A Grim Fairy Tale

Chapter Sixty-One

As Alastor and Charlotte continued their stroll, he noticed that a lot of couples were appearing and doing things like giving each other flowers or dancing or even going as far as to read romantic poetry. Alastor was puzzled, why was everyone acting as lovey-dovey as Moxxie and Millie did pretty everyday of their whole lives?

"They're just excited about The Sweetheart's Festival." Charlotte swooned when Alastor asked her about it.

"I beg your pardon my dear but I'm not familiar with such an occasion and I do hope by sweetheart, you mean it's some sort of contest where one competes to cook and serve the best heart of an animal."

"No." Charlotte laughed. "It's a romantic event. According to legend, long ago a soldier from this village and a princess from Austria, the eldest of twelve, fell in love and they would spent their days dancing in the square. But her father never wanted her or sisters to marry so he kept them locked away in his castle and forbade anyone outside the royal staff to interact with them. But the princess and the solider were both very clever, they began to send secret messages to one another through song and they conspired to plan an escape. The soldier disguised himself as the royal cobbler to sneak into the princesses bed chamber and with the help of his fairy godmother, he constructed a secret tunnel in the bedroom floor that led to a beautiful fairy kingdom. When the tunnel was finished, every night sneaked away into the fairy kingdom to dance, make merry,  and so the eldest princess could be with her sweetheart. But the king began to notice that in the morning all his daughters's dancing shoes would be worn out and he became suspicious,  so one night he spied on his daughters and when he learned the truth, he captured the solider and executed him. And when the princess learned of his death, she died of a broken heart right then and there. After that the remaining eleven princesses were confined to a tower and the king had the tunnel to the fairy kingdom destroyed. But he had forgotten about the solider's fairy godmother and she wasn't too happy about her beloved godson being killed. She punished the king by stealing all his daughters away to the fairy kingdom, leaving him completely alone with his regret."

"Now that's comeuppance if I've ever heard of it." Alastor remarked. "But such a tragic tale, why create an event based on it."

"You didn't let me finish." She said. "Though the princesses were happy to be free of their cruel father, they still mourned their sister so they held a memoriam in her and the soldier's honor. Then the most amazing thing happened, during the ceremony they saw the sweethearts dancing together in the starry night sky. Through it all, they had managed to find a way to each other. So they have this event where they give out flowers, dance, and sing love songs, all to remind sweethearts everywhere that love always finds a way."

She heard Alastor chuckle under his breath.

"What's so funny?" Charlotte asked.

"Oh nothing."

"Had to be something if it made you laugh."

"I chuckled."

"Same difference. Now let me in on the joke."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because if I tell you you'll get mad at me."

"No I won't."

"Yes you will. You'll get really mad and you won't speak to me for the rest of the evening."

"I won't. I swear."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Cross your heart and hope to die."

"Cross my heart and hope to die." She said making the cross gesture on her chest.

"Alright. I laughed because in my opinion, as far as humans are concerned, true love doesn't exist."