The door to the dining hall opened and Aurora walked in. Gone was the poor-quality dress she had worn when Henry first met her. Instead, she now wears a very expensive-looking princess dress with several gemstones embedded on the sleeves and skirt.
As soon as she walked in and glanced around, her eyes landed on Henry and they turned very wide. She ignored the servant who was about to whisper something in her ear and ran towards Henry.
"Henry! You're also here!?" She grabbed the chair beside him and sat, quickly engaging in a small conversation with Henry.
Meanwhile, King Stefan blinked several times in surprise before a happy yet malicious thought formed in his mind. He reeled it back in just as fast as it appeared and interrupted them with a clear 'Ehem'
Both Henry and Aurora snapped their attention at him in unison, their expressions looking as if they were offended by being interrupted.
King Stefan deliberately ignored this and asked, "It seems like you two know each other well?" He was hoping that the ship between his daughter and Henry had already sailed, though he was curious as to how they met, he was more concerned about whether there was a time for the two's feelings to blossom and perhaps, Henry would be able to lift Aurora's curse before her sixteenth birthday.
Instead of Henry, it was Aurora who answered, "Of course! Henry and I are good friends! Am I right Henry?" She nudged her elbow on Henry, her tone and face screaming nothing but genuineness.
'Huh, did I just get the offscreened version of friend zone? And here I thought she was already falling for my charms.' Henry couldn't help but unconsciously nod his head in confirmation.
Though he rubbed his chin after that. It might sound a bit weird but he's not used to something like this. Usually, all the girls he met, minus a few, would instantly be captivated by him, whether intentionally or not.
And now, here was Aurora, doing quite the opposite of what was supposed to happen. Yet honestly? Henry quite liked this fresh breath of air.
Unlike Henry and Aurora, King Stefan's face dropped, his brows frowned as he probed further, "That… sounds nice. How did the two of you meet? Feels like fate no? That's how I uh…met your mother, Aurora."
After that, there was silence in the room. It was awkward as Henry and Aurora both glanced at each other, as if sharing the same sentiment. It was only King Stefan who remained oblivious to this, even his servants were aware.
'Awkward…' Henry mentally whispered.
It only took more than a few seconds for King Stefan to register the sudden silence in the room, just right after speaking earlier, "…Anyways, since you two already know each other, that saves me the trouble of introducing the two of you."
With an obvious but strained smile, King Stefan gestured at the food on the table, "Let us eat then. We don't want the dishes getting cold now, do we?" The King took a spoonful of the soup in front of him and sipped.
Meanwhile, Aurora finally registered the fact that she turned out to be a princess all this time albeit destined to die on her sixteenth birthday. At first, she was scared. Her life was going great yesterday, everything was good and then all of a sudden, the truth was revealed to her and despite being resistant, she was dragged into the castle against her will, her real home, they say.
Perhaps, this is the reason why she got overly excited earlier when she saw Henry. It's like living in an unfamiliar world where everything is strange to her and all of a sudden, you see something that used to belong to your previous world, a normalcy that shines like a beacon of light in a room of darkness, whereas the darkness represents the unfamiliar world she was thrust into.
Though even now, whenever she looked at her supposed father, she felt a little bit of fear deep inside her. She has a deep feeling that there is something wrong with this father of hers, she couldn't tell what it is.
She's starting to miss the normal life she had before all this. Before she…fought her Fairy Godmother earlier before she got dragged here.
When her three aunts—who turned out to be little fairies who were tasked by her father to watch over her—revealed the truth of her identity along with her curse, followed by who unleashed the curse on her, she didn't know what came over her at that time. She didn't bother to listen to the rest of what they said to her as she simply left the cottage.
She rushed towards Maleficent's place and everything that happened next was a slight bit of a blur. She could only remember bits of it, such as a flash of anger, lashing out at Maleficent, and feeling an intense amount of emotion towards her.
Her face scrunched a little bit while recalling that. She's starting to regret it now. Perhaps, if she had given Maleficent the chance to explain her side, she wouldn't be in this situation.
Aurora glanced at Henry eating beside her. Well, at least she had a friend to accompany her in her final days. That's a little bit reassuring.
"Are you…surprised?" Aurora asked in a whisper, hoping her father wouldn't hear her and start another round of awkward side comments.
Henry gulped the last piece of meat in his mouth before replying, "If I'm gonna be honest with you. I had a suspicion. If you've heard more about me from others, you would know that I'm quite a bit of a magician myself. And meeting those three aunts of yours instantly triggered my suspicion. I'm sure you already know that they're little fairies."
Aurora nodded her head, "I know right. It just…never occurred to me that the aunts I've been living with throughout my entire life were…how do I say this? Magical I guess?"
