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“…And that’s how me and Saki almost got turned into toads yesterday.”
Ichika finished her story giggling her head off, simply convinced it was the funniest thing on earth. Her parents seemed to agree with her—Beast let out a heavy laugh, and Beauty gave her an affectionate sigh.
“You get into too much trouble when we’re gone.” Beauty shook her head. “But that…is quite the interesting story, Ichika.”
“Oh yes…” a voice muttered. “So exciting.”
Ichika pretended not to notice as Iroha commented, and then yelped as Mao stepped on her foot from under the table.
“Iroha.” The eldest of the three sisters said. “Shush.”
“Sorry.” Iroha grumbled, picking at her food.
Ichika watched them curiously, and cautiously. Mao was three years older than her, at the age of nine, but even as young as six, Ichika always got the sense that Mao behaved a lot older than she was. Iroha, on the other hand, was only a year older than Ichika, but Ichika wasn’t blind to the differences in how they were treated. How Iroha acted and reacted because things were different for her, but Ichika wasn’t able to grasp why just yet. After all, why should things be different from Iroha? They were so similar. At least, Ichika thought so.
Ichika knew from watching her that Iroha could be just as loud and wild as she was. Countless dawns she’s seen Iroha climb back in through the windows after a night of exploring the village and knowing its secrets, but whenever their parents came around, Iroha did not smile. She didn’t laugh or scream like she did when she played with Mao, she just…grumbled, pouted, rolled her eyes and ignored. She did that with Ichika, too, usually acted like she didn’t exist and sighed or muttered under her breath when she opened her mouth to speak.
At first, Ichika thought it was normal, that siblings just acted like that when they were older than you, but meeting Saki and her brothers had changed that for her.
As her sisters ate silently and her parents whispered, the question just popped out. Even now, Ichika cringes at it—she used to be so impulsive.
“Mao? Iroha? Do you love me?”
The dinner table went silent.
Beauty and Beast snapped to attention, looking at her before Beauty’s eyes narrowed at her elder daughters. Color rose to Iroha’s cheeks—the first time Ichika had seen that—but she didn’t respond. Mao set down her fork, and Ichika watched as responses ran through her mind before she settled on one.
“…Of course we do.” She answered. “Why wouldn’t we love you, Ichika?”
“You don’t act like it,” Ichika pouted. “You don’t ever want to talk to me or hang out with me. Saki’s brothers spend time with her, even when she doesn’t feel well, and they always tell her they love her and—“
“Brothers are different.” Iroha snapped.
“Iroha.” Beauty said sharply.
“They are.” Iroha insisted. “Very, very different.”
“But…” Ichika shook her head. “Even so, you two never—“
“Not everything is that serious, Ichika.”
”Iroha.” Mao hissed.
“That’s enough.” Beauty warned.
“Of course your sisters love you, Ichika.” Beast said sweetly. “You know that.”
“Oh, sure…” Iroha grumbled. ”Everyone loves you, after all, you’re Beauty, and everyone loves Beauty. I’m sure our aunts just adored mom.”
”Iroha!” Beauty yelped.
“What?” Iroha huffed. “I’m sure they love being statues outside the palace gates. Hey, Ichika, when I become a statue, make sure you decorate me real nice, ‘Kay?”
“Iroha, stop it.” Mao whacked her on the arm. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
“I just made a request, that’s all.”
“A cruel one.” Beauty glared at her middle daughter. “Apologize to your sister.”
“Apologize?! For what?! I didn’t even do anything. Dad said it—we all love her and she knows it.”
“You made her feel bad!”
“She doesn’t feel bad at all! Right, Ichika?”
“…Uhm,” Ichika mumbled. “I-I don’t—“
“That is enough,” Beauty stood from her seat. “Go to your room, Iroha.”
“Let me guess—Ichika’s going to get one of my things again?”
”Now.”
