I fought with Mother a lot about the dress.

  But with the memory of that horrid thing choking me, pulling my shoulders back, the heavy, awkward wire cage dragging against my hips, I refused to back down. Yes, that dress terrified me even more than Mother did.

  And besides, Cinderella wore a normal, flowing dress without a ridiculous, clanking bustle cage, and the Prince chose her, after all. Maybe men do not find a woman shaped like a grand piano extremely attractive!

  So eventually, Mother relented, and I chose a lovely cornflower blue day dress. It had a modest bell skirt and soft chiffon sleeves. Some of the finest girls I saw at the ball wore something similar, too.

  I still enjoyed watching Anastasia, nearly choking and barely able to breathe, trying to squeeze her misshapen, caged figure into our tiny carriage. I occasionally had to bite my lip to stifle my laughter.

  But the ride itself, dress or not, was still jumpy, bumping against the cobblestones as much as it could. Oh, this horrid little vehicle is determined to make me thoroughly sick before we ever reach our destination!

  When we arrived, and I saw all the other girls, I felt much better than last time.

  Now I wasn’t shocked or surprised by the competition in front of me. I knew what to expect, and to be honest, now that I looked at them, they weren’t actually so much fairer than me!

  This one was fat, that one's face looked like blank paper. Oh, this was the old colonel's daughter, trying to hide a forest of pimples on her face with heavy makeup—a total failure. And what was her name? Ewww.

  But some were pretty, I must admit. This general's daughter had a grace about her, and Princess Fredrica had a pretty, delicate face, I can’t lie.

  Well, why did I even care about the other ladies? I didn’t care about the prince anymore. Actually, I hated him! I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.

  All you other ladies can enjoy having the Prince yawn in your face and having your royal marriage ambitions crushed in this cruel competition.

  Oh... now came the part with the giant stairs, then the huge corridor with the guard puppets, then another giant set of stairs, and then we would spill over into the huge ballroom and stand crowded together, herded like cattle.

  Yes, I had forgotten about all this. Oh well, it would all be far more bearable without the stupid cage dress. Having the ability to move and breathe like a normal person has its perks.

  The other girls were still sweaty and smelled like horses. Nothing I could do to change that.

  Then a thought crossed my mind.

  Why was I even here? Why did I come? What was the point of it all? I already knew it would be an awful experience! I could have simply not come!

  Then another, interesting and weird thought—will these two days repeat? Will it happen again? Like... after tomorrow night, will I just wake up... in today morning?

  If so, Mother wouldn't remember. No one would remember.

  If that happens, I could punch the prince in the face! Yes, they’d throw me in jail, but after a day, I would be back, and no one would remember a thing.

  Well, I couldn't know for sure if it would repeat again, so I won't punch the prince. Not yet!

  But then came another thought. What if it did repeat, and it repeated forever? What if I am stuck in these two days for eternity? That could be horrific too!

  Oh my, what a weird situation I’m in! Well, I still don’t know anything about what's happening. I need to wait.

  Finally the prince arrived, standing there in front of us with exactly the same profound boredom written all over his stupid face.

  Anastasia was still jumping annoyingly, wearing a silly, stupid smile on her cow face.

  "It's him," she whispered. "The prince! Oh, but he is handsome! I could die!"

  Please do.

  "The Princess Fredrica Eugenie de la Fontaine," announced the page. She stepped forward and bowed.

  "Mademoiselle Augustina Dubois," continued the page, "the daughter of General Pierre Dubois."

  And then... "Mademoiselle Leanora Mercedes de la Tour, daughter of Colonel and Madame de la Tour."

  She bowed, the prince bowed, and then… yes, the yawn! Exactly like last time!

  And if I’m not mistaken… next was our turn.

  "The Mademoiselles Drizella and Anastasia Tremaine, daughters of Lady Tremaine."

  We both walked to the prince. This time I stepped aside, so Anastasia wouldn't step on my dress.

  We stepped forward, and despite everything, the good etiquette and manners drilled into me took over. I curtsied nicely, bowed, and gave my sweetest smile.

  And again. When he saw us, he rolled his eyes!

  He did it! By Jove, he did it again!

  Well, I knew he would do it again, just like I knew about everything else. But it mattered not! For some reason, enduring this humiliation a second time made my blood boil.

  All these girls were in horribly uncomfortable dresses, brought here like cattle, all so His Highness could yawn in our faces and roll his eyes?

