Click-clack. The sound of her shoes were loud and ringing.
Cindy thought to herself as she ascended the long stairs of the palace. Last time all she’d thought about was running down them as fast as she could. She hadn't known she’d be back.
She’d considered the last time to be her first and final visit. She’d been short of time and running down the stairs in the middle of the night, so she hadn’t had the opportunity to look around. But now, as she climbed the long stairs, she got a good look at the huge palace.
The stairs were of white marble, and the main palace had huge pillars. And then there were the stairs that led up to that palace, the long stairs that she was walking on. There were countless windows on the walls of the palace, all decorated with fancy ornaments. They were very clean without a single bit of dust on them, and they looked down at the stairs and the beautiful garden that surrounded the palace. She saw a fountain that sprayed water high into the air, the trees neatly arrayed about, and flowers blooming.
And also the soldiers.
Cindy threw a sidelong glance at the soldiers standing on both sides of the stairs, but they didn't budge as they stood with their long spears.
A long line of soldiers stood at each side, stretching from the castle entrance, up the stairs, and all the way to the palace.
Cindy waved her hand to catch their interest, but they didn't even look at her. Cindy gave a humph and turned away.
They’re not there to protect the castle. They’re there to watch and threaten me.
That was what Cindy thought as she looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a fancy and beautiful white dress that was a perfect fit for the fancy palace. This was completely different from her usual outfit, which were casual and worn clothes that were suitable for housework and her various part-time jobs. It had a bunch of ornaments, and because it wasn’t the comfortable sort of clothes she liked to wear but the sort only made to look good, she felt uncomfortable in them. The dress that the kind wizard had made her had been both pretty and comfortable to move around in.
She’d thought that she’d never have to wear such clothes again.
While in such thoughts, Cindy finished climbing the stairs. The main gate was extremely big, big enough to reach into the sky it seemed. She wondered why they’d made it so big. She saw soldiers and a well-dressed old man who stood there politely. Cindy recalled hearing the last time she’d visited that the old man was a steward.
“Now, here I am, like I said. Let me meet my mother and my sisters now.”
“We’ve been waiting for you, Miss Cindy.”
The butler nodded slowly and the huge gate slowly opened. The soldiers moved methodically into formation around her, armor clinking. Perhaps they were protecting her, or perhaps they were trapping her in. Cindy took a deep breath, then took a step forward. Every clack of her shoes against the marble floor rang in rhythm with the clinking of the soldiers’ armor.
It was fancy and beautiful inside the palace, just as it had been outside. The walls were covered with paintings and portraits presumably drawn by famous painters, and the pillars in between were ornamented beautifully. The huge windows she’d noticed from outside were housed in graceful window frames and were so clean that the glass was hard to see. It was completely different from the small house Cindy had lived in with her family up to now.
“This will be your home from now on, Miss Cindy,” the steward told her as Cindy walked down the hallway, her eyes wandering.
Despite the news that she could live in this beautiful palace now, she felt even more gloomy.
“We’re here.”
She'd been walking for a while, lost in thought. She raised her head at the steward’s voice. When two attendants opened the door, a huge hall came into view. Cindy remembered this place. It was the only place she recalled in this palace, the place she'd visited during the ball.
It had been enjoyable then. The ballroom had been full of people and good food, and her stepmother and stepsisters who’d been waiting for her, wearing dresses they’d gone to some trouble to acquire; had been glad to see her. Only Cindy had been unable to come to the ball because there hadn’t been a dress for her. The ball had been held so that the prince could find himself a wife. Her stepmother and stepsisters had offered to stay at home so she could go, but Cindy had made an excuse that she had a part-time job, not wanting them to miss such an opportunity to have some good food.
They had asked her how Cindy had managed to come to the ball after all, and she'd explained to them that she had met a “kind wizard” by coincidence who had made her a magical dress and shoes. Everyone rejoiced and enjoyed their reason for coming here: the great food.
“You’re finally here! My lovely queen!”
Until that man had appeared.
The voice woke her from her pleasant memory. She glanced sharply towards the inner hall. Now that her reverie was broken, the hall was no longer the venue of the enjoyable ball. The groups of people dancing were replaced by neat rows of soldiers, and the nice music by a silence that spoke of coming dangers. What didn't change was the prince standing in the hall.
“Who are you calling a queen? Where are my mother and sisters?” Cindy shouted sharply, forgetting that she was talking to a prince.
At her response, the prince laughed and gestured with his chin. A door opened and soldiers dragged in Cindy’s stepsisters and stepmother, tied up with ropes.
“Cindy!”
“Mother! Sisters!”
They called out to each other and tried to approach, but the soldiers lowered their spears and prevented them. Cindy gritted her teeth with rage, glaring at the prince.
“I came as you told me to! Let them go now!”
“Oh, of course. They’re soon to be my in-laws, after all.”
The prince smiled at Cindy’s glare.
