The Princess's Fairytale

Prologue

A slender figure moved through the dark night. Her steps were slow, unsure of whether she should continue walking or turn back. No, she thought. This was her dream. This had been her dream for years, and now she was temptingly close to the door leading to her dream coming true. She was not going to back out now, not when she could taste the cool night air and hear the crickets chirp.
But what would her father say?
She would be leaving her comfort zone, into a world she barely knew about. She would be leaving her responsibilities behind, and her aging father would have to take on her burden again for years before he could find his replacement. She would be leaving everything and everyone she grew with to meet people she had only heard of.
Was it worth all the risks?
For years she had not the slightest hint of doubt that she would, and could, do this. All she had to do was take a few more steps, and then she’d be free. She could almost taste her freedom, lying somewhere out there, beneath the pale light of the moon. Imagine a life free from the responsibilities she’d been prepared to handle, free from the burden she was destined to carry.
No, she should not back out now.
Just one step away from her freedom, she turned her back for a split second and her eyes laid sight on the building she was about to leave behind, the very building that watched her grow from a motherless baby into a young woman she was. Her whole life flickered at the back of her mind, showing her memories of a time when she had no clue what went outside the walls of that building. Memories shifted and changed, bringing her into the time that turned her whole life, her beliefs over. Memories of when she first had a desire of escaping from her predefined destiny.
“Finally,” she said as she breathed in deeply. Filling her lungs with cool night air, she silently closed the gates behind her. The clouds gathered up on the skies, and the first wash of raindrops fell on her face along with the wind flowing through her blond hair. The skies thundered, as if trying to tell her not to walk away.
From a distance, the building watched as Valerie Labelle took her first steps outside its gates. Raindrops fell on its walls, making it look like the building was crying over its mistress. La Palais de la Princesse was grieving for its loss. Its princess had walked away, possibly for good.