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What sort of woman would do that—give up her life so easily, sacrificing her freedom for her father’s? The Beast wondered if he was capable of such a sacrifice. He wondered if he was capable of love.
The castle felt like a prison, and as large as it was, it confined him, choking the life out of him.
His terrible deeds were engraved on his face, and that sent a hollow, wretched feeling deep into his gut, sickening him.
You must love her and that love must be returned with true love’s kiss, before your twenty first birthday. She may use the mirror as you do, to see into the world beyond your kingdom, but she must never know the details of the curse or how it’s to be broken. You will notice she sees the castle and its enchantments differently than yourself. The most terrifying aspects of the curse are reserved for you.”
“Don’t forget, Beast, true love, both given and received, before the last petal falls.”
The only indication of what he had once been was his soulful blue eyes, which teemed with humanity.
It wasn’t ladylike to appear upset. Nanny said that far too often a woman unknowingly sabotaged herself when reproaching her husband for his misdeeds.
Your castle and its grounds shall also be cursed, then, and everyone within will be forced to share your burden. Nothing but horrors will surround you, from when you look into a mirror to when you sit in your beloved rose garden.
Women learned of the world through their fathers, their brothers, and, if they were lucky, their husbands. It didn’t seem quite fair.
Why did women insist on talking to cats as if they understood what they were saying? He could never grasp the concept.
It was true: everyone in the village thought she was queer for reading so much, and she didn’t exactly behave like other girls. So what if she was more interested in reading about princesses than being one herself? She felt thankful her father always gave her the freedom to express herself how she wished and live her life the way she thought was right. He allowed her to be herself. Not many young women had that freedom, and she was starting to understand what a rare and beautiful life she had been living until recently.
Perhaps this, right here, was his punishment: never knowing what it was to love.
To die, one must have first been alive. And the Beast could finally say that by finding love, he had lived.
