Unedited hhhh… Once again I apologise to my editor that has to deal with my procrastination… orz
Edit: F ME I FORGOT THE WARNINGS
WARNINGS FOR CREEPINESS AND IMPLIED GORE (not that you guys reading this arc aren’t used to it already)
Also, now edited.
‘Rolling in his grave’ wasn’t enough to describe even a fraction of the anger Shan Ziwei felt. He even ignored the hand that was touching him lightly, and instead grabbed the bars and wailed, “Do you know what you’re doing?”
He understood why Snow White would go after her “step mother”, but what the hell was happening here with Donkeyskin!?
Faced with Shan Ziwei’s question, the princess’ eyelashes trembled, the small broken bits of her gaze clinging onto him.
“I know,” she murmured. “But this is the only way to stop you from abandoning me.”
“Why would I abandon you?!” Shan Ziwei cried out, feeling falsely accused. “Aren’t I in the midst of taking you away from here?!”
“Then, what about after we leave here?”
The princess’ quiet, almost casual question had the words dying in Shan Ziwei’s throat. His eyes went wide, staring at the almost broken smile the princess gave him.
“After getting us out of here, you’ll leave, right? Just like before, leaving me again and again and again.”
The princess bowed her head, her smile widening as if mocking her own naivety.
“But what I want is forever.”
Forever? Forever what? Forever… together?
“Why…….?” The question slipped out of Shan Ziwei.
His question had been said unthinkingly, but it seemed to have lit up a barrel of dynamite. The princess’ hand flinched away like she had been burned and her face exploded in a blush, as if a dreamy, rosy tint had seeped into the atmosphere around them, an aroma that made one’s heart race.
Thud, thud.
Shan Ziwei heard a rather rapid heartbeat that he was pretty sure came from the princess. It brought his heart rate up as well. Shan Ziwei realised something was wrong, and was about to speak up to disperse this weird atmosphere, but he saw the princess look at him unblinkingly. Her face was still red and her eyes were resolute.
“Because I-I love you.”
The beautiful young lady gripped the bars, staring deeply at the person inside the cage, as if the tiny cage contained her entire world. Her voice trembled just slightly, tripping up because of shyness born of inexperience the first time, but filled with naught but deep adoration the second time.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“I love you, Godmother.”
…….ktja?
Ktlr rfcafcmf kjr rb jyregv atja Vtjc Ilkfl bcis gfmbuclrfv atf kbgvr yea vlvc’a gfulrafg atf wfjclcu. Ds atf alwf tlr ygjlc mjeuta eq, wemt ab tlr fwbalbcji vlragfrr, atf tsqfgrfzeji mbeiv qgjmalmjiis tfjg tlr tfjgayfja rabq.
“Tbe…s-s-s-sbe kts…tbk vlv sbe ojii lc…” Vtjc Ilkfl mbeivc’a jgalmeijaf atja afggloslcu kbgv, “…klat wf?”
The princess’ face turned an even brighter red, and the atmosphere around them thickened sweetly, like it was one step away from oozing honey. Her gaze drifted shyly, the corner of her eyes going a glistening, teary pink. Which was at once cute and also sensual.
“It was love at first sight.”
Love at first sight.
Love at. First sight.
This reason was so full of openings that he didn’t know how to start taking it apart. Shan Ziwei had a million rebuttals against that absurd confession, but when this unreasonable excuse was put on the table, it destroyed all his possible counterattacks.
“How could you…fall in love with me at first sight…” Shan Ziwei mumbled to himself as if his soul had left his body. “That shouldn’t happen…”
Even if it were love at first sight, the princess should’ve fallen for the prince, not the passerby magician — that was the ultimate truth of Fairy Tales.
Drip.
The sound of dripping water plucked at Shan Ziwei’s tightly drawn nerves. He came out of his stupor, disoriented, and the scene he saw had his mind and heart shaking.
The princess was… crying.
Transparent teardrops slid down the girl’s face, like nighttime raindrops falling on dark jade. No matter how much that liquid glistened and shone, it couldn’t wash away the darkness in her eyes. Shan Ziwei’s unwillingness to face reality was far too obvious just now. The blush on the princess’ face was washed away by her tears. She gripped the cold iron bars, resting her head against the cage as if she couldn’t hold it up any longer, like a dying black butterfly, its wings drooping.
