Prologue:

 ∞ The Princess ∞
 

     Aera ran through the dark forest as fast as her short legs could take her. Her long hair whipped against her face as the silent wind sent shivers down her spine, and she almost tripped. The trees seemed to be getting darker and closer as if it was slowly eating her up, and her heart beat erratically against her chest. She could hear whispers, daunting and haunting her like a hex. Her breath came out in short gasps, and she lifted her hands to wipe her dripping sweat, albeit instead finding red liquid staining her shaking hands.

She let out a blood-curling scream and dropped to the ground. She wrapped her bloodied arms protectively around herself, and looked cautiously from left to right. Everything else suddenly seemed to be glowing red, and a sickening beat of dripping liquid reverberated around her like a ticking clock.

Drip. Drop.  Drip. Drop.  Drip. Drop.  Drip. Drop.

She squeezed her eyes shut and found herself shaking, shrinking smaller and smaller until everything faded to black.

Aera woke up with a start, sweating profusely from the recurring dream. She quickly scanned her surroundings and found herself sighing in relief seeing that she was back in the old dusty room in one of her family's vacation manor. There were no trees swallowing her up; there was no blood falling cold against her skin. It was just her cracked crème-colored walls, study table, and other usual furniture. It was just another one of the many other rooms that could be found in the manor she fled to. It was just another one of the many rooms she sought refuge in.

It's already been seven years, she thought as her eyes traced the mess of papers lying on her desk and scanned the interior of her temporary room.

Seven years. Seven years of suffering, of pain, of tears, of growing up on her own. It seemed not too long ago when Aera just fled from her mansion. It seemed not too long ago that she was still living with her parents, that she was happy, but everything was different now. Her rich heiress past was long ago; she was nothing but another one of those missing people in the world now. It was funny how the citizens weren't even surprised with the outcome nor her disappearance, but that was just the way the current world went.

She closed her eyes once again and took deep breaths to calm herself down, leaning against the head board of her bed for support. She placed her palm against her chest and felt her heart beating fast under her skin while taking another much needed breath and opening her eyes.

“It was just a dream,” she reminded herself softly, clutching her chest tightly, “just a dream.”

She was just about to wipe the sweat that was dripping down her temples when a voice suddenly entered the room.

“What was just a dream?”

She turned to face the owner of the voice and smiled softly at the blonde boy who had just entered the room. 

“You know, just the usual,” she answered as nonchalant as she could, trying her best to feign what seemed like a carefree smile. If the boy noticed the fear in her tone, he didn’t show it.

She turned to face the window and slowly pulled her knees to her chest as she eyed the boy’s reflection in the glass window and noted his thick choice of clothes with a raised brow. His hands were stuffed in the pocket of his black overcoat, and a dark scarf wrapped around his neck.

“Is it cold outside?” she softly asked, already anticipating the obvious answer.

The boy nodded with pursed lips and approached the girl carefully, settling down on the wooden chair beside her bed with a shrug, “Just the usual.”

She switched her gaze to the snow that was falling softly outside, coating the winter trees in a blanket of white. It was nice; the snow was nice. Pure, immaculate—it was as if the world was actually clean, devoid of fear and death, but Aera knew full well how much of a joke the thought was.

The world was never going to be pure. It was—

“Are you okay?” the boy’s deep voice asked, “You seem to be out of it.”

Aera pulled her gaze away from the snow and faced the boy with a smile, “Haven’t I always been ever since seven years ago?”

She sank against her pillow and closed her eyes, “I don’t know why, but I feel a lot more horrible today.”

She felt his rough calloused fingers brush through her forehead for a moment before her fringe was swept away from her face. His hands slowly untangled her damp hair, and Aera felt him sigh against her face.

“When was there ever a day when we didn’t feel horrible, when we weren’t haunted by the horrible things that lurk in the dark?”

Her eyes threatened to flutter open, though she kept it closed, lips stretching into a soft smile instead, “Do you actually yearn for that day?”

