by Nicole Yek
Before you left the castle, was what she originally wanted to say, but she felt that it would bring him anger and sorrow rather than fondness which was what she was currently aiming for.
"You mean a hobby?" Hywel asked with raised eyebrows.
She nodded and he thought about it for a bit. "Well, I was especially fond of reading."
"Reading?" she was surprised. She had assumed that since he lived in a castle and could practically get anything that he'd wanted, he would have had a more extravagant pastime, such as horse riding, sword fighting, gourmet food tasting(that was most likely what Garnet would've chosen if she were in his shoes), and the likes.
"Yes," he replied. "Do you enjoy reading?"
Color flushed into the brunette's cheeks, tinting them a faint red as she slowly shook her head. "I… actually don't know how to read…"
"What?" the boy blurted, nearly stumbling back in shock. Garnet couldn't help but find his unexpected reaction amusing and pursed her lips in a poor attempt to stifle the laughter bubbling up her throat.
"You mean to tell me that you have absolutely no idea how to read?" he questioned her and she suddenly felt as though she was under an interrogation by the royal guards.
She shook her head again. "No, my father was the only one who had known how to read in my home and he died before he could ever teach me how."
Hywel's sapphire-blue eyes filled with a sense of sadness as he looked at her. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I know how difficult it is to lose a family member."
She watched him with sympathy although she knew from experience that it was the last thing he would have wanted. He had lost his brother, a sibling. Garnet tried to imagine how she would feel if she lost Knox but she couldn't. The pain would be too unbearable to stand even for a single second. "It's alright, it happened a while ago and I've already moved on." She said in hopes of reassuring him. "And it wasn't as though I didn't try to learn how to read, there were a few books in my house but every time I opened them, the words on the page just looked like jumbled worms to me."
He chuckled at her choice of imagery and she smiled. "Maybe you could teach me how to read once we get out of the Wood?"
His chuckles ceased instantly, his expression turning impassive once again and the girl wondered if she must have ruined the nice moment they were sharing. It took a few seconds until his stoic countenance broke and he flashed a smile at her. "Very well then," he said. "It's a deal."
Garnet's eyes widened at his response because by agreeing to this, that meant that he was agreeing to help her find a way out of the Wood. A ridiculously huge grin made its way onto her face as she stared at him. "Oh! Since you like reading, you must've read a lot of books back at home!"
He gave a confirming nod. "I did, we had a rather extensive library. There were more than five thousand books, but I haven't read all of them-"
"Five thousand?" the girl exclaimed with big, awestruck eyes. "Then you have to know a lot of stories! Please, tell me one!"
"A story?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Yes! Ever since I was little, my father had always told me stories every night before bed, and I've always loved hearing them!" she clasped her hands together and looked at him with pleading eyes. "So please, tell me a story!"
Hywel was slightly taken aback by her eagerness but he recovered quickly and straightened himself up in his seat. "Alright then." He said and Garnet's eyes twinkled with anticipation.
A pink blush dusted across his pale cheeks at being so attentively focused on by the girl but putting on a confident face, he cleared his throat and started his story. "Once upon a time, there was a young prince. He lived in a grand castle with his parents, the king and queen, and his older brother, the first prince. He had all the traits of a prince that one would read about in fairytales, but he was different than those princes because he had no interest in being one at all. He wanted to live an ordinary life, he wanted to experience childhood with other children who were the same age as him and not middle-aged servants. He wanted nothing more than to read books and play with his friends who weren't princes or princesses but simply normal people who lived in normal houses that weren't castles or palaces."
Garnet knew fully well that this story was about him, about his life before he had run away from the castle and been cursed by a witch. She knew that it wasn't a happy story, yet she smiled when she noticed that he had refrained from using the word ‘peasant' to describe her people, unlike others with high statuses. She kept silent throughout the time when he was telling the story, not wanting to interrupt and possibly offend him by doing so, and listened on with unfaltering interest.
