A very long time ago , on a small farm ,  there lived a poor farmer with his two daughters and a son .

He never made much money , for the farm was very small .

When he was a young man , he lost his beautiful and loveable wife  right after she gave birth to his son .

Now his kids were almost young women  and his son looked as innocent as ever  .

But occasionally he still missed his wife   and even felt his heart heavy recalling her .

He was sad for he had lost her and his kids had to grow without a mother .

That's why he has always tried his best to shelter them and be both , a caring mother and a respectable  father .

One day , he called them for a gathering .

" My daughters , my son , the farm had yielded a lot of fruits this year and i can say we have money enough to buy a new cart ! "

The eldest , Gertrude , was very happy about this .

" Good ! Because I cannot walk to the village anymore ,  or carry wood for the  fire  , I need a cart ! "

" Oh , father .   Take me with you ,    I want to see the town for once  !  "

The other one  , Ursula  , beamed .

" I can't take you with me . you must help them here and look after the farm while I'm gone ..

but I promise to bring each of you something with me . "

The father promised , noticing how his young son did not utter a word .

" I want a new satin dress ! An expensive one ! "

" I want some new clothes too ! And I want some jewellery- a necklace and a ring ! "

" Well , girls , I will buy you what I can . "

Then he looked at his son .

" What do you want from the town ? "

" Father , I only want you to come back home safely . "

The father saw in his son's kind face the face of his dear , sweet , late wife .

But then the other daughters shouted .

" Yah ! father , don't listen to him ! he just wants to make us look selfish ! "

" Yea , he is stupid and likes this poor life ! "

That was not true , he was clever , very clever , he was  also very  beautiful .

And that's why his name was beauty .

Byunghun , the Beauty !

The father looked at the girls , why were they so different and mean  ?

" Come on , my love , let me bring you something .Tell me , what do you want ? "

The girls rolled their eyes , crossing their arms .

" Alright , father . Will you bring me a rose ? " Beauty politely asked .

"  A rose ?  why only a rose , dear , when you could have a present ? " The father was bewildered by his son's request .

" A rose looks so pretty , father . And when you touch it , it is like silk , so soft . And the smell - there is no perfume as lovely as a rose . "

" Yes , my dear . you are right , I will bring you one . " Promised the father .

The girls chuckled , mocking as they said " Well , well , I wonder who the daughters are sometimes ! "

"  yea ,  Byunghun  .  Are you sure you are our brother ? Not sister ? " The girls made snide remarks .

That was expected and not at all new .

It was sometime around maturing that the girls had noticed their brother was actually a lot more feminine than normal guys .

He was also not into girls in particular , so they assumed he was their sister and that joke grew to be  a candy in their mouths  .

~ ♦ ~

He left , early in the morning , went to market and unfortunately , the carts were real expensive .

He could only afford a small one , if he wanted to buy his daughters what they had asked for  .

He stayed in a small inn , planning to get back the following day .

when the farmer left town the next day , the weather was terrible .

It was a  cold November day , the sky was grey and the wind was strong .

As he left town , it started to snow and at first he thought it was pretty until it got real snowy .

He took the horse into the forest but there was no path ;  just deep snow .

The weather got worse and  worse , till the old man felt lost in although he had lived there all his life .

" This isn't possible ! I'm lost ! "

It was nearing the dark , and the farmer got scared especially because he was now lost too .

Just then , the horse went faster and faster , into the deep snow .

Then suddenly , there was no more trees , just a big , open space .

" I must be dreaming , for a moment I thought I saw a castle ! "

But he wasn't dreaming , there was indeed a castle , a very beautiful and big one at that .

" I will ask for food and a bed for tonight , I'm so hungry ! and tomorrow , someone will show me the way home . "

The farmer left the house by the barn and surprisingly found the gates to the castle open , as if inviting him in .

He shrugged , shouting " Is anybody there ? "

" Hello ! "

" I'm sorry , I just need to shelter myself from the rain .. "

His voice trailed off as he made his way through the stairs and up to where his instincts let him .

He soon  found himself in a room , dark , but the fire there provided enough light and warmth for him , he also found a meal ready to be eaten .

The framer was starving , so he started eating shortly after shouting again , truly confused so as how his luck must have been that good .

Once he was finished , his eyes wandered to the bed  , looking comfortable and  covered with thick blankets , ready to be used .

He was once again feeling strange , but really tired to justify any of it , so he succumbed to his need to sleep .

