Elise’s mouth agape when she realized that her grandmother was really serious with her threat and had punished her by not allowing her to see the chamber.

“Father…” Elise looked up to her father and pursed her lips. “Did grandma lock me out of her chamber for good?

King Alexander turned to his right and saw Myrcella Leorelai, his mother, who sat gracefully on her favorite chair with a cup of tea in her hand shook her head. The woman raised two fingers.

Only he could see his mother, as he also saw the chamber like usual. As for Elise, all she saw was a vast of nothingness.

The king immediately understood that his mother had grounded his daughter for two years.

“No, only two years,” said the king to his daughter. His heart ached when he saw her expression turn gloomy. He turned to the right again and asked his mother with his eyes.

Myrcella Leoralei rolled her eyes and finally raised one finger. “I can reduce her punishment to one year, if she could finish all her studies by then.”

King Alexander turned to Elise and told her what his mother said. “However, if you promised to be a good girl and finish all your studies in one year, your punishment will be lifted by then.”

Elise turned to the right and bit her lip, looking so pitiful. She knew her grandmother was right over there, but since she was charmed by her grandmother’s spell, she couldn’t see Myrcella Leoralei.

“It’s really up to you if you want to be grounded for one year or two years.” King Alexander continued. “You have broken the law of our kind. You are told over and over again, not to intervene with regular humans’ life. Your grandmother thinks it’s time to make you really understand that for every action, there is a consequence. Just because you are a princess, it doesn’t mean you will get special treatment.”

“Oh, grandma…” Elise went to her knees and begged. “I didn’t hurt anyone. I was only helping Loriel…”

“He didn’t need your help,” King Alexander replied on his mother’s behalf.

The handsome king reached out his hand and motioned Elise to come with him. The young girl sighed and took her father’s hand. She rose from the floor and walked with him, holding his hand.

She knew her father was a very busy man, but he always made time for her to teach her important life lessons, and this was one of the things she loved about him.

They went down from the tower and walked to the massive garden in front of the palace. It was filled with Elise’s mother’s favorite flowers. The flowers here bloomed all year round no matter what season it was.

“What are we doing here?” Elise looked up to her father and asked. She knew this garden had a special place in her father’s heart since it was her mother who grew most of the plants here herself and she cared for this place every day when she was still alive.

After she passed away, King Alexander spent a lot of his private time here.

Did he ask Elise to come here to talk about her mother?

She never met that woman because she passed away when she gave birth to Elise. So, it was hard to miss someone you never really knew. Grandmother Myrcella was the only mother figure that Elise had in her life.

“Come here and see this caterpillar,” said King Alexander. Elise walked to his side and saw several caterpillars getting ready to wrap themselves in cocoons on a branch of a blackberry tree.

This was nothing unusual, she thought. She had seen caterpillars turned into cocoons and later butterflies. It’s part of nature.

“Now, let’s see these cocoons over here.” King Alexander moved to the next plant and pointed at two cocoons hanging from the branch. Both were at the stage of breaking free from their cocoons and got ready to fly as butterflies.

“They have become butterflies!” Elise gushed excitedly. She lowered her head and observed both cocoons with great interest.

The newly-transforming butterflies were trying so hard to break the cocoon walls so they could get out. She could see their wings moved inside the cracked cocoons.

She waited for a while, but it looked like the butterflies were still too weak to break out. They eventually stopped moving.

“They can’t get out, father,” said Elise in a worried tone. “They will be trapped forever inside their cocoons. Look, they have stopped moving.”

“It’s because they are tired,” said King Alexander calmly. “They will try again.”

And the king was right. Ten minutes later, one butterfly tried again to break its cocoon walls. After struggling so hard for some time, it could finally break free.

Elise shrieked in excitement when she saw the majestic wings came out of the cocoon and spread beautifully as the butterfly leaped to the air and flew.

“It’s so beautiful…” She gushed. After the first butterfly was gone, her attention was now turned to the second cocoon. The butterfly inside was much weaker than the first one. It tried to push through several times, but it kept failing.

“Father… this one is too weak,” said Elise. She looked up to her father and gave him her best puppy eyes. “Can I help it?”

King Alexander nodded. He knew his daughter had the kindest heart. She couldn’t see any creature suffer and would always do something to help. So, he understood how much more she would go the extra mile for the people she loved.

However, she must learn that sometimes, she had to stay away and let them take care of themselves.

Elise smiled when she got her father’s approval. She touched the weak cocoon lovingly and slowly broke open the walls.

“Aahh.. so beautiful….” she gasped in disbelief when the butterfly slid out of the cocoon to her hand.

Now that the butterfly had come out of its shell, Elise could see its shape and colors clearly. This was one of the rarest sun butterflies that she once read in a book. They had long and slender wings with bright colors that reflected the sunlight like precious stones.

She opened her palm and observed the majestic creature. It was simply the most beautiful butterfly she had ever seen.

“Come on now… you can fly. You are out of the cocoon,” she whispered to the animal. As if understanding her words, the butterfly raised its wings, ready to flap them and fly.

However….

Suddenly, the wings fell to its sides and it couldn’t raise them again.

“Father, why didn’t it fly?” Elise asked her father in confusion. “Does it hurt?”

King Alexander shook his head, looking sad. This was a hard lesson to give, but he knew Elise must learn this.

“No. It’s too weak to fly. It’s not supposed to be out of the cocoon yet. The butterfly needed more time to grow and gain strength to live in the world outside. Usually, the sign that the wings have formed completely and it is strong enough to fly is it can break the cocoon walls on its own. However, since you ‘helped’ it to come out before its time, now the butterfly is too weak to live outside and it won’t be able to fly.”

His explanation made Elise gasp in shock. She looked at the beautiful but pitiful butterfly on her hand. It tried to spread its wings again but kept failing miserably.

“Oh, no… father…” she cried so hard when the realization hit her. “I have broken this butterfly… I didn’t know…”

King Alexander was glad that Elise understood his point. “Now, you know.”

“Oh, father… please heal this butterfly and help him fly. I understand now. I won’t do it again. I won’t disturb the course of nature just to help other people….”

King Alexander smiled but he shook his head. “I am sorry, sweetheart. I can’t do that. If I keep correcting your mistakes, you will never learn. This is something that you have to live with. In the future, when you want to smother someone because you love them too much, you will remember how you once broke a butterfly because you wanted to ‘help’.”

Elise broke down in tears when she heard her father’s words.

How could he do this to the poor animal?

He could have taught her the lessons without sacrificing this innocent animal. She would get it too. There was no need to cripple a beautiful butterfly…

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>>>>>

From the author:

What do you think about King Alexander’s action? Was it too harsh? Or is this something that Elise really needed to learn, that her actions have consequences?