The Groom From The Fairy Tale Land

"Let's break up,"

"What? W-what do you mean?" Grace stammered. A cold sweat started rolling down her back.

"I want to end this relationship," Victor said.

"B-but we've only been dating for two months. Why do you want to break up? What did I do wrong?" The girl asked, almost crying.

"I realized that I've been feeling uncomfortable with you." The boy with thin lips let out a long sigh. "I don't know about you, but I really want to break up. Please don't bother me anymore. Live well. Goodbye,"

Grace was stunned as she watched Victor walk away, leaving her alone in the cafe near their campus. Victor Sbastian; her first love, whom she had a crush on for six years - since high school.

Tears trickled down Grace's cheeks. Her chest felt tight, as if she were drowning in the deepest sea on earth. She cried alone, like a stupid girl.

Arriving home, Grace was pensive in her room. It was raining heavily outside, just to add more gloom to the atmosphere.

Suddenly, a notification sound came out of her phone. Grace opened it and found a new message in her chat group consisting of her and her two best friends, Bella and Sarah.

'Grace! This is awful! Did you know that the asshole Victor has been fooling you all this time?!' - Bella.

*Bella sent a screenshot of the chat group between Victor and his male friends:

---

'I've just broken up with her.' -Victor.

'Wow, wow... Are you serious? Then, how did she react?' -James.

'Of course she cried; what else? Haha! All my assignments are finished. Why would I waste any more time with her?' -Victor.

'You're so mean, Vic! HAHA! Then, have you slept with her?' -James.

'Nope. She has been playing bitch with me; keeping her stupid prestige or something. On top of that, I don't want to sleep with an ugly like her either. She made me want to puke just by seeing her face.' -Victor.

'Ha ha ha! You are a real jerk, man! I will learn from you more often. HA HA HA!' -James.

---

'Don't mind that bastard, Grace. If you feel unwell, you don't have to come to campus tomorrow. I will take care of your absence.' -Sarah

'I'm fine, girls. Thank you for cheering me up. But I think it's true; I won't come tomorrow. I need some time alone.' -Grace.

'Sure, Grace. Calm yourself. If you need anything, don't hold yourself to calling me,' -Sarah.

'I won't! Thanks, girls!' -Grace.

---

"Ugh!!" Throwing her face on the pillow, Grace cried even more.

"Why am I so stupid...?" She said.

Grace Menken was a twenty-year-old art student at Torbern City's largest university. She was a skilled painter but also the top fool for love.

Since high school, Grace had liked Victor, a popular, good-looking guy in her class. Even though Victor was rumored to be a playboy, she always closed her eyes and ears.

During that time, Grace had always been kind and helped Victor sincerely out of her feelings of love. Victor, who realized from the start that she had a crush on him, deliberately took advantage of her. He often asked her to help him with assignments and other things.

After graduating from high school, many of the students in Grace's school entered the same university, including her two best friends and, of course, Victor.

As time passed, Grace had transformed into being a little good-looking, and Victor realized that. However, both Grace and Victor had a lot of assignments, so Grace began to look away from Victor.

That was when the man got the idea to date Grace so he could use her again. And like a fool, the innocent Grace fell into Victor's trap without hesitancy.

And this is it ... A girl was wailing in her room, accompanied by the roar of lightning striking outside the window. Not only Victor, but she always got the same treatment from other men. They only dated her to take advantage of her kindness, then ended up cheating and dumping her.

Grace's face was swollen and pale. She didn't mean to be this weak and stupid. But she was a lonely girl since she lost both of her parents when she was little. She survived on the savings and insurance they had prepared for her. But two years ago, her grandmother died, so she now had to live alone.

The more Grace pondered, the more she lost herself in her sorrow. This was a situation when the devil would take action. A thought came to Grace's mind.

"There's no point in me living in this world anymore. I'm worthless and all alone," She muttered.

She looked at her pathetic reflection in the mirror. "Maybe in the next life, I will be happier."

***

Morning dawned. The remnants of last night's rainstorm made the roads wet and the air cold. Grace didn't sleep all night. Now she looked like a mummy who had been resurrected by magic.

The throbbing pain was still clearly felt in Grace's chest. Her heart was completely broken, and her pride was tarnished.

"The most uncomfortable thing is when you realize all your stupidity and regret it," Grace muttered to herself.

