.Scarlet clutched the side of her hand, where blood was pooling and dripping down to the floor. There were spots of red on the ground where she was standing, and Scarlet gritted her teeth against the pain. This time, Levana had forced her to rip through the skin on her arm, and the deep cut etched on the side of Scarlet's right arm stung and burned as she leaned against the wall heavily, her breaths quick and shallow.

"Hello."

Scarlet looked up to see the smiling face of Princess Winter, who was, as usual, carrying a basket full of the mysterious healing apple candies. Ignoring the repulsive feeling she had on relying on someone she didn't trust, Scarlet got up and accepted the basket, immediately popping one of the candies into her mouth. The pain numbed, and Scarlet let go of her arm. Blood dripped to the floor, faster than ever, but Scarlet couldn't feel it as pain anymore. Winter smiled brightly at her.

"Do you want to play-"

"No thanks," Scarlet interrupted, feeling much better now. She waved her hand, brushing away what the princess was about to say next. "I think I'll go to sleep now. Thanks for the candy." ,There was an obvious note of dismissal in her tone, and Winter's face fell. She bit her lip, then nodded and stepped away.
"Hope you start feeling better... Scarlet."

~-~-~-~
That night, Scarlet held the last two candies in her mouth, savoring them, when she felt a strange, stinging sensation in her mouth. Spitting the candy out, Scarlet squinted at the small snack in the palm of her hand through the light that filtered through her cell. The pain in her mouth didn't vanish, only growing, until there was a numbing sensation that went down her throat into her stomach, roiling her stomach acids and making her grit her teeth in pain. Scarlet sat back, her throat burning.
The first calm, comprehensible thought that came to her was that Winter had added something to the candies. Of course, Scarlet nearly groaned, realization coming to her. Winter hadn't meant to help her at all. No, all the Lunar princess had wanted to achieve.... Was killing Scarlet.
• •
Hey, hey, hey!
Bye!

@lunaspell