The Wizard of Fairy Tale World

"Selling things in the middle of nowhere? That's way too suspicious." Aurora thought.

"Besides, it's not even something I need. It's not a necessity, so why should I have to buy it?"

The Queen panicked.

What's with this girl?!

Can't you be a little less cautious?

Would it kill you to have a bit more curiosity like a normal little girl?!

Anxiously, she knocked on the window, the crisp tapping sound ringing out.

"Just try it on, dearie. You're such a beautiful young girl—here, I'll give you a ribbon for free."

"Giving it away for free? That makes it even more suspicious..." Aurora narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the old woman in front of her with doubt.

Inside the house, Rhine nearly burst out laughing as he listened to their conversation.

After secretly using a divination spell, his peculiar sense of humor kicked in, and he suddenly thought of a fun idea.

"It's fine. I'll buy a ribbon and give it a try."

Rhine opened the window, handed over a few copper coins, and bought a ribbon from the old woman. Then, he tied it around Aurora's neck.

The Queen was so overjoyed she almost jumped in excitement, barely managing to keep her expression in check.

"Yes! What a foolish boy—you've helped me immensely!"

"The ribbon is around her neck! It's going to strangle her!"

"Once this Aurora girl is dead, I'll finally be the most beautiful person in the kingdom again!"

The Queen cackled internally, already savoring her victory.

However…

She waited patiently for a moment—

And nothing happened.

The golden-haired girl and silver-haired boy were still chatting and laughing as if nothing was wrong.

What's going on? The Queen was dumbfounded.

Did the magic fail?!

She carefully examined the ribbon around Aurora's neck. According to her enchantment, the moment the ribbon was tied, it should have immediately tightened and strangled the girl to death.

But now, while the ribbon was indeed snug around Aurora's slender neck, it was… just slightly tighter than before.

That was it.

No suffocation. No skin indentations. No sign of distress at all.

The Queen cursed internally.

"Damn it! The spell must have failed to activate properly! Ugh, I've gone too long without practicing my magic—my skills have gotten rusty!"

"No matter. I still have one last trick up my sleeve!"

She placed a large basket of apples on the windowsill.

"Young lady, thank you for buying my ribbon. Would you like to try an apple as well?"

Aurora eyed the old woman skeptically.

"You sell ribbons and combs… and now apples too? That's quite a mix. For a so-called peddler, you don't seem to have much variety—just a few ribbons, a single comb, and a basket of apples. Isn't that a little odd?"

The Queen lowered her head, forcing out an awkward explanation:

"Well… my other stock is already sold out."

Before Aurora could ask, "Sold to who? In the middle of the forest?", the Queen quickly shoved an apple through the window.

"Go on, try it! I just picked these apples. They're big, fresh, and juicy. Since you bought my ribbon, I'll give you an apple for free."

Aurora glanced at the apple, then at Rhine. After receiving a subtle nod from him, she hesitated briefly before finally taking it. She bit into the apple.

"She ate it! She ate it!"

The Queen was so excited she nearly screamed in joy.

She was certain Aurora had bitten into the poisoned side of the apple.

"Just a few seconds… and she'll drop dead!" The Queen thought as she stared at Aurora's face, waiting for her reaction.

Suddenly, Aurora's brows furrowed, and her body shuddered slightly.

"It's working!" The Queen inhaled sharply, delighted.

"This apple…"

"Here it comes!"

"…is so sour." Aurora finished her sentence.

"...…"

The Queen fell silent.

"Maybe the poison takes longer to work than I thought?"

She waited patiently for another minute or two—

Still, nothing happened.

"Hmm, it's sour, but thanks for the apple anyway, Granny." Aurora set the half-eaten apple down and once again cast a suspicious glance at the old woman, who was still standing there, staring at her.

"So… do you need something else? Why are you staring at me like that?"

The Queen was sweating profusely now.

"No, no, no! That poison is strong enough to knock out an elephant!"

"Why isn't it working?!"

"How can there be no effect at all?!"

She wiped her forehead, drenched in cold sweat.

"Granny, winter is almost here. It's pretty chilly outside. Why are you sweating so much?" Rhine asked with a concerned expression.

"Oh, uh… must be… from traveling too much. Haha… ha… ha…" The Queen, still in disguise, forced out an awkward laugh.

"Did I forget to poison this apple? Maybe I should offer another one?"

Just as the thought crossed her mind, Rhine suddenly took out some more copper coins.

