Chapter One: Rebecca

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince named Gordon lived in a grand castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind to everyone around him. But then, one cold Winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered the young prince a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and told the old woman to leave, but she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found on the inside. When he rejected her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away as she transformed into a beautiful enchantress named Emily.

The prince realised his mistake, and he begged for forgiveness, but it was too late, for she had seen that his heart was cold as stone. As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there. She also placed a spell to every village nearby to make them forget about the prince and his castle. Ashamed of his monstrous form, the Beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.

The rose that the enchantress offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until the last petal fell. If he could learn to love another and earn her love in return before the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast forever, and his servants will become antiques permanently. As the years passed, he felt hopeless as he always wondered who could ever learn to love a beast?

...

In the small quiet village, where everyone knew each other well, a beautiful young woman with a simple village outfit, beeline honey blonde hair, yellow eyes, and fair skin, had exited from her cottage as she carried a basket. She then walked across a small bridge as she headed to the village. She liked to take a stroll around the village when everything was peaceful until when the town's clock chimed, everyone said, "Bonjour", as the morning had come.

She knew everyone well, but she felt like an outcast as she was the only person that seemed to define the daily living in the village. It did make her feel alone as people thought she was a strange girl. However, the only thing that helped her was reading books. She loved to imagine the worlds that the book had told as she felt like she can escape from reality. As she was strolling, she saw a baker putting freshly baked loaves of bread on the window still, and she can smell the aroma. It smelled nice, and she did need some bread for breakfast. Once she got to the window, she greeted the baker warmly, "Good morning Flynn."

"Good morning Rebecca.", he replied as he took his mittens off, "Where you off to?"

"To the bookstore.", she replied as she grabbed coins to buy a loaf of bread.

Flynn frowned from hearing this, "Again?"

Rebecca kept her smile, "Mhm! I just read a romantic yet tragic story of two lovers from two different families!", she exclaimed as she gave Flynn some coins.

"Sounds boring.", he replied dryly as he then smelled something burning, "Belle! The bagels are burning! Put out the fire!"

Rebecca was upset about feeling ignored and that Flynn insulted her interest, but she shrugged, and she kept her smile as she grabbed the loaf of bread and went on her way. As she headed to the bookstore, some people talked behind her back as they thought how strange she was and that she wasn't too fond of finding love and to a family of her own. While walking, she saw a farmer name Percy, who was riding on the horse wagon to deliver some chickens. As he went by, he saw a village woman named Rosie, and he greeted, "Bonjour!"

"Good day!", she replied as she smiled at him lovingly.

"How is your family?", he asked.

As Rosie answered his question, Rebecca hopped at the back on the wagon to catch a quick ride to the bookstore. While travelling on the wagon, she saw many people buy stuff like eggs, fishes, and fruits. After a minute flew by, she saw a sign that read, "Librairie", which meant bookstore in French. Immediately, she jumped off the wagon as she headed to the small store.

...

Inside the bookstore, a greyish blue hair man with blue star eyes was wearing reading glasses as he was putting the books in alphabetical order to make the shelves look neat and subtle. As he did that, he heard the doorbell rang, and he turned his head sharply to see who it was.

The moment he saw the person, he smiled gently as he chuckled, "Oh, hello Rebecca."

"Good morning Edward.", Rebecca replied as she shut the door behind her, feeling happy to be in one place that she loved very much, "I've come back to return the book that I borrowed."

Edward was surprised to hear this, "You finished this book in just one day?", he asked as he was impressed with her ability to read fast.

Rebecca smiled as she gave the borrowed book back to Edward, "Oh you know how I love reading very much, and I just couldn't put the book down.", she chirped as she headed to the ladder that was against the bookshelves, "Do you have any new books?"

"Not since yesterday.", Edward replied as he chuckled lightly.

"That's okay. I'll borrow…", Rebecca smiled as she then spotted one book that caught her eye, "This one!"

Rebecca then grabbed the book right away as she presented it to Edward, "Oh, but you read this one twice.", he smiled.

"Oh, but's it's always been my favourite!", she exclaimed as she slid the ladder against the bookshelves like as if she was dancing on air, " Far off places, daring battles, magic spells, and a prince in disguise!"

Edward chuckled as he shook his head. He knew that Rebecca loved that story very much. So much that he felt generous enough to allow her to keep the book, "Well if it's your favourite. It's all yours.", he said.

Rebecca hopped off the ladder as Edward gave her the book. She was surprised that Edward allowed her to keep the book, "But sir… I…"

"No, I insist!", Edward smiled as he guided her to the front door.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you very much!", she cried in joy as she began to read her favourite story.

As she walked with the nose stuck on the book, her smile grew wider and wider, and she adored the story very much. By the time she reached chapter two, she was at the fountain where a flock of sheep was there. She then sat by the fountain as two sheeps got very curious. Rebecca saw the sheeps and began to sing about her favourite part of the story about when a girl meets a handsome prince in disguise.

