The Beast of Rose Castle

-= 21 =-

Tears dripped down Annelie's face as she hurried down the hallways, uncaring that they all seemed to look the same to her. The maze surrounding her was enough to hide her away from the Beast, from Vardan. When she felt like she had wandered enough, she pressed her back against the rock wall and began to let her tears out more freely. 

There was a tight ball in her chest that she couldn't explain to herself. Is love supposed so be so painful? Is it supposed to be so confusing and make you feel like you are so utterly helpless? If I feel this way, then is there a possibility that he may endure the same? No, impossible, she thought with a shake of her head. He will not love me. Why can't I just come to accept this? Why must I continue to search for signs that do not exist, that will never exist?

Annelie swallowed back more tears, tilted her head upwards to stare at the ceiling through a blurred vision. Somehow, she found herself tracing back to the Beast every single time. Whenever she thought about love, she thought of the man she had come to honestly care for more than she knew she ever should. 

Yet, there was no way she would say that she regretted coming to Rose Castle. The Beast, Vardan, he needed her. That much she knew. He had been so lost, but at least she could give him something else to think about other than the impossibilities of his own reality. 

He was locked in his castle, unable to leave unless he wished to face possible death. The man was immortal, unable to produce children due to the curse that hung heavily over him. Death would become his only escape, and it surprised her to realize how dark his mind had to have turned over the centuries had was made to live through. 

There had to have been one point in time where all hope seemed to have left him. Yet, he never wrote about it, as if the idea had never come into his mind. Somehow, she knew it probably had somewhere along the line. 

Annelie blew out a breath, her head tilting downward. A scream left her at what she saw. 

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Navini exclaimed, hurriedly trying to reassure Annelie. 

The servant girl had seen the mademoiselle crying and thought that perhaps she could comfort her. When she had approached her, the next thing she knew Annelie was screaming in fright, having not expected anyone to be around her, let alone right in front of her.

Navini's hands fluttered around Annelie and tried to keep the girl calm. "Oh, I am so terribly sorry," she exclaimed again, unable to keep from apologizing to Annelie. 

Eventually, after a bit more hysterics, Annelie calmed and she was able to walk alongside her friend, down the hall, and towards her room. "Honestly I-" Navini started once more and Annelie held up her hands, waving them in the air back and forth with the quick shake of her head. Blonde curls swung with the movement, adding to the gesture with some degree of hilarity. 

"No, please don't apologize again, Navini! Let's just forget that had happened and focus on something else entirely. How about- how about we talk about if there is any man here in this castle that you would honestly like to romantically be with!" Annelie suddenly exclaimed, a dazzling smile lighting on her face. 

It was nice to be able to distract herself from the thoughts that were inevitably filled with the Beast and how she felt about the man. 

"Oh, there is no one," she started. When Annelie gave her a dumbstruck look, the girl shrugged her shoulders. "I don't have any interest in marrying, Annelie. Honestly, I don't even know what love is like," the servant confided, causing Annelie to flush slightly. 

Navini, luckily, didn't notice the flare of pink on Annelie's pale cheeks. Instead, her dark eyes stared down at her chocolate-colored still with slight embarrassment. "Surely, I should have sought someone out a long time ago," the maid explained slowly. "I've lived here, in this castle, for as long as there was a curse to be had. I knew the master's mother, his father. They were good parents and somehow better rulers."