Iroha pushed her plate away and stood, making a point to stomp her way across the dining hall and away to her room.
“…Mother, may I be excused?” Mao pushed her plate away as well.
“If you must.” Beauty muttered.
Mao nodded gently, scurrying away from the table as well.
“…Ignore them, Ichika.” Beauty said much softer once Mao left. “Of course everyone loves you, you’re our perfect girl. Don’t listen to a word they say.”
“…Okay, mommy.”
Of course everyone loves you, you’re our perfect girl.
It didn’t make her feel better at all.
Ichika listened to her sister’s conversation that night, perched outside Iroha’s bedroom door. A horrible habit she knew, but it was one of the only ways she got to know anything about the sister she wanted to love her so much. What to get Iroha for birthdays, the things she liked and didn’t like, her favorite cake flavor—Ichika had them all written down in slightly messy, still childish handwriting, but that night she didn’t bring her Iroha notebook or her Mao notebook with her. She just listened.
”I do love her.” Iroha said. “I don’t—I don’t want her to think I don’t.”
“Yes, well…” Mao mumbled. “I, unfortunately, can understand…”
“It’s just that—she gets everything! Because she has the better destiny, the better life! We’ll be stuck as statues forever just because we happen to be born before her!”
“But that’s not her fault, is it?”
“Still! Sometimes I wish she was never born at all!”
“Iroha! What an awful thing to say…!”
“Well?! You think it too, don’t you?”
“I…!”
“Whatever, I’m going to bed—get out of my room.”
“Iroha—“
”Get. Out.”
“…”
Ichika didn’t sneak away fast enough before Mao opened the door. She heard the gasp, the brief cry of her name, but she ran down the hall back to her own bedroom, wiping her face desperately.
The tears didn’t stop falling, and it was the first of many sleepless nights Ichika would have.
At eight, two years after that dinner, Ichika begins to realize her sisters are not the only people who feel that way about her.
An, her cousin, didn’t wish that she had never existed, unlike Iroha and Mao. An was sweet, and explored the garden with her, and snuck into Sleeping Beauty’s room with her to try on her jewelry when they got bored, and played games together—the sister Ichika didn’t have at home. The words felt wrong to say, because Ichika loved her sisters so much, but given the nature of their relationship, that was simply the only thing An could be. The sister that actually loved her back.
Or, well, that’s what she had been until about the age of nine. An was still her normal, bright self around everyone else, but not Ichika. Not anymore. And now, they were stuck in Sleeping Beauty’s Palace together for a week. A week.
“I like your dress.” Ichika tried, pointing out the beautiful red gown An’s parents had dressed her in. “It’s—it’s very pretty.”
“Thank you.” An said flatly, far different from the bright tone she had been using with their families earlier. “I…like yours too.”
The comment makes Ichika bristle a bit. The dress isn’t hers, it’s Iroha’s. She doesn’t like wearing Iroha’s clothes or jewelry, but every time Iroha gets in trouble, their mother gives one of her things to Ichika, and Ichika can’t understand why.
”It’s not like she’ll need them. You’re more important.” But Ichika doesn’t like being more important. Why doesn’t her mom understand?
The dress is probably why Iroha refused to look at her this morning. This dress is her favorite. So, the comment about it stings. Still, Ichika smiles. “Thank you.”
An goes silent again, much to her dismay.
“Are you alright, An?” Ichika asked.
“Of course I am,” said the other princess. “Why?”
“It’s just—well, for a while now, you haven’t been…talking. Well, to me. And I just—“
“Oh, for godmother’s sake,” An huffed, placing her hands on her hips. “This is what your sisters keep talking about, not everything is about you.”
Ichika blinked. Once. Twice. Titled her head and squinted her eyes as if she was trying to understand what An just said. Was she being serious?
“You’re just always—always so there, aren’t you? Being the perfect princess with the perfect destiny and reminding everyone else how miserable we all have it!”
