𝙻𝚘𝚠 𝙻𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜

Chapter 3: The Castle of the Devil

It was another fine day of winter. I am Clara Beth, Princess of Wallachia. A royal friend named Cristian invited us to the southern region. He sent a letter to my father in which it was stated that "Accept my warm wishes, dear King, from Your sincere friend Cristian; I would be honoured to have the royal family as guests at my wedding." But the truth is that my father (the King) has an important meeting to attend, and my mother (the Queen) will not leave her husband alone. So, I had no choice but to attend the ceremony alone, from our family side. It was my dear father's wish to represent the royal family at the wedding of his loyal companion. As Cristian was a dear friend of his, he did not want to make him upset. My mother asked my cousin Robina to accompany me, and one maid was assigned to look after our needs.

It took a few hours, but finally we got ready and packed the required accessories and clothes. As per the invitation, the ceremony will begin this evening, and we will have to stay in the castle of Cristian for tonight because of the distance. Our motor car was ready, with me and Robina sitting in the back and our maid Alexa and driver Jack in front.

My mother (Queen) was standing near the castle's window and watching us go. Me and Robina screamed! "Goodbye" to Mother, and we waved our hands.

Then the driver started the motor car, and we headed towards the southern region.

After a few hours, ....

We were passing along a narrow path through a forest of plum and cherry trees. I was mesmerised by the scenic beauty of the surroundings. Petals of unknown varieties of flowers are falling on the green grass, making the road look so unique. The car had to change directions as we were getting close to the destination. We moved from the flat road to an uneven one.

It was getting dark. The shadow of the evening was falling around us. The mountains in the distance became beautiful in deep blue and purple hues. My maid, Alexa, and my driver, Jack, were shivering in the cold; their clothes seemed not warm enough to protect them in this cold weather. The sun sets quickly in this mountainous region.

We had no more sunlight after that. There are only a few fireflies burning in the middle of the flawless darkness. The driver turned on the motor car's headlights, which were clearing the view of our pathway. The clouds suddenly moved away, and a large red moon appeared. It looked like a wind of dust was filtering the moon in a reddish form towards us. In the moonlight, we could see a handful of mounds of sand glistening along the way, which was creating a strange feeling for us. I and Robina were speaking in a lower voice and sharing different thoughts.

Then suddenly, the driver said, while looking at his watch, "we should have arrived an hour earlier. I'm afraid that we might miss the beginning of the ceremony."

I said, "It's okay, Jack; don't worry about that."

On this cold winter night, we are heading towards an unknown destination. Jack said he came here once before, so he knew the route to Cristian's castle, but the fear of getting lost was disturbing me already. Some time has passed. I turned on the flashlight and looked at my pocket watch. I was surprised by seeing the time. It only seemed like a few minutes ago that we were watching the sunset, and now it is 10 p.m. Jack was about to say something when he was interrupted by a noise from the bushes.

A wolf howled. As soon as it stopped, another wolf started to howl, then another, followed by the howling of many wolves. At the same moment, we saw a red light flickering in the distance. The driver stopped the car, changed the direction, and proceeded towards the light. Jack said, "I think we've reached our destination."

He was right. In a few minutes, our eyes catch the huge castle. The castle itself looks creepy. It was surrounded by woods and bushes. The lights on the castle are of no use. Everything was shaded in dark red and blue. Jack stops his car and drops us in front of the castle. The gatekeeper greets us strangely and directs Jack to the parking spot.