“But in order for that to happen, we’ll first have to hold the wedding. Otherwise, they’re nothing more than the family of a traitor who disobeyed the command of the prince.”
“That is low of you!”
“But that's also why you came, is it not? You’re even wearing the dress I gave you.”
“You told me I had to! After kidnapping my mother and sisters!”
It was true. Cindy had come to the palace wearing her uncomfortable dress so that she could hold a wedding with the prince. Not that it was what Cindy wanted.
On the night of the ball that had been held to look for a wife, the prince had fallen in love with Cindy at first sight. Cindy had recalled that the wizard had told her the magic would end at midnight, and that she was to return before them. She'd shaken the prince off and run out of the palace. Cindy had been relieved to see that her clothes were now back to normal, but one magical shoe was still on one of her feet. She'd felt a little nervous about having lost the other.
Her worries turned out to be well-founded the next day.
The prince had lost Cindy, and perhaps unable to console himself over his newfound love, perhaps struck by the fact that someone had run away from him for the first time, he'd asked everyone in the ball about who she was. Cindy however, had hidden her identity with the magical dress and no one had recognized her. In the end, the prince tried to use the only trace he had of her, one of her shoes, to find her.
The soldiers tried to find the shoe's owner by having every woman in the castle try it on. Cindy, who'd been doing her best to avoid the search with the help of her family, was forced to try it on in the end. That had been how she’d been found out. Cindy had refused to marry the prince who she had never met before. The prince had then sent his soldiers to kidnap her stepmother and sisters, commanding her to wear a certain dress and come to the palace for a wedding.
“Why do you refuse to marry me? It can’t be so bad of a thing for you.”
The prince looked taken aback at Cindy’s complaining.
“It's a little embarrassing to have to say this myself, but I don't think my looks are unattractive. Besides, as my wife you’ll get to live in this huge, fancy palace. When I am king, you’ll be queen. This kingdom will be yours. Is there a reason you dislike the idea so much?”
The prince proudly opened both arms, gesturing to the huge hall.
Cindy had to admit that the prince was right. She didn't know about his character, but his looks were nice. And if she did become his wife, this palace would become her new home. Cindy thought of the way the huge, fancy palace had looked from the outside. If she lived in a place like this, if she became a queen, she wouldn’t need to do housework every day or do various kinds of part-time jobs to keep herself fed.
Even so, she had to think about her stepmother and stepsisters who were looking at her in concern, tied up with rope.
The house they lived in leaked when it rained and was infested with rats, but she had always been happy living in it because of the kind stepmother and stepsisters. When she came home after work, everyone would be there after finishing her own work. They’d gather together to do the housework and share meal, even if there wasn't enough food. For Cindy, who’d always been lonely because she had no mother or father, it had been more than enough.
Living in a nice place like this would mean she would have no need to return to a house she shared with her family. But if she didn’t marry the prince, there was no way to know what would happen to her family.
“It looks like I’ll have to help you decide.”
The prince seemed to have noticed Cindy’s inner conflict. He snapped his fingers. At that signal, the soldiers standing around Cindy’s family moved their spears.
“Don't do that!” screamed Cindy, reaching out with her hands. The prince laughed, finding this reaction enjoyable.
“Then hurry up and decide. All I have to do is put this glass slipper on you.”
In front of the prince was a small object on a pedestal, covered with a cloth. Cindy hesitated for a moment, but soon she crossed the hall with the soldiers and approached the prince. When Cindy approached, the attendants removed the cloth, revealing a shoe that could only be described as having been created with magic. It was one of the glass slippers the kind wizard had made for her, the one she’d lost on her way out of the palace.
“If you just put this on, our marriage will be formalized. I’ve declared to make whoever this slipper fit my wife, and you are its owner. It's about time you give in.”
The prince gave a proud smile. It was a mocking smile, a smile that indicated that everything was going according to plan, that he had won.
Cindy did not want to leave her family. Even if it wasn't the most prosperous of lives, she wanted a happy life with her beloved family. If she didn't make the sacrifice, however, something might happen to them. After much thought, Cindy carefully removed a shoe and reached out towards the glass slipper.
“Cindy!”
Cindy turned when someone shouted her name. Cindy’s stepmother and stepsisters were shouting at her, resisting the soldiers.
“Don't worry about us, Cindy!”
“Do what you truly desire, Cindy!”
She could see that they meant it. The family was more worried about her happiness than their own safety. It made her resolve stronger. She could do anything for a family like this. The prince grinned as if he found their resistance cute. Cindy smiled back at the prince.
Yes, the thing I’ve truly wanted is—
“You did what?”
“I hit him with the glass shoe. Like this.”
Alice didn't seem to be aware that she was spilling her black tea. Cindy sounded calm. She swung her arm to show Alice how she’d hit the prince with the shoe.
