The Hunting of Snow White: A Grim Tale - Chapter 74

Bianca stared blankly at the embroidery frame made of ebony in her hands, at the snowfield covered in nothing but white, and at the drop of blood that had fallen upon it.

It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

It had no true form, and yet… It was beautiful enough to keep her gazing in a daze for a long time.

If only I could give birth to such a beautiful child.

If that child could become the seed of your ruin… then I would gladly offer even my soul to a demon.

“Bianca de White.”

Just as she thought this, a demon appeared.

Its formless voice was deep enough to shake the ground beneath her feet, and the brilliant yellow light pouring down from above her head was more dazzling than that of any angel. It felt almost like salvation.

“Do you want to make a contract with me?”

The demon always took a price in exchange for granting a wish.

I will send my vassal to make you conceive. The child you bear will be both the offspring of a demon and the embodiment of your passion. That child will be more beautiful than any other in the world.

In return, you shall offer that very child to me as a sacrifice.

From the moment it is born, the child will take everything from you.

Even your own life, for giving birth to a tainted child, shall be taken by it.

The beauty and confidence of the concubine you despise shall be stripped away by that child.

Even the King’s life, I promise, shall be taken by that child.

But in exchange, the child will belong to me.

When the child reaches twenty years of age, your wish will finally be fulfilled.

And then, I will claim the child.

“What do you say? Even so, will you make a contract with me?”

What mother in all the world would offer her child to a demon?

The price for a demon’s wish was always cruel. The demon thought this fragile-looking woman would of course give up and asked only to hear her refusal.

But Bianca de White answered without hesitation.

“Yes. I will offer anything to you.”

Her words and her thoughts were one.

She was mad enough to give her child to a demon, and such madness could never be undone.

“Good. Since you are the mother, give the child a name. It will be the first and last gift you can give as a mother.”

Bianca thought for a moment before she spoke.

“…Prina.”

Prina, a word which means ‘a child as beautiful as a snow blossom’.

“The child’s name shall be Prina.”

Prina, do you think of yourself as the wicked child who devoured your mother?

But the truth was far uglier.

You were abandoned by your mother before you were even born.

Thus, Prina, your mother offered you to me, and you became mine. That is why I waited until you turned twenty years old.

To confess the truth, this was the beginning of you and I, Prina.

* * *

A little girl, born of a deposed queen imprisoned in a stone tower. From birth, Prina was branded an illegitimate child and sent to a monastery.

Perhaps the King did not wish for public scandal. He claimed it was not Bianca’s corruption, but rather the girl’s black hair, said to be inauspicious, that justified sending her away.

That pitiful child hid her hair beneath a veil, endured the harshest chores, and bore all manner of scorn.

My poor Prina. But you were born for this very fate.

I often watched you from the forest behind the monastery.

Prina. You were a lonely child, unable to mingle with others, so you made your friends there.

Friends, but only pigeons, squirrels, and small wild animals, such trivial creatures.

“I’m here, everyone.”

You would talk even to such lowly beings who could not answer you.

“Jeremy, Lizzy, Thomas.”

You gave them clumsy names of your own. And you even gave the forest where you lingered a name, ‘The Secret Forest’.

Humans give names as a sign of attachment. Even I, a demon, knew at least that much. I knew it in my mind, even if I could not feel it.

That is why I ordered your mother to name you. It was her final chance. A chance even then to come to her senses and escape a demon’s contract.

But when she gave you a name, she also gave you to me. Without the slightest hesitation. As though she would do anything, so long as it served to fulfill her hatred. What a heartless woman.