The next day , when the farmer woke up , the sun had sent its rays  , shining upon his face.

He yawned , rubbing his eyes only to open them to a neat breakfast , jam , toast and some juice .

After he had finished eating , feeling suspicious for the second time  , he looked around and found a jug of hot water , a soap and a towel .

" Well , I do need a shower after all . But who did all of this ? "

~ ♦ ~

All the way till the barn which were across the garden , the farmer could do nothing but wonder who could have done all of that .

He then concluded he would just return the favor , if someone ever was traveling across the place he lived , he would give him shelter too .

Stopping to take a long glance at the garden , the farmer was in awe .

The garden was so lovely , vibrant green grass and flowers of every color !

He suddenly remembered his son's wish , the rose .

At that moment , he saw something in the middle of the flower bed .

" Just look at that rose ! I have never seen anything so beautiful in my whole life ! "

The farmer could do nothing but express his marvel about the beauty of that rose .

It was a pink rose , but inside it was a golden light. it was so bright he nearly believed in magic !

" It is a perfect present for beauty ! "

He put his forward to pick the rose .

" LEAVE IT ALONE ! "

A terrible , thundering voice , shouted at him .

" Who do you think you are ? I gave you EVERYTHING  a poor traveler needs but now you want to steal my rose ??!! "

What a noise !

The poor farmer turned around , and he saw it ..

It was on two legs , like any normal human , well , it was normal yet not exactly normal .

It was a guy , a very handsome one at that .

A prince !!

He had shoulder length blonde hair that covered half of his face until the cold breeze swirled it away , revealing his eyes .

He had azure blue eyes marred with a hint of hazel  like a wolf , so fierce , so intense .

so deep that you could lose yourself in them .

The face was cold , angry and fierce , and the voice  - oh , the voice !

Words of a human , sound of a devil  .

The farmer was scared , so scared his voice and entire being got shaken up by the sudden encounter .

" I'm very sorry , I didn't mean to upset you , I just .. And you are right , you have done everything to help me and make me feel welcomed in your home . "

" So , in return you steal !! " The said almost growled .

" I .. I'm so s .. sorry  , but the rose wasn't for me , it was for my someone very special , someone with a heart of gold ! "

" And who is that ?! "

" My son , Beauty . "

Now the beast - like  prince was calmer but still intimidating and when he spoke , the farmer was afraid .

" Why do you call him Beauty ? "

" Because he is the most beautiful boy in the whole world ! "

" And his heart is as lovely as his face . please , I beg of you .  forgive me and let me go back to him . "

The prince then , had a poker face before he voiced his evil thoughts .

" If he is really such a good son , let's see what he would do to get his father back . "

~ ♦ ~

Days have passed and beauty never heard of his father again , he got sick and worried  .

His sisters though  could only complain , wondering what might have taken their father so long to get them their presents .

About a week had  passed and that was when the horse made his return , alone .

And that said something .

Beauty was convinced he had to search for his father , to the end of the world .

He Felt the horse knew something by the way it raged , Almost pushing him to ride through  the deep forest .

He was on a hurry , so he forgot to bring himself a cape  to wear .

Shivering all the way , beauty blew air over his almost frosted hands , until his eyes caught the said castle .

He was astonished , because he had never expected seeing such thing !

He has only read about castles and saw them in  stories , never witnessed a real one !

~ ♦ ~

Beauty found his  father trapped in that castle but had to sacrifice his life in order to set his father  free .

He still remembers how a dark figure appeared out of nowhere , standing on the stairs , the moonlight filtering through the narrow windows , sneaking about , making half of his face somehow visible , as visible as a person standing in  the dark could get .

His voice was ice itself , void of literally any emotions as he clearly told beauty the only way for him to save his father out of that misery and prison is to be the prisoner himself , to succumb to the beast's siege .

A touching moment took place , the goodbye .

Goodbyes are always like that ..

But then again .. what's good in it ?

Days have passed and beauty used to cry his way to sleep .

He started getting weird dreams of a sad man , a king , or so he looked like .

The king looked sad and kept asking of beauty to save his son .

One of the other strangest things he had encountered during his stay in the castle was coming across a

talking fish - aka Niel -  , a talking Cap , an Alien-looking bear  , a cute newborn  doll wearing napkin named Ricky  .

The strange thing is that those strange creatures turned out to once have been human .

They also do transform