The Hunting of Snow White: A Grim Tale - Chapter 19

She just kept receiving and eating what was given to her. She couldn’t help but feel a bit shameless.

What should I do? Was there some way?

If there was, it would have to be something she could do within the limited confines of this room.

As she searched the room, Prina found a small notepad and a quill pen in the bedside table drawer.

Perfect. That would do.

So, Prina mustered up her courage and wrote him a note.

[Thank you for taking care of me. Thanks to you, I ate well and enjoyed it.]

When she received her next meal, the note she had left on the tray was gone. However, there was no reply from him.

Whether or not she received a response, Prina continued to leave a thank-you note after each meal.

He might just be a person of few words, awkward with expressing himself, so she thought she should respect his wishes and not force anything. She couldn’t demand more, and pushing further might even become a burden to him. It was better to be considerate.

On the fifth day, at eight in the morning.

The meal that always arrived at exactly the same time was missing from her door.

Maybe he hadn’t woken up yet.

She opened the door a few times and checked, but no meal came.

One in the afternoon.

‘Maybe something came up and it’s just late.’

There was no lunch, either. It was truly strange.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

Prina started to grow increasingly uneasy.

‘I’ve just been hiding away, accepting his food without showing myself… I really have been rather shameless.’

It was only because she didn’t have the courage. She’d only managed to leave a thank-you note. She was certainly causing him trouble.

The fact that he hadn’t approached her at all for five days made her think he was being considerate, not wanting to scare her. He was a considerate enough person to prepare hearty meals for her every day.

Six in the evening.

‘Could something have happened to him?’

When she still couldn’t find a dinner tray, Prina’s anxiety reached its peak.

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t come up with a convincing reason.

If he was hurt or sick and unable to come, that would be terrible.

Prina decided she had to leave her room and go look outside.

“Lucky. I’ll be right back. Wait here in the room, okay?”

Hurriedly throwing on a shawl, Prina gave Lucky a little reassurance.

But Lucky bounced over to her, rubbing against her ankle, as if he didn’t want to be left alone.

“Do you want to come with me?”

Maybe he would be scared and lonely by himself. After a brief hesitation, she reached out and picked Lucky up in her arms, feeling his soft warmth.

Thanks to that, Prina’s racing heart felt a little calmer.

With the only person she knew in this strange mansion now missing, Prina was just as anxious and afraid as Lucky.

“Alright then, Lucky. You help me, too. Let’s look for him together.”

Creeaak.

The wooden door opened, and Prina stepped out of the room.

The hallway, shrouded in twilight, was utterly quiet, with no sign of anyone. Come to think of it, the first time she’d left the room, it had been much the same.

Even early in the morning, sunlight barely reached the long corridor. Now, with dusk falling, the atmosphere was even gloomier. Only a faint light came in from the large window at the end of the hallway. Whether it was slightly open or not, the curtain slowly billowed with the breeze.

Holding her breath, Prina crept quietly down the corridor. Marble statues and tightly closed doors lined either side.

She tried opening a few, just in case, but the handles merely rattled. They were locked tight. They must have been unused rooms.

At the end of the hallway, a large chandelier caught her eye.

Below it, a spiral staircase led down to the first floor. It was already nearing seven in the evening, the time when twilight set in.

She tried to look down from the top of the stairs, but it was too dark to see clearly. After a moment’s hesitation, Prina carefully brushed the banister. It was spotless, not a speck of dust.

Gripping it like a lifeline, she cautiously began to make her way downstairs.