Ichika didn’t respond, but her hands began to tremble.
”What? Nothing to say for once?”
“…They,” she gulped. “Were talking about me?”
The thought made her stomach churn.
“Everyone talks about you, Ichika, you’re all anyone ever talks about!” An threw her arms up wildly, as if she couldn’t believe Ichika would ask such a thing. “Just leave me alone, leave everyone alone. Nobody needs to be reminded of you all the time.”
“I’m—I’m sorry—?”
”Leave me alone!”
An stormed off, and Ichika didn’t realize how long she stood there, tears on her cheeks until her father found her.
An apologized that night, both sets of parents behind her as she pleaded for Ichika’s forgiveness, saying that’s she’d never be mean ever again. To her credit, Ichika could tell she really meant it, but her words never left Ichika’s mind. Not for the rest of the week, and not for the rest of her childhood, and not as she became a teenager.
When Saki was locked away in the Charming Palace to recover, Ichika was terribly lonely. She visited Saki often, as much as she could, but even that wasn’t enough.
School became unbearable without her best friend. Saki was the only person who treated her normally in that sea of people, people who worshipped the ground she walked on for reasons she couldn’t understand. There was nothing special about Ichika besides her family name, and even then, she’s in the same generation as the next Sleeping Beauty. Isn’t that like, a once-in-a-century kinda deal? Shouldn’t everyone be far, far more focused on her cousin?
But no, everyone was just obsessed with her, and Ichika doesn’t want to sound like she hates her life in anyway because compared to others, it’s really not that bad. A luxurious castle, a destiny she doesn’t have to die or sleep for a century in, and there’s only two (three? four?) people in Ever After that hate her. She has it pretty good, so she feels even more terrible that she can’t stand her life. Not school, not home, not anything.
Is this some sort of curse? She wondered daily. Did an evil fairy get to me as a baby? Did I miss a page in the fairytale where Beauty is cursed with, well, beauty?
And look, Ichika’s tried to make it different, different in anyway possible, but she’s known since she was a kid—anything she does goes unpunished, somehow turned into praise. The fight she got into somehow got the other girl in trouble, even though Ichika started it. No one flinched when she yelled, just apologized and promised to do better and gave her whatever she asked. Ichika’s convinced she could take candy from a baby and everyone would shame the baby.
It sounds nice, in theory, but Ichika’s so, so tired. Tired of this perfect mask that’s stitched onto her face to never come off no matter how hard she tries. Not only can nobody see past her pretty face (something that’s fundamentally against her very being—Ichika doesn’t do ‘surface level’) but they’re obsessed with it. She can’t get a break everyone wants to have eyes on her all the time! Who is she, Snow White? Having to put effort into getting some alone time is possibly the most outrageous thing about her life—she can’t even write in peace!
That’s particularly annoying, because Ichika expresses a lot of her feelings through writing these days. Actually, most of her life is in writing—the birthdays of everyone she knows and the presents she’s already gotten them, what they like and don’t like, how she feels about all of her teachers and classmates, and every artist she’s ever listened to from the age of nine.
She also wrote down, in detail, the day Mao and Iroha left, but she’s not sure she needed to. She remembers it clear as day.
The summer before she began her first year at Ever After High. Her sisters were already attending—and Mao had already signed her page in the Storybook of Legends. Ichika saw the whole thing on TV a year prior. She, her parents and Iroha watched as Mao’s story was played out. The story all three sisters would live.
A merchant, the one destined to care for them, moves them to a home in the countryside after his ships are lost at sea. Being that they now have to live a life of poverty, Iroha and Mao will complain while Ichika, the youngest and kindest, does her best to keep their new home taken care of.