“It… shouldn’t…?” Even though her face was covered in tears, the princess was still smiling with a startling and heart wrenching beauty. “If you didn’t want me to fall in love with you, then you shouldn’t have come after me, you shouldn’t have… let me see you.”
Seeing a girl crying in front of him, Shan Ziwei panicked. He really couldn’t stand it when girls cried, so he apologized without even caring or thinking it through. “I’m sorry——”
“It’s too late.” Tears hung like shattered diamonds from the princess’ eyelashes, and she closed her eyes as if feeling a heavy weight. “It’s already too late.”
With a deep sigh, the shattered diamonds fell and the princess’ eyelids fluttered slowly. And just like that, Shan Ziwei’s gaze completely collided with that pure black gaze.
“I’ve already seen you.”
——ALl it took was a single look, and you became my reason to live.
Shan Ziwei stared blankly at his reflection in the princess’ eyes. Her eyes were pitch black, completely pure in colour, and there was nothing but him reflected in them. His reflection was so lonely inside there, as if he really was the same — all alone without a single person beside him, only with the darkness to embrace him.
Shan Ziwei shuddered, struggling out of that strange thought.
“Are you very cold?”
The princess frowned in concern. She wiped away her tears and stood, heading out. “I’ll bring you a fire pit.”
Shan Ziwei’s brain still felt numb and swollen. The princess’ confession had really shook him and now that the source of that shock had left, his brain finally began to belatedly process all the information around him. He raised his head, looking at the very close roof of the cage. He was locked inside a middle sized animal cage, of course, by ‘mid sized’ it was relative to animals. Shan Ziwei wasn’t even able to stand straight in here, and just sitting had his head almost touching the roof.
The princess had locked him up like a pet, no, not even a pet. He was probably more like some sort of disobedient beast.
Shan Ziwei crawled forwards a little and looked around. This was most likely a basement in the castle, with grey stone walls and no windows. Torches were the only thing that lit the room and there were quite a few odds and ends stacked here. Shan Ziwei saw that dress that was as beautiful as the sky, draped on a humanoid clothes hanger. He could vaguely see a similar human-shaped silhouette behind it, but before Shan Ziwei could get a clearer look, the princess returned with a fire pit.
Shan Ziwei hadn’t expected the princess to return so quickly. It hadn’t even taken a minute. It was like the fire pit was just outside, and she just went out and moved it in.
Seeing Shan Ziwei facing the dress, the princess put down the fire pit and went over.
“Ah, I almost forgot.” She pushed aside the hanger with the dress the colour of the sky and dragged that human-shaped silhouette over towards Shan Ziwei.
The shadows were chased off of the human-shaped silhouette. Shan Ziwei stared at it unblinkingly. First he was a little confused and anxious, but when he realised what it was, his pupils dilated in terror.
“Look, Godmother.” The black-haired young lady smiled shyly. “This is the ‘donkey skin’ that you advised me to ask for.”
“Isn’t that that……..the king……” Shan Ziwei’s voice trembled. He didn’t want to look at that horrific item, but he couldn’t remove his gaze. What was next to the princess was a hyper realistic wax model of the king. It’s hair and skin looked soft, almost like it was a real, living person. The reason Shan Ziwei knew it was made of wax was because there was a tear on the skin of the left cheek of the statue, revealing the paper white wax underneath.
When he saw the tear on the left cheek, Shan Ziwei had even thought it was blood and flesh underneath, because it was far too realistic.
——Why was it so realistic?
Staring at the tear, Shan Ziwei practically whimpered as he finished his sentence, “…….’s skin……?”
——Because it was made from the king’s skin.
“That’s right, this is his Majesty, my father’s skin.” The princess cocked her head, a little confused at Shan Ziwei’s reaction. “Rumor has it, our kingdom has a ‘donkey’ that can bring us riches. It’s a metaphor for my father, the king.”
Shan Ziwei opened and closed his mouth, speechless. This crazy, senseless plot progression had broken him. Seeing Shan Ziwei staring at the left cheek of the statue silently, the princess misunderstood, covering the area in embarrassment.
