The Curse of Adelaide

PROLOGUE

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It was an early afternoon. Their children were playing outside in the garden, the boys swinging around with their wooden swords while the girls lay in the grass staring at the clouds. The man was watching them from a window.

He smiled to himself all while taking a sip from his tea. He thought about a time when he would run around and play tricks on his housemaids. He used to be a handful to handle, but not anymore.

"Are they still outside?" His wife asked as she stood up from her chair and walked over to her husband, a cup of tea in her hands. As her eyes landed on her children, a smile made its way up her face. "Don't they look happy?"

"Yes, indeed, my dear," the man answered with a smile. The woman averted her gaze to her husband. She stared at him for a moment. A faint smile tucked on his lips.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him, half smiling.

"Just that the roses are blooming again." He looked at her with a smile, his eyes full of memories.

She laid her hand on his upper arm and smiled at him in understanding. "Come sit down."

Together they returned to the table and continued talking about trivial things. After about half an hour, two little girls with brown curls bouncing from their heads entered the room, followed by two slightly older boys. The girls ran to their father. They fell down to the ground and hugged his feet while wearing a huffy expression. The boys, however, seemed annoyed and rather bored with the situation.

The father looked down at his daughters and patted their heads. "Corinna, Caroline, what is it?"

At the sound of their father's voice Corinna and Caroline raised their hands and looked at him. "They won't let us play with the swords, Father," they told him close to tears. "We do not want to play the damsels in distress anymore!"

The man looked up to his sons with raised brows waiting for them to explain. "Is that so?" he asked them. The boys nodded and looked down at the ground. "Why not?"

"Because they are girls, Father," the older one, Jasper, answered. "Girls cannot play with swords."

"And why is that?" The man asked them in an amused tone.

"Because the knights always rescue the damsels!" the younger one, Jordan, exclaimed as if the answer was obvious.

"Girls do not always have to be saved by knights, they can save themselves," Corinna defended herself and her sister. "Isn't that right, Father?"

The man let out a chuckle and nodded. "Not every girl needs saving from a knight."

"But Father!" The boys exclaimed offended.

"Now, now, don't use that tone with your father, boys," the woman scolded her sons.

The boys apologized and looked down at the ground. The man looked between his children with a smile, a thought crossing his mind. "Damsels in distress don't always wait around for the knight in shining armor to save them. Sometimes they don't need saving."

"How would you know that?" Jasper asked him with a frown.

"Let me tell you a story about a girl who didn't need a knight in shining armor to save her."

The boys let out a huff, which earned them a glare from their sisters. "Please, tell us the story, Father," they begged him, excited about yet another new story. The woman looked at her husband surprised; she never thought the day would come, when he would tell this story.

He leaned back in his chair and thought about it for a moment. "Alright," he said after a while of silence. "I will tell you the story, but only if you promise to be quiet and not to interrupt me."

"We promise, Father," the girls eagerly exclaimed while the boys rolled their eyes at their sisters' enthusiasm but nevertheless promised as well.

"Once upon a time," the man started with a lost look in his eyes. "A little girl was born. Her name was Adelaide."

Hey there! I am back with a new story! What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote!