“I’m so stressed!” Michelle shouted as she enters her office, running her fingers through her elegantly curled hair and quickly dumped her body on the lounge. She massaged her face, smoothing the crinkles between her eyebrows and sighed, heavily.

“I feel like I’m getting old.” She whined, grunting and sharply looked at the person leaning against the wall. Michelle stood up, and sat on top of her mahogany desk, crossing her legs.

“Miro, Miro beside the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” She asked, huskily. The one named Miro pressed his lips tightly but even how much he refuses to speak, his lips just want to answer the question with the truth. Michelle found the latter’s resistance, and shouted, “Yah! Answer me you dolt! If you don’t, I’ll trap you even more inside this house!”

Miro shook his head and said, “I won’t speak of the truth if you don’t remove the blindfold covering my eyes.”

“What do you think of me, dumb? I will never take that off or my throne will be replaced.” Michelle answered, hastily and Miro only smirked to mock her.

“You’re scared; I see that the throne of the fairest will be snatched from you. It has been a complete twenty years, Michelle, since I’ve seen the world with my eyes without the hindrance of this blindfold. I was struck by your appearance by then, and when you learned about my sickness, you made me your puppet, telling you every day that you’re the most beautiful person in the land. But now, I only sense that you’re scared of losing your throne, that I might see someone else more beautiful than you and I can only say the truth.”

“I am not scared!” Michelle denied, crossing her arms. “If you want that blindfold off that badly, fine. Even without or with it, I’m still the fairest of them all.” She snapped her fingers and her most loyal servant took off the blindfold covering Miro’s eyes. The latter blinked twice, adjusting to the newly profound light from the past twenty years and grinned, as if he was a blind man getting his sight again.

“Miro, Miro beside the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” Michelle asked, smirking and when Miro was about to answer, the guards came charging in the room. They were holding a large poster with Sandara’s picture on it. Miro’s eyes widened.

“I told you to knock first before getting inside didn’t I, you dolts!” Michelle shouted, pointing at each of the guards with her index finger. The one in the middle, bowed respectfully and said, “We have already finished producing the posters. We just want you, milady, to check if the headline is correct.”

“What does it say?” Michelle asked, obviously pissed but now had calmed down.

“Missing daughter.” They answered in unison.

“Of course it’s correct, you dolts! What do you think of Sandara? My ing son? Go and paste those posters up on the walls!” She commanded and the guards quickly ran away. As soon as it was only the three of them, Michelle, Top and Miro, the room fell silent again with the exception of Michelle’s labored breathing.

She closed her eyes and asked, “Miro, Miro beside the ing wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”

Miro, as if in a trance, answered dreamily, “I believe you’re now in the second place, milady. Your daughter, Sandara is now the fairest of you all.”

Michelle shouted, and it’ll be better if there was fire coming out of her big mouth. She called; “Top!” and her servant came quickly right away.

“Yes, milady?” He asked, respectfully.

“Kill Sandara and bring her heart to me as a proof!” Michelle demanded, and when Top was about to react, she quickly contradicted, “Go or else, you’re fired!”

Top quickly left the room; Miro commented, “Isn’t it too harsh to kill her for being the fairest of you all?”

“That’s one of the reasons.” Michelle answered. “The first one is that she’s going to inherit what I have worked hard for.”

“And what’s that?” Miro asked.

“The company.”