She opened the wardrobe and took out her favorite sky blue mini dress. Then she went to the bathroom and washed her face before perching in front of the dressing table to dress up.

After that, she went to the warehouse and took a two-meter-long rope.

'I don't have anything left. Maybe I will feel a little pain, but then I will wake up to a different life. Thank you, Sarah and Bella, my best friends. If it wasn't for you both, maybe I would have chosen to leave a long time ago. But now, there is nothing I can fight for anymore. Goodbye, girls. Don't cry over me. - Grace'

The girl put her last message on the refrigerator door. She didn't want to cry because she was afraid of ruining her makeup. She wanted to die beautifully.

It was still early in the morning, and Grace drove her white car to a place quite far from her apartment. Near the beach, there was an abandoned mansion. Previously, the mansion was occupied by an old husband-and-wife couple until they died without heirs. The mansion ended up just sitting there until it was slowly damaged by time.

The rumor said the mansion was haunted and the couple were actually witches. Some said they performed demonic rituals there. Because of that, no one dared to enter the mansion.

However, Grace was not afraid of ghosts because the reality of life was scarier than ghosts. For Grace, her life was the scariest horror show that always made her have trouble sleeping and have nightmares.

All this time, Grace thought the mansion was lovely. Its location close to a quiet beach made it look peaceful. Therefore, she chose it to witness her leaving this mortal world.

Grace parked her car in front of the mansion. Then she stepped in with a rope in her hand and a broken heart.

With a little force, Grace managed to open the mansion's door and go inside. There, she was amazed by the beauty of its architecture. As an artist, Grace could tell how stunning the mansion was and how high the artistic value was.

However, the mansion's condition was poor; many roofs collapsed and wooden floors were damaged. The windows were also broken. Dry leaves, dust, and cobwebs were seen everywhere.

Suddenly, Grace wanted to explore the mansion out of curiosity. She might find the most beautiful room to be the place where she ended her life. Then, her pair of brown eyes spotted a magnificent staircase in the middle of the grand entrance.

'Let's see what the second floor has,' She thought.

Then Grace stepped on the wooden stairs slowly, just to hear the creaking sound. However, she paid no attention to it; She didn't care. All she wanted was to reach the second floor, and according to her, the stairs should be strong enough to support

her light body.

Grace continued to step into the middle of the stairs. Until ...

CRACK! BANG!

The last thing Grace remembered was that she fell down the stairs, and everything went dark.

'Maybe I'm dead. Well... it's not bad, though. I don't have to bear the sin of committing suicide, right?' Grace

thought, holding the pain all over her body. 'Soon ... I'll leave. Yes, very soon ...'

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Grace's brow furrowed. 'What's that?'

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The knocking sound was heard again and continued on repeat. It grew louder and impatient.

Grace opened her eyes. Blurry, she saw wooden boards scattered on the floor and sunlight filtering through the cracks in the broken walls that were enough to reach the dark room.

Grace groaned as she tried to get up from his prone position. "Ouch... God..."

It turned out that Grace was not dead. She could stand up, but it looked like her ankle was sprained or even broken. She looked around and found herself in a strange room that looked like an old basement.

Grace's whole body was dirty because the floor was muddy after the heavy rain last night. Grace looked up and saw a big hole through the roof and the stairs.

'I actually fell from there? That high, but still alive? It looks like God is playing with me for real,' She thought.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The knock came again, and Grace realized that it came from a door. It seemed like the person behind it was so desperate that he knocked that fast and hard.

'Maybe it's someone who heard the sound of me falling just now,' Grace assumed. However, the wall that the door was attached to didn't seem to lead outside. Maybe there was another room behind it.

"Could it be someone's trapped inside? Is she being kidnapped?" She muttered to herself.

The knocking came again. Without thinking any further, Grace opened the door.

Then, something hit her so hard that she fell on her buttocks. Her head, which was still aching from falling earlier, was getting worse, which made her vision blurry again.

In the haziness, Grace saw the person who hit her. It was a tall, dashing man in ivory clothes decorated with shiny golden accents. The man was closing the door in a hurry.

"My apologies for bumping you, Ms. I've been chased by a pack of monster wolves. Are you okay?" The man politely extended his hand.

Grace was flabbergasted. Once her vision was clear, she wondered whether she had survived the accident or was actually in heaven now.

