Days passed, and I had not uncovered any information of use. I was beginning to feel thankful that I had not spoken of my hopes to Marie. She would have been devastated at the lack of progress; I just knew it.

I spent every available hour in the castle library. The only time I spent away from it was when I brought Marie to the Kingdom to dance the night away with her. When morning came I would quietly make my way back into the library, the morning rays coming through the sugar-pane windows overpowering the dimming lights. Chandeliers hung down from ancient spun sugar lamps, each as fragile as the books. Close one with even a little too much strength and it would disintegrate, never to be read again.

My eyes burned from deciphering the scrawling letters written in this particularly boring account of the kingdom's history, yet I couldn't stop. I didn't have much time left. Marie was slowly slipping away from me. Fragments of memories of last night came to mind.

"Oh Nutcracker, it was so wonderful. Herr Heinrich was such a gentleman, and he noticed my new necklace immediately." She hadn't even noticed the hurt in his eyes. All she saw was the surface smile forever plastered on.

"Clara, how kind of you to say so! Herr Heinrich got me this flower while we were out walking today."

"Of course I'll miss you," Marie said as she bent down to talk to a little child lucky enough to gain entrance, "but I must grow up one day. Perhaps the Nutcracker can bring everyone out. I'm sure Herr Heinrich will love to meet everyone."

"No, I haven't told him, but I think he will believe me."

Herr Heinrich. Herr Heinrich. Herr Heinrich. How quickly she had moved from Herr Schmidt to Herr Heinrich.

That... thing was all that was on my dear Marie's mind. She should have been thinking about me, about us. But it wasn't her fault, she had already waited eight years for me, but still the curse wasn't broken.

There was a cracking sound, and the book crumbled into little pieces of spun sugar and liquorice under my hands.

"Nutcracker." I jumped at the sound of Clara's voice.

"What is it, Princess," I said as I turned around to face her. "Have you forgotten your own brother's name?"

My sister flinched. "You know the rules." She hissed. "When you were cursed, we were cursed with you. We can never say your true name, or we will be turned into Nutcrackers along with you."

"And woe be to the Princess if she becomes as ugly as me. Let's face it, you were never a renowned beauty. If you say my name, it may actually improve your looks," I mocked.

While none of my sisters were great beauties, they were all considered to be pretty. Just not as pretty as the princess Pirlipat, who had been given the gifts of beauty, grace and charm. Their inferiority was probably the reason why Pirlipat chose them to be her ladies-in-waiting.

"I come with information and you make fun of me. Fine, I'll leave you to your fruitless search." My sister turned around in a huff.

"Wait." I grabbed her arm as she made to leave. "What information do you have?"

My sister stared at me.

"Fine," I relented. "I apologise for my earlier statement. You are beautiful, and it was selfish of me to wish my curse on you," I said through gritted teeth, the words oozing out like caramel. I certainly had enough practice apologising to her. When I become king, I will never apologise to anyone. Never again.

"I accept your apology," my sister said formally. "Now come with me, I need to show you something."

She walked briskly, careful to maintain some distance between us.

We walked through winding corridors, made from all sorts of sweets. Gingerbread, Marzipan, Shortbread, on and on we went. The corridors were decorated with spun sugar lanterns, fondant pictures hung on the walls, and chocolate rivers running through the gardens. It was a magnificent sight, but my heart no longer took delight in it. The only time I appreciated its beauty was when it made my Marie's face light up. It had been so long, yet she still reacted as though every visit was her first.

Finally, we reached a part of the Castle that I had never before visited. This section of the Castle wasn't even on any of the maps I had seen. Two imposing gingerbread doors stood firmly shut. My sister pulled an ornate key from her sleeve.

Strangely, this key was made of metal. It should not have existed in the kingdom. She opened the doors and taking a deep breath, held her head high as she walked in.

"Come along, Nutcracker."

As I walked past the doors, I reached out to break off part of the door. It was a bad habit of mine — I had always enjoyed snacking on the Castle. After all, it could easily be repaired. But this time, I saw that only the top layer of the door broke off. The bottom layer looked like wood. But before I could examine the gate closely, my sister called again.

"Hurry up, Nutcracker. I do not care for this place."

Her voice sounded much fainter than before, though she could not have walked very far.

I walked past the doors and took my first look at this strange place.

Bodies lay all around the enclosure. Most of them were so decomposed that they had become skeletons. Unlike the rest of the Kingdom, this place smelled of death and decay. Flies buzzed, and maggots crawled on what flesh remained. Pools of blood beneath my feet trickled towards the red pond in the centre. A magnificent tree grew from that pond, yet my sister partially blocked my view of it.

