Princess Annabelle was in her room one day, enjoying a sweet snack accompanied with some warm tea, when she suddenly heard a loud noise that seemed to reverberate throughout the castle."What was that awful noise?" Princess Annabelle said to herself. Curious, she set her tea down and got up to leave her room to see what could have possibly happened. No sooner than when she took one step outside of her room did she hear screaming, yelling, and the sound of things getting knocked over."What on earth?" Princess Annabelle whispered to herself. Yet she was undaunted by what she heard. After composing herself to look as elegant and unbothered as ever, Princess Annabelle began walking through the corridor, prepared to severely punish whichever servants were responsible for such racket, as well as for the possibility that some of the castle furnishings were damaged. However, when Princess Annabelle reached the great hall, she was severely shocked by what she saw.Large fires were set to different areas of the great hall, and many of the servants were running around, panicking, and frantically trying to escape the castle. Moreover, the fires weren't the only threat inside the castle. There were also mobs of the common people, brandishing torches and weapons, running every which way, destroying and slaughtering everyone and everything that stood in their way.Eventually, some of the commoners noticed Princess Annabelle's presence and immediately started charging towards her. Horrified, Princess Annabelle ran as fast as she possibly could away from the pursuing crowd. Of course, she knew her own castle better than the common people did, so she was eventually able to outwit her pursuers and find a place to hide for the time being. It ended up being one of the servants' rooms. Even so, the princess began to fear for her life until she noticed Seraphine, preparing to escape the castle through a window."Seraphine!" Princess Annabelle called, catching Seraphine by surprise, "Are you planning to escape?"Frozen with a blank expression on her face, Seraphine simply stared at Princess Annabelle."...It's ok. I won't punish you or anything, as long as you take me with you," said Princess Annabelle, "We can escape together.""...Sorry, Your Highness, but you're on your own," said Seraphine."...What did you just say to me?...I've made you my most favorite maid, and this is how you repay me? You dare to betray me?!""...""Y-You can't leave me here, Seraphine! There are people here, destroying the castle! I-If they find me, they might kill me! As your princess, I command that you assist me in escaping the castle at once!""Sorry, Your Highness, but you really brought all of this on yourself. You really should have seen it all coming. At the end of the day, you're just a sorry, pathetic, selfish, childish, and irresponsible little girl, who kills people for every little thing.""I killed those people for just reasons! For the good of the kingdom! They deserved to die!""Keep telling yourself that, Your Highness.""A-And you killed people, too! Very innocent people, at that! As soon as I make this information known, your life will be finished!""Haha. You really think that people will believe you if you try to tell them that I killed a few people despite the well-known fact that you've killed hundreds of innocent people, a whole country of people even? How pathetic!"Princess Annabelle was at a loss for words. But at the moment, she was in great fear of getting captured. So, with no other choice, Princess Annabelle resorted to the last thing she would ever find herself doing."Please, Seraphine," Princess Annabelle pleaded, now on her knees, "Please help me escape. There's no one else here I can trust, and I'm really scared. I promise I will be nicer to you, and everyone else. Just please, get me out of here.""Well, isn't this a nice sight," said Seraphine, "But I'm afraid it's a bit late for that. Why don't you ask that boy toy you have for a personal assistant to help you. He seems to be rather fond of you, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind. I've gotten what I needed from working here, so I'll be leaving now. Good-bye, Princess Annabelle."With that, Seraphine threw a rope outside of the window, tied one end to the leg of her bed, and began climbing out the window. When she was out of sight, Princess Annabelle got up from the floor and walked over to the window, looking down at Seraphine as she was descending."Good day indeed, Miss Seraphine," whispered Princess Annabelle to herself. She then walked towards Seraphine's bed and untied the knot that was attached to the leg of it. Before long, she heard screaming from outside the window, and then silence."No one betrays the greatest princess of Terresaine," said Princess Annabelle, regaining her composure, "I know what I need to do now. I must go to my room and retrieve my book. I have to know what advice the Princess of Morado has for me to deal with this."Princess Annabelle immediately left Seraphine's room and cautiously made her way back to her room, successfully avoiding the crowds of people storming her castle. As soon as she was inside, she ran to the hiding place she kept her book, the same location she used before the book was taken by Alexiel. Unfortunately, when she lifted the pieces of the floorboard, the book was nowhere to be seen."What?!" Princess Annabelle yelled, "How could this be?! I'm sure I put it right back here after getting it from Alexiel's room that day! Why on earth is it missing again?!"In a fit of rage, Princess Annabelle began to destroy her room, looking for her enchanted, purple book."It has to be here. It has to be here," Princess Annabelle kept saying to herself, distraught. Princess Annabelle continued to rummage through her things, desperately looking for her book, when she suddenly tripped over something and fell forward to the floor. When she looked up, she noticed Alexiel standing over her, looking down at her, the door to her room wide open."Alexiel," said Princess Annabelle, "What are you doing here?""