Cinderella waited silently in the dressing room for the ball to begin.
Now, the dress on the former Cinderella was magnificent, its color a deep ocean blue, adorned with gold, silver, pearls, and tiny jewels.
"Today is truly strange; everything feels like a dream. And an incomparable beautiful dream at that."
Just then, Cinderella saw starlight shimmering ahead, and Fairy Leila appeared before her.
"You are?" Cinderella looked bewildered.
"Cinderella, you might have overlooked it, but although you have a beautiful dress, you don't have matching shoes—your stepmother was too anxious and overlooked this. However, don't worry, I can conjure a beautiful pair of glass slippers for you!"
After Fairy Leila finished speaking, she gently waved her magic wand in the air.
Specks of starlight fell onto Cinderella's shoes, transforming them into sparkling, translucent glass slippers.
Cinderella was even more confused now.
"What's going on today? Why is everyone helping me?"
After helping Cinderella change into beautiful dancing shoes, Fairy Leila finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She had sworn before that she would help Cinderella.
"Although there was a small interlude, and a certain Magician who appeared out of nowhere stole the main credit, at least I wasn't completely useless." Fairy Leila comforted herself inwardly.
"Remember, my magic ends at midnight, after which the shoes will revert to their original state." Fairy Leila instructed, "But it doesn't matter, you're dressed so beautifully that people might not even notice a change in your shoes."
After saying this, Fairy Leila felt inexplicably odd.
Now that I think about it, I seem to be completely superfluous, don't I?
I was here first!
"If Cinderella takes off that shoe, will the magic still end at midnight?" A clear boy's voice suddenly rang out.
"What does that have to do with taking off shoes… Ahhhhh!" Fairy Leila turned around in a panic, only to realize that the Little Magician had appeared behind her at some point.
The Little Magician pointed at Cinderella's shoe and asked again:
"You said your magic will end at midnight, right?"
What he brought up was indeed his own confusion.
This involved a very typical logical problem in the story of Cinderella—
According to the original plot, Cinderella would flee in a hurry as midnight approached, dropping one glass slipper. And the Prince would find Cinderella herself precisely by relying on this lost glass slipper.
However, since the Fairy's magic would end at midnight, why didn't the dropped glass slipper revert to its original form?
Similar bizarre logical loopholes are abundant in fairy tales, legends, and epic stories. But they do not affect the classic nature of these stories.
"Of course… uh, never mind, no one can be sure about magic." Fairy Leila said.
The Little Magician smiled and walked towards Cinderella, who was looking at the two magicians with a bewildered expression:
"Cinderella, I know you must be very confused right now, wondering why you're inexplicably receiving help, and why Prince Eric personally sought you out to attend the ball, right?"
"Yes." Cinderella looked at the unfamiliar silver-haired boy and the Fairy in front of her, and nodded.
Her stepmother believed Cinderella must have noble blood and a hidden identity, but Cinderella herself had no such unrealistic fantasies.
She knew very well that she was just an ordinary girl with no background.
"In fact, a friend of yours asked me to help you. I'm a Magician, and I then went to Prince Eric and staged that morning's act." The Little Magician explained concisely.
"My… a friend?" Cinderella's expression grew even more puzzled.
"His name is Momo, and you've chatted with him through birds in the past."
Momo, it was him! Cinderella was greatly surprised.
After her mother and father passed away one after another, and during the years she was treated as a nanny by her stepmother and sisters', her only joy in life was chatting with that child her age named Momo.
They had never met each other; only birds served as their medium of communication. Cinderella couldn't leave home, so she could only let Momo tell her about the outside world through the birds.
Cinderella believed Momo might be a sailor on a ship or a fisherman's son, because he always told her about things in the sea. From many strange fish to the sights seen by divers underwater.
"So that's it, you are Momo's friends!"
Cinderella exclaimed, and then she discovered something even more incredible:
"You can even invite Prince Eric; he's the Grand Prince of the Kingdom. Does Momo really know such powerful people as you?"
Cinderella was extremely surprised.
What's the Grand Prince of the Kingdom of summer compared to me, I'm the Sage of Rose Kingdom… The Little Magician chuckled inwardly.
"When the ball is over, I must thank Momo properly!" Cinderella said.
"You can go and see him in person now. Because from now on, you don't have to stay in that home anymore." The Little Magician took out a smooth pearl from his embrace.
"This is a gift from Momo to you; it's priceless. After tonight's ball, sell it, and you can live a good life outside, learn a skill to support yourself, and no longer have to live with the stepmother and sisters' who brought you nightmares."
