"Is that so?
He did call me a humbug, you say?
Hmm, let's show him, then, who I really am and what I am capable of doing!", the old, hunched witch grinned while picking a red rose bud from a crystal pot.

She then emptied the content of a few small bottles into a huge pot filled with a viscous, disgusting liquid.

"So, you say that our new king would make our kingdom a laughingstock in the whole world!
I don't blame you that you hate him.
He will never be able to give the kingdom a heir, other kings will laugh at our country, maybe they will even declare war on Peony, and try to subdue us, when learning that our ruler is not manly enough to be a king!
Who would have thought that our beautiful and powerful kingdom could fall in a degenerate king's hands?
Dammit, a homoual, erted, deviant king for our beloved Peony!", the ugly crone screamed, while keep stirring a huge stick in the green, thick potion.

"And what is even more upsetting is that he wants to come with me at the ball.
I bet that he intends to confess his dirty feelings to Rose's heir.
What if the prince will think that Peony's entire royal lineage is degenerate?
What if Xiao Zhan will think that I, Yang Zi, am a sick weirdo, same as my cousin is? And  that way all my plans to become Rose's queen will get ruined?
Or even worse, what if Xiao Zhan will like our king more than he would like me?
It has happened before, so fu*king many times!", the princess shouted, forgetting for a moment to speak and act graciously, like any noble princess would normally do.

"Don't worry my princess!
Worries can give you wrinkles, it's bad for your beauty!
I have no powers over somebody's feelings of love, I can assure you that nobody has, maybe only the big boss from above...God forgive me for what I have done, and also forgive me for what I am about to do!
I can't force someone to fall or to unfall in love, sadly.
But, still I can help you, in my own way.", the witch put her yellow teeth at display in a wide grin, sinking the rose in the potion.

"How can you help me, and why are you willing to help?
How can I repay you?
Do you want money, diamonds and gold jewelry, expensive clothes, valuable land properties? 
I have plenty, just tell me what is your desire and I will give you!"

"Not any of those, we will talk later about my payment, though.
Firstly let me explain to you, the way I can help you.
You did see the rose bud, you saw that it was red, look at it now!", the witch smirked, pulling out from the pot a beautiful, stupendous green rose bud with stem, leaves and thorns on the color of blood. 

"It's so beautiful, I have never seen, before, a such an intense green rose with red leaves!
But, how could a flower be helpful to my problem?
Should I give it to Rose's prince?
But what if he will feel offended by the green color, after all the rose from his kingdom's heraldry is red?", Andy asked, reaching out for the flower, but the witch pushed her hand away.

"No, this is not for him, nor for you.
This magical rose is for King Wang Yibo.
You will tell him a completely different story from what I will tell you now, when you will give him the flower.
I will put back the rose in its crystal pot, and I will cover it with another crystal bowl, just for your maximal safety.
Now, listen to me carefully, beware nowise to touch the flower!"

"Why a rose and not a peony?", the princess asked in awe.

"I chose a rose, not a peony, because the peony is a sacred flower, our kingdom's sacred flower.
You will give to King Wang Yibo a big bouquet of white peonies, the symbols of our kingdom, besides this green rose, and you'll tell him that the flowers are from an elderly's garden, a humble subject of his kingdom, who wanted to give a beautiful gift to her new king. She created the green rose, because she heard that green is his favorite color."

"Yeah, it sounds like a realistic story.", Andy smiled.

"In the moment the king will touch and smell the rose, his destiny will change forever!
He will lose his humanity, his beauty, his so-famous giftedness, and he will become a beast, a creature close to a werewolf. 
A werewolf , not only for the night time, but for the day time, too, just that on different fur color.
The werewolf will shift back into his human form only for an hour a day,  but he will never know beforehand when it will be that hour. And that will be more like an additional curse to his pain, and it will only contribute more to his desperation and destruction.
Anyways, that way the Peony's people will not want him anymore to be their king, and they will ask for you to become the ruler of our country.
You will become our QUEEN!
Of course that you will not be at fault for the violation of your grandfather's will, as it will be the people's will for you to become their ruler, not yours.", the witch smiled widely.

"What about Beauty?", the princess showed her worry.

"It will be no danger for Beauty to like him more than to like you.
Who would fall in love with an ugly, terrifying werewolf, ha, ha, ha?
Anyways, I must add some information for you, but it's only for you to know, nobody must find out, especially not Wang Yibo!
The green rose has a shelf life, I mean it will remain green only for a whole year, from the moment your cousin will smell it.
Sadly, the charm can't function without a positive part, though, but you don't have to worry too much.
The extension of the spell is that if the werewolf Yibo would fall in love with a human who could love him back and confess her or his love to him till the end of the green rose's year time, then the rose would become red again and the werewolf would permanently shift back into the human form he has been before.
But, as I've been telling you, who the hell would love a werewolf, a beast, ha, ha, ha?
If all that falling in love bull will not occur, the green rose will start to lose its petals, one by one, and when the last petal will wither and fall, the werewolf will die, same will do the human Wang Yibo."

"Oh, I don't know if I want him dead.
I just want him to stop stealing from me what it's rightfully mine!", the frightened princess whispered, feeling a sudden guilt, but short time guilt nevertheless.

"It's for your best, trust me!
He would never give up on following your father's will who wished for him to be the king!
Besides, nobody could blame you about anything, you just took the rose from an elderly woman waiting at the castle's gate.
Do not worry, this is the best decision you could take!"

"Why are you doing this, why do you hate him, as much as I hate him, maybe even more?"

"Alright, I will tell you, only because you remind me about my young self, so beautiful and so ambitious.
I was a beautiful, innocent young girl, daughter of a noble family. But your aunt, Yibo's mother had destroyed my life and pushed me to become what I am now, a wicked old witch. 
I got old ten times faster than normally because of the pain and hurt she put me through!
Yibo's father loved me for real, I know that for sure. Our love was adventurous and secret, consumed at his wife's back.
My parents disowned me and chased me away from home when they learned that I got pregnant.
My lover confessed his sin to his wife and she gave him her forgiveness under one condition: for me to get an abortion, supervised by her doctor, just to be sure that everything would be done rightfully.
So, Yibo's mother killed my baby, and her doctor did something to me, as to never be able to have children again.
Therefore I will kill her son, as well!
A death for a death!
A son for a son!
I know that she is already dead, but  my hope is that she will watch her child dying from where she is and she will not be able to rest in peace!
Damn you woman!
Your turn now!", the crone screamed, scaring the princess with her bloodshot eyes.

"I'm so sorry for your loss.
I will take the rose, I want a happy life, different from yours, no offence!
Now tell me the price.", the still terrified princess mumbled.

"I want a child of my own!
I want the child that your aunt has murdered!
I want you to give me your first born, to raise him as my son!
This is my payment, take it or leave it!"

~Meanwhile, King Wang Yibo...~

The king dismissed the servants in charge of preparing him to sleep, as he was impatient to be finally alone, in his bedroom.

"The mee