“I believe everyone does. We’re just too much of a coward to actually admit it.”

She laughed.

“I’m one big coward then.”

She heard him rising up without having to see it and finally opened her eyes, “Let’s go out today. Maybe it’ll help ease this heaviness in my chest.”

She faced the boy with a familiar gaze, “You’ll come with me, right?”

His tensed lips spread into soft smile, “You know that I always will.”

Aera watched as he fixed his coat and leisurely walked away from her with short strides despite his long legs. She sighed. He always took care of her. Ever since her parents died and she ran away from the mansion, he was always there for her despite being only a mere three years older than her.

“Wait,” she called softly, half hoping he would hear and half hoping he wouldn’t.

He didn’t.

Aera somehow finds her heart sinking as his figure slowly disappeared through the door. Her smile slowly faded, and she let out a disappointed sigh.

“Thank you,” she whispered, thinking that the boy wouldn’t hear it anyway, “for everything really.”

A boy cursed softly under his breath as he wrapped his coat tighter around himself, not that the cold was supposed to affect him, but this cold was just different. He sped up his pace and let out a string of profanities every time his foot sank too deep in the snow. He let out a frustrated sigh and finally stopped beside a large tree, giving it a soft kick before settling down beside it.

He ruffled his hair in irritation and frowned at the ruins that was displayed before him.

Building after building were all torn down, destroyed as if a tornado struck the town. There was shattered glass everywhere on the barren ground though most of them were already covered by a blanket of cold snow, cruel snow that fell without a care in the world, snow that covered everything with its graceful white, white snow that was easily stained with the red of blood. There was no sign of civilization, and everything felt so cold and dead.

He was, once again, too late.

He didn’t know how or why it kept happening. It was as if he was cursed which was ironic because he actually was, but it was a different case. It was supposed to be a different case. He wasn’t cursed to be some death-bringer, and yet after seeing ruins after ruins, he was starting to think that maybe that was his real curse.

The boy closed his eyes. He could still remember everything from seven years ago so clearly. The forest, the house, the blood, the lurking presence of death—they were all so fresh in his mind. What started out as a simple adventure to the forest ended up becoming a huge turn in his mundane life.

Soft clacking of heels reached his ears, and the boy quickly turned to face the source of the sound. He scanned his surroundings cautiously, and his body tensed. The air suddenly felt a lot heavier and colder around him, and he suppressed a shudder.

“Who’s there—?”

“Hello,” the woman’s cold, icy voice sent shivers down his back as she suddenly appeared beside him, her equally freezing hands tilting his chin up, “You certainly are still as handsome as always.”

The boy was in stupor as he looked at the woman dressed in a body-fitting red dress, her pale complexion contrasting greatly to the bloodiness of her outfit. She was, he thought, just like the snow—cold, unforgiving, and easily stained by red.

The woman took a whiff of the boy’s scent as she leaned closer, “You also smell as delicious too, if not ever more so.”

Her red lips stretch into a sadistic smile as she whispered close to his ear, “I am so tempted to eat you.”

“I’d rather you not,” the boy stiffly replies, not moving from his position despite the woman’s proximity, ‘I think I’d like to keep my life for a bit more.”

She pulled back with a simper and laughed, “You’re as cold as ever too.”

“Between you and me, I wonder who is colder,” the boy muttered under his breath, and the woman’s sardonic laugh echoed throughout the otherwise soundless street.

“You’re right,” she stated with a smirk as she started leaning closer once again, “I guess I am just as much as cold as you are, no? Why don’t you come with me? We should talk and get a glass or two.”

The boy pushed her away and walked past her with a sigh, “There’s nothing to talk about. I’d rather not waste my time on you.”

“Oh, but I think there is plenty to talk about.”

“But I believe otherwise,” the boy doesn’t look back and simply walks away, ignoring the way the woman laughs after his leave.

