Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. She was the most beautiful princess in the kingdom—the world too, perhaps. The princess always surrounded herself with lovely people and lovely objects, and she abhorred the unattractive and grotesque.

Once upon a time, a terrible accident befell the princess.

While she was in chapel, a man stood at the altar, speaking of the importance of religion and other such trivial things the princess was not aware of. Her seat was beside one of the stained glass windows, as it always was. She preferred to gaze at the colorful, abstract art of the windows during religious ceremonies, though this was understandably so, for the princess was only in her seventeenth year, and her mind easily wandered.

Unfortunately, it was this that would be her undoing.

While gazing at the glass, tracing its jagged shapes with her eyes, a single arrow, fletched with black feathers, came through suddenly. A spray of rainbow dust shot at the princess before the arrow reached her.

Opening her eyes wide in fear, the tiny glass shards entered. She screamed, and staggering back in pain, the arrow entered her shoulder, instead of its intended target: right between her eyes.

…..

“You need a bodyguard,” the king insisted, speaking to his daughter. “As my heir, you have many enemies who would wish to take your rightful throne when I die.”

The princess turned on her side miserably, away from her father. “I will only accept the most handsome knight as my protector,” she warned her father. “While I am bedridden, I will not endure something ugly in my presence.”

The king wished to argue with his daughter, but thought better of it. His fatherly doting broke easily to her stubbornness. “I see little the difference it makes, at least until the bandages are removed from your wounded eyes,” he said quietly. “However, you are my only child, and you will have your way.”

…..

And so the most handsome knight in all the kingdom was sent to the princess’s bedside, his steel sharp and his appearance radiant, although the princess could not see it. But while she could not see, she could hear. And the princess did not like what she heard.

“He speaks of nothing but himself,” she told her father bitterly. “The boredom has become more unbearable with him before me. Send the second most handsome knight in the kingdom to guard me.”

She had no luck with him, either. It was the same with the third most handsome knight, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, and so on.

“They are all bores!” she cried aloud to the king. “If they are not silent, they are stupid, and if not stupid, then they are simple! Find me another!”

“But daughter,” the king replied wearily, “there are no handsome knights remaining. You have rejected them all.”

“Then find me an ugly knight,” she bellowed impatiently. “I care not, as long as he is interesting!”

The king was shocked by his daughter’s outburst, but, victim to her whims as ever, obeyed.

…..

The next day, a plain, dull-eyed knight arrived to attend the princess as she had commanded. She heard his heavy footsteps approach her, and she grimly said, “You are the ugly knight, then?”

“I prefer to simply be called a knight, but yes, I suppose I am.”

She was taken aback by his insolence, but quickly regained her composure.

“Entertain me,” she demanded of him. “My attendants read me the same old books, but their voices are monotonous and stiff, and my ladies can play music, but their clumsy hands misplay the notes. What is it you can do?”

“I am afraid that my musical talents are as accomplished as my countenance, and for that I apologize,” he said, though he did not sound sorry at all. “Juggling is my only courtly talent I have acquired during my short time here, and that is useless since your wounded eyes do not allow you to watch it.”

“Your short time here? Are you a foreigner then?” the princess questioned, both her interest and suspicion piqued.

“No. I have simply been away from the palace for a very long time, on quests that your father has sent me on.”

“Quests? Such as diplomacy and foreign affairs I expect?” Her voice was again becoming clouded with exhaustion.

He chuckled, an almost rakish quality ringing in it. “Nothing so sleep-inducing as that, I assure you.”

“Then what?” she snapped.

“Slaying dragons, sea monsters, and other creatures to that effect.”

“Truly?” Her chin rested in her hands dreamily, as she fantasized of his feats.

“Truly,” he replied with amusement.

“Tell me a story of it, please?” she asked, not demanding for the first time in her life.

The knight considered refusing the princess, but the sight of her small, thoughtful smile forced him to oblige. “Yes, but only because you requested so kindly.” A soft smile of his own softened his harsh features, although the princess did not see it.

And so he told her stories.

…..

“The bandages come off of my eyes tomorrow,” the princess told the knight, a fortnight later. She interrupted his story of the slaying of the ice dragon in the north, just as he had been getting to the most exciting part.

“That…That is wonderful!” the knight exclaimed enthusiastically. At that moment, he was glad that the princess did not have her eyesight, for she surely would have seen the melancholy expression on his face brought by her words.

“It means that you will not need to be my protector henceforth. Tomorrow will be your last day at my side.” She fought to keep the sadness from her voice.

In a moment of bravery, with more courage than it had taken to slay all of the horrible creatures, he asked her in a quiet tone, “Will you miss me?”

The princess considered the time they had spent in each other’s company, the fantastical stories he had told her, and their fascinating discourse that had followed. And yet she had never seen his ugly face. She found herself unable to answer. Turning in the direction of the wall, she rested her head upon the cool pillow beneath her. “I feel tired. Please leave me now while I sleep, and you may guard the door.”

Not bothering to hide his frustration from her blind eyes, the knight scowled, and getting to his feet quickly, slammed the chamber door behind him.

The princess shuddered in her bed at the silent force of his anger at her foolishness.

…..

On the day that the healer pronounced the princess fit to have the bandages removed from her eyes, the princess and the knight had spoken little. He had only entered her room and sat sullenly in the chair beside her bed. She was propped against a mound of pillows and silk blankets, wringing her hands in inexplicable worry.

“Just take them off already!” the knight said suddenly. “I wish to leave this place as soon as is possible.”

Obediently, the princess raised her hands to her face and felt blindly for the ties of the bandages.

Though the feeling was rare for the knight, he was impatient. “Let me,” he demanded. Bringing himself close to the princess, he grasped at one of the strings that held the bandages in place, and tugged gently.

The bandages fell from her eyes, and, sea-green, they widened in surprise.

“What is it?” he snapped, averting his eyes and face in shame at her close scrutiny. He jerked back in surprise when he felt a warm, small hand trace his scarred cheekbone.

“You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” the princess whispered in awe.

His mouth opened, about to retort angrily in reply what was surely her teasing, when he saw the solemn look in her eyes.

With more courage than it had taken to defeat all of the dragons he had ever slain combined, the knight took the princess’s delicate form in his arms and kissed every single tear that streamed down her perfect cheeks.

...

A/N: This was a very experimental piece for me. I hardly ever write anything this cheesy, unrealstic, or romantic, but this was just nagging at me. The fairy tale format of it is also a lot different from how I normally write. I would just love some constructive critism for this, as long as you can keep in mind that it is supposed to be kind of fluffy and silly and fairy tale-esque.