To be honest, this was an idea Momo only thought of after the Little Magician reminded the Merman youth—as a Merman from the sea, Momo had no concept of human money and had not realized before that the beautiful trinkets found everywhere in the sea could actually change the life of that poor human girl.
"Such a valuable gift…" Cinderella trembled as she took the pearl, carefully putting it away. Her eyes welled up slightly.
She knew that the nightmare of these past years was finally coming to an end.
"Thank you, and thank you, Momo! After the ball, I must go and see Momo with my own eyes. He said he's the same age as me; I want to see what he looks like!"
"By the way, Cinderella. You might have heard that one purpose of this ball is to find a fiancée for Prince Henry. Do you think Prince Henry will take a liking to you?" The Little Magician asked again, trying to gauge Cinderella's mindset.
"How is that possible? There are so many beautiful girls in the Kingdom, so many women with beautiful dance moves and figures attending the ball, and I haven't even learned to dance. Just being able to attend this ball in such a glamorous manner is already enough for me." Cinderella said.
"That's good," The Little Magician relaxed, "Prince Henry isn't a reliable person either. You'll understand later."
According to the original work, he would measure the feet of all the girls in the country just to find one girl.
"Prince Henry isn't a reliable person… It can't be that bad…" Cinderella pondered the Little Magician's words.
From her perspective, the Prince was a lofty, noble, and unapproachable figure!
In the fairy tales she had read, Princes were always handsome, brave, and flawless!
"Alright, time's up, I'm going to the ball now. Thank you again, and thank you, Momo." Cinderella waved goodbye to the two magicians.
Watching Cinderella's retreating figure, knowing that this girl's future life would undergo earth-shattering changes, and that she would embark on a beautiful life from then on, Fairy Leila also smiled with relief.
"Wait!"
Fairy Leila finally realized something was amiss.
"Cinderella seems to think that you and I are together! Both invited by that Momo." Fairy Leila complained.
"Actually, I don't know you at all, nor do I know that Momo!"
Fairy Leila turned around angrily, only to find that the Little Magician had vanished without a trace.
...
At the ball.
Dressed in a luxurious gown, Cinderella looked so elegant, beautiful, and captivating. On the dance floor, she was like a deep blue sprite.
Prince Henry, who was dancing with other girls, immediately became captivated by Cinderella's unique charm the moment he saw her.
Prince Henry walked towards her, and in Cinderella's bewildered gaze, he extended his hand, took her arm, and invited her to dance.
He no longer danced with other girls; his hand never let go of her.
Whenever someone else asked her to dance, Prince Henry would say, "This lady is my dance partner."
However, Cinderella had never actually learned to dance.
She merely made stiff movements, her mind still on the magical events of the day, the help from the two magicians, and the mysterious boy named Momo.
She thought that when the ball ended today, she could finally leave home and go see the boy named Momo.
—In the past, her stepmother never allowed her to travel far, because the family still needed Cinderella to work. But from now on, she and that wicked stepmother would have no further connection.
The midnight bell chimed, signaling the end of the ball.
Cinderella knew it was time for her to leave.
She didn't want to wait a moment longer, hurrying away impatiently, completely unaware that the Prince behind her was reaching out a hand to hold her back.
As if by fate, due to her hasty departure, Cinderella accidentally dropped her left glass slipper on the stairs.
Watching the girl he longed for disappear into the night, Prince Henry sighed reluctantly.
"Wow, what a beautiful sprite, her aura is different from all the noble girls I've seen before; she has a faint fragrance. Let her be my wife."
Prince Henry recalled the beautiful moments just now, and suddenly remembered something:
"Oh, no, I was so busy admiring that girl's figure that I forgot to ask her name!"
Prince Henry was extremely disappointed.
Just then, Prince Henry discovered a sparkling, translucent glass slipper left on the stairs.
"Is this that girl's shoe?"
He picked up the glass slipper, and a brilliant idea immediately came to his mind.
...
"What? Henry, you want to measure the feet of every girl in every household across the country, find the girl who can just fit into this shoe, and marry her?" The King of summer Kingdom was shocked.
"Yes." Prince Henry smiled, "That way I can find that beautiful girl from the ball!"
Aurora, who happened to be passing by, overheard and couldn't help but ask:
"I really don't understand this. How can there be something so absurd in the world? Can't you remember that girl's face? Why do you have to measure feet one by one?"
The Little Magician beside her also grumbled, expressing that he wanted to ask the same question as Aurora.
Prince, you're not just looking for an excuse to touch every girl's feet in the country, are you?