They engaged in another set of discussions and thankfully this time, there was no King Stefan to make things awkward. The man simply finished his breakfast and waited for them to finish.
After seeing that their topic was finished, King Stefan took that as a cue and politely asked, "If the Prince doesn't mind. But may I please talk to you privately? In my study room."
Curious, Henry nodded in agreement. A small part of his mind had already assumed what the talk was going to be about.
"Please excuse us for a bit, Aurora." He wiped his mouth with a white towel and followed King Stefan out of the dining hall under the complicated gaze of Aurora. Leaving her and the servants who now tended to the table.
———
"What do you think of her? Aurora, my daughter."
As soon as they got inside the study room, King Stefan wasted no time and went straight to the point. A little bit blunt but admirable, especially for a King who was supposed to master the art of praising, indirectly establishing dominance, small talk to probe information, and all those things.
Henry crossed his arms and took a moment to reply, but instead of answering his question, he answered with a question of his own, "Why do you ask?"
King Stefan tapped his finger on the table, he doesn't know whether he should feel disrespected for having his question answered with another question but still, he answered truthfully, "I heard the Prince has not yet found a betrothed. I'm sure my daughter Aurora is the perfect princess for yo—"
Henry crossed his arms and interrupted him with a hard, "No."
"Pardon?" The King blinked.
"First of all, I haven't disclosed it yet to the public but I already promised myself to someone else. Second and last, did you even ask Aurora's permission for this or not?"
As soon as he heard his words, King Stefan's face quickly admitted to guilt.
"Seriously? First, you abandoned the girl to be taken care of by three air-headed fairies, and then forced her to come back here just because you said so. And now, without inquiring of her, you're marrying her off to someone she just met?"
'I mean, I know this is how Kings in this world move to secure their interests, but come on! Where's the sense of decency?'
Without waiting for the man to reply, Henry already turned around to leave, "I'll forget about what you just said, I won't tell Aurora what you just wanted to do behind her back."
Thud!
With the closing of the door, quite louder and harsher than before, King Stefan was left mulling over his actions. Or rather, mulling about the fact that he's been disrespected in front of his face the past few days by the very same person he talked to just now.
———
"That fool!" Maleficent's nostrils flared, the wind surrounding them picked up, and green flames flared on the tip of her wooden staff.
In front of her was Henry in an indian sit, mentally training his magical senses. It's one of those low-effort, high-reward kinds of training that Henry would sometimes do in his free time.
Although he told King Stefan that he won't tell Aurora, that doesn't extend to Maleficent. So he didn't lie to the man, he just withheld information.
Once Maleficent finally calmed down, she addressed why Henry came over.
"Alright. Let's start your magic training. Just a little more push and we can start delving into advanced dark magic."
———
Two days have passed and Henry's routine consists of several parts. He wakes up in the morning, eats, hangs out with Aurora, who turned out to be a surprisingly good friend to talk to, and finishes the rest of his day with his magic training with Maleficent.
During those days, King Stefan had been really quiet ever since their private talk in his study room. Instead, he would just sit or walk around, his eyes secretly watching Henry and Aurora's interaction with each other.
Perhaps deep inside, he was still hoping that Aurora's feelings for Henry would blossom from friendship to something more than friends. Too bad for him, he was hoping for something that would never come.
Meanwhile, Aurora finally opened up to Henry. She told him about her fight with Maleficent, how she lashed out at her fairy godmother, and her deep regret about it.
Thankfully, Henry knows just how to handle this kind of situation.
He told Maleficent the next time he saw her. Word by word, he relayed what Aurora told him.
She told him to keep quiet about it, not to tell Aurora that he told her. Perhaps she was just afraid that Henry breaking her trust would make her less likely to fall for Henry.
'Well, it's too late for that. Cause from the looks of it, Aurora…doesn't swing the right way.' Of course, he didn't tell these findings to Maleficent.
How would Maleficent react once she learns that the girl she's been taking care of and hoping to find her true love, turned out to be a lesbian all along?
'Perhaps all the years she spent holed up with her three aunties and only meeting her Fairy Godmother had made her develop a different sense of…taste.' That was the conclusion that Henry came up with.
But still, this works just fine for Henry. He didn't come here looking for another damsel to fall for his looks, but rather to train and learn more about magic.
Speaking of magic, his process to it was, suffice to say, a mix of progress and a little bit of psychological mess.
It was when Henry was developing his self-created anti-dark magic spell that would cleanse his spirit from any stains or leftovers from casting dark magic when Maleficent approached him all of a sudden with a question.
"If you were given the chance to go back in time to fix your mistakes in exchange for the experience you gained out of it, would you do it?"