By the time she reached to chapter three, the sheeps had run away as Philip the shepherd had chased after them to clear the track. Rebecca was upset initially, but she then went back to reading as she hopped off the fountain as she headed back home.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the village, a goose was brutally shot while migrating with the other geese. The goose fell as a man with dark green outfit attempted to catch it with the sack but failed to do so as the goose landed next to him. However, he then stuffed the goose into the sack as he ran to a man with blonde beige hair that matched both his eyes and his rather handsome outfit. However, he had a fake metal right arm as he held a rifle.

As he blew the soot off the rifle, the dark green outfit man shouted, "Wow, that was a perfect shot, Diesel! You're the greatest hunter in the village, if not, in the world!"

Diesel 10 smirked as he stood proudly, "I know."

"Well for sure, no beast alive stands a chance against you…and no girl for that matter!", the dark green outfit man exclaimed.

"Now that's true, Paxton.", Diesel 10 grinned narcissistically, "I've got my sights set on that one."

As he said that, he pointed to Rebecca, who was still walking towards home, "Wait... the inventor's daughter?", asked Paxton as he raised in eyebrow in both confusion and surprise.

"That's right, Paxton! She's the lucky girl that I'm going to marry!", he exclaimed as his eyes were in awe with her beauty.

"B-but she's…", stammered Paxton as he couldn't believe that out of all the woman in the village, Diesel 10 was in love with Rebecca, who was known to be an outcast.

"The most beautiful girl in the town.", Diesel 10 cut Paxton's sentence.

"I-I know but…", Paxton continued to stutter as he didn't want to make Diesel 10 angry.

"And that makes her the best!", he exclaimed as he grabbed Paxton's collar as raised his body to his head level as his face was close to his, "And don't I deserve the best?"

Paxton gulped as he still stuttered, "W-well of course! I-I mean you do, but I mean…"

However, before Paxton could say anything else, Diesel 10 dropped him as he began to boast as he was as he looked at his reflection from of one of the pans as he vowed to win Rebecca's heart. After he boasted for a hit, he noticed that Rebecca left. He knew he had to have her, and he wasted no time to follow her. While following Rebecca, three bimbettes were swooned by how handsome he was. Paxton never admitted that he was secretly jealous of how Diesel 10 was more popular than him. As he tried to be as attractive as Diesel 10, but he made himself a fool as he tripped over a puddle and girls didn't pay any attention to him. Paxton then gave up as he went to catch up.

At the end of the village, Rebecca was about to head to the bridge when a man, who was strong and quite taller than her blocked her path, "Hello Rebecca.", he greeted her as he gave her a handsome smile.

"Bonjour Diesel.", she replied as she wasn't keen on chatting with him, but before she tried to go home, Diesel 10 snatched her book, "Diesel, may I have my book, please?"

Rebecca was both annoyed and upset as she knew Diesel 10 very well as every time they saw each other, he tried to get her to marry him, but she didn't like him at all as he was as known to be ruthless and selfish. She folded her arms as she made a small frown upon her lips. Diesel 10, on the other hand, looked at every page and frowned, "How can you read this? There's no pictures?", he asked.

"Well, it's all about using imagination.", Rebecca replied as she attempted to get her book back.

"Rebecca, I think it's time for you to get your head out of those books!", he smirked as he tossed the book to a mud nearby as Rebecca rushed to it, but Diesel 10 blocked her way as he continued his sentence, "And paid attention to more important things… like me!"

With that, the three bimbettes sighed as Rebecca frowned. She then finally able to get her book, and thankfully the book was not damaged. However, Diesel 10 wasn't finished to try to win her heart, "The whole town is talking about you. It's not right for a woman to read and soon she starts getting ideas… and thinking.", Diesel 10 frowned.

"Well, I must say, Diesel, you are positively primeval.", Rebecca said as she tried to be happy again and put own her fake smile.

"Why thank you, Rebecca.", he thanked her but not realising what the word "primeval" meant, "Hey, what do you say that you and me take a walk over to the tavern and have a look at my hunting trophies."

The moment that Diesel 10 offered Rebecca to go out like usual, Rebecca remained polite as she declined, "Maybe we can do it next time."

As Rebecca tried to leave, the three bimbettes talked nasty stuff about her as they thought she was weird and crazy enough to reject such a handsome man's offer. However, as she tried to head home, Diesel 10 once again blocked her way as Paxton ran to the scene, "Please, Diesel. I can't. I have to go home and help my father.", she pleaded.

Paxton tried not to laugh when Rebecca mentioned her father, "Hahaha, that crazy old loon, he needs all the help he can get!", he laughed as Diesel 10 joined in.

Rebecca felt both angry and hurt when the two of them had insulted her father, "Don't you talk about my father that way!", she shouted.

"Yeah, don't to talk about her father that way!", Diesel 10 said as he pretended to care about Rebecca's father as he hit Paxton's head hard.

Rebecca frowned as she knew Diesel 10 wasn't be sincere about that, "My father's not crazy! He's a genius!", she defended as she and the two men heard an explosion that was coming from Rebecca's cottage.

She gasped in horror as she rushed to the scene. As she ran off, Diesel 10 and Paxton were still laughing very hard to the point Diesel 10 slapped Paxton's shoulder blade's too hard, to which Paxton yelped in pain.