A pair of sharp and deep eyes, a perfect-angle nose, and cherry, plump lips-all framed in a firm facial structure and thick, shiny brown hair. His crystal-blue irises twinkled amidst the darkness. Was there any man as handsome as him on this earth? He must be an angel!

"Ms, we have to leave this place immediately. I have to find a way to get back to the palace. My wedding ceremony will start in a few hours." The man said.

"W-what?" Grace hung her jaw down.

"We shall leave now. Seeing the fragile condition of this place, the wolves may break in. - Or at least, we should hide upstairs." The man looked up to find that the ceiling had collapsed. However, he was sure that upstairs was a safer place than this muddy room.

"W-wolves?" Grace repeated.

'For God's sake! How could there be wolves in this area? Is he an actor or something?' She thought.

"Yes. They are monster-sized wolves. Let us move now." He helped Grace stand up.

However, Grace grimaced in pain while holding her ankle, which felt much more painful because she had fallen again when she was hit by the man.

"Oh, are you hurt?" The man looked at Grace's bleeding foot. He thought he didn't hit her that hard to cause such damage.

"It-it seems so ... I was going to call an ambulance, but I think I lost my phone. Can you help me call the ambulance, please?" Grace asked.

The man's brow furrowed. He didn't understand what the girl was talking about. Moreover, her way of speaking was rather disrespectful towards the crown prince of this kingdom. The way she dressed was also strange; even the brothel workers didn't wear such revealing clothes.

"Eum... Are you listening?" Grace brought the man out of his reverie.

"I beg your pardon, but I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about, Ms. Incidentally, I didn't expect the condition inside your house to be dilapidated like this. It looked well-built and nice from the outside."

"This isn't my house. What are you talking about? This house looks ugly from the outside too." Grace shook her head, then pointed to the door in front of them. "Ok, so you mean this door is the exit?"

The man nodded. "It is the way out, but there's a pack of wolves out there. Therefore, we should at least go to the second floor to hide. Do you understand?" He pointed upwards, starting to get impatient with the situation.

"No. There can't be any wolves here. We're not in the forest, sir," Grace answered.

'He seems to be crazy. He keeps talking nonsense like a drunk man.' She thought.

"Aren't you aware of the way you speak to me? Sir? Don't you recognize me? As this kingdom's people, you should be ashamed of being impudent to your future king. For this one, I forgive you. But after this, I won't be lenient anymore. You will get a punishment according to the royal law." The man firmly said.

"What?" Grace stupefied. This angelic-faced guy indeed had a mental illness.

'Okay. I don't care about this crazy guy. The most important thing now is that I have to get out of this place. I'm afraid he will do something bad to me. His brain must be damaged!' Grace thought.

"O-okay." She nodded. Then she pointed to the door that the crazy man had used to enter. "This really is the way out, isn't it?"

The man nodded. "Yes. That's the door leading to the forest."

Grace smiled wryly. What forest? This mansion was located in the coastal area of the city, where there was no forest at all.

Then Grace took a glance at the man before stepping fast and pulling the door open.

"Hey! Are you insane!?" The man snapped. However, he stopped, and his body froze, just like the impudent girl, who was also stunned as if she had just seen Medusa's eyes.

Grace turned her head to look at the man who kept talking nonsense. Her feeble hand pointed at what was behind the open door, trying to confirm to him that he also witnessed the same thing.

They couldn't believe what they saw. Behind the door was only a brick wall. Yes, it was the wall that the door was attached to. There was no room, let alone a forest. It looked like a joke door.

"H-how is that possible?" Grace muttered, touching the brick wall.

"What happened? Why is there suddenly a wall here?!" The man did the same.

The two of them pushed against the wall and even tried to knock on it just to confirm that it was a real wall – A strong one.

Grace didn't understand. She saw with her naked eyes that the man came out of that door. Even though her vision was blurry, she was sane enough to see him come in through it. It was the door that was knocked on from the outside!

"You!" The strange man pointed at Grace, glaring into her eyes. "You are a witch, aren't you?!"

"What?! Excuse me, sir, but how could I be a witch?!" Grace replied. Then she placed her hands on her head. "Gosh, am I the one who's gone crazy? Did I hit my head and break some of my brain cells?" she muttered.

"You are so undignified. I will impose punishment on you and your family. There will be no mercy for you!" The man hissed.

