My sisters and I...
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We are cursed.
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Living as normal triplets had been my dream since we were little. Grotesquely since 'normal' was not a commonly used word to describe us upon growing up.
We were born as what one may specifically call conjoined triplets. A situation where we were born with three bodies conjoined together with only one heart that was beating, while the rest parts of our body remained the same - three pairs of arms, hands, feet, ears, eyes, and three heads with noses and mouths.
A bizzare condition, indeed. Especially if one was to be born as the crown princess of the biggest and wealthiest kingdom on the map.
As you may guess, our father, The King, was not happy with the situation.
He thought of us as a bad omen to the kingdom.
He even considered to let the healer that helped Mother's labor to kill us, right after we were born.
But of course, Mother, ever the most kind-hearted woman, told him to spare our lives and convince him that there must be another way.
The sad part was, this so-called 'another way' led to the use of sorcery. Because, clearly, there was no other way to separate us and not killing at least one of us without using magic.
Father threatened the sorcerer that he better did his job right at separating us, or else he will be the one killed instead.
And the sorcerer, unluckily had been the wicked one that had loathed the royal family since forever, put a curse on us as a revenge instead by joining our souls to a demon Chimera. The Chimera's magic was the one that separated us in the end.
Safely.
But nothing is for free.
The sorcerer was aware of that.
The demon's soul got separated along with us. Becoming three individuals, claiming each of us as their respective hosts. Corrupting us with dark energy, and the capability of performing dark magic.
"Don't worry, that damn sorcerer was killed." If I am to quote my big sister, El.
But the demons became harder and harder to control as we grew.
"What is it with the long face, Your Highness?" Martha asked above my head, as she finish braiding my hair.
I shook my head softly. "Nothing."
I stood.
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"I'm fine. Thanks, Martha. I better head to breakfast now."
"Of course, Your Highness."
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***
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My heels gently traced the velvet carpet on the floor as I strolled along the long corridor that lead towards the dining room.
The sunrays penetrated through the huge windows, enveloping the lonely corridor with pleasant warmth that it lacks during nightimes.
Some of them were opened, allowing gentle breeze to come inside. Sweetened by the chorus of little humming birds that never failed to soothe and warmed me.
Maybe this was why I love mornings.
"You seem happy. That's good."
"You scared me." I smiled, upon hearing my sister's voice. "Don't sneak up like that."
El smiled. "How are you doing?"
"Fine. You?"
"Same old," she sent me a bitter smile that would have appeared genuine, unless you were me.
We walked down the corridor together in silence.
I felt the need to stop and rearch foward to check her right arm. As usual, El wore her black 16-button gloves to hide them.
El winces.
"Star?"
"They are getting worse, aren't they?" I asked. "Your arms?"
El stared at me for a moment, then rolled her eyes. "You worry to much."
She took off one of the gloves, and showed me her scorched arm. "Nothing unusual."
"Thank goodness."
El nodded.
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-I disssagre.-
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The once warm morning went cold almost instantly after that.
El groaned.
That hissing voice always only meant one thing.
El stood before me. In front of her, a giant demon snake half the height of the castle level with glowing green eyes, that seemingly had made his way out of her body, emerged.
"What do you want, Shesha?"
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-It doess not sseem appropriate for you to lie to your sisterss likes that, doess it Elsss?-
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"I don't know what you mean." Said El.
Shesa then fixed his eyes on me.
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-Her armss are poisonousss now.-
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"Yeah. No thanks to you." El scoffed. "Don't listen to him."
Shesha hissed a disturbing blithe laugh before disappearing into my sister's body once again.
"What is he talking about?"
"I told you not to listen to him. Let's head to breakfast. We're late. Alexandria is going to throw a fit."
I nodded. There goes my beautiful morning.
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***
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"There you are," Al said as she laid her eyes on us. "You are late."
"Good morning to you too, Al." I grinned.
My eldest sister's eyes narrowed at me right after that. But she softened upon sensing our moods. Al studied both of us worriedly.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Shesha." was El's curt answer.
Al let out a defeated sigh, but nodded.
The three of us lined up side by side in front of the dining room. Al sent a curt nod towards the guard, signalling them to open the doors.
"May I present; Her Royal Highnesses; Princess Alexandria II, Princess Elvioza II, and Princess Starla II!" announced one of the guard inside the dining room, as we made our way to our respective seats.
Father was sitting at the head of the long table with Mother on his right. Al's seat was at Mother's left, with El and I across from them at Father's left.
"Good morning, girls!" Mother said.
"Good morning, Mother." the three of us responded.
"How was you nights?"
"Very well, Mother." Al responded for us.
We ate our breakfast in silence.
And as usual, mine was all greens. Except for a few slices of garlic bread.
