Once_upon_a_time_6x03 🎯 Tested & Working

Elena walked to the small window and looked out at the forest. The trees were dark and wet, but they were hers. She didn't need a carriage or a glass slipper to feel whole.

"Why do you keep them?" a voice asked from the doorway. It was Leo, the village boy she had taken in as an apprentice. He was looking at the slippers with the curiosity of someone who had only known Elena as the wise woman of the woods. Once_upon_a_time_6x03

In her youth, Elena had been the "perfect" daughter of a merchant, destined to marry a man she didn't love to save a family fortune that was already crumbling. She had played the part of the dutiful girl until the night of the Midsummer Gala. While the rest of the village saw a grand celebration, Elena saw a cage. She had left her slippers behind, not as a trail for a prince to find her, but as a shedding of skin. Elena walked to the small window and looked