...Looking for this?" Alexiel said, revealing the enchanted, purple book from behind his back."Yes! Yes, I've been looking everywhere in my room for it!" exclaimed Princess Annabelle, "But...how do you have it again, Alexiel?""...""...Oh, well. It doesn't matter. I forgive you. Now please, hand it over.""...I don't think so, Your Highness.""...What?"Suddenly, Alexiel's parents and twin sister appeared from behind him, the parents giving the princess cold, hateful glares. Simultaneously, the color drained from Princess Annabelle's face as she beheld the presence of Alexiel's family members, who have been missing for what felt like years. What further worried the princess was Alexiel's act of handing over the enchanted, purple book to his father."No...wait," said Princess Annabelle, "What are you doing?""You told me that you knew my family members were missing, and that you would help me look for them if I served you loyally," said Alexiel, "But it turns out that you knew where they were all along...You're responsible for everything that's happened to them.""...No, Alexiel. You have it all wrong. You see, although I did find your family members first, I was going to eventually tell you their whereabouts. I was only keeping them safe from further danger. I wanted to surprise you, Alexiel.""How dare you continue to spout lies to our son!" yelled Alexiel's father, "You had us separated, tortured, and imprisoned for weeks! It wouldn't have been as bad if it were only me and my wife you've done this to, but how could you treat our poor daughter this way?! How dare you keep her in that deep, dark dungeon with barely any warmth and food?! If she would have spent one more day there, you would have killed our daughter, you selfish brat! But today is a good day. Today is the day for justice! Today, you will absolutely pay for all of the sins you've committed, demon child!""...Alexiel, please tell your father that this is all a big misunderstanding," said Princess Annabelle in the usual sweet, innocent, yet deceptive voice she used only with Alexiel."...Is it really, though?" said Alexiel, refusing to look into the princess's eyes. Suddenly, a crowd of people appeared near the doorway to Princess Annabelle's room, its leader being a masked man, the same masked man Alexiel saw before on his way back from the forest."There she is!" exclaimed the masked man, "The demon child of Terresaine! The one who ruined both, her own country, and her neighboring country!"The people behind the masked man began to yell at Princess Annabelle, furious and eager to end her for good. Suddenly, the masked man noticed Alexiel, who was still standing in front of the princess."And this," began the masked man, "is the princess's lap dog, ever so willing to protect the princess from the punishment she so deserves."The masked man's statement earned Alexiel plenty of disapproving looks, remarks, and murmurs from the crowd, things that made Alexiel's parents worried for him. "But wait," said the masked man before the crowd could try to do anything to Alexiel, "He has one more chance to redeem himself. Will he be on the side of justice and hand over the princess to us without resistance? Or will he continue to side with her and her evilness, further disgracing our country, and ultimately perishing along with her in the end. It's all up to him."Fearing for her life more than ever now, Princess Annabelle began pleading to Alexiel."My dearest Alexiel," began Princess Annabelle, "You know my heart better than anyone else does. You know I've only wanted the best for our country, and that I was only trying to be the very best ruler in Terresaine's history. I'm still a young princess who hasn't been on the throne for that long, so naturally, I'll make a few mistakes. But despite all of these things, I've always valued you as a close ally and friend, Alexiel...And...I might be a little late in saying this, but...I love you. I love you, Alexiel. I always have, since the moment I met you. And I want you to continue to be a part of my life. You're the only one I trust to be near me, Alexiel. So, please. Will you continue to stay by my side and protect me from danger, Alexiel?""...No," mumbled Alexiel."...W-What was that, Alexiel?" asked Princess Annabelle."No!""...What? But...""Your Highness, I'm sorry, but...I won't protect you any longer! I can't! All of your wrongdoing is finally coming to light, and I was too stupid to realize these things sooner, or believe the people who warned me about you. Your Highness, I've always held you in the highest esteem because I really did think that you were a good person. But this...everything has been a lie this entire time. I let an innocent person who was genuinely afraid of you die. I argued with my uncle the last time I saw him because I chose to stand up for you and go against what my family wanted...Now I'll never get to see him again all because you wanted to destroy an entire country that was filled with innocent, peaceful people. That country just so happened to be where my uncle lived. And he's gone forever now because of you. So, no. I will not protect you any longer. It's time for you to pay for your sins, Princess Annabelle."Alexiel then took a step aside, allowing the crowd to at last surround, beat, and capture the screaming and sobbing Princess Annabelle, in the end, dragging her away to her eventual doom. Before leaving with the crowd, the masked