Grace just stared at him in disbelief. However, she chose to ignore him instead and turned around to look for a way out.

"Hey! Where are you going?" The man followed her.

"Of course, get out of ... here," Grace answered. However, the pain of her injured ankle and leg made it impossible for her to walk.

The man looked at Grace from behind. He saw the girl's leg, which was covered with wounds that kept bleeding. 'If it's true that she is a witch, she should be able to heal her leg herself. But why didn't she do that? ... Should I help her?'

Grace couldn't take it anymore. Whenever she took a step, she felt as if her bones were shifting more and more, until she staggered out of balance. "Aa!"

Blinking her eyes several times, Grace found out that she didn't fall because someone was holding her body. It was that man. The weird man was holding her arm and waist.

Grace looked up just to collide her eyes with a pair of shining crystal blue beads in a shady and firm frame, as if that gaze bewitched her into a puppet.

"Your legs are badly injured. I will help you get out of here," The man's deep, baritone voice shook Grace's heart. She could only nod subconsciously.

The man scanned the room until his eyes found a rickety wooden door that was blocked by an old tea table. He let go of Grace slowly before approaching the door and pushing open the tea table. Then he smiled when he managed to open the door. "We have stairs here,"

Grace's eyebrows rose. "We do? That must be the way out!"

"All right. Let's go upstairs quickly," With a wide smile, the man approached Grace back. Then he realized that he shouldn't act this casually towards a stranger. He even still suspected her of being a witch.

The man looked at the soft face under his neck. Her pair of hazel brown eyes somehow seemed to hypnotize him for two seconds, even though they were in a room with minimal light. He blinked to regain consciousness.

"May I?" He asked for permission to carry the girl because he had to respect women and not carelessly touch them, whoever it was.

"It's okay," Grace murmured.

Even though the narrow stairs looked gloomy and dirty, they were the real way out of the basement. The stairs lead upstairs, through the kitchen, then into the mansion's grand entrance, where the main door was located.

"Oh... thank goodness! We're safe! That's the door to outside!" Grace pointed to a pair of large, closed doors that had intricate carvings. Sunlight penetrated through the cracks in the door.

"I'm not sure we can get out now. The wolves may have reached higher ground already. I lost my sword while fighting them, so it will be risky to protect both of us unarmored."

Grace cleared her throat. "The track up here is too difficult. There's no way they're already up." She gave a wry smile.

'How to deal with a crazy person is to pretend to be crazy.' She said to herself.

Then they stepped toward the door and opened it. The cold sea breeze blew hard, blowing Grace's long hair. Meanwhile, the man, who was still holding her, was now stunned into silence.

"That's my car. Boy, I just remembered I left my phone in it," Grace pointed to the car parked on the side of the street.

"W-wait a second!" The man refused to move.

Exhaled tiredly, Grace rolled her eyes and shook her head quietly. This was bad luck.

"This isn't right ... Where... is this place?" The man asked, half-mumbling while looking around. Slowly, he let go of Grace's arm.

"Sir, please wait. You have to calm down," Grace said slowly.

The man turned to Grace with a frown. "Where are we now? Where did you take me?"

"I didn't take you anywhere. We're in Torbern City. You have to calm down. I'll call for help, okay? Please trust me,"

The man looked deeply at Grace, into her hazel-brown eyes. For some reason, that made his anxiety slowly disappear.

"Very well," The man nodded while squeezing his nose bridge. "Please seek the fastest help. I have to return to the palace as soon as possible."

"S-sure. Don't worry," Grace answered. "Now, I ask you to help me walk to the car; can you? It's over there," she said, pointing at the car again.

"Car? That thing's called a car?"

Grace nodded with a thin, forced smile. "That's right. Please take me there. OK?"

With a frowning brow and eyes still screening around, the man led Grace towards a big, strange carriage called a car.

Arriving in front of the car door, Grace opened it and grabbed her cell phone, which had been left in the passenger seat. Immediately, she called an ambulance. She said that her ankle was broken and also informed them of her current location.

After hanging up the call, Grace glanced at the man who was still standing in front of her. He kept looking around him, as if he were a foreigner abandoned in a country he didn't know without a penny. However, one thing that Grace found obvious was that the man's beauty was beyond imagination.

"What are you doing? When will we get help? Why is this place so strange?" The man gave her a sharp look.