Chapter 9

Chapter 9 "This is where you live?" Princess Pulverizer asked nervously a little while later as she hobbled around the castle. Elle had taken the gag out of Princess Pulverizer's mouth and untied her arms and legs so she was free to move around. But that didn't make her ankle —or the rest of her—feel much better. The princess had never before been in Elle's home. Up until now, the witch had always insisted on meeting with the princess out of doors. Which was probably just as well. This castle was awful. "Yes, this is my home," Elle said. "And it's yours, too. Because now, instead of being my knight, you are my prisoner. You will spend

第九章“这就是你住的地方？”过了一会儿，普莱丽公主一瘸一拐地在城堡里走来走去，她紧张地问道。 艾丽从粉碎机公主的嘴里取出了呕吐物，解开了她的胳膊和腿，这样她就可以自由活动了。 但这并没有使她的脚踝——或者她身体的其他部分——感觉好很多。 公主以前从未来过艾丽的家。 直到现在，女巫一直坚持要和公主在户外见面。 这也许是最好的。 这座城堡太可怕了。“是的，这是我的家，”艾丽说。 “它也是你的。因为现在，你不是我的骑士，而是我的囚犯。 你将花费

every minute trapped in here. Lucky for you, I live in a really wonderful place." Wonderful wasn't exactly the word the princess was thinking of. More like horrifying. Elle's castle was decorated with velvet paintings of red-eyed rats and ravens. A real skeleton's head sat on the mantel. Above the fireplace was a giant portrait of Elle herself, with eyes that seemed to follow the princess around the room.

每分每秒都被困在这里。 你很幸运，我住在一个非常棒的地方。” 公主想的可不是“美妙”这个词。 更像是恐怖。艾丽的城堡装饰着红眼睛老鼠和乌鸦的天鹅绒画。 壁炉架上放着一具骷髅头。 壁炉上方是一幅巨大的艾尔本人画像，她的眼睛似乎在房间里跟着公主转。

"This place is definitely a reflection of your personality," the princess told Elle. Princess Pulverizer couldn't bear the thought of staying in this horrible place much longer. But she knew she couldn't just run away. For one thing, she had an injured ankle. And for another, Elle could easily use her magic to capture her again. An escape was going to take planning—and patience. So for now, the princess was going to have to get used to the skeleton skull, the creepy paintings, that doll up on the highest shelf of the bookcase, the... Wait a minute. Doll? How strange. The doll was beautiful, with long dark hair and smooth porcelain skin. It sure didn't fit in here. "What a lovely doll," the princess said. She reached to take it off the shelf. "Don't ever touch that!" Elle exclaimed angrily. "It's mine. And no one touches it but me."

“这个地方绝对反映了你的个性，”公主告诉《Elle》杂志。 粉碎机公主无法忍受在这个可怕的地方再呆多久。 但她知道她不能就这么跑掉。 首先，她的脚踝受伤了。 其次，艾丽可以很容易地用她的魔法再次抓住她。 逃跑需要计划和耐心。 所以现在，公主将不得不习惯骷髅头骨，令人毛骨悚然的画作，书架最高架子上的娃娃，还有…… 等一下。娃娃吗?多么奇怪。 娃娃长得很漂亮，有着长长的黑发和光滑的瓷质皮肤。 这里肯定放不下。 “多么可爱的娃娃啊！”公主说。 她伸手把它从架子上拿下来。 “永远不要碰那个！”艾丽生气地叫道。 “这是我的。除了我，没人碰它。”

Whoa. "I never pictured you having a doll," Princess Pulverizer said. "What, was I never a kid?" Elle asked her. "My mother gave Anna and me identical dolls. Anna's somehow ended up in the fire. But mine is still here." The truth-telling sword by Princess Pulverizer's side began to shake. Clearly, Anna's doll didn't just "end up" in the fire. Or the doll in this room didn't belong to Elle. The princess wasn't quite sure which. She just knew Elle was lying. "I don't care how popular Anna is," Elle continued. "She will never have a doll like that. It's irreplaceable because it came from Mother." Wow. That was surprising. Not that Elle was jealous of Anna. Jealousy was just one of Elle's many ugly traits. What was surprising was that the evil witch would be so attached to a gift. She didn't seem the sentimental type.

哇。“我从没想过你会有一个洋娃娃。” “什么，我从来就不是孩子吗？”艾丽问她。 “妈妈给了我和安娜一模一样的娃娃。 安娜不知怎么被烧死了。 但我的还在这里。”粉碎机公主身边的真理之剑开始颤抖。 显然，安娜的娃娃并没有“最终”被扔进火里。 或者这个房间里的娃娃不是艾尔的。 公主不太确定是哪一个。 她只知道艾丽在撒谎。 “我不在乎安娜有多受欢迎，”Elle继续说道。 “她永远不会有那样的娃娃。 它是不可替代的，因为它来自母亲。” 哇。这很令人惊讶。并不是说艾丽嫉妒安娜。 嫉妒只是Elle众多丑陋特质之一。 令人惊讶的是，邪恶的女巫会如此依恋一件礼物。 她不像是多愁善感的人。

"I was Mother's favorite daughter," Elle boasted. "She told you that?" the princess asked, surprised. She couldn't imagine Elle being anyone's favorite. "Well, of course she couldn't say it," Elle continued. "But it was obvious. She gave me lovely dresses to wear, and braided my hair. She told me I was special." Special. Well, that is definitely one way of putting it. "Didn't your mother do those things for Anna?" Princess Pulverizer asked. "Well, she sort of had to," Elle scoffed. "Otherwise people would accuse her of playing favorites. But Mother was kindest to me. When no one else would play with me, Mother always did." If the grown-up Elle was any example of what she might have been like as a child, Princess Pulverizer wasn't surprised that she didn't have many playmates.

“我是妈妈最喜欢的女儿，”艾丽得意地说。 “她告诉你的？”公主惊讶地问。 她无法想象艾丽会成为任何人的最爱。 “嗯，她当然不能这么说，”Elle接着说。 “但这很明显。她给我漂亮的衣服穿，给我编辫子。 她说我很特别。” 特别的。嗯，这绝对是一种说法。 “你妈妈不是为安娜做了那些事吗？”粉碎机公主问。 “嗯，她不得不这么做，”Elle嘲笑道。 否则人们会指责她偏心。 但是妈妈对我最好。 没人陪我玩的时候，妈妈总是陪我玩。” 如果说长大后的艾丽是她小时候的一个例子，那么普莱瑞尔公主对自己没有多少玩伴并不感到惊讶。