“It made me angry. He was trying to control me with my weakness. I had no intention to marry and I was still young. And there he was, kidnapping my family and demanding I marry him. I hate people like him.”
Cindy chuckled as if dismissing the deed as nothing special.
They were in Alice’s lab, and after making a video message for Cindy's family, they had decided to have some tea. They had naturally begun to talk about Cindy's family, whom Cindy loved enough to create a video letter for them. Their chat had moved on to how she'd come to this place, the Library World, where stories were said to gather.
This was the place where all the stories of the world came together. Characters from countless stories lived in this Library World and its heart Synop City where Alice’s lab was located. Both Alice and Cindy were the protagonists of their own respective stories.
“So it was great that I got to smack him with the heel. Only but the world suddenly went white and I found myself in this world instead. I was shocked,” said Cindy, sipping her tea loudly. Alice had all but given up on Cindy’s table manners already, and didn’t comment.
All stories ended up at the Library World after they met their conclusion. Sometimes, however, characters found themselves suddenly transported to this world when the story changed, like it had in Cindy’s case.
“So you’ve really come here alone, huh,” said Alice, putting down her cup of tea. Cindy smiled, but to Alice it seemed that her smile looked a bit lonelier than usual.
“Yes, well... I guess so.”
Strange things had been happening lately in the Library World.
More characters were coming here because their stories had changed, and sometimes they came because their stories stopped altogether. Other times, only some of the characters of a story, not all of them, found themselves here. And for some reason, it was no longer possible to return to the stories from the Library World. These incidents were being called “anomalies”, and were the worry of everyone who lived here.
Cindy had been affected by these disturbances as well. Cindy had been the only one from her story who'd been transported to the Library World. No one else, including the prince and her family, had come with her into this strange world.
“But I’m not entirely alone,” said Cindy, replacing her lonely smile with a brighter one.
“I met the kind wizard again here!”
“You mean the one that made you the dress and shoes?”
Cindy nodded.
“Yes! I was lost after coming here, and she helped me again.”
Cindy had a bright smile on her face as she spoke.
“I was worried about what would happen to my family, but she told me that she’d rescued them and that I didn't have to worry. She said I wouldn’t be able to return right away because of the disturbances, but that everyone was doing fine.”
Alice’s expression went rigid at those words, but she hid it with her teacup. Cindy didn't notice the change in Alice's face.
“She said that I’ll be able to return for sure. She told me to wait and transformed my glass slippers into something more comfortable. I can run a lot faster in these.”
Cindy showed Alice the peculiar shoes she was wearing. Synop City was technologically advanced, thanks to the influx of technology from every story. There were many modes of transportation here, but Cindy was famous already for being a delivery girl who could move faster than any of them. Alice had come to know Cindy when she'd delivered a package. Alice hadn't known that the secret had been her shoes, however.
“Oh, it's already so late. Thank you, Alice! I feel a bit better thanks to you. I’ll try and stay strong until I can show this video message to my family!”
Cindy glanced at the clock with a smile and got up from her seat. The video letter to her family, which she would be able to show them one day, had been filmed in between deliveries. Alice smiled and saw Cindy out.
“The glass slippers... a kind stepmother and stepsisters...”
After the door had shut, Alice quietly muttered to herself.
“Glass slippers... a kind stepmother and stepsisters...”
She continued to mutter as she returned to her lab. She ignored the tea things that had been set out for Cindy. She continued to mutter, lost in thought, while her fingers flew over the keyboard.
“I knew it,” murmured Alice as she stared at the screen through her glasses.
This was the place where all the stories of the world came together. Characters from countless stories lived in this Library World and its center Synop City where Alice’s lab was located.
Because of this fact, and because more characters were appearing as a result of the disturbances, and they could not be certain when they would return to their stories, the people of the Library World had begun to think they had to do something.
That was why they’d created a library to store the stories. It was used to record the story each person was from, stories they’d heard within their stories, both similar and disparate.
It was so that they wouldn’t forget about their own stories before they could return, and recognize new people that appeared by themselves.
Cindy’s story was among the records. Her story was more famous than she knew, and it was one of the stories that had sparked many others.
However...
“It's different after all.”
Cindy’s story, as recorded in the library, was different from the one Cindy had just told her.
Alice fell into thought.
It wasn't such a rare thing for actual experiences to differ from their recorded counterparts. Some theorized that such mysterious differences had caused the disturbances to happen. But even so, Alice felt a strange sense of disharmony, especially regarding Cindy’s family.
And then there were the glass slippers. They couldn’t be left out.
The “Abnormal Magic Detector” she’d installed on her Bunny-Bunny had given off a signal because of those shoes, the shoes that they could know nothing of other than the fact that a “kind wizard” had gifted them.
Cindy had a lot about her that was mysterious. And who was Alice but a genius scientist, the smartest person in the Library World, a girl who burned with a pure, scholarly desire to learn the unknown!
“I... need to study this!” muttered Alice, her eyes shining.