  Who does he think he is, the emperor? He's only a small prince of a tiny kingdom.

  I didn’t know if these two days would repeat yet again, or if my actions would have long-term consequences, but really, right now, I didn't care.

  So after the bows, instead of turning away, I looked right up into his hollow, bored eyes and spoke.

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  “I’m sorry, Your Highness,” I said bluntly, “for being so plain and boring, falling short of your high standards for lady suitors.”

  "Uh, wha—what!?" he stammered, clearly not expecting a single lady to actually speak her mind.

  "I saw you roll your eyes at us," I explained, "so I am deeply apologizing for boring Your Royal Majesty. It is a matter of courtesy, you see."

  There was a dead silence in the audience right now, except for an occasional gasp from a lady unable to believe my impudence.

  Oh, and Mother's low voice murmuring through her teeth, "Drizella..."

  "What? No," the prince said. "I’m sorry about that, it's just... it's been a long day..."

  Oh, he's sorry now? It's been a long day, has it?

  "You know," I said, "every lady in this room prepared for the ball for hours, maybe the whole day! Then we rode here in terrible, jumpy carriages, and most of us had to wear these horrible, horrible cage dresses that you can barely breathe in! All for Your Royal Highness to yawn and roll your eyes at us!"

  That took him aback for a moment. Then he leaned in and said firmly, "Look, this whole thing wasn’t my idea, alright? It was all Father's planning."

  Some gasped at that. The prince looked embarrassed and lowered his voice so only I could hear. "I didn’t want to be here at all!"

  "That is so childish of you to say!" I snapped. "You..."

  But then I felt a strong hand firmly catch my arm from behind.

  And Mother whispered in my ear in an icy voice, "Not. Another. Word."

  I looked around and saw to my horror that every single person in the ballroom was looking at me.

  Up on a small gallery stood the King himself! He and the Grand Duke were staring at me with wide eyes!

  Oh God, oh God. I… I maybe did something I shouldn’t have. I wanted to disappear. Please, let these two days repeat at least one more time!

  I gave one last look at the prince, and… was that a small smile on his face? Must be my imagination.

  I murmured "sorry," gave a small bow, and retreated with Mother. She was still gripping my arm so hard it hurt.

  When we got back to our place, she released me.

  "She ruined it, Mother!" Anastasia whined quietly. "She ruined it all!"

  "Oh, be quiet!" Mother hissed.

  The announcer then cleared his throat and announced the next lady to come forward.

  After they were all done, Mother grabbed my hand tight again and pulled me into a secluded alcove, hidden away from the other guests.

  "I know, Mother," I began, my voice small. "I shouldn’t have—"

  The slap came like a lightning strike.

  The world exploded in a flash of white. My brain felt like it rattled against my skull. I stumbled, blinking back tears, as I tasted the sharp metallic tang of blood flooding my mouth where my teeth had sliced into my inner cheek.

  "A pox upon you, child!" Mother cursed. "You have no idea what you have just done!"

  The world was still too full of pain and shock for me to even think of an answer.

  "A demon has gotten into you!" she hissed. "You just ruined us! Years of reputation I meticulously built, the connections, the prestige—all ruined by YOU!"

  "I-m thorry, Mother..." I uttered through my swollen mouth. My eyes were full of tears, some from the pain, some from the sheer shame of it.

  "Don’t speak another word!" Mother told me. "You utterly ungrateful, idiotic mistake of a child! We are going home!"

  "For years, the court will speak of nothing else!" she added.

  Not years, I thought. Hopefully, just one more day.

  I regretted doing it. I didn’t want to cause Mother so much pain, and I certainly didn’t want her to cause me so much pain!

  But a small part of me was also glad that someone finally put that pompous prince in his place.

  We joined Anastasia, and headed back to the carriage.

  All the while, Anastasia kept sobbing.

  "Why did you have to do it!" she said between sobs. "Just when the prince had his eye on me! Oh, were you jealous? You had to ruin everything for me, didn’t you?"

  “Shut it, child,” Mother told her sharply, “or I’ll make you walk home on foot, too.”

  Walk home... too?

  I gave Mother a miserable look. "But Mother, it would take hours..."

  Mother ignored me. She got into the carriage with Anastasia, slammed the door in my face, and ordered the driver to take off.

  I was alone. I looked down the black, winding road.

