"Knock... knock... knock." Aurelia knocked on the doors of the Palace's Conference Room slowly and deliberately. The doors swung open silently as the doormen behind the doors pulled open the twin doors. The King sat at the head of the long table in the centre of the Conference Room, the Queen on his right, discussing something important, the bright summer afternoon light shining in from the windows reflected in their eyes. As Aurelia stepped in, the Queen looked up from the serious discussion and smiled at the girl.

"Ah, my child, what brings you here?" She rose from her seat and went around the table to embrace the girl that she saved 7 years ago. As the red-haired girl breathed in the Queen's sweet perfume and stayed in the her warm embrace, the ice in her heart melted slightly. But when the Queen released Aurelia from the hug, the ice re-formed almost immediately. She looked up calmly at the Queen who was beaming at her.

"Oh my. My child, what happened to your eyes?" The Queen asked, concerned as she bent slightly to peer into Aurelia's black, dead eyes.

"My Queen, thank you for your generosity and kindness all these years... And I'm sorry but I have to do this." Aurelia curtseyed, her eyes never leaving the Queen's. 

"What? Why are you apolog..." Before the Queen could complete her sentence, Aurelia pulled herself to her full height and pointed a slender finger at the Queen, encasing the Queen in a thin yet unbreakable layer of glass.

"What..." The King jumped up in anger and confusion, earning himself a look from Aurelia, and his eyes immediately froze, unmoving in his glass prison. Spinning around, she zapped the two doormen who were trying to escape, and they froze, their hands clutching the door handles, eyes wide in terror. Sighing sadly, she circled the Queen and said in a maniacal child-like tone, "i'm sorry i had to do this... But Eli can love ONLY me..."

"Ouch!" She exclaimed loudly as her gaze left the glass statues in the room to look at the glass bead hanging on her neck. It burned with an intense pain, as if the part of that the bead sat on was on fire. After the pain subsided, she examined the glass bead.

The pain that the glass bead inflicted on her was much lesser than the pain she would have felt if her soul still remained in her. And when she first trapped her soul in the glass bead, the glass bead had been clear. But because she had performed the Glass Curse 4 times, the colour of the bead was now red. The colour of the bead would change according to the colours of the rainbow before finally turning black, the more times she performed the Glass Curse. When the bead is black, it meant that her soul had been completely depleted and only her essence remained. 

Aurelia had known that Eli was not in the Palace that day, out to buy a ring to propose to Elsie. She slipped out of the Conference Room, into the Gardens where she had hidden a box previously. She pried open the lid of the box and in it sat a pair of black-glass slipper. "Let's wait for Prince Ellison's return shall we?" She whispered lovingly to the shoes. Then she stood up and strode out of the Gardens, into the Glass Ballroom. She knelt and placed the black, glittering shoes in the centre of the ballroom and muttered a spell, her eyelids half-closed. 

Then she strode deliberately into the Princes room. As she entered, the 6 Princes, who were engaged in different activities, Soo Hyun writing music at the table, AJ reading a book on the bed, Dongho hitting an invisible ball with a baseball bat, Kiseop dancing to a silent melody, Hoon and Kevin singing a duet softly, all stood to stare at the intruder. With a flick of her wrist, Aurelia levitated the 6 boys and threw them into their Changing Room. They stumbled as they fell to the floor and stood up indignantly, in a straight row in front of the 7 mirrors, facing Aurelia. 

"Black as night, red as fire... The most powerful witch of all." AJ muttered as Aurelia took her time to sashay in. Aurelia gave the boys a mocking smile and clapped slowly. "Well done. I see you have done your homework! But it's no use, you are still going to DIE!" At the last word, she turned to the boys and pointed at them ferociously.

But AJ was prepared. When the witch pointed at them, AJ lifted a silver fork at her at the same time and shouted "Mirrors!" The Glass Curse rebounded from the six boys to hit the furniture nearby, but the force of Aurelia's and AJ's spell combined, threw them into the mirrors that stood behind them. As they fell backwards into the mirrors, the surface of the mirrors rippled like water, letting them enter but hardened immediately after they entered. Inside the mirrors, they pounded and shouted, trying to escape.

