Ella agrees to marry the cursed Beast Prince from the neighboring kingdom. Her stepmother is thrilled—someone has to take Drusilla's place, and Ella is the disposable one. Ella has her own terms. She takes back her mother's eight-million-crown dowry. And she orders her favorite guard, Kit, reassigned to Drusilla. Let him serve the woman he actually loves.
A year ago, Ella fell for a masked man at the royal masquerade. She never got his name. Later, she recognized those eyes in Kit, a new guard in her household. She chased him for months. He never looked her way. Then she overheard the truth—Kit is the prince. He disguised himself to be near Drusilla, the girl he fell for at the ball. "She is nothing compared to Drusilla," he said of Ella.
The auction lays everything bare. Drusilla wants every item. Kit, as the prince, buys her the entire auction. Ella bids on a moon goddess amulet for protection against the beast she's about to marry. Kit's captain outbids her. Drusilla gets that too.
A griffin attacks. Kit shields Drusilla. Ella is torn open, bleeding in the street. Afterward, she punishes Kit for failing his duty—and he takes it silently, refusing to reveal his identity, just to stay close to Drusilla. Drusilla announces her ideal man would carve her name over his heart and retrieve spirit antlers from the dark forest. Kit, wounded, does both. Ella leaves for her wedding.
Dramaglance Notes
This one hurts in a very specific way. Ella isn't naive. She knows Kit doesn't love her, so she cuts the rope herself—marries a beast, gives him to Drusilla, walks away. That's rare. Most Cinderella retellings stretch the pining, but here Ella just stops. The auction scene is brutal. She bids on a protective amulet because she's genuinely scared of what's coming, and Kit's own captain outbids her on his orders. He buys out the entire auction for Drusilla. Later, when a griffin attacks, he shields Drusilla and leaves Ella bleeding in the street. And then Drusilla's birthday wish list—carve her name over his heart, fetch spirit antlers—and Kit, limping and bleeding, does both. The real knife twist is that Drusilla doesn't even want him. She calls him a toy. Ella already has her bags packed. The misery is earned, not cheap. And Kit still has no idea he's chasing the wrong woman.
Character Dynamics
Ella is the rightful daughter of the Tramesti family, reduced to a servant named Cinderella by her stepmother and stepsister Drusilla after her mother's death. She fell in love with a masked man at the royal masquerade and later recognized him as Kit, a guard in her household. What she didn't know is that Kit is the prince in disguise—hiding his identity to win Drusilla, the wrong stepsister, after mistaking her for Ella at the ball. Kit ignores and hurts Ella while devoting himself entirely to Drusilla, buying her entire auctions, shielding her from danger, and fulfilling her every wish. Drusilla, vain and cruel, basks in the prince's attention without knowing she has stolen a love that was never meant for her. Ella, heartbroken and discarded, chooses to marry the cursed Beast Prince, taking back her mother's dowry and leaving Kit behind as a final, quiet act of self-preservation. The truth of the masquerade hangs over all three of them—and Kit doesn't know it yet.
