Chapter 1: The Summer Garden

Some say he must learn true love to break his curse, and he kidnaps beautiful maidens from their homes in the hope of one of them finally being the one to free him.  But so horrifying a monster is he that no soul could ever love him…

“Then…then what happens?!”

The blond haired boy flashed a devious grin.

“And then, when he gets tired of all their screaming…he COOKS THEM UP AND GOBBLES THEM WHOLE!”

The volume of Len’s voice jumped so suddenly that all the girls around him started screaming.  Len couldn’t but laugh.  It was so easy to scare the other children in the village with the “Demon Prince” legend. 

Especially a particular little girl with long turquoise pigtails.

“Miku, Miku, I’ll bet he comes for you first!”

Miku’s eyes went wide and she suddenly started bawling.  Len grimaced at the ear-splitting sound – he’d probably gone too far with the ending this time.

A slap on the back of his head from a tall brunette confirmed that.  “Ahhhh!  Meiko, big sis!  Whyyyyy?!”

“Ugh, do I have to even tell you why?  They’re not going to stop bawling for an hour.”

“Miku, what is it now?!”

Miku ran into the arms of her father.  “Papa, I don’t wanna get gobbled up by a monster!  I’m too cute to die like that!”

Her father picked up the little girl and hugged her tightly.  She was already ten summers old and yet she still easily startled at the ghost stories until he could calm her down.

Meiko, at the ripe old age of 12, often saw herself as the “big sister” to the other children in the village, hence their nickname of “Big Sis”. An only child, she’d appointed herself their caretaker…and sometimes, their nanny. Right now, she had her arms crossed and she was glaring at Len. “Len!  Go apologize to your sister for scaring her half to death! Then apologize to Miku!”

Len looked he wanted to protest, but the demonic glare Meiko was giving him made him think twice about it.  “Okay, okay...”

He walked over to his sister Rin, who was still trembling but not putting on quite the spectacle of Miku.  “Sorry Rin…” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head where Meiko had smacked him.

He walked over to Miku, who looked down at him with such a ridiculously over dramatic face that he almost started laughing again.  It took every bit of fortitude of his 8 years to get the apology out.  “Sorry Miku…”

Miku’s father gave her a pat on the back of the head.  “There, see?  He was just telling stories.  You know how Len is.”

“Daddy, is the Demon Prince real?!  Does he really eat people!?”

Her father let out a sigh.  “I’ve told you a hundred times, Miku…it’s just a story.”

But as he cast his gaze out on the tree line at the edge of the town, he grew more serious.  “That said…it’s dangerous to play out in the deep woods.  There may not be a ghost or a monster out there, but there’s certainly wolves and other dangerous creatures in there.”

Miku snuggled into her father’s chest.  She hated scary stories, she hated the idea of being gobbled up, and most importantly, she hated, hated, HATED the Demon Prince.  Even if he didn’t eat people, surely someone who got himself turned into a monster was a cruel, heartless person.

She knew that life was simple – ugly things were bad, beautiful things were good.  And since she was so beautiful, and the monster so ugly, he would not doubt come for her first.

“Now Miku, why don’t we go down to the dress maker and see about getting you something nice to wear?”

All mental images of the Demon Prince vanished as Miku imagined herself in a frilly new summer dress.  “Dress maker, dress maker, yay yay yay!”

“That idiot girl doesn’t have a deep thought in her head…” Len mumbled to himself.

Yet as the summers passed in the village of Melodia and the children grew older, Miku found herself at 17 summers of age and still obsessed with finery and beauty.  Whenever anyone would ask her what she wanted out of life, she was distressingly superficial.

“I want to marry a rich, handsome guy! No, a prince! And then I can sing all over the world!”

Her father, a widowed merchant, saw her as his shining jewel and tried to cater to her every whim as she grew older.  Yet over the years, his fortunes waned and eventually he had to tighten the purse strings to keep his home secure.  Which meant no more spontaneous trips to the dress shop.

As Miku approached adulthood, she’d taken up simple employment to keep the family coffers filled. She now worked as a courier, moving packages around the city.  It wasn’t taxing work, but it kept her family of two fed between shipments.  And once in awhile, she could even spring for a new set of sheet music for her piano.

Though many people lamented Miku’s lack of depth, none could find fault with her glorious singing voice.  Everyone knew when she was making her rounds in the village just by following the sound of her practicing a new melody.  Inevitably they’d see her roaming with her package cart, her now ankle-length pigtails trailing behind her and her soft white dress ruffling with her perky footsteps.

Though this fine morning she wasn’t singing – she was chatting with “Big Sis” Meiko.