Aurelia knelt on the ground, doubled over in pain from the spell. Her breaths were laboured as she recovered from the pain. Shaking, she stood up, supporting herself on furniture coated in glass. "Very well, if you want it this way. I can't be too concerned with the 6 six of you anyway." she said shakily, her pale, bloodless lips curling up in disgust. She then clicked her fingers, disappearing from the room.

She reappeared in the Palace Gardens, just in time to see a happy Elsie skip into the Palace, heading towards the Glass Ballroom. She gave a sinister smile and continued waiting. 5 minutes later, Eli entered the Palace too, clutching a midnight-blue satin box, large enough to hold a ring. "My Prince!" Aurelia called out before Eli could take a step into the Glass Ballroom. Eli looked around distracted, finally spotting Aurelia standing in the Gardens.

"Ah! My lady, what could be the purpose for this visit? Could it be that the are the shoes ready? You are the best at your craft I must say!..." Eli said as he walked towards Aurelia. Aurelia waited for Eli to finish talking before saying, "My Prince, do you love me?" 

"Are you all right my lady? You know as well as I do that my heart belongs to another." Eli said, half curious, half worried all of a sudden as he stared at her emotionless black eyes. Suddenly, she started laughing a crazy, maniac laughter, throwing her head back and shaking from the effort. The bead at flashing dark green.

Eli had heard the rumours of red-haired women. "Thump...thump...thump" His heart started beating faster as he started walking backwards towards the Glass Ballroom, breaking into a full run by the time he reached the bottom of the staircase leading to the Ballroom. He frantically pushed open the doors, stumbling in, just in time to see Elsie neck-high in glass. She managed to turn her head in his direction when he entered. Her face was streaked in tears, her eyes swollen red from crying, but when she saw him she managed a beautiful smile and said "Eli! I love you, always..." Before her head was encased in glass too.

---

Minutes ago

Elsie skipped into the Glass Ballroom, a note clutched in her hand. The note read

Elsie, please come to the Glass Ballroom immediately. I have a surprise for you. Love, Ellison.

She had received the note when she was at home. Someone knocked on the door, but when she opened the door, only the note written in Eli's elegant hand was lying on the doorstep. She had put on her nicest dress and accessories in record time before leaving for the Palace. As she entered the Ballroom, only a pair of onyx-black slippers sat in the middle of the silent ballroom, a note attached to the heel of one. On closer inspection, she realised to her delight that it was glass! She picked up the note.

Dearest Elsie, will you marry me? Put on the slippers and come meet me in the Gardens if it is a yes! Love, Ellison.

Delighted at receiving the proposal, she blushed. She tucked a stray hair back into place and stepped daintily into the slippers. Yet when she did that, the black glass slippers suddenly faded and became clear, glass tendrils snaking up her calves, growing from the slippers. Too shocked and scared at the sudden glass that was growing up her legs faster and faster, she couldn't scream. She just looked desperately at the glass that was moving closer and closer to her head. "Bang!" The doors of the ballroom opened and she trned to see the man she loved with all her heart. From somewhere deep within, she knew that she was going to die. But she couldn't die before telling Eli that she loved him so, so much...

---

Now

Eli scrabbled at the statue but he was too late because the glass had just entrapped the only person he loved so deeply that it hurt. Aurelia stepped into the room and with a click of her fingers, 6 familiar mirrors from his changing room appeared on one side of the wall of the ballroom, and the clear walls of the Glass Ballroom frosted over, hiding its contents from the rest of the world. In each of the mirrors stood one of his 6 brothers. They were pounding from inside the mirrors, shouting to him to watch out and be careful, yelling and asking what on earth was going on.

"No!!!" Eli screamed as he stood up and looked around the ballroom at the six mirrors surrounding the dance floor, the faces of each of his brothers staring out of them, desperate and pleading. Eli spun around furiously to face Aurelia. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Grabbing her by her shoulders and shaking her in anguish and fear.

Giggling maniacally, Aurelia whispered, "Do you like my handiwork?" gesturing towards the mirrors that entrapped his brothers. Eli released her shoulders and stumbled backwards slowly, eyeing her fearfully. Aurelia pointed at the beautful glass statue in the centre of the ball room and asked, "Prince, do you love me now?" 

Eli stared into the sky-blue eyes of the Elsie frozen in the glass and murmured "Yes... I love you..."