Twenty years later
Kathy woke up while it was still dark because she needed to get Athena's favorite flowers from the forest.Athena liked to smell them first thing after she woke up and each time Kathy delayed in bringing them, Athena would give her so many slaps across her face.She had noticed that Athena wasn't like that with everyone. She was the only one Athena always treated with so much anger and hatred.She didn't know why Athena hated her. She had once told her mother Meela that princess Athena was extremely mean to her but her mother had slapped her hard across the face and accused her of being jealous of the princess.In her own words, "a lowly and disgusting slave like you should feel lucky that you are at the princess's beck and call.So many people would die for the privilege of beholding the princess's beautiful face everyday but because you were born as an extremely ugly child, you cannot hide your jealousy for our noble princess."Sometimes she wondered if Meela was really her mother. She loved princess Athena so much that she could not bear to hear one evil word against her.Weren't mothers always supposed to take their children's sides? She just couldn't understand why her case was different.All other mothers she knew loved their children excessively but her mother always hit her for flimsy reasons. Perhaps it wasn't her mother's fault. Perhaps it was her fault for being so ugly.She felt this way because her mother was not the only one who hated her. The queen hated her and even the king did.All the servants in the palace, both male and female hated her as well. They all treated her very badly and looked down on her.She knew that she was born ugly but she didn't make herself that way. It wasn't her fault but everyone hated her for it.No one wanted to be her friend. No matter how many nice things she did for them, they always still found a reason to pick on her.There were times when she thought that dying was better than living but, she couldn't bring herself to end her life.What baffled her the most was the fact that princess Athena was very close with Meela, whereas, she who was actually Meela's daughter did not share such a relationship with her.It was also weird that the queen loved Meela so much and always spent time conversing with her. Every one obviously loved the mother and hated the daughter but Kathy did not understand why.Sometimes she would sit by a corner and watch as Meela showered the princess with love and adoration. If only one person in the kingdom could treat her like a human being, then she would be content and have no complaints.When she got ready to leave, she looked at her mother Meela who was still asleep and decided to wake her up.She did so because the last time she left without waking Meela up, Meela had kicked her so hard on her back and she hadn't yet recovered from the pain.As she tapped Meela, she said, "mother, I am going to get princess Athena's favorite flowers in the forest"Meela woke up from the bed and yawned as she stretched her arms. When she realized that Kathy had woken her up from sleep, she slapped her so hard that Kathy fell backwards.Kathy stood up and began to cry as she said, "when I left without waking you up yesterday, you were very angry and that was why I decided to wake you up today before leaving."Meela looked at her angrily and asked, "so what are you trying to say? Are you insinuating that I'm senseless?"Kathy shook her head and said, "no" but another slap landed on the same spot on her cheeks before Meela screamed, "get out of my sight, you ugly worthless slave."Kathy quickly ran out of the house while crying. She couldn't find a single person outside since it was still dark but she didn't have any choice.Nobody cared about her enough to worry that something could happen to her if she kept leaving the house when it was still dark.For as long as she could remember, she had always walked on eggshells around Meela. She had no idea how exactly to act because she always got beaten up regardless of what she did.She wiped her eyes as she slowly made her way into the forest. Most people claimed that the forest was dangerous and riddled with wild animals and rogues who preyed on innocent girls.She had once shared this worrying piece of information with Meela but Meela had told her that she was too ugly for any man to ever take an interest in her in such a way.Katherine had a feeling that princess Athena wanted her to get devoured by wild animals which was why she kept sending her to get flowers from the forest everyday.Each time she brought the flowers to princess Athena, all she did was smell them and throw them in the trash.Going to the forest and coming back took her approximately five hours but no one cared about her efforts. She had never gotten any form of appreciation from the princess but sometimes ended up being starved throughout the day.Just like other days, she silently prayed to go into the forest and come back unscathed because she took a huge risk each time she went into the forest.After walking for a very long time, Kathy finally arrived at the spot which housed all of the princess's favourite flowers.She plucked as much as she knew the princess always needed for the day but when she was going back home, she heard the voices of different men.She felt so afraid that she ran and hid herself by a tree. She began to sweat
The warrior Mason felt as if a bucket of cold water was splashed on his body and quickly broke away from Katherine. He moved backwards and stared at her in surprise especially since she was the ugliest girl he had ever seen.Kathy was completely flustered, she couldn't understand what had just happened to her and why she had allowed this strange warrior to get so close to her.She knew she was very ugly as everyone always told her that. Even Meela had told her many times that she would never get married and no man would ever desire her because she was the ugliest girl in the world.Mason stared at his friend Jackson without being able to utter a word. He really didn't know what had come over him. He didn't even act this way around beautiful girls so why would he kiss an ugly girl he met for the first time?Seeing the disgusting look Mason gave her suddenly made Kathy afraid. She had seen that look in the eyes of so many people and most times it always led to them spitting on her or ca
