Good Princess, Bad Princess - Part 1
Deep within the basement of the newly rebuilt Zoana castle, Martina fumed as she sat before the altar of Zoamelgustar. She gazed upon the visage of her patron monster with tears of anger in her eyes. "He called me fickle! ME!!! Doesn't that clueless male realize how lucky he is to be married to me?"
It had not been a good day for Princess Martina. It had started out well enough. She and her newlywed husband, Zangulus, had gone for a walk in the castle garden. It was a beautiful morning. The birds were singing, the flowers were in bloom, the sun was shining, and the kingdom of Zoana was being rebuilt all around them. She and Zangulus were idly strolling along, holding hands and talking. They had tied the knot shortly after they met, and were still in the process of getting to know each other. The conversation turned ugly when Zangulus asked her if she had ever been in love before. Martina answered him perfectly honestly. 'Of course,' she had said, 'hundreds of times.' Not wanting to seem like she was hiding anything from her dearest, she began rattling off the extensive list of ex-boyfriends. It took nearly an hour, and she couldn't even remember half of the names. He seemed particularly upset when he heard that she was once briefly engaged to Gourry. They argued for a while, and then he stormed off.
Angry and distraught, Martina ran to her father. But he was too busy with official duties to speak with her. After that she went to find Zangulus's creepy friend, Vrumugen, who was staying at the castle. He knew Zangulus better than anyone, so perhaps he would be able to talk some sense into him. But he was nowhere to be found. She then went to the one place in the castle where she felt truly at home, where there was someone whom she could always have faith in and who would support her no matter what. Martina went to her Zoamalgustar shrine, which she had lovingly constructed and decorated herself.
Martina kneeled before the altar, hands clasped in prayer. She had lost track of how long she had been there. Her anger stubbornly refused to fade. She hated Zangulus for being so unreasonable. She hated him for treating her boorishly. She hated him for making her miserable. She looked to Zoamelgustar for guidance. Surely Zoamalgustar would give her an answer.
Martina's mouth twisted into a crazed smile. She knew the answer. Yes, it was always the answer. Zangulus would pay for his insensitivity. She would make him suffer the way she was suffering. A curse - that was the thing.
She stood in the center of the magical diagram drawn on the stone floor of the shrine. In order for the curse to be successful, she needed something that he had given her. She paused and thought for a moment, then removed her wedding ring and set it in the center of the diagram. What a JERK he was. She never wanted to see him again. She didn't even want to live in the same universe as him.
____