Simple

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who lived in a castle in a far off land. She was engaged to be married to a handsome prince, but a simple servant in the castle was secretly madly in love with her. One day, just weeks before the wedding, the servant could take it no more. He went to the apothecary and bought some poison for killing weeds, but slipped it into the prince's drink intending to kill the prince instead. As the prince and princess prepared to eat dinner together that night, the servant waited expectantly, anxious to sweep in and comfort the princess in the moment of sorrow. What he did not count on, however, was the prince offering his own drink to the princess. The servant's eyes widened in horror as he watched the prince offer the goblet across the table to his beloved. Just as her lips were about to touch its gold brim, the servant jumped out from his hiding place and shouted at them to halt. The prince turned in surprise, pulling the cup away from the lips of his betrothed. The servant hastily explained that he had seen a cloaked man sneaking out of the cellar where the wine was stored and feared that what the princess was about to drink was poisoned. The prince eyed the servant suspiciously as he told this tale and then asked why the servant come sooner to warn the prince and princess, or wait for someone to come get the wine from the cellar and warn them, if this was the case? Thinking quickly, the servant explained that he followed the cloaked man out to the castle gates and did not realize what he might have done until he watched him exit the castle and slip a small vial into his pocket. The prince still seemed skeptical, but the princess was in tears at this point, wondering how much of the wine may have been contaminated. The prince suggested that they test the wine out on the very servant who had warned them about it. The servant was about to protest when the princess shook her head and suggested they try it out on some mice instead. When they did so, much to the servant's surprise, no harm came to the mice. The prince laughed at the servant, drained the rest of the wine glass, and walked away. The princess, still too shaken to eat, thanked the servant meekly, and wandered back to her chambers for the night. The next morning, a great commotion spread about the castle. The prince who was set to marry the princess in just a few weeks was found dead in his chambers with a butcher's knife in his chest. The princess immediately jumped upon the story of the cloaked figure the servant had told, and insisted that whoever had tried to poison the wine had failed and resorted to a more gruesome method instead. The servant upheld his story, and a search was made throughout all the land for a bandit fitting the description the servant had given. The princess, meanwhile, wailed in grief night and day until one day, a suspect was found and brought before her father, the king. The suspect was very suspicious looking and everyone was sure he had done the terrible deed, especially the servant who had made up the whole thing. And so, the evildoer was locked away in the dungeon to await an execution three days hence. The princess, in her grief, went down to speak to the man who she believed had murdered her beloved, begging to know why he had done what he did, and only receiving back insistence that he hadn't. She cried and pleaded with him long into the night, and he could think of no way to respond but to explain to her exactly what he was and what he did and what he had been doing the night her beloved was murdered. Slowly, she came to believe him, whether because she was exhausted or because his words actually made sense, but by morning, she was convinced this man was guilty of nothing. She even went so far as to insist that her father set him free, but he told her it would look very unkingly of him to do such a thing after the man had been convicted. The servant heard of this and sought out the princess to try to comfort her, but she would have none of it. The servant, after all, was the one who had convinced her that this terrible man needed to die. And then it dawned on her, the servant had lied. The man in the dungeon was not the one who had killed her prince, the servant standing before her had. She was so shocked she spouted the accusation at him immediately and he was so shocked he jumped upon her and began to strangle her. Just as she started to lose consciousness, he suddenly realized what he was doing to the woman he loved. He released her and fled, but did not get far before the palace guards caught him. The next day, the one before the other man was to be killed, the servant stood trial before the king. The princess, who had recovered from the lack of oxygen the servant had forced upon her the day before, was even more insistent now that she had been with the false criminal, and so the king decided to overturn his previous verdict as long as there was another man to hang in the former murderer's place. And so it came to pass that the servant was marched down to the dungeon to take the place of the man he had accused just days ago. As they traded places, the former killer leaned in and whispered something in the servants ear. The servant lit up in rage and jumped toward the mysterious man, but the man just laughed to himself as the guards pulled the servant away. The servant sat alone in his cell awaiting the next day, which would be his last, and knowing he could do nothing. In spite of what the man he had made up just whispered to him, there was nothing he could do now, except... The servant called for the guard and put in a final request: a glass of wine, the very specific wine that the prince and princess had for dinner the night the prince was murdered. The guard laughed in his face. The guard just laughed at him. Prisoners would not be granted such a request ever. Besides, that wine was being held by the princess specifically in honor of her fallen prince. The servant, knowing he was defeated, resigned himself to the gallows, where he was hanged and died the very next day. The princess, meanwhile, spent more and more time with the mystery man who had been cleared of her prince's murder. In time, she came to love this man even more than she had loved her prince, until, finally, she decided she must marry this man, simple as he was, and be happy with him forever. And so they were wed, and on their wedding night, the princess revealed a very special bottle of wine: the wine she had not yet tasted with her former, now dead, beloved. She poured a glass for her new husband and one for herself, and after offering a short and sincere toast, drank from her glass and immediately fell dead. Her new husband allowed himself only a moment of true emotion, and then immediately threw his wine glass against the wall and called for the guards. His show of distress was so convincing, no one suspected him at all, for he was a master deceiver, prepared now to take over the kingdom. He was so convincing, the servant himself had not even realized until the end that he really had seen this devious man in the castle the day the prince fell dead. The servant had inadvertently stopped this monster of a man for a while by adding just the right poison needed to counter act the poison this man himself had added to the wine, but the villain knew he would not have to wait forever to get what he wanted. And it, in fact, was even better this way, for not only did he get to murder the prince and princess as he had intended, but he also had the kingdom for himself. It was a good day to be him, and all the better because a foolish servant had fallen for a beautiful princess and tried to murder the man she once loved.

