The Soldier acted as soon as he thought of it. He took out the tinderbox and struck a spark.
With a "whoosh," the dog with eyes like teacups immediately jumped out.
The Soldier commanded the big dog:
"I want to see the Kingdom's Princess. Can you bring her here?"
The big dog nodded obediently and immediately ran out the door, disappearing into the deep night in the blink of an eye.
Seeing that the big dog didn't refuse the order, the Soldier was both nervous and excited.
"Hahaha, the treasure left by that Old Witch is really a good thing! Killing her and snatching this tinderbox was truly the correct choice."
But a few seconds later, the Soldier suddenly discovered a problem.
"Did the big dog turn left after leaving the door just now?"
"But isn't the Royal Palace supposed to be to the right? Turning left after leaving the door is the direction out of the city! The direction is completely wrong."
"This dog must have gone the wrong way!"
"A beast is a beast; it really isn't very smart."
The Soldier covered his head, very annoyed.
Heaven knows what this dog, which went the wrong way, would bring back!
...
Outside the Royal Capital, in the suburbs.
Inside a wooden house in a small town, two Witches were talking.
"This isn't good. Aurora is gone! She was just in bed. Do you know what happened?"
"I don't know either. I was sleeping soundly."
According to the agreement, the 12 Witches would send two people each time to care for Aurora with Lord Rhine, while the other 10 would act freely. They would rotate every few days.
These few days, it was their turn to be responsible.
And precisely tonight, Aurora mysteriously disappeared!
The two Witches could only knock on Rhine's door and ask for help from this powerful Kingdom's Sage, hoping he would use divination to locate Aurora's whereabouts.
"Lord Rhine, Lord Rhine, Aurora is gone."
"I got up at night, wanting to quietly open the door to look at her, and found that Aurora was gone!"
When they pushed open Rhine's door, however, they found: the space behind the door was empty, with only the biting night wind blowing through.
"This isn't good, Lord Rhine is also gone!"
The two Witches hugged each other.
"I heard that there are child traffickers active nearby. Could the Princess have been kidnapped?!" The first Witch was extremely nervous and offered a guess.
"If the Princess was kidnapped by child traffickers, then it would be dangerous." The second Witch looked out at the dense night, her face filled with worry.
"Wait, did I hear correctly? Are you saying Aurora is in danger?" The first Witch suddenly turned her head, her expression incredibly surprised.
"Of course not!" The second Witch strongly retorted, correcting her wording, "I mean, the kidnappers who kidnapped the Princess are in danger!"
"Oh, that's true." The first Witch immediately found it reasonable and nodded.
Which child trafficker would be so foolish as to kidnap other children but specifically kidnap Princess Aurora?
Even though she was still just a 10-year-old child, in the entire Rose Kingdom, there was no warrior more capable than her!
The two quickly discussed for a while and discovered another problem.
"Wait, did this kidnapper also kidnap Lord Rhine?"
"Then wouldn't the kidnapper be in even more danger?"
"Yes, we should hurry and find them. Otherwise, heaven knows what could happen?"
...
To the Soldier's surprise, after waiting for a long time, the dog really came back carrying a girl.
On the big dog's back was a blonde girl who seemed to be asleep.
She wore simple clothes no different from a commoner's, yet she was as beautiful as someone from a dream. The Soldier merely glanced at her sleeping face and felt as if his soul had been drawn into it, as if his spirit had been cleansed!
"Oh my, anyone can see she's a true Princess! The dog actually brought back the Kingdom's Princess! I thought it had gone the wrong way."
This Soldier was extremely excited.
The Soldier looked left and right, confirming that it was late at night, no one was around, and the Princess was still sound asleep.
He leaned in, wanting to secretly kiss her before she woke up.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Suddenly, Aurora opened her eyes, raised her hand to block the Soldier's impudent action, gently pushed him away, her eyes flashing with vigilance and hostility.
As a vigilant warrior, Aurora had already woken up.