Damian stared at the flowers that had been ruined by Mason and asked Kathy, "are these the flowers that the princess likes?" Kathy nodded her head in reply. "Do not worry, I'll go get a new bunch for you, just wait right here," Damian offered. Kathy said "no, please let me come with you" but he said "don't worry, I'll go get it alone so it will be quicker. Didn't you say you don't have enough time?"Turning to Jackson, Damian said, "take good care of her and remember that if anything happens to her, the princess will hold you responsible." "Of course, I will take good care of her" Jackson replied and went to stand beside Kathy. He stared at Mason angrily and warned, "stay away from her because she is the maid of my princess."Mason shook his head and folded his arms as he stared at both Damian and Jackson whom he believed were being foolish.Damian hurried back into the forest to get the flowers and came back in less than ten minutes.He handed the bunch of fresh flowers to Kathy
Mason, Jackson, and Damien arrived at the palace and the first thing that caught their attention was Kathy who was standing under the sun in front of the palace. Jackson who was in front, barely paid Kathy any attention as his eyes caught a whiff of the princess who briefly looked out the window from her room to see the warriors.He hurried into the palace as the servants stood by the wide double doors, waiting for them to approach.Mason walked behind him, his attention was caught by the design of the palace. He smiled as he took in the beautiful surroundings but the smile on his face disappeared when he made eye contact with Kathy.Kathy quickly looked down, afraid that Mason was going to accuse her of being a witch or hurt her once again. He ignored her and followed behind Jackson as he approached the palace doors.Damian on the other hand gazed at Kathy with sympathy. He could see that she was sweating profusely and the look on her face convinced him that she was very uncomfortab
Jackson felt his heart break when he saw the way Mason stared at the princess. They were not even ashamed that everyone was staring at them. He had insisted that they came to the palace because he was dying to behold the princess's beauty but in the end, he had only done the job of a matchmaker.He suddenly lost interest in being in the palace. He wanted to be everywhere else but there, however, he knew that he couldn't just up and leave. Although all three of them were friends, Mason was their leader and called the shots.He taught them everything they knew about surviving on the battlefield since he was a naturally gifted warrior who was swift with weapons and unbeatable in a brawl from when he was a boy.What surprised Jackson the most was the reaction of the king and queen. They seemed to be pleased with what was going on between Mason and the princess. He became more surprised when the king said, "Athena, why don't you take Mason to your bedroom so you both can talk since he seem
As Athena stared at Mason from her room, she recalled the conversation she had shared with Meela when she clocked eighteen.Meela had told her the truth about her birth. In her exact words, "you are my true daughter, the one who sprang from me while Kathy is the queen's daughter. I swapped you both at birth after making a powerful witch place a curse on Kathy. The reason is that I want you to live the best life and I will do it all over again if given the chance."Athena had been quite shocked at the revelation. She had wanted to doubt Meela but couldn't do so because Meela had always shown her so much love and hated Kathy.There were times when she had wondered why Meela treated her own daughter so badly but after Meela told her everything, it made sense to her. She came to understand why Kathy was so ugly and why everyone hated her so much.Her hatred for Kathy also doubled because if Meela had not done what she did, Kathy would have been living the life of a princess and she would
Kathy stared at Damian in surprise. She had never thought of leaving the kingdom before but it was also true that she was fed up with the life she was living. She hoped for a better life and had always thought that someday someone will make her life better. Perhaps this was the time. Perhaps Damian was the answer to her prayers. She smiled happily at him, "I am willing to leave with you anywhere as long as it is better than living here. If I have to work hard on a farm or even as your maid, I am willing to do it. I just want to live as a human being. I want to live without being hated by everyone. "You will surely get the life that you want" Damian assured her. "I promise you, Kathy.What will happen is that I will leave alone first thing tomorrow. Since Mason and the princess have agreed to get married, we will be here for a while so, I'll go back home and get everything ready for you, and then I'll be back in two days. Once I'm back, I will secretly take you out of here without l
When Kathy went back home, she decided to get all her things ready for when Damian would arrive to take her. She didn't have much so it was very easy for her. In less than thirty minutes, she had arranged her bag and kept it where she could easily reach for it.She had just finished arranging her bag when a maid from the palace came to inform her that the princess needed her attention.Kathy suddenly had a bad feeling. She knew that the princess had so many maids who could work for her so if she had sent for her, it meant she wanted to torture her.She didn't dare to give any excuses so she quickly headed for the palace. The princess was with the king and queen and they were all laughing and celebrating.Kathy went in before the princess and stood by the side, waiting to get her order. When the princess saw her, she smiled. She seemed to be in a very good mood and Kathy felt relieved when she saw that.The princess threw the keys to her room at Kathy and said, "I want my room thorough