"And he almost managed to get that life, that normal life as an ordinary person, but that was never to be. The older prince soon died in a brutal battle and the king, who was ill with an incurable disease, decided that his second son would be the new heir to the crown. So at twelve years old, the young prince was being thrust with the difficult burdens of being a true prince and preparing himself to rule the kingdom when the time eventually comes. That was the last thing that he'd wanted, he couldn't bear the insurmountable pressure of becoming heir to the throne. And so, he ran away. He took his closest aides and ran away like a coward.
"His plan was to escape to the village outside of the kingdom and hopefully find what he wanted to do after he reached there. But he never did, because, in fear of getting caught while crossing the Great Bridge, he chose to use the path of the Wood, and that was where he and his aides struck an encounter with a frail little old woman. She asked them where they were headed and what their intentions were, and she seemed kind and sane enough to mean no harm so the young prince told her about his journey. Little did he know that she was actually a witch and repulsed by his selfishness, she placed a curse upon him and his aides. Animalistic ears grew out from his head, wolf claws replaced his fingernails, and a tail sprouted out from his lower back while his aides all turned into small forest animals. It was tragic to be cursed, but to live with the fact that his aides had all fallen with him under it was an absolute torture to his soul. And as though that wasn't punishment enough, the witch told him that he would transform into a full-fledged wolf whenever he sees the moon, into a cursed beast of the night, a monster."
"Then what happened?" Garnet blurted out accidentally and her hand immediately flew over her mouth upon realizing her blunder. Luckily, this didn't bother the silver-haired boy, and he proceeded on with his story.
"Then, he begged for forgiveness, he begged and begged, until his tears ran out from crying and his legs ached from kneeling. The witch however, didn't relent no matter how much he apologized. It was pathetic, he was pathetic. That entire scene was nothing but a pitiful display of raw human vulnerability and it was…" Hywel shook his head, feeling a huge lump lodged in his dry throat. "It was undoubtedly the worst thing that he had ever experienced. The guilt, the sadness, the rage, the regret, all of those feelings came pouring into him at once, and he, unable to withstand the overwhelming whirlpool of intense emotions, screamed. By the time he had regained some form of his common sense, the witch was gone and he was left with people whom he’d known all his life and called his friends changed into tiny animals that couldn't ease the guilt and mental pain which he felt."
Garnet waited for him to continue but he didn't. "Is that it…?" she wondered aloud.
Hywel gulped and nodded. "It is," he said. "Sorry that I couldn't tell you a happier story-"
Before he could finish, the brunette tackled him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into an abrupt embrace. The boy was stunned into silence. His sapphire-blue eyes widened and so much blood gushed into his face that it turned completely red. He felt as though he might faint from all the blood circulating in only one place. His hands were outstretched and stiff, uncertain what he should do with them or where he should put them.
When he finally managed to regain some of his composure, his hands latched onto her shoulders and he swiftly pushed he
r away from him. "W-what on earth d-do you think you're d-doing?" he cried, wide-eyed and flustered.
The brunette looked at him for a second with her big green eyes and blinked a few times before replying, "I thought that you could use a hug, hearing what horrible events you've been through … I just thought that you could use some comfort or maybe something to calm you."
Hywel shook his head vigorously. "The last thing that embrace did was calm me! Y-you shouldn't do things l-like that! Especially to people w-whom you've met barely two days ago!"
Garnet cocked her head to one side, staring at him innocently. "Why?"
Hywel felt like he wanted to rip his hair out from their roots.
"B-because it's improper!" he nearly yelled.
"Hywel?" she spoke after he had calmed down slightly.
"Yes?" he breathed out with brows knitted in question, his chest was rising and falling rapidly as his lungs were desperate to get air in them after his sudden outburst.
A menacing smirk made its way onto the girl's lips as she said, "You're blushing."