What Love Is

I knew he loved me; deep in my heart I just knew it. He was always kind and affectionate and thought of me above himself. That's why it hurt so bad when he did what he did.

I never even saw it coming, but in retrospect, I should have. Leading up to it, he had seemed a little less happy and a little more distant than usual. But considering how happy and open he usually is, it just seemed a little more, well, frankly, a little more normal. I don't want to sound mean-spirited, but sometimes he was just a little too much for me. I was almost glad he had backed off a little, until I discovered the real reason for it.

I hated her from the moment I saw her. Even apart from the fact that I first saw her in his arms, I could tell she was a vial creature. At first, I was sure that she had tricked him somehow. There is no way he would knowingly do what I saw them doing. But after a few minutes I knew there could be no doubt. He immediately let go of her, pushed her aside even, once he realized I was there watching, but it was too late, the damage was done.

I suppose in some sense, I never truly loved him, but he was so good to me. How could I let that go? If he hadn't betrayed me like he did, we would have been together forever.

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I loved her so much, some days so badly it physically hurt, but what hurt most of all was knowing that she would never love me. She tried, put on a good show, but every time she tried to say the words I could tell they were forced and awkward. The problem was, I was good to her, probably the best man she'd ever been with, and she couldn't bring herself to let that go over a silly little thing like not actually loving me.

The problem really was, she was too good herself. Even if she had realized there were plenty of other good men out there, she had committed to being with me, and would never betray that unless something terrible happened. And so, something terrible had to happen.

Natalie was a coworker. She was single, decently smart, and attractive enough to make it believable. At first, she wanted nothing to do with it, said I should just talk to the woman I loved, make her understand my feelings and what I knew of hers, or just give her more time for the love to bloom, but I knew these things would never work. Somehow, I just knew. Eventually, I convinced Natalie to go along with my plan.

When she saw us, she was more hurt than she had probably ever been in her life, but I knew it was for her own good. I saw men all around me every day that I knew she would love more than me. Heck, I had even introduced her to a few of them myself, but I knew she was too good to leave me for someone I had caused her to meet, until now at least. Now the whole world was open to her. I loved her so much, and I had wished with all my heart for such a long time that she would love me, but since she can't, I want her to find someone she can love.

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When I saw the tears in her eyes, I knew she really loved him, even if he didn't think she did, even if she didn't know it herself. No one can cry like that and not feel something for the person they're crying over. If she really didn't love him, part of her would be relieved at this gracious out, but maybe she really doesn't get it.

Our show was so obvious I was almost surprised she even fell for it. I've been held by men who cared for me and held by men who don't, but James not only wasn't attracted to me, it was so obvious he was attracted to someone else, someone he knew was watching. He kept glancing at her, but she didn't even notice. He had such a hard time kissing me, I wasn't even sure he could go through with it.

Even though they love each other and should be together, they'll get over it, they'll both find someone else. But why should they? The problem they have is that they don't feel love the same way. They both love each other, but one is a uproar of passion and one is a gentle whisper. Their problem is that the shout was drowning out the whisper to point where the whisper itself didn't even know it was there.

I want to say something, now that I've seen, now that I really understand, but I promised I wouldn't. Even as I look at James, I know he'd hate me if I did, and he still wouldn't realize just how much she loves him, because she doesn't even realize it herself. Maybe in time they'll come to really understand like only an outsider can. Maybe not.

I've played my part in this vial deed, and vial it has been. I never should have stepped onto this stage, but what's done is done. Maybe one day they'll understand what love really is, but for now, all I can hope for is that they'll be happier than they were before.