Daughter of Evil, The Dark Flower

“Onee-san, onee-san!”
“Hmm?” I asked the little girl whom I was tucking in to bed.
“Tell me that story again!” She said, bouncing on the mattress.
“Which one?”
“The one with the prince and the princess!” Her eyes were shining. I laughed.
“There are many stories with the prince and the princess, Ami,” I said patiently.
“Well, the one where the prince sacrifices his life for the princess,” she said, looking at me as if I should already know what she was talking about.
“Hmm… are you talking about the one with Allen and Rilliane?” I asked after some thought.
“Mhmm mhmm,” she replied, nodding quickly and eagerly.
“Allen’s not a prince, though,” I said as I ruffled her hair. I sat down on her bedside to begin the story.
“To me he is. He’s the prince I want to marry when I grow up! My knight in shiny armor!” She exclaimed.
“It’s shining,” I giggled.
“Same thing, same thing!” She responded, annoyed that I wasn’t starting the story. “Hurry and tell me Rin! I want to hear the story before I go asleep.”
“Okay, okay. First, lie down and let me straighten out your blankets. You rumpled them.” She quickly complied, and I began the story.
“A long, long time ago, in a far, far away land-”
“How long ago? How far away?” Ami interrupted.
“A long time. And very far. Are you going to let me start the story or are you going to keep interrupting?” I scolded. She giggled and looked at me expectantly. I sighed and started over.

“A long, long time ago, in a far, far away land, there was a princess of the age 14. She was very young, but very spoiled. She was used to having everything she wanted, and she enjoyed seeing others unhappy.”
“But why did she want that? I hate seeing my friends unhappy. I hate seeing Rin unhappy too.”
“The princess didn’t care much about others. The only one she cared about would be her servant, Allen. The princess, Rilliane, was only 10 when Allen first came to serve her.
Rilliane and Allen were children that were born on the same day. Their mothers were even best friends, and so were their fathers. The two also became the closest of friends. However, when they were still very young, a demon came and captured them at twilight.”
“When’s twilight?” Ami asked.
“Twilight is right before sunrise. That’s when all the monsters come out, which is why all the little kids are sleeping.” She shivered at the thought of a demon coming to take her away.
“Anyways, after they were captured, the demon split day and night between them. Rilliane was day and Allen was night. The demon said he was hungry, but he never ate the children. He just wanted to have a friend, because he was lonely in his dark cave. Rilliane would accompany him during the day, and Allen would accompany him during the night.
He really was hungry though, so Allen shared the brioche he had in his pocket with him.”
“What’s brioche?” Ami asked, once again.
“It’s a type of pastry….a very good one,” I replied, nostalgic. “Now will you stop interrupting?”
“After Allen shared his brioche, the demon told him a secret. If you wrote your wish in a glass bottle and threw it out to sea, then your wish will come true. Then, he let them go and told Allen to promise to tell the secret to Rilliane.
However, Allen was taken away from Rilliane because their fathers got into a feud. Rilliane’s father later became the king of the Yellow Country and Allen’s father was never heard from again.
Rilliane grew up spoiled and doted on by her father. After her father died, she ruled her country cruelly and made all the citizens suffer.
When she was 10, right after her father died, Allen came into her life. They looked remarkably alike, so many thought they were siblings, even though they weren’t. He was her best friend and the only person who was able to see her gentle side.
One day, Rilliane met the prince of the Blue Country, Kyle. Kyle was everything she thought a prince should be, handsome, gentle, loving, and rich. She thought it was love at first sight. She went with Allen on a journey to the Green Country, where Kyle was also headed.
There, Rilliane saw Kyle with a beautiful girl named Michaela from the Green Country. They were so happy together. Their smiles were so radiant. But Rilliane’s heart grew so dark. She was jealous and wanted the death of the girl.
Little did she know, Allen had fallen in love with Michaela. Not knowing this, she ordered the massacre of the whole Green Country. The peasants, already upset at the young princess’s style of ruling, were very, very angry at her action. Finally, they decided to rebel. The rebellion was led by Germaine, a daughter of a family that went bankrupt because of the princess, and Kyle, the man Rilliane had loved.
The battle was a close call. If reinforcements hadn’t arrived, then Rilliane would have never been overthrown. But in the end, they were able to topple the castle walls. Germaine saw the princess run to her throne, and there she stood, looking at the army with the same regal look she always wore. When Germaine took her away, the only thing she said was,
‘Why, what a rude person you are, pointing a sword at my throat,’ with a sneer.
What everyone didn’t know was that the princess that was captured was not Rilliane. It was Allen. They looked so alike that it was impossible to tell them apart. Allen had persuaded Rilliane to switch clothes with him and to escape. He went out to face the crowd.
On the day of his execution, a whole crowd was gathered around the guillotine. Rilliane, herself, was also there, with tears pouring down her face as she stared up at the confident face of Allen. Church bells began ringing, and Allen smiled. Then, he died.
Germaine and Kyle had also seen Rilliane in the crowd. They had already realized that the person they captured was Allen, but they had forgiven the princess, since Allen had already repented for her mistakes. Germaine sought her out and handed her a pocket watch, the last thing Allen was holding.
Rilliane was heart broken. She finally understood how she had sinned and felt a deep regret that was near unexplainable. She remembered the secret about the glass bottle that Allen had told her. She remembered how they had made a wish together a long time ago, and went back to that spot. She knelt in the water and cried and cried and cried, until at dawn, a girl found her.
This girl was named Clarise. She was a nun at a church and took Rilliane in. As they were near the same age, they became good friends. One day, she found Rilliane at the confession box deep in the night. There, she found out who Rilliane really was. The daughter of evil. A dark flower. And most of all, the person who had took her best friend, Michaela’s, life. That was when she decided that she will kill Rilliane. She came up to her and swung her knife upwards. However, she stopped herself. She somehow was able to forgive her in those couple of seconds, and from that day on, they became even closer friends.
Why had Clarise stop the knife? She remembered the first time she met Rilliane. It was like God sent her another friend to replace the one she lost. But what Clarise had always wondered was, who was that boy that was standing next to her at the sea side?” I finished the story and looked at Ami. She was sleeping sounding. As expected of her. I sighed and rearranged her bed sheets before heading for my own room.
“Did Ami make you tell a story again?” a voice asked. I turned around and saw Haku, my best friend.
“Yes she did, and she fell asleep halfway through the story again.” I replied wearily.
“Was it…..that story?” She prodded cautiously. I nodded. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” She continued. I nodded again. It’s been a very long time since that day. That day where I was supposed to die. But I didn’t. And he did.

