Princess Carmelita (Chp8)

PRINCESS CARMELITA
(Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”)

The next day, Maya offered to bring in the Countess’ breakfast. The least she could do for the Countess after her bloody ordeal was to look after her as much as the doctor and the Count would allow her too. After all, the baby inside her is still her husband, and since she couldn’t love the one she want, she might as well make an effort and love the one she’s with. In order to do that, she had to make the Countess feel better, and this was where the mandrake root given by Faun came in.

As she entered the room, she saw the Countess having a slightly fitful sleep, moving here and there occasionally, as if she was having a bad dream. Flashbacks of her own nightmarish encounter with the creature rang in her mind, making her wonder what would Faun’s reaction be if he were to ask of her mission, but that would be a matter settled later. She had important business to attend to. Maya put the tray of milk and bread on the table and reached over to caress the Countess’ belly. If she were to try and love her baby fiancée, she might as well get a head start now.

Taking out the mandrake root and a small bowl she smuggled from the kitchen out of her shirt, she filled the bowl with the milk from the jug and placed the root into the bowl. Almost immediately, the root began to come to life at the touch of the milk—catching Maya off guard—and made a sort of gurgling baby-like sounds, moving its arms and legs like a baby would when it sees its mother. Seeing the mandrake root moving like that made her thought of what she would do when the time came to take care of her future baby husband.

Carefully, she crept under the bed with the mandrake root in the bowl of milk with her, taking care not to spill it. She moved it slightly where the Countess’ head may be and bit hard on her finger, drawing blood from it. As she put two drop of blood onto the root, she heard the family doctor and the Count coming in. She lay as quietly as possible so that they would not know where she was while she eavesdropped on their conversation.

“Her temperature is down, sir. I cannot explain why, but it is.”

“But she still has a fever, does she not?”

“Yes, but it’s a good sign. It means her body is responding to the treatment. But, sir, if it’s alright with you, if you still want to continue with the engagement ceremony, I think it’s best if you perform it with the Countess on bed. We don’t want to take any chances.”

“Listen to me, doctor. If you have to choose when the time comes, save the baby. My son will bear my name and my father’s name and I will not tolerate anything else. He is the last thing I want to lose, do you understand? Save him.”

Maya’s heart clenched as she heard those words before both the doctor and the Count left. Save the baby? Only the baby? What about his wife? What about the Countess who had been carrying this baby for so long? What about her? Was her life so insignificant that she was expendable like the children in the cellar? How could he? Does he not love his wife?

After making sure no one else was in the room, she crept out from under the bed and leaned on the Countess’ belly, whispering to him, “My husband, my dear little husband. If you can hear me, things aren’t so good out here. But soon you’ll have to come out. You’ve made your mother very sick, and you’ve made all the others around her worried for you and your mother. Though I’m in no position to say this, but your father isn’t one of the world’s greatest people either, and soon you’ll find out more disappointing things about him.

“I want to ask you one favour for when you come out, just one: don’t hurt her. You’ll meet her; she’s very pretty even though sometimes she is sad for many days at a time. You’ll see, when she smiles, you’ll love her. I know I did, and I still do. Listen, if you do what I say, I’ll make you a promise. I’ll be the best wife you’ll ever have, and I’ll take you to my kingdom and make you a prince. I promise you, a prince.”

As Maya left the room to let the Countess rest, she made a solemn vow that she would try her best to convince Faun to allow her to bring her baby husband along and make him a prince to rule alongside with her on her throne.

*

The Countess’ recovery was miraculous. Her appetite has regained and her colour returned, getting much better as time went by. She was even well enough to actually get off bed and carry on with the engagement ceremony, although she still needed to move about with her trusty wheelchair. The doctor couldn’t understand it, but he was glad all the same that his treatment worked.

The engagement ceremony was a success altogether. With both the blessings from the priest and Madame Adrianna, Maya and the Countess’ baby were officially engaged and the Count and Countess Maya’s parents-in-law. Maya eyed at the engagement ring which was help put on by the Count and the other engagement ring worn as a necklace around the Countess’ neck, reserved for her fiancée when he was old enough to wear it. Everyone who had showed up at the previous engagement ceremony was there, including Pedro who was the ring-bearer for the ceremony. Though her heart ached slightly at being unable to be engaged to him instead, she was happy all the same for having him to witness the ceremony. The only thing missing in the picture were her parents and grandmother. It’s been too long since she was in the Garcia Manor. None of them ever came up the mountain to visit her, and she had not heard even a word or single news from them. It was as if she was totally cut out from the outside world and became a forgotten person in her village. She often wondered at times how and what they were doing without her, but to want to go down and visit them was out of the question.

She would have to live with the fact that she was no longer a member of the Andre family for good.

Pedro had also been updating her about his undercover mission. It turned out that he and his fellow law-enforcer colleagues were almost having a breakthrough with the case as they managed to smuggled a couple of children from the cellars and keep them hidden with the team in their secret camp in the woods and the children were willing to testify against the Count. They even managed to convince some of the black market dealers’ errand boys to join in the testimony and when the time is right, they will arrest him and Alberto and his men. He promised that when everything was over, he would try to find a home for the Countess and her baby in Maya’s village so that she can both fulfill her duties as the Garcia’s daughter-in-law and be close to her family again.

Maya secretly looked forward to that and promised not to breathe a word and leave everything to him, swearing not to try and be a heroine and help him.

Later that night, after the ceremony, Maya was awakened by the familiar sounds of purring. It was no other than Faun who standing over her bed. Maya’s heart thumped nervously at the sight of him, the incident still fresh in her mind.

“Your mother-in-law looks much better now, Your Highness, and that you are finally engaged with the little child in her. You must be relieved.”

“Yes, thank you,” Maya replied, her eyes not daring to meet Faun’s. She wanted to keep her mouth shut about the incident, but her conscience beat her to it. “But things haven’t turned out so well.”

“No?” Faun asked, surprised.

“I…I had an accident…”

“An accident, you say?”

“Yes…”

Maya tentatively handed the cylinder box to Faun, trying to prepare for what’s coming to her next. Faun eyed at her suspiciously before opening the box. As expected, only her fairy friend flew out instead of the usual bunch, and from the tone of the grunt Faun made, she knew he had expected much. Her fairy friend flew up to Faun’s shoulder and chirped angrily at his ear. Maya could only assume that she was telling Faun about the incident. Her heart raced even harder as Faun’s face grew dark and angry.

“You broke the rules!” Faun bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at her.

“It was only two chunks of chocolate,” Maya tried to explain. “I thought no one would notice…”

“It seems that we have made a mistake,” Faun said as he took out the dagger she had kept inside the box after retrieving it from the creature’s lair. Maya froze. Was he going to kill her with that?

“A mistake…?”

“You failed. You can never return.”

“But it was an accident!”

“You cannot return!” Faun insisted, his voice much angrier than before. “You broke the rules, and therefore you must pay! The moon will be full in three days and there is nothing you can do about it. Your spirit will remain among humans forever. You’ll age like them, you’ll die like them, and your memory will fade in time. And we will vanish along with it. You will never see us again!”

Before Maya could stop him, Faun had already disappeared into the shadows along with the dagger and her fairy friend. She knew she had chosen the wrong ending for the legend. She would never return to her Underground Realm and she would never become the Princess she had longed for. And her baby husband would never become the Prince she had promised.

As she cried herself to sleep, she knew she had screwed up big time.