"Give me the full details…" Lin Sanjiu’s had a terrible expression on her face as she tightened her grip and Cedric let out a muffled groan. The head steward quickly responded, "Prince Peter saw an injured man at the roadside. He was ambushed when he tried to help the man! There was another disemboweled dead hunter by the side of his corpse…"
[It must be—]
She could finally connect the three stories. Lin Sanjiu thought through her experience. If that was the case, Red Riding Hood’s story came first, after that it was Cinderella’s story and lastly, it was Lila's...
This was a large development. Lin Sanjiu exhaled and was about to pull her hand back when she happened to spot a familiar furniture.
"I have a second question. Who brought that mirror here?" Lin Sanjiu asked drily. She had no doubt, that was Lila’s mirror.