For some reasons, I didn't find myself liking meat. The only meat I had ever enjoyed eating was fish. Thankfully, I could still find myself liking other food just fine.
Of course, it had to have something to do with *him*.
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-Eat well, Flower. I am starving.- he said in my head.
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'You are always hungry, Faun.' I answered him in my head, rolling my eyes.
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-It is not my fault you eat so little.-
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'You know very well that I need to take extra care of my diets.'
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-But our diets are mostly greens, Flower. I know for a fact that it is a healthy enough for humans to maintain their shape. In other words, it is alright for you to eat more.-
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'Alright.' I relented, filling my plate with more greens and have some warm soup that was being served by the maids.
Quite the contrary, my sisters would prefer meat over greens. As a result, even though we aged the same, I was smaller than them.
"We have an announcement for you girls." Mother said suddenly.
The three of us eyes turned towards her and Father.
"Your fiancés, the princes of Valor Kingdom, will arrive first thing on the morrow." Father announced.
I coughed.
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-Fiancés?- Faun exclaimed inside my head.
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"Fiancés?" El exclaimed.
"I beg your pardon, Father?" Al asked incredulously. "Would you please elaborate what you mean by that?"
"Your mother and I have both agree that it is time for the three of you to get married. For the sake of our kingdom."
"Therefore, the king and queen of Valor, along with the both of us, have arranged your marriages with the princes! Isn't this exciting? You agree to this, don't you girls?" Mother added happily.
The three of us shared a look with each other.
"Of course, Father, Mother." Al began.
"But are you certain about this?" El continued. "What about our-"
"Curse?" Father intervened. Staring at each of us with hard eyes. "Yes, we are very well aware of that. And it is indeed your jobs to make sure it will not get in the way of your marriages and the future of our kingdom, do I make myself clear, girls?"
I stared at my feet.
"Yes, Father." we chorused, dejected.
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***
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The day proceed like always after that. With the exception of my sisters' constant glares towards each other.
We were walking through the west corridor to our morning class before one of them finally dicided to talk.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" it was El.
I watched them in silence.
"It's nothing," Al answered. She stared at the ground. "It's just, I can't help but wonder. What has he done this time?"
"It's impossible to hide things from you two, isn't it?"
Al smiled. "You could say that."
El sighed.
They both slowed their walk, allowing me to catch up with them. I ended up walking between the two of them.
"You remember what Shesha told you this morning, right, Star?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"What is it?" Al asked.
"He said something about El's arms. Something about poison?" I tried to answer, before turning to look at El again.
El nodded. "Yeah."
"What do you mean?"
"It means, you guys are forbidden to touch my arms or hands, or hug me for now," here, El pointed a look at me. "If I am not wearing gloves, that's it."
Al's face scrunched up. "What in the world?"
"Tell me about it."
"What about you?" El turned towards Al.
"What?"
"Tell us."
"You mean, this?" Al raised her fingers. Her nails had sharpened. "Didn't I tell you about this already?"
"You haven't." I said.
"Yeah." El agreed with me. "Looks kind of neat, though. Caesar's doing?"
"Who else's."
We chuckled.
If there were weird looks we were getting from the guards or maids, we chose to simply ignore them. Like usual.
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***
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"Good morning." Mrs. Hill, our private lecturer in the castle, drawled.
"Good morning, Mrs. Hill."
"Are there anymore people who wish to join us before we begin today's class?" she asked tiredly.
I didn't blame her.
As if on cue, there were three more people sitting in the classroom with us.
I didn't need to turn around to know that Faun had chosen to sit behind me like he always did.
He was in his human form.
As well as Caesar, who chose to sit beside Al at the front row. And Shesha, who chose to sit at the back of the class with one foot on the table, wearing his usual, mocking smirk.
Mrs. Hill rolled her eyes, before sitting on her chair to start the lesson.
"Hi, Flower, miss me?" Faun whispered.
"Do you need to ask that every day?" I whispered back.
He chuckled.
"Hey, snake guy! Again, I don't get why you need to show up everyday." El turned around and shouted. The one who she shouted at only grinned in return. "It's not like you honestly need to be here."
"Why, Els, you hurt me." Shesha said. "Need I tell you again that I really need to know everything about your kingdom? Or are you still mad about your arms?"
"That doesn't answer my question. And we're having math."
"Uhm, actually, we're havibg history today." I supplied. Faun nodded.
Shesha laughed.
"Inside noises, please." Said Al.
"And would you all please be quiet so Princess and I can concentrate? Thank you." Caesar growled.
Both of them had their eyes glued to their notes.
We continued our lesson in relative silence. Aside from Mrs. Hill's constant eye rolling at Faun and Shesha's the dumb questions.
Just another ordinary morning. Aside from the news.
I looked down at my lap.
'Fiancé, huh?'
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