Prince Charming Part 2
#FanFic WanderingWitch #SnowWhite
#Wss366 Hedge / #GreeneryDay Japan

Ahead, light streamed through a honeysuckle-draped arch. The air was sweet with their scent, buzzing with the song of bees.

“Hum,” I thought and then laughed at my pun. It looked as though there was a grassy clearing ahead. The sun would feel nice there. I could lie in the grass and eat the bread I’d bought at the last town. But wait, there was someone already there: a tall, handsome man standing next to a proud horse. The man’s elegant hunter’s outfit made it clear he was some kind of noble—“too bad.”

He looked up, smiling. “Have you come to see her too?”

“See who?” I asked and approached cautiously, peering through the grass to see what he was looking at.

There, in the middle of the clearing, was a crystal coffin. Inside was a woman wearing a brown peasant dress. Among the wilted remains of wildflowers that someone had placed on the lid was a bouquet of fresh roses.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” the man said. “I could stroke her hair all day.”

“Yes, it’s lovely,” I said. It was too: an amber-brown, lightened in streaks by the sun.

“And you are?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t want the Queen to hear I came here, so you can just call me Prince Charming. Many people do.”

“So you visit often, Prince Charming?” My sarcasm went unnoticed. I had met nobles like him before. Their charm chiefly resided in the threat of violence. That and the power to wave away such aggression as the victim’s fault.

I hadn’t failed to notice the short silver hunting sword at his side.

“Yes, she is so lovely. How can I resist? I’ve named her Snow White. Doesn’t she deserve it?”

“She is quite lovely, Your Highness. But I hear that if you kiss a sleep enchanted woman, she will wake. Have you tried that?”

“I’ve heard the same, but youth’s beauty fades with time. The lovely bride of today is a wrinkled hag tomorrow. I will let her sleep so she never fades. A gem forever brilliant for me to view.”

The poppies and bluebells nodded in agreement; whether to my ironic thoughts or his statement, I didn’t know.

The honeysuckle odor had suddenly cloyed, and clouds cast shadows on the grass.

I smiled and departed. I could eat my lunch elsewhere.

#TootFic #MicroFiction #FairyTale #Mythpunk #NMFic