"I'll take a few more apples. I want to see if they're all as sour as the first one."

The Queen was overjoyed!

"Oh, wonderful! You've helped me once again, you foolish, clueless boy!"

She couldn't help but grumble internally:

"That girl Aurora looks so innocent, yet she's so damn cautious! It makes killing her way too difficult!"

"If only she could be as naive and gullible as this silver-haired boy—so pure, so simple-minded—how perfect that would be!"

Rhine bought several more apples. He picked one at random and took a big bite—directly from the poisoned side.

"Aurora, this apple is amazing! So sweet, so juicy. Looks like only the one you ate was sour." Rhine grinned, taking a few more hearty bites, clearly enjoying himself.

"Really?" Aurora, still skeptical, picked up another apple and bit into it. "Hmm, yeah, this one's pretty good."

The two of them started discussing the apples' flavors.

Rhine, looking quite pleased, turned to the old woman outside the window.

"Granny, these apples are excellent! I'll take the whole basket."

The Queen's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

What is happening?!

Wait a second… I did sell poisoned apples, right?!

So why are these two kids just munching away like it's a feast?!

Watching the Queen stand frozen like a statue, Rhine furrowed his brows in confusion.

"What's wrong, Granny? You're not selling them anymore? If it's a money issue, I can pay extra."

"Ahem… No, no, nothing's wrong…"

The Queen finally snapped back to reality, her instincts on high alert.

Both Rhine and Aurora had bitten into three apples so far, all from the outer side of the basket—the poisoned side.

Could it be…

"I must have placed the basket the wrong way around!"

"That's it! Snow White must have moved my apples while I was away—she must have flipped the basket around!"

"The apples they ate were actually from the non-poisoned side!"

Rhine, noticing the Queen drenched in sweat, spoke up with concern.

"Granny, it does seem hot outside. You're sweating all over. How about this—consider the remaining apples my treat. You should have some too."

With that, Rhine handed her an apple.

"Here, Granny, have one."

The Queen stiffly nodded, knowing she had no choice but to eat it under the boy's expectant gaze.

"I'll just eat the sour apple the girl put down earlier."

She picked up the apple Aurora had taken a bite of, hesitating as she stared at the half-eaten fruit.

"It should be fine. I must have mixed up the sides. This is the side that the girl already bit into—it must be safe!"

Reassuring herself, the Queen took two bites from the same side Aurora had already eaten.

"Hm… this one is pretty sour," the Queen muttered.

The next second—

Her eyes bulged, her entire body convulsed.

The poison had taken effect!

Thud.

She collapsed onto the ground.

At the same time, the magic disguising her as an old woman unraveled, revealing her original, beautiful appearance.

"What the—?!" Aurora gasped.

"Well, that was easy." Rhine chuckled.

He then briefly explained the situation to Aurora.

The strangling magic on the ribbon had activated. But it was only effective on ordinary people—it did not affect whatsoever on Aurora, who was immune to weapons both artificial and natural.

To be honest, Rhine wasn't entirely sure how far Aurora's "blessing against harm" extended. Whether a strangling ribbon counted as a "weapon" was a bit of a gray area. So, just to be safe, he had used divination to confirm it beforehand.

As for the curse that claimed the spindle would pierce Aurora's finger and kill her, Rhine suspected it worked because a spindle was usually just a weaving tool. It, too, fell into a "gray area" where curses could manipulate the outcome in their favor. Or maybe—just maybe—the curse wouldn't have worked at all.

Either way, in fairy tales, myths, and legends, blessings and curses always existed to serve the plot, so there was no point overanalyzing it.

As for the poisoned apples?

Rhine hadn't been worried in the slightest.

He and Aurora had already gained complete immunity to poisons after eating the magical root gifted by the Sea Hag.

"Too bad," Rhine thought as he glanced at the unconscious Queen. "Unlike us, she doesn't have a poison-resistant body. Now that she's eaten the poisoned apple… she's not going to be so lucky."

Aurora stepped closer and examined the fallen Queen.

"She's still breathing. She's not dead."

Rhine wasn't surprised at all.

In the original story, Snow White also only fell into a deep sleep after eating the poisoned apple. The prince's kiss later woke her up.

Wait—

How similar was this to Sleeping Beauty?

Fairy tales had a lot of overlap.

"So, what should we do with this evil Queen?"

Aurora frowned at the unconscious woman before them.

"She tried to kill us. Should we just kill her?"