Who is the one who saved the prince?

At the ball, the prince walked toward Cinderella.

He thought, “If this girl is the one who saved me, she will definitely recognize me right away, and then I can be sure she is the one who saved me twice.”

At that moment, Cinderella saw the prince approaching and thought, “This is the prince I saved twice, but I can’t admit it. My stepmother warned me not to say anything.”

The prince felt a bit disappointed that Cinderella didn’t seem to recognize him, but he didn’t give up and smiled as he invited her to dance.

Cinderella apologetically said that she didn’t know how to dance.

The prince, however, offered to teach her.

So, the prince and Cinderella began to dance.

The prince taught earnestly, and Cinderella learned attentively. Before long, she picked it up, and she danced as joyfully as a butterfly.

Meanwhile, the stepmother and her three daughters were seething with jealousy, fanning themselves so hard their fans nearly flew out of their hands.

“We’ve been to the palace countless times, and the prince has never invited us to dance!”

“And this woman of unknown origin, on her first visit, the prince invites her to dance! It’s infuriating!”

As the dance ended, the prince and Cinderella stopped to rest.

The prince tentatively asked, “Two months ago, did you go to the seaside?”

Without thinking, Cinderella answered, “Yes.”

The prince, pleased, probed further, “Did you happen to save someone?”

Cinderella was about to say yes when she realized the prince might have recognized her. She was about to deny it when someone interjected, “Were you at the seaside two months ago? We were there too, but we didn’t see you! In fact, we saved the prince ourselves.”

It was the stepmother. She and her two daughters had been eavesdropping, and hearing their lie about saving the prince was about to be exposed, she quickly interrupted.

At this moment, the stepmother gave Cinderella a threatening look.

Cinderella said, “Ah! I didn’t see you either. It must have been on a different day. And I didn’t save anyone.”

The prince asked again, “Well then, a month ago, did you go up a mountain?”

Cinderella quickly denied it too. The stepmother and her two daughters sighed with relief.

“It seems this girl really does resemble Cinderella. Even the prince suspected her.”

The second daughter said, “I told you she looked like Cinderella, but you didn’t believe me! It might actually be her. Even though she doesn’t have a fancy dress, don’t forget she has a magic wand that can conjure one.”

“But we stole the magic wand!”

“We’ll know if it’s her when we get home. If Cinderella isn’t there, it has to be her!”

They were eager to return home, so they left the ball early and boarded their carriage.

However, the little bird overheard their conversation and immediately told Cinderella. The bird added, “We need to get home before they do.”

So, Cinderella and the bird left the palace, riding the pumpkin carriage at full speed.

Although the stepmother left first, their carriage couldn’t match the speed of the pumpkin carriage, which reached home in the blink of an eye.

Cinderella waved her magic wand, and her elegant gown turned back into rags, the glass slippers became worn-out shoes, and her neatly styled hair fell back into a messy bun. Everything returned to its original state.

The little bird reminded her, “Your face! Smudge it with some soot.”

Cinderella grabbed a handful of ashes and smeared them on her face.

Then she lay down, pretending to be asleep.

Just then, the stepmother and her daughters burst into the house, rushing to the kitchen to find Cinderella.

When they saw her lying in the ashes, covered in soot and fast asleep, they finally relaxed.