Ian"s life once again fell into darkness.
The mad woman took him away and locked him up in a golden birdcage; she stared at intensely, with a pleased and loving gaze. Such a gaze made him feel sick and disgusted. He could only turn his back and close his eyes, pretending not to see her shameless stare.
"I finally found you my Highness, my Prince….." Vivienne smiled. "You belong to me my Prince. You are mine….mine alone!"
She took the birdcage to a mansion in the forest; the building was very old, yet very clean…..Ian wondered why it was so well maintained, until he finally saw a "servant" with a distorted face and distorted body.
"Go!" she kicked the servant heavily. "You"re too ugly. I created you so you can clean up the mess when I"m away, and what do you do? Instead you come into my sight and dare to pollute my eyes!"
Created…..This woman actually created such a terrible thing! Ian looked at the grotesque "servant" in horror, only to find that the servant had emotion…..On his distorted face, his eyes were wet and full of sadness—unimaginable sadness.
Yes, how could he forget that the "servant" never wanted to be such an disgusting creature; it was just the same with Ian! He too never wanted to become a frog! However, when Ian had nothing left to lose, he finally met the kind Joanna to care for him. But what about this servant? He had no choice but to serve this crazy witch as his master…..his world must be dark and painful, enough to suffocate.
The frog was taken to a gorgeous room, as the crazy woman eagerly gave him a tour of the place.
"See this crimson window? And this little table? And these clothes in the closet…..Oh oh, don"t forget, there are many good little swords here. These are all for you my dear. I made sure the style was the same as your tastes; with so many gifts, don"t you feel comfortable and happy?"
When Ian glanced at the closet, he recognized that fashion as something he liked when he was still young……how was the mad woman so familiar with him so early? How did he not discover this at all?
"Do you still remember when we met for the first time?" As Vivienne held the birdcage, her gaze turned soft as she recalled a beautiful memory. "It was a hot summer day during the royal hunting festival. I followed my father to the palace and arrived at the hunting grounds with a team of soldiers. While the men went off to hunt, me and a group of ladies were there to drink tea and chat…..I was so bored that I wandered off to the creek myself, when suddenly I met a bear! It was you, it was you who saved me! At that time, you carried me away gently and told me to be careful later on. From then on, my heart was filled with you, Your Highness!"
Ian also remembered that time. However, he could only recall bringing a group of royal children to hunt a bear. The bear had scratched his cousin and had almost taken the little girl"s life! After killing the bear, he commanded his attendant to hastily report the incident. Meanwhile, Ian himself hurriedly carried his cousin back to the camp to find a doctor…..Was the crazy woman the little girl from that time? If he could turn back time, he would never bring his cousin to where the bear was! In fact, because she got injured, Ian wasn"t permitted to enter the army at that time.
"Since then, I"ve looked for you in the palace several times; I wanted to meet and speak with you, but you must have been shy. Your personal attendant always said that you weren"t available, am I right?"
He really was clueless!
When conflict erupted on the border, Ian had to go on behalf of his father so he could see if the n.o.bles at the distant frontier were harboring rebellious feelings. He also wanted to inspect the harvest by the southern territory, which he managed on behalf of his elder brother, the First Prince. Even if Ian wanted to meet another lady he was simply too busy. Who knew! His attendant only said that he stopped several people from bothering him, but he never mentioned the other person"s ident.i.ty. Ian never asked him either. He trusted his attendant to judge who to stop and who to let in……If Ian was ever fortunate enough to return to the castle, he must reward that attendant for preventing him from meeting so many crazy women!
"Your Highness, you must love me……" Vivienne stared longingly at the quiet frog within the cage. "How could you not love me? I am beautiful, I am strong, only I can match with you!"
Unreasonable, crazy!! The frog could not help but miss Joanna"s gentleness and the little world they shared.
GROUP TRANSLATIONS: (for other translated works)