Her observation sent the wolf boy into a clumsy stutter as he tried to defend his flushed countenance. "N-no, I'm not! It's just- It's just extremely hot out here!"
"Yes, it's hot indeed," Garnet smirked, her words dripping with sarcasm. "Especially when it's so early in the morning."
Hywel's mouth fell agape, mortified as he attempted to grasp for words to say. But as he was about to respond, an older and much deeper voice suddenly spoke up.
"Excuse me, you two, I don't want to interrupt your little chat but as you can surmise, I'm quite slow with my steps and was wondering if you would mind making way for me to go through." Rutherford the tortoise was crawling slowly towards them.
It was then that Hywel realized that he still had his hands on the brunette's shoulders from when he pushed her off of him and had kept her at arm's length. Flustered, he retracted his hands as though she shocked him and quickly stumbled up onto his feet. A tremor of amusement played on the girl's lips as she got up from the grass, allowing the elder tortoise to pass through.
"I apologize f-for that, Rutherford," the wolf boy said to the tortoise who was steadily making his way towards his destination. "Where are you headed if I may ask?"
"Oh, no worries, and I'm just going to look for some breakfast with Atticus." He answered calmly. "That boy was already gone by the time I woke up. Children these days don't know how to respect their elders."
The two watched as the old tortoise crawled away and waited until he was far enough not to be able to overhear them, although that wasn't very far since the tortoise's hearing was only vaguely better than a deaf person's.
"Well, I suppose we better go have our breakfast as well." Hywel said to the girl bashfully, scratching the back of his head.
A grin immediately plastered itself onto the girl's face. "Yes! Food!" she exclaimed exuberantly.
Hywel shook his head. "Honestly, is food the only thing that you think about?"
"No, it's what I think about most of the time," she corrected him. "And why wouldn't I? Food is amazing!"
Chapter Nine
“Oh, lookie! That cloud is so pretty!" Garnet cried deliriously as she pointed at a plain white cloud floating in the sky. "Lookie, Hywel! Lookie! Look! Look!" she tugged vigorously on his forearm, urging him to look above their heads.
"Yes, yes, that cloud is very pretty." He grumbled, annoyed. "Now stop moving or else you'll fall!"
Hywel was carrying the raving brunette in his arms as they made their way back to the part of the Wood where all his aides-turned animals inhabited in. He hadn't expected her to be so heavy due to her short stature and petite frame. It was probably the first time in his life after being cursed into a wolf-boy hybrid that he had actually wished that he could transform into a full-fledged wolf at will so he could carry the girl without so much struggle.
He released a loud groan as he passed through the leafy vines that covered the entrance between the two tall trees, immediately catching the attention of the animals inside. They all turned their gazes onto the two as Hywel struggled to reach to the middle of the grassy plot of land and laid the girl down with extreme caution. Garnet let out a loud, irritated cry when her back made contact with the soft grass.
Hywel's eyebrows knitted in chagrin as he looked down at her. "What now?" he growled.
She stretched her arms out and did grabbing gestures with her fingers. "I want to be carried!"
The boy sighed. "I'm fully aware that you're incredulously immature, Garnet, but your mentality is practically regressing into an infant's."
"Come on! Carry me!" she cried out with her arms still held out towards him. "I don't want to walk."
This earned a scornful glare from the boy. "So your current state of childishness is due to laziness rather than your brain deteriorating, I'm not certain if I should be relieved or repulsed."
"Come on, come on," she continued to mumble with closed eyes and a foolish grin plastered on her face, completely oblivious to the boy's glares and insults.
Hywel shook his head and groaned in exhaustion. Mathis was the first one out of all the animals to approach them, shooting the boy a perplexed look when he reached their side. "What happened to the little miss, Master Hywel?" he asked, wrinkling his tiny nose in confusion.
"We were looking for breakfast in the Wood and there was a brief instant when I'd lost sight of her and a second later I found her lying on the ground, curled into a ball and laughing hysterically." He explained, sighing and ran a hand through his silver hair. "I found some berries on the ground beside her, they must've been cursed. So ever since this morning, she has been incomprehensible and delirious."