“You know, Miku…you’re not going to meet your ‘prince’ or become a singer if you just hang around Melodia dropping off packages…”

Meiko had grown into a fine young woman herself, now apprenticing in her family’s winery.  Thus she wore practical, red work clothes during the day when she was tending to the fields.  Yet despite no longer being a child herself, she still felt responsible for the children she grew up with.

“Awww, don’t say that Meiko!” Miku protested with a pout, “I mean, I know he’s not just going to march in here riding a white horse and demand the hand of the first pretty maiden he sees…”

Meiko nodded, with relief.  “Good, then you understand…now, I think…”

“But if he did, I know he’d choose ME!”

Meiko slapped her forehead.  “You don’t understand anything…” she lamented.

But Miku wasn’t finished yet.  “Look, I know I won’t find much in the way of work in a little village that doesn’t even have a theater,” Miku added, “But just you wait!  I’m going head to a big city like Arlisia!  With a huge theater and a port bringing in all kinds of people!”

She let out a dreamy sigh.  “No doubt I’ll have my pick of princes!  And the one for me will be lured in by my siren song and graceful beauty…”

Her friend burst into laughter. “Miku, you’re going to get picked clean in the big city.  Just you wait!”

Fortunately, Miku didn’t need to wait too long for her first big opportunity.  For later that afternoon, word reached her home of the arrival of another trade shipment in Arlisia.  Filled with confidence after her conversation with Meiko, Miku almost immediately volunteered to pick it up.

Her father nearly fainted at the thought of his darling, only daughter vanishing into the wilderness.  He may not have believed in the stories of the “Demon Prince”, but he clearly believed something was out there.  And if it wasn’t in the forest, surely some rogue or pickpocket would cause her trouble on the road.

“Oh, Papa!” Miku scolded, “Fine, if it’ll make you happy, I’ll just go straight in, grab the goods, and head out the same night!”

She sighed dejectedly.  “I just hope I can at least GLIMPSE the theater.”

Finally, with her promise to make no diversions on her journey, Miku set off on the road the next morning with her family’s horse and an empty cart and her father’s worried well wishes.

Miku found herself fascinated by the woods as she followed the road deeper and deeper inside.  Because of all the stories, she’d been afraid to set more than two feet out of the village as a child.  But here she was, a big grown up girl on an adventure!

She puffed up her chest with pride. “And Papa said I couldn’t handle this,” she said as she felt the bumping of the cart and horse going over the only bridge out of town, “Arlisia is simple!  Just follow the road and I’ll be there by nightfall!”

Yet as she followed the well-worn road, her eyes diverted to a fork in that road, nearly completely covered by trees.  She gulped at the foreboding sight – why had nobody told her about that road?  As far as she knew, there was not a soul for miles between Melodia and Arlisia…but people didn’t build roads for nothing.  

His kingdom fell into disrepair and to this day he lurks in the ruins of his castle, hidden from the world…

Miku began to shake as her mind conjured up every horrible memory of the stories she grew up with. She tried to reassure herself. “It’s…it’s just a story…of course it is…just a story!  It’s just an old road and I don’t need to worry about it.”

And so with a shiver, she tried to keep her eyes on the road and let the road less traveled pass her by. To calm her nerves, she began quietly singing a nursery rhyme she remembered from her childhood…

“Po-ppi-po-ppi-po-ppo-ppi-pou… Po-ppi-po-ppi-po-ppo-ppi-pou”

By the time she’d finished the song, she’d already put the detour out of her mind and began focusing on her first trip to Arlisia.

The bustling port town appeared magnificent, especially to the relatively sheltered Miku.  Her eyes lit up as she passed the theater on the way to the port.  She yearned to spend time there and see a real singer light up the stage, but she scolded herself.  If she was even a minute late, surely her father wasn’t letting her out of the house again until he was dead and buried.  And given that the man appeared healthy as a horse, she guess that could be years.

And so she had to let the gorgeous lights of the theater pass her by.  “Patience, Miku…” she assured herself, “This is just a preview!  For your future greatness of course!”

She giggled as she imagined herself in a sparkling dress at the center of attention, singing her heart out to her adoring fans.  Suddenly a handsome man wearing silk finery and smelling of the finest perfumes would approach her backstage, offer her more jewels than she could count, and ask her the most important question in the world…

“Which ship are you here for, girly?”

Miku blinked, staring at the greasy owner of the port.  “Oh!  Uh…Hatsune!  I’m here on behalf of Hatsune!”

She shuddered as the merchant looked her over.  He was portly and balding and most definitely not a prince.  “Ah, you must be that daughter he’s always talking about.”

