The stepmother said to Cinderella, “We are going to the prince’s banquet, but this time it’s being held on a ship. We get seasick, so you’re coming with us to serve us whenever we need!”
It turns out Cinderella had obtained the Snow Fairy’s snow pearl, but the stepmother claimed it was her own daughter who got it. According to the king’s promise, the prince had to marry the person who obtained the snow pearl, which meant he had to marry her daughter.
When the king instructed the prince to prepare for the wedding, the prince flatly refused, saying, “Absolutely not!”
The king frowned and said, “Lady Meg’s daughter saved you twice and brought us the snow pearl. We cannot be ungrateful!”
The prince replied, “They didn’t save me; they are lying!”
The king said, “Unless you can prove it, you must marry one of them!”
To prove it, the prince came up with a plan.
He organized a small banquet on the ship, inviting only Lady Meg and her two daughters, along with a few close people.
Since Lady Meg and her daughters were seasick, they brought Cinderella along to serve them. But because Cinderella somewhat resembled the girl the prince had liked at the previous ball, they became uneasy and made her wear oversized clothes and darkened her face with makeup.
On the day of the banquet, the prince’s servant said, “Prince, everything is ready, and Lady Meg and her daughters have arrived. Since you’ve learned to swim, you can pretend to fall into the sea. The others know not to save you, and we’ll wait for Lady Meg’s eldest daughter, Sarah, to rescue you. Since she can’t swim, she definitely won’t dare to jump in, which will prove that she wasn’t the one who saved you.”
The prince replied, “I never expected Lady Meg to bring her stepdaughter Cinderella this time. Last time, she said she had a cold, wearing thick clothes and a scarf that almost hid her appearance. Now she’s wearing loose clothes and has darkened her face, claiming it’s from tanning. Why do I feel like she’s doing it on purpose, as if she’s hiding something?”
The servant added, “If Cinderella could save someone from bandits, it’s possible she has the ability to save you. If Lady Meg or her daughter lets her jump in to save you and she manages to pull you out, then she might be the real person who saved you.”
The prince grew excited, thinking that this time he might finally find the person who truly saved him.
So, he pretended to fall into the sea.
The servant immediately shouted, “Oh no! Oh no! The prince has fallen into the sea! I can’t swim, who can swim? Hurry, save him!”
The others joined in, saying, “We can’t swim either. Sarah, you’re the only one who can swim here. Didn’t you save the prince last time? Hurry, save him!”
Sarah thought to herself, “I can swim even less than you! But if I admit it, that would be like admitting I wasn’t the one who saved the prince.”
The prince’s servant probed, “Why aren’t you saving the prince yet? Or is it that you can’t swim either?”
Everyone chimed in, “So, you weren’t the one who saved the prince after all?”
Seeing that Sarah was about to be forced into admitting the truth, Lady Meg quickly rushed over and said, “Who said that? Sarah has a bit of a cold and fever today, so she can’t go into the sea. Someone else can save the prince in her place.”
She grabbed Sarah and hurried off to find Cinderella, telling her to save the prince.
Cinderella immediately followed them out.
The prince’s servant, seeing everything was going according to plan, said, “You can swim? Then go and save the prince!”
Cinderella was about to jump in, but when she saw the servant’s calm expression, along with the hopeful yet doubtful look in his eyes, it seemed he was expecting her to rescue the prince.
She looked at the prince flailing in the water, but he didn’t seem like someone who was really drowning.
Then, she suddenly remembered overhearing some palace servants saying that ever since the prince fell into the sea last time, he had learned to swim.
Being clever, she instantly realized what was going on.
However, she couldn’t let the prince know that she was the one who had truly saved him, as her stepmother had warned her not to reveal the truth.
So, she deliberately said loudly, “Oh no! I can’t swim either!”
…
After this incident, the king began to have doubts about Lady Meg as well, and he stopped rushing the prince to marry.
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