"I see…" the squirrel hummed in understanding. "But why did she need to look for breakfast? Doesn't she have a basket filled with food inside?"
"She said that those are meant for her grandmother and that she was strictly forbidden to eat them." The boy said.
"Hmm… what kind of berries were those which she'd eaten again?" Mathis inquired. "What did they look like?"
Hywel placed a hand on his chin, trying to recall the memory of them and said, "Well, they were ruby red and slightly bigger than blueberries. Why do you ask?"
Mathis gave a light, confirming nod of his furry little head. "Ah, yes, I do think that I've had those berries before. It was a terrible mistake, of course, I hadn't expected them to be cursed."
"I'm not surprised that you have eaten them before." The wolf boy said in an almost bored tone.
The squirrel scrunched up his nose, offended. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, I think you know exactly what it means." He said and sat himself down on the grass next to Garnet's body which was curled into a ball again. He glanced back at her. Her eyes were closed shut and he would have believed that she was actually asleep if she weren’t giggling incessantly to herself like a lunatic.
"I'm going to pretend that your comment wasn't incredibly offensive and ignore it," Mathis said, looking between the wolf boy and the brunette. "And you should give her time to fall asleep. You know what they say, sleep is always the best medicine, and for your information, that was also how I recovered from eating those berries."
"I see." Hywel mused, his gaze still locked on the girl whose giggles were slowly replaced by light snores. "I guess her subconscious' common sense heard you, Mathis."
"I would assume so." The squirrel watched with a great deal of interest as the wolf boy moved closer to the girl's side and reached out a hand to touch her light brown locks.
"Her hair's a mess." He murmured as he gently twirled a few strands around his finger.
"But it's a pretty color." Mathis said.
He unraveled her hair from his finger and very lightly touched her cheek. "Her face is dirty."
"But she’s still beautiful." The squirrel's lips began to curl up at the corners the more he watched on.
"She's extremely immature." His brilliant blue eyes
taking in her long, black lashes that fanned out over her freckle-dusted cheeks.
"But she's high-spirited." Mathis' furry face was broken out into a huge smirk.
"She's absolutely incomprehensible." He stroked her dirty cheek with the pad of his thumb, careful not to let his claws touch her.
"Yet you're in love with her." The squirrel said at last, causing the silver-haired boy's blue eyes to widen and immediately retract his hand from the sleeping girl's face.
"There is a-absolutely no way on earth t-that I would be-" the boy began to deny, blood rising into his face but Mathis interrupted him with a smirk.
"Yes, yes, now save your breath, Master Hywel," he said. "I have no interest in hearing any of your excuses."
Hywel was about to mutter a protest when the squirrel interjected, "I, however, am very interest in as to how you're going to keep your promise to the little miss of helping her escape from the Wood. So please, do enlighten me on your plan."
The wolf boy breathed out a sigh and rested his hand on his knee. "I was foolish to make that promise," he said. "I wasn't thinking, the Wood is an ever-changing maze and even the witch herself had said that there were no means of escape."
"Ah, but it seems that you might've forgotten about the little hint that she'd left us before she disappeared." Mathis said, the cunning smirk still present on his face. "She told us to follow the path of blood red roses, don't you remember?"
"I haven't forgotten, don't underestimate my memory, Mathis," he said. "But where on earth are we supposed to find a rose in the middle of a forest much less a path of them? That hint was most likely a lie that she must've told us to torment us further."
"Well… I can't entirely disagree with your facts there." The squirrel's smirk faded and was replaced with a frown.
Just when the two were beginning to lose hope, a familiar voice spoke up. "Not meaning to intrude on your conversation, but I can't help but hearing you mention about the hint that the witch had left us with." They both turned around to find Atticus hopping towards them with old Rutherford following slowly behind.