He laughed and Miku winced.  Even his laughter felt unpleasant and rough.  “Always going on about you.  So, first trip to the city?”

She nodded, not wishing to speak more than she had to.  “Not a big shipment this time.  No wonder he figured you could handle it.”

Miku let out a sigh.  Another small shipment meant she was going to be eating a lot more bread and a lot less steak.  “Just load it up,” she muttered.

By the time her shipment was ready to go, it was late enough that Miku checked herself into a local inn.  She remembered the name of the one her father instructed her to go to, and she marched herself straight up the stairs into the bed.  She wanted little to do with the people here – but next time, she would surely have enough money and time to go to the theater.

Miku had pleasant dreams once again of lighting up the Arlisian stage with her beauty.  By the time the rays of sun awoke her, she felt rejuvenated for the journey home.  She couldn’t wait to tell everyone back home about Arlisia and boy wouldn’t that jerk Len be jealous….

She’d made it out of Arlisia early in the morning – better time than she’d expected.  Her father would be pleased – maybe he’d at least grab a few green onions for the supper stew as a reward?  Regardless, she was in high spirits as she crossed the path from yesterday…

….and noticed the fork in the road from the day before had been completely cleared.

Miku blinked.  Who’d come all the way out here just to clean out some trees?

She craned her head with curiosity towards the forest path, trying to make out something, anything.

Yet she had trouble seeing much of anything from the safety of the main road.  She tried to divert her attention back to the trip home.  “Come on Miku, buck up!  Think about all those tasty onions you might get out of Papa!”

She started to lift the reigns of the horse to put that fork out of her mind for a second time before letting out a frustrated sigh. “Agh! I’ve gotta know what’s down there!  I mean, it’s like someone cleared it out just for me!”

And with that, Miku ignored her father’s most sincere instructions to follow the main road and started her cart up the mysterious path.

As she traveled deeper down this odd road, the air around her grew oppressive.  She started having flashbacks to her childhood.

The Demon Prince enslaves pretty young maidens to break his curse…

“Oooo…and I’m surely the prettiest young maiden in the entire country….” she shivered.

She had half a mind to turn the cart around when she heard something odd.  It sounded like a deep voice, singing a mournful melody she couldn’t quite make out the words to.

The most beautiful voice Miku had ever heard.

As she followed the echoes of the song in the woods, she started to see a castle overgrown with moss and vines and overlooking a small, calm lake.  Her heart pounded – there was only one reason she could find a castle out here, but she had to know the source of that enchanting voice. 

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."

She reached a clearing and hopped off her horse, letting it graze as she continued to follow the voice.

Every bit of sense Miku had in her head told her should not be investigating a strange castle in supposedly haunted woods. 

"The echo of a brilliant sound crosses the ocean and loudly steps forth in the world..."

As Miku carefully passed through a grown over gate, she let out a gasp.  Before her spread an entire array of meticulously kept blue rose bushes.

She let out a giggle as she tiptoed towards one of the bushes.  “Oh, it’s just a rose…I know nobody will mind if I take juuuuuust one…”

"Farewell, eternal flower, that does not disappear with the morning dew..."

Miku daintily knelt down.  With care to not disturb the rest of the flowers, she separated a single rose from its stem and slipped it into her hair, at the base of one of her pigtails.  She pulled a hand mirror out of her purse and smiled as she admired her own reflection.  Shades of blue always worked for her.

Suddenly Miku noticed a silence in the garden – the singing she’d followed ceased.  She looked around nervously.  Weren’t there also stories about monsters that chased down and killed people who grabbed even a single rose from their garden?

“A ha ha ha….that’s silly Miku…” she laughed nervously, “Who’d throw a tantrum over a flower, anyway?!”

Then she caught a glimpse of him.

A man in a deep blue jacket, blue waist coat, white shirt and ascot, black pants, and tall black boots stood before her.  His jacket and boots were lined with gold. But Miku wasn’t really paying that much attention to his clothes.

She was far too caught up in the fact that his eyes were red and black, his skin dark black and covered with scales, his ears pointed, and his enormous hands ended in sharp claws.  Two thick, pearl-white horns jutted out of his deep blue hair, sweeping backwards to form a short spiral towards the back of his head. 

As he moved to speak, she caught one look at a pair of fangs and didn’t even wait to hear him say a single word.

“OH MY GOD DON’T EAT ME I’M SORRY I TOOK YOUR FLOWER I’M TOO CUTE AND TALENTED TO DIIEEEEEEE!”

Miku was shrieking at the top of her lungs.  Right in front of her was the creature that inhabited her childhood nightmares and she did not want to stay and get gobbled up.  She leapt to her feet and bolted out of the garden, still screaming all the way.  She spotted her horse and quickly mounted the confused animal.  With a kick to the sides, it was taking off, just barely hanging on to the load in her cart.

