Future in the Mirror

Rhine brushed his pale hand across the Silver Mirror, and ripples spread outward in rings.

The King, Queen, and 12 Witches all crowded forward, watching as images gradually appeared in the mirror.

The Witches, including the most learned among them, the Violet Fairy, were slightly surprised by what they saw.

It was actually showing scenes from the future directly?

Even prophecies and divinations could hardly achieve something like this, could they? When ordinary mages told fortunes for others, they wished they could make their words as vague and mystifying as possible.

Of course, Rhine himself knew that the scenes he displayed mostly relied on a transmigrator's knowledge of this story's future! On that foundation, he merely used a little magic to fill in reasonable details.

As for the magic that made his eyes glow silver...

Its only purpose was to create visual effects!

Displaying scenes like this might have been an absolute novelty to the mages of this world, but for Rhine, who had been steeped in twenty-first-century films, it was an easy idea to come up with.

In the mirror, scene after scene unfolded as though a movie were playing: the Old King issued a decree, confiscating every Spinning Wheel in the kingdom before having them all destroyed.

This stirred up countless complaints among the common people.

But none of it could change the Old King's will.

Soldiers clad in armor and armed with sharp weapons burst into homes, shoved women who were still weaving to the ground, overturned their children as they struggled to resist, and snatched away the family's only Spinning Wheel amid screams and cries.

To ensure that no Spinning Wheels had escaped confiscation among the people, the Old King locked Little Princess Aurora inside a Small Palace and forbade her from taking even a single step beyond its doors!

As time passed, the Little Princess grew up day by day, and every blessing bestowed by the Witches came true upon Aurora: she was clever and beautiful, gentle in temperament, graceful in manner, and beloved by all; her wisdom surpassed others', she learned at an astonishing pace, and she never forgot anything she read.

Yet Princess Aurora, who possessed every beautiful quality in the world, had been unable to so much as step onto the grass outside or chase butterflies for fun since the day she was born.

Ever since she could remember, she had been trapped inside a splendid prison.

Aurora's entire life was sealed between magnificent marble pillars and dazzling Crystal Lamps.

The path from her bedchamber to the great hall was her entire world.

In the mirror, the teenage Little Princess Aurora had flowing golden hair like molten gold, and jade-green eyes as bright as gems. Her beauty was beyond compare.

The Queen trembled with excitement and could not help covering her mouth.

Seeing the Queen lose control, Rhine could not help being moved.

Naturally, he had no idea what Aurora would truly look like when she grew up. But far too many works had depicted the grown-up Sleeping Beauty, including countless books, Disney films, and animations.

The princess's appearance in the mirror was a blended, refined version of those images, with details adjusted according to the traits baby Aurora had displayed after receiving her blessings.

Rhine had also deliberately made the image in the mirror slightly blurry and pulled the view farther back, preventing others from seeing every detail of Aurora's features clearly.

Even if Aurora's true appearance when she grew up differed slightly from the appearance he was showing now, that would only be an issue more than ten years later.

No one could possibly compare the blurry image shown now with her true appearance over a decade later based on memory alone!

Besides, once he truly bestowed "that blessing," the course of the Sleeping Beauty story would change completely. Aurora's temperament and image would inevitably undergo earth-shaking changes! Do I really have a talent for being a charlatan prophet? I even know how to fool people now, Rhine mocked himself inwardly.

In the mirror, the young girl stood there blankly, gazing again and again at the people entering and leaving through the gates, listening to the laughter that came from beyond the world she inhabited.

Her gaze was helpless and profound, like that of a visitor observing another world.

But Aurora did not complain.

She knew the cause and effect of the curse and understood that she bore the fate of an entire kingdom.

She understood her father's decision and knew full well that the door was a forbidden boundary she must never cross.

Watching another group of people pass through the doors, heading toward a world she could never set foot in before disappearing at the edge of her sight, the Little Princess merely sighed softly, smiled faintly, and turned back to her room.

Outside the mirror, the 12 Witches, the King, and the Queen all witnessed the scene, seeing the helpless smile on Princess Aurora's lips.

Paired with the Little Princess's heartbreakingly beautiful face, the Witches and the Queen could not help being moved, their expressions growing somewhat dim.

A girl blessed with perfect health, a body skilled at running, astonishing photographic memory, universal affection, and elegant manners was forever confined at the very age when she should have been discovering the world.

For more than ten years, every day was the same.

The Queen, who loved her daughter most deeply, was already filled with tears.

Seeing his wife weeping, the King's expression darkened slightly, but he remained resolute.

"There is no need to be sad. Compared to the miserable ending brought by the curse, this small price Aurora pays is nothing.

"The condition for triggering the curse is for Aurora to be wounded by a Spinning Wheel. Only then will disaster befall the kingdom.

"We are doing this to prevent the curse from coming true, so that our daughter and everyone else can survive!

"This is merely a small but necessary sacrifice."

The Queen nodded.

Naturally, she understood the bigger picture as well. She had only felt momentarily softhearted after seeing her daughter's graceful future appearance.

Yes.

As long as they could prevent the Black Witch's curse from coming true, every price was worth paying!