Then, the merchant will be told one of his ships has been found. Iroha and Mao will beg for expensive things, and Ichika, after some prodding, will simply ask for a rose. But the merchant will get caught in a storm on the way back, and stumble upon a castle—this very castle. With a brilliant rose garden, where he’ll remember Ichika’s request and pick one, which will enrage The Beast. The Beast. Ichika’s destined prince. She doesn’t exactly know how to feel about that…
Anyway, the Beast promises to let the merchant go, if he brings him one of his daughters in return. And Ichika will be the one who volunteers. She’ll be entertained for hours on end, served well by The Beast’s servants, and be joined by the Beast for dinner every evening. He will ask her to marry him, and she will always say no.
After a few months, she’ll ask to go see her family, and he’ll agree, with the promise that she’ll return on time, or else he’ll die of grief.
Mao and Iroha are the ones who will trick her into staying longer out of jealousy. She returns home to their now dirty home—as she was the only one taking care of it—dressed in soft silks and more gold than they’ve seen in years. They want her to be in trouble when she returns to the palace so The Beast will eat her in his fury.
Quite the wild plan.
But when Ichika returns late, she finds The Beast dying. She’ll cry and beg for him to live because she really does love him, despite rejecting him so many times, and he’ll turn into a prince, marry her, and they’ll live happily ever after.
With the exception that her jealous sisters are turned into living statues outside the castle. Standing in place, watching Ichika go on and live happily while they’re damned for a choice that was not theirs to make.
Still, Mao Beauty signs the page.
Her mother tilts her chin up, her expectations met. Her father let out a quiet, heavy sigh.
Iroha stared at the screen, unmoving, not saying a word, but eyes following.
Like she was already practicing.
It was a look Ichika had never forgotten.
That following year was Iroha’s first year, and Ichika’s last year before she began school at Ever After High. And that summer was when they left. For the merchant’s home, the merchant chosen to care for them until the story began.
It was supposed to be this big thing, they’d all get sent away together sometime after Ichika graduated, live in a nice home for a few weeks until they could move again into the smaller house that would be the first setting for the story. It was going to be a whole ceremony, like a coming-of-age kind of thing.
It was probably one of the reasons why Beauty was so angry when they said they’d be leaving early, and that they didn’t want it to be public.
She had a million complaints. Saying they were too young, that Iroha hadn’t gone through her Legacy Year and Mao hadn’t graduated and most of all, what about Ichika? How is she supposed to do the ceremony without her sisters?
Iorha hadn’t hesitated to say that the entire thing would just be about her anyway. We won’t be there anymore, that’s all.
It had irked their mother so bad that she refused to see them off. That’s what their father said, at least, but Ichika didn’t think she’d come anyway.
Still, that morning at dawn, she was there, even though she was likely the last person they wanted to see.
“Have a…” The words felt unnatural. “A safe trip.”
Iroha grumbled, but Mao nodded at her. “Thank you.” She said as the servants pulled their things into the car. A final order from the princesses who’d never return.
“I’ll uhm…I’ll miss you.”
“We know, Ichika.”
Even knowing what she knew, Ichika felt sad. Will you not miss me, too? Of course, the answer was obvious.
“Mao. Let’s go.” Iroha said, grabbing her wrist. “I don’t want to spend another second here.”
“Right.” Mao nodded. “Get in, I’m coming—let me just make sure we have everything.”
Iroha rolled her eyes. “Godmother, I’ll do it. We’ll be here for three more hours if you do.”
“I got it—“
“Get in the car.”
Mao muttered to herself, grabbing her last bag begrudgingly. She looked at Ichika one last time, and her hand reached out slightly. Ichika wasn’t sure if she wanted to hug, or pat her head, or what, but Mao, in the end, couldn’t even do that much. Ichika never knew what Mao’s embrace felt like at all, or Iroha’s.
Iroha didn’t even check, not really. She was clearly in a hurry to go. She just looked around white nodding to herself. “Good enough.”
She began to turn, but—
“Iroha…!”
She groaned, dragging her head back around. “What now, Ichika?”
“Will you, uhm—will you come back for—Legacy Day?” She asked weekly.
