The Beast Inside | ✓

13 | He Will Bring You To Beautiful Places

The next morning, Bella awoke from a restless sleep. The entire night, she pondered about her next course of action. Though escaping from the castle felt like it should be her next course of action, the fury in the Beast's voice when she asked to leave made her tremble with fear.

So, escaping was out of the question. What next?

Her obvious plan had been to murder the Beast, especially when she had arrived at the castle, yet Bella was reminded of how much she hated violence. Of how she would never be able to live with the guilt of even hurting anyone lightly, let alone with the burden of a murder.

Though the only plan left it seemed was to pretend to be the perfect figurine and follow the Beast's demands, Bella felt uneasy at doing so. Especially because throughout the night, her mind was connecting her situation to an extremely famous fairytale she had loved to read as a child.

With that in mind, before the sun even broke through the horizon, Bella sought out to search for some answers, particularly from someone she was most likely to trust in the castle.

"Good morning," she whispered, settling into a high chair in the kitchen.

Mrs. Potts turned around, startled, until she saw Bella's sheepish grin. "Bella, good morning. How did you manage to find the kitchens so early? Are you hungry?"

Bella nodded, reminded by her aching stomach that though she was hungry for answers, food was even more appealing at this point in time. "Well, I have been searching for the past hour, to be fair. Also, breakfast would be lovely."

Mrs. Potts shook her head and turned back to the dishes, communicating with the stove nearby and the cutlery drawer to prepare a meal. It was mesmerising to watch the different cooking objects come together and make a dish without a single person controlling them.

When Bella was finished with swallowing every morsel of food on her plate, she slouched back into her chair, satisfied beyond belief. Then, the curiosity in her chest that had been held back by her hunger broke free of its shackles and retuned with full force.

"Mrs. Potts, I have a few questions that I wanted to ask you about the castle," Bella started.

"You wanted to ask how did all of us turn into this?" she replied, averting her eyes as though it may be a very painful topic for her to discuss.

"Not quite. I wanted to know if it was related to the Beauty and the Beast story in fairytales."

Mrs. Potts' eyes widened.

"You know about that fairytale?" Then, her energy deflated. "Yes, the Master of the house was the basis of the story."

Bella nodded her head, biting her lip. "Then, why hasn't he turned back into a human?" she asked curiously.

Mrs. Potts shook her head. "The story is hypothetical. The writer of that book was once a guest here, like you. She was curious about how to break the Master's curse. Her story though, filled him with false hope, which ended up crushing him, for she could not love him, not that way he needed to be loved."

Bella stared at Mrs Potts with great intensity. "Am I here to replace her? Was I told not to leave because the Beast believes I can love him?"

Mrs. Potts turned away, her form trembling with sorrow. It was at times like this she wished she could cry, to release the hollowness inside of her at her Master's plight.

"The Master, he had only five hundred years to search for his Beauty and now he only has two years left. No one came here in the last two hundred other than your father and you, because this place is found only by those who are in some sort of desperation. So, no, the Master does not want you to replace her."

Bella let a small smile grace her face. "You love him very much, don't you? The Beast, I mean."

Mrs Potts nodded. "Indeed. That's why we chose to stay. And Bella, I hope you willingly choose to stay here too because you are our very last hope."

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Question of this chapter: Do you have any pets?

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