Miku kept glancing behind her.  She couldn’t see the Demon Prince chasing her.  As she found the main road and her cart went clacking over the bridge at top speed, she looked behind her again.  Not a sign of a pursuer.

She landed back in town, still filled with fear but a sense of triumph began to fill her heart. She, Miku Hatsune, had just become the first beautiful maiden to escape the Demon Prince. 

“WOOHOO!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, pumping her fists in the air “I did it!”

She heard peals of laughter as the other villagers caught sight of her. “Wow, congratulations Miku,” Len drawled sarcastically, “You took a shopping trip to Arlisia by yourself. Better call the bard.”

Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.  She tried to think of what to say.  “No, you don’t get it! I just met the Demon Prince!  And I escaped!”

“And why exactly did you meet the ‘Demon Prince?’”

Her father’s voice.  Miku gulped.  She couldn’t say a word about the “Demon Prince” or he’d know she ignored his instructions.

“I….um….”

Her father was interrupted by Rin, who seemed enchanted by Miku’s appearance. “Miku, where did you find a rose like that?!  It’s so pretty! I’ve never seen a blue rose before!”

Miku touched a hand to her head.  In her panicked flight, the rose miraculously hadn’t fallen.  But she couldn’t tell the truth in front of her father…she needed to think up a good lie…

“Oh….um….an Arlisian boy gave it to me!”

She patted her chest with confidence.  “Because he said I was so much more beautiful than any maiden he’d ever seen in the whole world that I deserved it!”

Her father didn’t look convinced, but he seemed ready to drop the subject.  “As long as you didn’t spend all of your allowance in the city…I suppose there’s worse things you could have spent money on than roses.”

Miku was grumbling as she led her horse and goods back to her father’s storehouse.  ‘Thanks a lot, Demon Prince…scare me half to death AND make me look like an idiot! Ooo, you better hope I never catch you again!’

“Well Prince Kaito…she was a lively one, wasn’t she?”

Kaito didn’t respond to the words of the purple haired samurai nearby, instead staring at the space where a few moments earlier another human being had been standing.  That strange girl had literally been the first new human he’d seen in years.  And without even letting him speak, she was already gone, leaving not a trace of her visit in her wake save for her dropped hand mirror and the rose she’d escaped with.

 “I’m more surprised she came through the road out here…” he murmured, “Wasn’t it covered in trees by now, Gakupo?”

The samurai sharpened his blade.  “Perhaps one of the locals trimmed them back.”

The Prince focused his gaze on the direction their visitor had fled to.  “I shouldn’t be surprised she took off like that…” he said softly, “Since she seemed to like the flowers so much, I just wanted to tell her she could have as many roses as she liked.”

Even given the horrified reaction of the guest, Kaito admitted to himself that finally seeing another face at least broke up his isolation a little.  Besides, she hadn’t behaved any differently than the others who stumbled in.

So why did the rejection hurt so much more this time?

He knelt to the ground and grasped the hand mirror.  As he caught sight of himself, his eyes betrayed a brief flicker of emotion before he placed it into his coat. He reflected on how innocently she’d taken one of his precious roses and placed it in her hair, like a child.

Maybe he’d hoped that childlike innocence would extend to him.

“Until one loves you as truly as I…” he whispered.

The same words he’d repeated day after day.  Such a simple phrase that kept him trapped in a walking nightmare.

“Well…I guess that was the last we’ll see of her,” Kaito said before retreating back into his gardens.

As his master walked out of his sight, Gakupo pulled out a cloth and wiped off the last of the tree sap on his sword.  He stared out at the pathway. He highly doubted a girl with that much curiosity would vanish from their lives that quickly.  He was certain, in fact – she would be returning.

He would have gone right now to fetch her save for the obvious fact that he’d accompanied her from the woods to the gardens without her even being able to see him.  She’d looked straight at him several times, in fact.  He’d gotten lucky that Kaito had been struck with a rare singing mood – he’d been about to try and spook the horse into the garden before he saw her interest pique.  But even as he’d stood right behind her as she played with a rose in her hair, he cast no reflection in her hand mirror.  To her, as to everyone else save for his master, Gakupo simply didn’t exist.

Perhaps he was being overly optimistic – while his master seemed to have given up any hope of ending their curse, Gakupo was more than willing to give everything a forceful shove in the right direction.

Kaito wasn’t the only one suffering.  Nor was Gakupo.

An entire kingdom vanished on the day Luka Megurine confessed her love to the Prince who broke her heart.

Until one loves you as truly as I.