“Can’t wait for that, huh?” She replied sarcastically. “I don’t know. I guess if I have to sign anyway so you can frolic off into the sunset…”
“Well…” Ichika’s hands began to tremble. A nervous habit, one everyone around her called cute, but she hated it. It was why most of her writings about Iroha or Mao or An looked like they had been written by a toddler. “I’ll…be there.”
“I’m sure you will.”
“I—“ Ichika gulped. “I—I love you…?”
Iroha stopped for a second. Ichika watched as her body bristled, as one of her hands clenched into fists, as she took a sharp breath—
And then, she continued walking. The bye she gave in response was barely heard as she practically threw herself into the car.
The girls pulled away without looking back at her.
Ichika stood there, the breeze failing to soothe the ache that spread through her entire body.
After all this time, do you still wish I never existed at all?
She was a silly girl.
She knew the answer.
“Hey, Ichika, aren’t you technically part Beast, too?”
“It’s not genetic, Saki, it’s a curse. My dad wasn’t born a Beast.”
“Yeah, but I mean—“ Saki gestured a bit as they turned the corner, exploring Ever After High’s halls for the first time. “Surely some of that magic has gotta still be in him. I mean, wasn’t it destiny?”
“Maybe,” Ichika shrugged. “That’d explain my sharp teeth.”
“Yeah, maybe—ooh. Let’s not go that way.”
Saki pulled Ichika away quickly. “Eep—ow!” Ichika hissed. “Don’t pull so hard…!”
“Sorry! But my brother was that way, and he’s got Ena with him…”
“Oh.” Ichika cringed a little.
“Yeah. And if the stories you tell me are true, then you-know-who might have you taken out on sight.”
“Mmmppphhh.” Ichika grumbled. She’d suspected since middle school that Princess Ena White, Daughter of Snow White and the fairest of them all, had actively disliked her.
To be honest, it was a bit refreshing. Ichika could hardly complain—Ena was the first person in a long time who couldn’t stand her. Compared to everyone else fawning over her, it was almost nice, except for the reason behind it.
“She’s such a little princess,” Saki began. “And I say that with contempt. I’ve been around her ever since we were little kids—she’s always been that way. She just doesn’t like that you get so much attention. And that you’re too smart to follow her like a lost dog.”
Ichika shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that…” Though, it was true. Ichika didn’t do people like Ena White, performative to the core. Ichika refused to ignore the way her actions affected others, things Ena said and did that went ignored or excused. She refused to follow Ena like everyone else followed her.
She said it before—she doesn’t do surface level.
“I would say that.” Saki insisted. “Have you seen her?”
“Honestly, if she wants all that attention, she can have it. I don’t want it—it’s not my fault.”
“You’re just too pretty.” Saki shook her head fondly. “And too nice. Maybe you should try being mean.”
“I did. It never worked.”
“What kind of enchantments were put on you as a baby?”
“Honestly? I’ve got no idea.”
“Ichika.”
“Ah, Ena…”
The one time Ichika could write in the library in peace, Ena White just had to come ruin it. She had been so lucky today, convincing the librarians to let her in while everyone in the building was supposed to be asleep still. She should do this more.
“That’s quite a statement you’re making.” Ena sneered at her, arms crossed.
“What statement?” Ichika feigned obliviousness. Maybe if I play dumb, she’ll go away.
“A rebel princess? I’ve never heard of that before.”
Damn.
Ichika looked back down at her notebook, continuing to write. “Well, there’s always room for firsts.”
“Right, right…” Ena huffed. “There’s a lot you’re throwing away by doing this. I mean, what would your parents think?”
“They’re fine with it.” The words came out bitter. They were fine with everything she did. Goodness knows that if Mao or Iroha decided to do something like this… “They want me to be happy.”
“What about everyone else?”
“My story doesn’t affect anyone else’s.” Ichika shrugged. “Not anyone here.”
