Once upon a time, there was a princess from a land not so far away. She was having a great party and everyone was invited. While dancing with her friends, a servant came to her. He asked if his master can dance with her. But as a princess, she already has high standards despite being young and that's why she refused. If he really want to dance with her, he would asked her directly, she thought. Then the master got angry and put a curse on the princess and that changed her life ever since. She never got to be asked to dance in any party she went to. No one wanted to be her partner. Nobody wanted to be her prince. And one day, she realized that she probably would end up alone and be cursed forever.
A year later, the princess met a prince. He was nice and everybody loves him including her. She considered him as her knight in shining armour who can break the curse. But he needed to go away and study to be a great king someday even before she was able to tell him about her feelings for him. She was left alone until another year later. While inside her carriage on her way to a ball, she saw a man lying on the road ahead. The man was shot by an arrow near his heart. He could have died if she have left him there. She brought the injured man with her to the neighboring castle where she was headed for a party. When the man recovered, she discovered that the man was a prince from another castle. She grew fond of him. His laughter made her heart flutter a bit and the way he tucks her hair behind her ears just made her heart bit faster. She was starting to fall for the prince and thought that maybe, he was mistaken about the first prince and this prince beside her was the one to break the curse.
On the day of the party, she was so sure that the prince will ask her to dance. She was at the top of the grand staircase when she saw him. Their eyes met and she started gliding down the stairs while the prince walked towards her. They were about to meet when the prince just went passed her. He was offering his hand to another princess. She just looked at them as the two went down the staircase. On that point, she wanted to run but decided not to. She went down by herself without anyone assisting her and just stayed near the walls where the shadows are. The princess just watched them and the other couples dance all through out the night. At the last song of the evening, she felt tears running down her face. She immediately wipe them and decided to go home. Inside the carriage, she was still trying to hold back the tears because she doesn't want anyone to know how broken she was. When she reached her room, her crying was non-stop until she fell asleep.
As the sun started to shine on her face, she woke up with heavy eyes. She got up from her bed and looked at herself in the mirror. She was horrified and felt that she was the ugliest girl alive. Then she realized that everything happened because of the curse. With that, she stopped hoping for the curse to be broken and that one day, she'll be able to find someone who'll dance with her until their feet hurt. That is when she started building herself a tower with thick walls where no one can enter but her. She decided to hide herself in there everytime she was afraid of being hurt again.
One day, news reached her that the first prince have come home. She was hesitant to go out and see the prince at first, but decided to go with the little hope she has left. The moment she saw the back of prince, a smile was finally seen from her face. She was about to greet him when someone called his name. The prince turned around and it stopped her from her tracks. It suddenly came to her that the person standing in front of her is a stranger and she realized that even when it is only just a few steps between them, it seems that a world is in between. She realized that she doesn't really know him at all even before he left. She realized that maybe she was just in love with the idea of him, with the idea of destiny, and with the idea of love itself.
The princess was hurt again but not as much as before. She learned to accept the consequences of the curse bestowed upon her. There was no escape after all, she thought. No prince will save her. No one can lift that curse from her. But something occured to her, a loophole. She knew she might really end up alone because of the curse, but it doesn't mean she can't find her own happiness. She realized that she can be happy by herself. There will not be a prince, but there are her family and friends who will always be there by her side no matter what. In the end, she decided not to fight the curse. She decided to just focus on herself by destroying the tower and walls she built around herself and by becoming a queen she deserves to be, even without a king. There might not be a "they" but at least she'll live happily ever after.
The end.
