Reincarnated as an Ugly Step Sister

Chapter 10

After eating what felt like a gallon of pudding (which was delicious) Nicholas took my hand and led me to the other side of the castle.

"Careful," he whispered to me as we hid in a dark corridor, "if we're caught we'll get dragged back to the party."

"Don't worry, I'm very sneaky. I'm like a ninja," I grinned at him. He didn't smile back, instead he creased his eyebrows inquisitively. "Oh, you don't know what a ninja is... it's something my sister and I made up when we were little. They're very quiet." I said quickly as I felt my face heat up. Of course these fairytale characters don't know what ninjas are.

We managed to get to the other end of the castle without being caught. As we hurried through corridors and hallways I gaped at the extravagant rooms we were passing. Paintings of men and women dressed in frilly clothes and white wigs lined the walls. We walked by rooms some grand and fancy, others cozy and welcoming.

Finally we arrived at the library. I audibly gasped as we walked in. Rows upon rows of books reaching from the ground to the ceiling. Twenty feet above us was a beautiful mural of a beautiful girl, surrounded by trees, shrubbery, and forest animals.

In my last life I would spend hours at the library every week. When I was in middle school I got a library card and walked there from school every day. Each time I walked into the huge, overly-air conditioned building I would smell the scent of old paper.

Now I found myself in the most beautiful and vast library I had ever seen. "It's amazing," I whispered breathlessly.

"Eh, it's fine," Nicholas shrugged. "Follow me." He led me to a large nook in the corner of the room. Stacks of books hid us from the view of anyone who might come in. Nicholas scanned the shelves as I curled up on a velvet couch.

"This has to be the softest couch I've ever seen," I told him.

"It's pretty nice, I guess." He shrugged again without even looking over at me.

"You're pretty spoiled," I said before thinking. I quickly covered my mouth with my hand, as if to shove the words back inside. Nicholas slowly turned to face me. "I-I just mean... you just. What I meant to say was..." I stammered awkwardly before being interrupted.

"Yeah, I guess I am. I mean, it's hard not to be when you never experience inconvenience." He gave me a quick smile. "It was fun to see you freak out though."

Slightly offended, I grabbed a fluffy pillow and hit him on the legs. He smiled again, grabbing a pillow of his own and hitting me over the head. We fought until the sound of the huge library doors opening made us freeze. Silently, we put our pillows down and curled up in the corner.

"Your highness? Are you in here? There are many ladies that would like to dance with you," a voice called from the doorway. Nicholas put a finger to his mouth, telling me not to say anything, as if I would. Finally the door closed.

"Why don't we finally start with history?" Nicholas asked as he pulled a book off the shelf behind me. I would finally learn the history of this strange world, no longer weighed down by endless questions.

A thick dusty book dropped onto the table. The pages were yellow with age and the book binding was badly broken. A wave of dust wafted to my face and I let out a small sneeze.

"Achoo!" I rubbed my nose and noticed Nicholas holding back a laugh. "What?" I glared.

"Pft, what was that!" he gasped in between laughs.

"I sneezed!" I shot back defensively. "What, is that outlawed in your kingdom?"

"It's just, I've never heard a sneeze like that and I live in a giant dust filled palace," he chuckled.

"Okay, calm down. You shouldn't be laughing this hard," I rolled my eyes. "Just teach me about stupid magic politics or whatever."

"Fine, fine," Prince Nicholas's laughter died down. "Let's start with the basics. A long time ago, witches, warlocks, goblins, and trolls banded together against the humans, fay, and elves. The human, fay, elf side won the war and things turned out for the better, for us at least."

"What do you mean?" I didn't understand the weird look on Nicholas's face. He looked almost... angry.

"This is just what they teach you in school, human school." He muttered. "Life isn't so one sided. It can't be all their fault, not to mention the innocent kids who didn't even partake in the war yet still get the after effects."

"What are the after effects?" I chime in. His face looks serious and I'm starting to get worried.

"I- well..." He doesn't want to answer but he does anyway. "There's a sort of alliance with many of the human kingdoms to prevent witches and goblins and all of them from gathering up. They consequently can't form villages or kingdoms." He fumbles with the book page. "It's supposed to be a preventative measure to make sure there isn't another war but it just doesn't seem fair."

"What happens if a group of witches or trolls is caught?" The concern is evident in my voice.

Nicholas looks down. "Execution."

"What?" I'm stunned.

"As my father says, if they're still alive then they're still a threat." Nicholas laughs, but not in a good way. It's filled with anger and resentment.

"But you can fix this, when you become king, can't you?" I plead.

"It's not that simple. This is an agreement between five different kingdoms. All of them have to agree to the pact. If I back out, it could have dire repercussions for the people of my kingdom." His eyes look exhausted and he's clearly contemplated this for a long time. "If I back out it could mean another war, and this time we may be on the losing side."