-The Next Morning-
“Rin! Rin!” Ami called from the courtyard.
“Yes?” I asked.
“I had a dream about Allen yesterday!” She exclaimed, happily.
“Is that so? Come and tell me about it,” I led her to the tea room. “Please bring us some snacks,” I asked the servant that was waiting on us. “So, what was your dream about?”
“Allen was in this very dark place, and he was scared. I know he was scared. I could feel it. He was chained, but then he heard a voice. A beautiful singing voice. I heard it too. I almost cried when I heard it because it sounded so sad. The dark place suddenly had a light shining and he leaned towards it. Then, his chains broke and he was next to a tree,” she explained.
“That’s odd. How would you explain it?”
“I would say Allen came back to life after he died, because Rilliane regretted her actions so much. Add that to the story,” she demanded.
“I don’t think people can come back to life, Ami,” I said gently.
“But he did. This is a story, onee-san! It’s supposed to have a happy ending!” Rilliane argued.
“Ami- ” I was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come in!” I called. I turned back to Ami.
“Changing the story to a happy ending is fine, but I want you to remember that people cannot come back to life,” I told her sternly.
“How would you know Rin? Maybe they can.” I ignored her and looked at the plate the servant had brought in.
Brioche… I looked up and saw the person who brought it in for the first time. He smiled and said,
“Jou-sama, kyou no oyatsu wa…brioche dayo!”

女王様、今日のおやつはぶりおしぇだよ！
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Yeah... this was random :D I got confused with all the quotation marks. I'm aware that a novel has been out and a manga is out for this saga thingy, but I still wanted to write this. :D
Uhmm... I used the names from the novel for the "story" Rin's telling btw :D