  It was nearly an hour's ride in the carriage, with fast horses. A walk might easily be three or four times that long. And it was night, cold, and pitch dark.

  I was terrified. In these streets at night, there were all kinds of thieves, ruffians, and cutthroats. For a lady of high status to walk alone out here was incredibly dangerous.

  But I had to push through. What choice did I have?

  I started walking. Some carriages passed me by; some people gave me weird looks, some didn't.

  My face was still throbbing. I must have looked even uglier than usual now, one side of my face swollen up like some grotesque clown.

  Well, I was done with prince-seduction for the day, so my looks were a rather small matter, really.

  Instead, I felt like I had stuff to think about.

  Mostly, I didn’t like thinking too much—nothing particularly good came out of it most of the time—but in my weird repeating-days situation, thinking could be very important.

  And... it may also distracted me from all the silhouettes and shadows threatening to become horrible monsters if I stared at them too long.

  So, if the day after tomorrow… If the days repeat again...

  What does that really mean for me? Is this truly a goddess's power? What can I do with it, except know when my sister will step on my dress, or figure out which horrible corset not to wear?

  Can I, like... earn things from this? Money?

  Oh, but the money would also disappear after two days. So what is the use in earning it?

  Actually, everything I accomplish will be gone. I could kiss and marry the stupid prince even, and after two days, poof, all gone.

  I still didn’t know if this thing was a gift or a curse.

  Oh, but my memory stays. And that means... I could, like, learn stuff?

  I could practice singing, maybe? If these two days repeat a hundred times, maybe I will actually get good at it.

  But is that it? This didn't seem like a very important gain for a magical gift from the gods.

  I heard a howl in the distance. I shivered... Oh, it's just a dog.

  I couldn’t distract myself with thoughts anymore. I was cold, and I was scared again. I was getting tired too.

  What if I get lost? It's so hard to see the street in the dark...

  Oh gosh... what... what is going to happen to me?

  A carriage then passed by and suddenly stopped, not far from me.

  "Drizella!" A familiar voice called from inside. "Drizella, is that you?"

  It was Josephine! One of the few friends we actually had in town.

  I didn't usually like her much, but right now, I would rather kiss her ten times over than kiss that wretched prince.

  I walked over and saw her father leaning out of the window. He was a portly man with white hair and a large mustache.

  "Oh, what are you doing all alone out here?" he asked, shocked. "Come, come inside, hurry now."

  "Yes... Thank you!" I managed, climbing in to join them.

  I almost cried from sheer gratitude right then and there.

  "Let me guess," her father said gently. "Your mother made you walk home as a punishment for today's... ah, performance?"

  "Yes, sir," I admitted. "She did."

  “Well, you did speak out of turn,” he said, a small smile hiding beneath his mustache. “But I'll say this is a bit of a severe punishment, leaving a young lady to stroll alone at night like this. It could be quite dangerous.”

  "Well, she was very angry with me, sir," I explained.

  "Oh, but it was hilarious!" Josephine burst out. "That snobbish prince! It was good someone finally put him in his place!"

  "You... you think so?" I asked. I absolutely did not expect support on this matter.

  "Yes, definitely," she said. "Yawning and acting bored, showing no interest in a single one of us ladies! He could have shown a little more respect!"

  “Yet,” her father chimed in, “Drizella knows this is no way to talk to a prince of the realm.”

  "Yes, I know," I said softly.

  "Still, you were capital back there!" Josephine said enthusiastically. "You said exactly what every other girl was thinking, I'm sure of it."

  “Thank you,” I said, and I truly meant it. I had felt awful, and Josephine's kind words really, really cheered up my dark mood.

  "Oh, could you drop me here?" I asked as we got close enough to the chateau. I didn’t want anyone inside the house to see that I had gotten help.

  "Sure thing," Josephine’s father said, and ordered the driver to stop.

  "Thank you again," I said, stepping out of the warm carriage into the cold night.

  I was almost home, but... if I entered now, Mother would know I got a ride. They were probably still awake.

  I yawned. I was so incredibly tired.

  I needed to wait somewhere for an hour more at least, so it would seem like I walked the entire way.

  I walked quietly into our garden and sat down on a pile of soft hay near the stables.

  I will just sit here, and wait for some time... I thought, yawning yet again.

  So tired... I closed my eyes, and drifted to sleep.