man turned back to look at Alexiel."Thank you for making the right decision this time, the decision to save your country," said the man before smiling at Alexiel and leaving."I'm proud of you too, son," said Alexiel's father, "Thank you for saving our country from that demon child."Although Alexiel still felt terrible about everything that's happened, he was quite glad that he made at least one good decision for once, and that justice was finally going to be served. Moreover, Alexiel was also glad to have the luxury he wasn't able to enjoy for weeks: the luxury of being with his family.Two days have passed since Princess Annabelle has been captured and imprisoned. And during her imprisonment, the throne was quickly taken over by Alexiel's family. Alexiel himself was going to become the next heir to the throne. However, he chose to decline that position due to the guilt and trauma he still felt from his service to Princess Annabelle. So, the title instead went to his twin sister, Nicolette.Meanwhile, on the third day of her capture, Princess Annabelle sat alone in a dank, dark prison cell, hopeless. Her execution date was set to occur at three o'clock that day. The knowledge of approaching death was indeed the absolute worst feeling Princess Annabelle had ever felt, yet she was prepared to face her retribution.Just as the princess was coming to terms with her situation, a man came to visit her. When she looked up, she recognized him as the masked man who orchestrated her capture."What do you want?" asked Princess Annabelle, derisively. Without answering her question, the man removed his mask, revealing himself to be Prince Aurelio of Casadell'arte."My prince?!" yelled a surprised Princess Annabelle, "You're here?! Good! You can get me out of here!""That, I'm afraid, won't be happening," said Prince Aurelio."What?! Why not?!""Because...you have to pay for your sins, Annabelle.""What sins?! Everyone keeps telling me that! I've done nothing wrong! All of this is just a big misunderstanding! You of all people should know that! You're supposed to protect me, Aurelio! We love each other, remember?!""Annabelle, you have committed a great number of sins, one of which involved you destroying an entire country just because I broke off my engagement with you and found someone else. Can you really still try to play innocent after all of this?""...""Annabelle, I used to love you very, very much. You were all I thought about during our time apart. But when I finally came here to visit you after so much time, I noticed a great change in you. You aren't the same sweet and caring little girl I knew before. Now, you're very childish and self-centered. Even your own servants were afraid of you. Once I noticed those things, I decided that I just couldn't continue loving you. That's why I broke off our engagement...I want you to know that it was a very hard decision for me to make, as I didn't want to believe that you've really changed. But nonetheless, I have a kingdom to run. And if I want my subjects to continue to be as happy as they are, I need to avoid people who could possibly ruin all of that. And unfortunately, that includes you, Annabelle. I don't want my kingdom ending up like how yours did.""Aurelio, I know you loved me, and I know that you still love me because you came to see me. You only broke things off because that witch seduced you!""What?!""That's why I did what I did! So that you and I could be together in peace and harmony with no interference from anyone! So, come now. Release me, and you and I can run away together and start over. It will be fun, just the two of us.""...You really are pathetic, Annabelle. I actually came here to see you one last time before your execution to see if you've come to terms with everything and repented. But it turns out you haven't, and I wasted my time coming here...I truly have no more words for you, Annabelle. I hope you find peace within yourself."When he was finished talking, Prince Aurelio returned the mask to his face, and promptly started walking away before turning back to look at Princess Annabelle one last time."Also," began Prince Aurelio, "I heard you say that you loved your little lap dog. You really are a two-faced little girl."And with that, Prince Aurelio left Princess Annabelle alone in her prison cell again."Aurelio!" screamed Princess Annabelle, "Come back! Please don't leave me! I need you! Aurelio! No!"Only silence followed the princess's screams, and she was yet again hopeless in her cell.The moment of Princess Annabelle's execution finally arrived. Crowds surrounded the guillotine platform like hungry flocks of birds, eagerly awaiting Princess Annabelle's well-deserved demise. When Princess Annabelle finally appeared on the guillotine platform, she was asked if she had any last words for the people."I do," replied Princess Annabelle. She then turned to face the crowd that was before her."Dear people of Terresaine," began Princess Annabelle, "...Your time will come! You may kill me now, but don't you all worry! I am very good friends with the princess of Morado, and when she hears about this, she will have ALL of your heads! Just you wait! Curse all of you! Curse all of you to hell!"The princess's statement further enraged the crowd. And as a result, the crowd forced Princess Annabelle's execution to happen immediately. The princess was grabbed and forced onto her knees; her head being slammed under the guillotine as it was being raised up. And just as the executioner was given the signal to let go of the rope that held up the massive blade above Princess Annabelle's head, the princess uttered her official last words to herself."Goodbye, Princess Kai," whispered Princess Annabelle, tears falling from her eyes.