“It was my first time skinning something, so I was quite inexperienced.” Her gaze was fixed intensely on Shan Ziwei, “I definitely won’t make the same mistake when it comes to you, Godmother.”
It was like someone had whacked Shan Ziwei over his already muddled head. He stared at the beautiful girl outside the cage in disbelief, feeling like he had never truly understood the creature known as a “princess”.
“You…you want to turn me into…that?”
The princess’ gaze followed Shan Ziwei’s pointed finger to look at her “father”, her blood-red lips curving with obsession.
“That’s right .”
She reached out, tidying the clothes of the wax statue, innocent and naive like a little girl playing pretend.
“I like father when he’s like this. He won’t ever force me or make me sad again. You too. Only death will make you obedient to me.”
The princess slowly walked up to the cage, her skirts swishing with maniacal joy. She leaned down against the cage as if embracing it, her dark hair cascading to form a fence of despair.
“I love you, Godmother, from the very first time I saw you, I fell in love with you.”
Words of affection formed from deep, dark emotions slithered into Shan Ziwei’s ears as if trying to melt through them. Shan Ziwei mechanically raised his head, staring into the princess’ gaze with wide eyes.
“I know that this is wrong.”
The flash of silver from light glinting off a blade grew larger and larger in his eyes. That person’s delicate, fragile voice began to tremble from fear, or perhaps, excitement.
“But…I can’t endure it anymore…”
Shan Ziwei kicked the door open, his expression was dark. He flapped his wings and charged into the mercury barrier, leaving the basement that looked like it had been soaked in blood.
…Then he rolled out of the door and almost barreled into the sleeping Princess Rose.
Shan Ziwei quickly stabilized his body just a step away from the young lady’s beautiful face. Her eyes were closed ever so quietly in sleep, her brows a peaceful arc, as if she were only taking a small nap after eating her fill. However, the devil’s thorn that had grown around them like crazy and the tattered, worn sheets made it clear that she had been asleep for far longer than a single afternoon.
After all, a hundred years had gone by already.
Seeing that face that had left scars on his mind, Shan Ziwei felt like he was about to explode. After experiencing Snow White’s blood draining and Donkeyskin’s skinning, he felt like Rose was up next to debone him!
Holy crap, was this some sort of “Concentration 64” game between princesses!? Snow White picked a method of death for him to experience, then passed it onto Donkeyskin; Donkeyskin picked a method of death for Shan Ziwei to experience then passed it onto Rose… There had to be something going on here!
His tumultuous emotions had Shan Ziwei reaching out, grabbing the collar of Princess Rose’s clothes and yanking——
What he saw was skin so pale that it was practically translucent, tempting and alluring like high quality white jade. Shan Ziwei’s gaze was stuck there, not out of perversion or anything like that, but complete and utter shock.
The smooth, but flat chest that was revealed told the witch that…
Though they were stunningly beautiful in appearance, the princesses he met were, in reality, all male.
Rinrin: yes, Shanzi, you’ve finally understood where it all went wrong. This was a play between crossdressers. And you’ve been checkmated.
Joui: Hahahaha, F for Shanzi
Pft Hahaha why do I feel like laughing in his misery 😂😂
But seriously that doesn’t have to go through that again or it would be just to traumatising for him but 😂
In this moment, Let us all silently pray for Shanzi…. RIP😌 May your soul rest in peace..
praying +1
+1
+1
LMAO when he thinks it couldn’t get any worse X”D
Thanks for your great translation!
Holy s—, that was a scary chapter.
Ah he’s a bit too late in the realisation… good luck!
Thanks for the chapter! 💕
Well… he finally realized it.
But I feel so bad for him… 100 years? Wut?!
Anyways, thank you so much for the chapter!❤
I’m surprised he didn’t need a psychologist after seeing a human skinning in fron of him…
wow Donkeyskin has a “facebook” so early in her life ……
bets on what Princess Rose’s kinky play will be?
thank you for the chapter!
+1 F for Shanzi 😆
Thank you for the chapter!~ ꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡
Oh, what a disaster! Three yanderes!
lolz so that’s what it was. I was quite wondering what was up with the penalty of the key, I was thinking since the witch was a female’s role since he was a man it would be the opposite gender XD
Poor Shanzi, completely head f’d 😵💫