Seduction of a Princess

Chapter Forty-Five: The Tale of the Tailed Whisperer

A new story of Terrance's. As I stated before, I like this one almost as much as I like "The Demon in the Monastery". It's really romantic, and really sad I think.

Enjoy

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          “Once upon a time, there was a girl so beautiful, the sun itself looked bleak in comparison. They called her the most beautiful in all of the lands, and she was known all throughout town. Her parents called her May and they raised her to be the finest young woman anyone had ever known.

          “They lived in a good home, as a wealthy family. At the edge of town, they had a house with a high iron fence around it. Two purebred dogs guarded it. Yes, they were wealthy, and I wouldn’t be lying if I say that at least half the town was jealous at them; money and prosperity, it seemed all was handed to the family.

          “Next to May lived another family; an alchemist with his wife and son. They too, weren’t poor, for the alchemist knew the secret of making gold. They too lived in a large estate, and they barely ever saw their neighbors. When they did, on the market or just on the street, both families turned away from each other. They did not talk to each other; there was a fight going, a family feud that had lasted for as long as May remembered. See, her parents did not trust the alchemist, and they thought it wasn’t fair that a man like that could make gold so easily, while they had to work for it.. Her father would love to set his dogs on him.

          “But in the other house was a boy, Raphael was his name. He wasn’t ugly and certainly not dumb. He was of the same age as May and he was absolutely and eternally in love with her. Every day he would think about her, and every night he’d see her in his dreams. He wished nothing more than to marry her and forever be with her. But unfortunately, his parents did not want this; they did not want their son marrying the cursed neighbor’s daughter. And May’s parents would never allow them to marry either. Eloping was no option—May did not even know how much Raphael adored her, and he was afraid that if he’d tell her, she would reject her because of his family.

          “So the days went by and Raphael would learn of his father’s profession, and he would dream of May, and he would watch suitors of the girl from his bedroom window, whenever they came to her door. Thankfully, none of them would ever be good enough for her, according to her parents, and they send them all away, but Raphael feared that one day, someone might show up that would be, and then May would be forever lost to him.

          “One hot summer night, he awoke from a frightening dream where he saw May get married to someone else, and he could not get back to sleep. He tried, but simply couldn’t. For hours, sleep wouldn’t come. And in the back of his mind was that picture, of May at the altar, kissing someone other than him. It nearly broke his heart.

          “And that was why he finally got out of bed, got dressed and sneaked out of the house. He stood by the iron fence that separated their houses and stared at the balcony of May’s bedroom. He would climb the fence and go to her, but reason stopped him. So instead, he started whispering to her. He whispered so softly, you would not be able to hear what he said even if you stood right next to him. But he whispered nonetheless, and far away, past the fence, up the balcony and through the window, in the bedroom where May slept, she could hear it. As if by magic, she heard his whispering voice in her sleep. And whatever he told her, it made her dreams wonderful.

          “When she woke up that morning, May did not know how it was that she had slept so well. She did not know it had been because of Raphael, that her dreams had been so good. When she saw him walking on the street, she didn’t recognize him and he did not dare to say anything either. But that night, he came back. Lovingly, he closed his hands around the iron bars that separated him from his love, and again he gave her sweet dreams by singing at her in nothing more than a whisper.