“Your prince?” Ena suggested. “Your sisters?”
“Haven’t even met him. And honestly, I think my sisters would be happy that I’m not turning them into statues.”
She tried to hide the shaking in her hands. It started happening every time she mentioned or thought about her sisters, as if their very existence made her nervous, or question herself.
“…Hmph.” Ena titled her chin up in that same way Ichika’s mother did when she was annoyed. “Fine, then. If you’re so convinced that this is the right thing to do, then be my guest, Princess Ichika Beauty.”
Ichika didn’t respond to her, much to Ena’s dismay. “You can’t be everyone’s perfect princess forever—not if you act like this!” She said louder, as if that would bother Ichika.
“Well, then, the same goes to you.”
”Me? I’m not the one encouraging the destruction of everything we’ve known!”
“I didn’t encourage anything, I just stated my opinion. If everyone else agrees with me, well…maybe that says something.”
“Indeed,” Ena hissed. “It says that you’re—you’re manipulative, is what you are.”
“Hm? That’s a new one.”
“Well, it’s true!” Ena insisted. “The way everyone follows you around and is convinced every choice you make is nobleand honorable and—oh, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve had someone cast spells on you so you can forever be this perfect angel that never does anything wrong. You enjoy all this attention, don’t you? All the trouble you’re causing—!”
Ichika stood up, slamming her notebook shut loudly, causing Ena to jump back a bit.
She swore for a moment—just a moment—that Ichika’s pupils turned to slits and her teeth were sharper than usual, but it went away as quickly as it appeared.
“…We’re done here.” Ichika told her, voice low and final, before speeding out of the library. She hiccuped, vision blurring as she desperately tried to make it back to her dorm.
You enjoy all this attention, don’t you? All the trouble you’re causing—!
How wrong Ena had been. If only she knew how desperate Ichika was to change something—anything—about her life. This curse, this perfection, had already cost her so much, more than someone like Ena would ever understand, because Ena chased the perfection Ichika wanted to get rid of so badly.
She’d throw all of it right into Ena’s arms if she could, because she most certainly didn’t want it.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she slammed right into someone without realizing it.
“Ow—“ She sniffled, rubbing at her eyes. “I’m—sorry, I—“
“Don’t worry about it. Are you alright?”
Firm hands pressed her notebook back into her palms, and she looked up slowly.
Oh my godmother, she’s so pretty.
“…Uh.” Ichika stamered, feeling her face grow hot. “Uhm.”
The hooded girl titled her head, narrowing her (really, really pretty) green eyes—confused, and slightly judgmental. A first.
“I’m fine.” Ichika managed after an agonizing minute.
“If you say so…” The girl stood, and before Ichika could say anything else, she ran off.
Ichika couldn’t help but watch.
I start my Legacy Year next week. I’m so…not hexcited.
I’m not going to sign, I’ve decided. I’m going to stick with what I said, that forcing others into their stories is wrong, even if I have no problem with my own. Of course, I do, but I don’t want to talk about it. They’ll paint Iroha and Mao as villains somehow, for making me upset and questioning my story, or whatever.
I wonder how they’re doing? My hands are shaking as I write this, but at times like this, I can’t help but think about them. I know Iroha signed last year—she probably felt like she didn’t have a choice. Or, knowing her, she probably didn’t want Mao to go through with our story alone. But…I don’t know. She looked so sad. I mean, I can’t blame her, her destiny is terrible. But maybe this way she won’t have to do it anymore. After all, if I’m not in the story, it can’t happen, right?
Still, she didn’t come see me afterwords, or before when she arrived. I mean, I know everything was crazy after, when Mafuyu and Ena fought, but…does she still hate me that much not even try to find me?
In any case, I don’t want to go back to school. Move-in-day is tomorrow, and I don’t want everyone crowding me. I’ll have Saki, I guess, but it’s not like that’ll make the crowd better…I hope we’re roommates again. It was what kept me sane last year.