My sister stood still in the middle of the carnage, her tense posture spelling out exactly what she thought of this garden. She stared ahead, her eyes focused on something dangling overhead. I walked up to her, making sure to create some noise lest I startle her.

When I reached her, my sister merely pointed to what was in front of her.

The blood all around trickled beneath our feet into the red pond. Above it, giving the last of his life-force to the pool of blood was the Mouse King, hanging from that magnificent tree. Every one of his seven heads steadily dripped blood into the pond. Looking at his glassy eyes, I felt as though justice had been done.

When I took a closer look at the tree, I realised that unlike the other trees of the kingdom, this one was real. It was from the human world and it was dead. All the leaves were brown, and the fruits that grew there were shrunken, wrinkled, and a dirty yellow. It was ugly and looked inedible, the complete opposite of the trees in Christmas Tree Wood, or anywhere else in my kingdom. The branches of the trees extended past the edges of the pool of blood, and when I reached out and touched a fruit, it oozed a clear liquid.

"Fertiliser." My sister pointed to dripping juice. "The tree will release the fruit when it ripens during the new moon, and the juice fertilises the entire kingdom."

Before I could fully appreciate the scene, my sister turned and left. I followed her out, a little reluctant to leave. As soon as she locked the doors again, she slumped down. My poised, proper sister sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the door. It was a sight even more surprising than the Garden.

"Are you alright?" I reached forward to help her stand.

"Don't touch me!" she said sharply. Then she softened her voice. "I'm sorry. It's just, I've never gotten used to that horrid place. We've had to take turns taking care of the Garden after the royal family was gone and you were stuck in the human world."

"Take care of it? You speak as though this is important to us."

"It is," my sister whispered. "Everything in this kingdom depends on that horrible place to feed it. You did not know this, but our Kingdom was slowly dying. The blood of the Queen Mouse was almost gone. We couldn't use our own people, because they don't bleed. And since it's a secret, we could not conduct raids in the human world. In fact, we were considering using a distant, disposable, branch of the royal family when you killed the Mouse King —"

"— and brought life back," I finished grimly. This made a lot of sense. Why my sisters had led the Kingdom in a celebration even before I returned. Why I never saw the body of the Mouse King again. Instead of celebrating my triumph, my sisters were celebrating the renewal of the source of life. Only the ignorant celebrated for me.

"No one else knows." My sister looked pleadingly at me, beseeching me to keep it a secret. "Even you're not supposed to know about the Garden."

"Then why are you telling me?"

My sister bit her lip and looked away. "Originally, only the main branch of the royal family was supposed to know. But Pirlipat, you know how she was, she made us take her place. We've been taking care of it ever since the royal family disappeared. But we can't go on any longer. The sight of the Mouse King—" My sister squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered. "None of us want to go on. And since you're so earnest in looking to reverse the curse, I thought we might be able to help each other out."

"Help each other out? With what, your phobia of calling that wondrous pool of life-giving blood what it really is?"

"Please don't," my sister said, "Don't make me refer to it as what it is. We can't stand it any longer."

"How appreciative you are. And to think it sustains the Kingdom. You should be in there more often — perhaps even giving some of your own blood. Have you thought about what you're actually eating when you're chomping down on those beloved fruits? What about when you drink — "

"Stop it!" she screamed. She looked around in a panic to make sure no one had heard her. This was, after all, a family secret. "Do you see why I brought you here?" she said quietly, "You're part of this kingdom too. Since you are our brother, even if you are the cursed Nutcracker, we can almost say it's your right to know about and take care of the Garden. And if the blood can make the fruits grow and the Kingdom live..."

"...then maybe the blood will reverse the curse." For the first time since I had been changed, I looked at my sister with respect. It was smart of her to think of this. For the first time in a long while I had a plan. I would get rid of my enemy and use her blood to turn me human.

"Thank you for this information. I accept your offer. I'll take tend to the Garden. In exchange, you'll help me when I need to smuggle enemies inside."

Da daa duum (too corny?)! Thank you for reading this chapter of The Nutcracker King! I hope you enjoyed it and I'll be back with the first part of Chapter 3 on Friday! By the way, if you want to read the whole story without waiting, you can buy a copy at https://books2read.com/TNK or subscribe to my mailing list (http://eustaciatan.blogspot.jp/p/subscribe-to-my-mailing-list.html) and get the whole story for FREE (the link to the book is in the confirmation email).