I’ll see you again, Byun Baekhyun. I’ll see you again very soon.

            Once upon a time, there lived a princess. The princess was the fairest of them all with her hair as soft as silk and as black as ebony. She had skin that was as pale as snow and lips as red as blood. She was loved by all, all except the evil queen. Thus, the queen who was envious of the beauty the girl possessed called for a huntsman to murder the princess, but this plan inevitably failed, and the huntsman instead set the beautiful girl free.

Once set free, the princess found herself lost in the forest until she came across a small hut, and there, she met the seven dwarfs who accepted her almost immediately because of her incomparable beauty. She started living her life peacefully, away from the maleficent queen, but no secret could be hidden forever, and the queen eventually found out from her magical mirror.

The queen poisoned the girl with a magic apple and sent the princess to her demise, but what the queen didn’t know was that a prince had come and kissed the princess alive. True love’s kiss—that was what they called it. The evil queen was the one who met her own expiration, and the beautiful princess lived happily ever after with her prince.

At least, that’s how the story went in the fairy tales a hundred years ago.

“Listen, Child. You are never to approach that pension. The princess resides in there.”

“The princess?”

“Yes, she is a blood-eating monster, and you must never take foot inside her premises unless you wish to be eaten.”

            Once upon a lie, there lived a princess. The princess was the fairest of them all with her hair as soft as silk and as black as ebony. She had skin that was as pale as snow and lips as red as blood—because it was blood. She was feared by all that resided in her kingdom, known for her unique preferences in cuisine—blood.

Now, the queen could no longer stand back in fear as her daughter took more and more lives, and so she stepped in. She hired a huntsman to kill her daughter to finally put peace in the land, but this plan inevitably failed, and the huntsman was found dead, all blood drained from his body.

The princess fled and found herself in a pension that was owned by the seven dwarfs who were innocent and knew nothing of the princess’s escapades and warmly welcomed her. They were living peacefully until they found one of them drained of blood and lying lifelessly on the cold forest ground. That was how the dwarfs disappeared one by one until only two were left, and they decided to go to the queen to ask for help where they resorted to poisoning the princess to her demise.

The queen, having still loved her daughter, decided to at least give the princess a proper coffin and left her corpse in the middle of the forest where a traveling man happened to come across it. He was mesmerized by her beauty and lifted the coffin to see the girl clearer, and that was when her eyes opened.

The man was found dead the next day, resting bloodless inside the glass coffin.

The princess is now told to be residing in the pension hidden deep inside the forest where she waits until a lost traveller gets caught in her trap.

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the bloodiest of them all?”

Author's Notes:

Hello readers~
Like woooow!! I really didn't expect to get this much subscribers and I'm just like wuuuuuut, how did this happen? I love you guys so much!! (You'll find that I say that a lot. . .)
Anyway, welcome to the first chapter of Once Upon a Lie--the start to my mystery world of mythical creatures and twisted fairy tales~ So far I have shown 4 characters here :3 Who do you think is the identity of the guy with Aera? I think I gave a lot of hints~ ke ke ke.
Anyway, I'm really glad that you guys have been interested in my fic despite my usual awful foreword! I'll make sure you won't regret reading this~ I'm so sorry for the suuuuuuuper duuuuuper late update. I actually did put the first chapter up but took it down after a while. . . It was just far from my standards so I had to rewrite it again and again. It's a bit short though because I'm just introducing the first arc and showing you guys one side of the characters~ Look forward to the next chapter and I'll see you guys soon  >O< 
Thank you so much for subscribing and commenting~ and don't be afraid to talk to me if you have any questions or if you just want to talk about anything at all. My ideas here may be twisted, but I'm honestly really friendly :>
Most chapters will start or end with a story regarding the chapter title so look forward to next chapter's, "The Dragon."
I'll edit this tomorrow cuz it's technically 11 PM right now, and I had a tiring day~ ^ ^

Young Lady Byun signing off~