Oh, and that pretty girl I ran into. Shiho Hood. I hope I have at least one class with her. I mean, I know it’s unlikely, but I just want to look at her. I don’t know much about her yet, but she doesn’t seem terrible. Looks don’t deceive me, after all. Secretive, but kind. Thats what I’m getting, anyway. She’s so beautiful…ah, my heart is pounding just thinking about it. I wanna know more about her, but that’s if I can catch her. She’s so fast, she always disappears right after you see her. Is she shy, does she just hate people? Either way, that probably means she won’t be around me…because everyone is around me.
I’m seriously convinced there’s some sort of magical reason why everyone refuses to leave me alone. Can Honami reverse it? She’s getting better at fairy magic, maybe she can help. But I wouldn’t want to ask that of her, everyone else is always bombarding her with fairy-glam requests, she doesn’t need me doing it, too. She works too hard, really. I don’t think Ena will help, either. She’s always encouraging people to go to her because it’s Honami’s destiny to be a fairy godmother and she “must be able to perform her duties.” The nerve…
On the other slipper, they might put me in a room with An. Which, I guess wouldn’t be awful, but I’m not sure if either of us could stand it. I mean, I love her, but I just don’t know if…she still feels that way about me, even a little. Does she even remember what she said? Probably not…I hope she rooms with Kohane again. They seem to really like each other, which is good. I want An to be happy.
I should finish packing. I’ll probably have so much to write about tomorrow. Goodnight.
—Ichika.
Beauty stood outside Ichika’s door, like Ichika had stood outside Iroha’s so many times. Even know, the queen still caught her youngest standing there, as if she could still hear voices inside. Like the girls had never left.
Like Beauty hadn’t driven them away.
She shook her head. It was for the best, in the end. I had a duty to fulfill, as Ichika’s mother. To make sure she never ended up like me…
The statues outside her palace that she refused to look at. They’d be removed in a few years, when it was time for the statues of her daughters to take the places of her sisters. Ichika will be grateful, by then, for the enchantment Beauty had that fairy place on her. To be utterly perfect in the eyes of these that crave perfection. Or well, Beauty couldn’t remember the exact wording these days, but it worked. Everyone was obsessed with Ichika, loved her more than anything in the world—she would never be shamed the way her mother was.
Cold. Heartless. Killed her own sisters. The opposite of the perfect, kind youngest sister.
It wasn’t her, not really, it was the story! No matter how close they were, Beauty didn’t have a choice. She had to make that command, she had to…!
At least now, when Ichika did it, the world wouldn’t love her any less. Or, well, if she did it. This whole rebel thing had been terribly confusing, but Ichika stood firmly beside it, so Beauty and Beast let her continue on. Besides, at worst, it was just some odd phase the younger generation had come up with. Whether Ichika liked it or not, she would become the next Beauty—it wasn’t just written in the book. It was fated from the day Beauty had brought her into this earth. Forcing her to give up these ideals she had would only hurt her—it was better to let her be happy and watch things run its course.
And, as for Iroha and Mao, well…
Beauty shook her head. Ichika was her priority. The one she had to focus on. Mao and Iroha were plot devices, just like her own sisters were. What she should have referred to them as.
“Mom?”
“Hm?” Beauty blinked as the door opened. “Oh, Ichika.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to say goodnight.”
“Oh. Goodnight, then.”
“Can’t I hug you?” Beauty teased. “Or are you too grown up for those now?”
Ichika begrudgingly wrapped her arms around her mother, and let Beauty run her hands through her daughter’s hair.
“I love you, Ichika.” She whispered. “My perfect princess.”
“Mhm.” Ichika hesitated. “…Love you, too.” She quickly pulled away, disappearing back into her room.
Beauty stood there for a few more minutes before walking away.
Don’t worry, Ichika. Everything I’ve done has been for you, after all.