But she wanted to see where the strange creature that took her would bring her, so she pretended to be asleep the whole way, peeking through a slit in her eyes.
The Soldier greeted Aurora, bowing courteously:
"Oh, beautiful Princess, hello."
He wasn't afraid at all despite his recent attempt to act disrespectfully towards the Princess.
The Soldier believed: the Princess had been imprisoned deep within the Royal Palace, inside a secluded palace building, for many years, and probably hadn't seen any men—her father, the King, being the only exception. She might not even have seen many people!
He was clearly one of the few living people the Princess had ever seen.
The Soldier liked this kind of ignorant beauty; it meant he could easily "play" the role of a mentor in her life, teaching her social interaction and common knowledge of the world.
Aurora frowned slightly.
She was trying to judge whether "beautiful Princess" was just a playboy's pickup line.
"I don't know you."
Aurora climbed off the dog, standing alertly, her green eyes sharp and cold.
The blonde girl's voice was exceptionally pleasant, like a nightingale's song, but her bright, sharp gaze made the Soldier feel a little numb.
At this moment, the Soldier even doubted again whether the dog had kidnapped the Kingdom's Princess.
—He believed that a Princess shouldn't have such eyes, at least not as he imagined.
"It doesn't matter whether she's a real Princess or not." The Soldier thought again, "Even a true Princess couldn't be more charming than the girl in front of me."
As soon as he saw the blonde girl, he had already fallen hopelessly in love with her.
"Who are you? Why did you bring me here?"
Aurora looked around, confirming that she was in a hotel within the Royal Capital.
Unfortunately, because she was captured while sleeping, her personal sword and armor were not with her… She could still fight with her fists and feet, but it wasn't very convenient, and she couldn't guarantee to take down a Lion or tiger in one go…
Aurora's gaze quickly shifted, landing on the sword hanging on the wall.
—She didn't know that it was the very sword that had pierced Granny Rosa's chest.
The Soldier noticed Aurora's eyes darting around the room, his heart pounding, almost leaping from his chest.
"Oh, she's such a beautiful girl, even her curious glances are breathtakingly beautiful!"
"She's curiously examining my room, the most luxurious room in the hotel!"
"If she really is a Princess, I wonder how this compares to the palace she used to live in?"
"Even if it's not as good, this is a brand new place. For the Princess, this must be very fresh…"
The Soldier thought happily.
He stood up straight, ready to play the role of an excellent life mentor, trying to make his tone and posture seem like those of a true gentleman.
As early as when he ordered the dog to capture the Princess, the Soldier had prepared for the Princess waking up from her dream, and had thought about what to talk about with her!
"Beautiful girl. I want to tell you a secret: this Kingdom will be destroyed in six or seven years at most.
"A terrifying disaster will strike in a few years, and by then, whether it's the King and Queen, the prominent nobles, or the farmers in the fields, all will die!
"And I am the hero who has come to save you!
"My dog has magical power and can protect us well. We can leave this Kingdom together and then hold a grand wedding in another Kingdom!"
...
In the empty room next to the hotel.
Holding a silver mirror, Rhine observed the room next door through divination magic and was slightly surprised when he heard the Soldier's words.
"I didn't expect him to talk about that."
This was a plot point not present in the original fairy tale.
Undoubtedly, what the Soldier said, the "disaster that would destroy the Kingdom," was precisely the curse laid by Black Witch Maleficent.
This news should have been sealed off, yet he knew this secret.
Indeed, in this mixed magical world, after his intervention influenced fate, many details would change, and one could not absolutely rely on a transmigrator's knowledge of the future… Rhine composed his thoughts and continued to watch the scene in the silver mirror.
—Clearly, Rhine was not kidnapped by "child traffickers."
After Granny Rosa was injured, Rhine had guessed that the Soldier would, as in the original, send the dog to the Royal Palace to kidnap the Princess.
For this reason, Rhine secretly contacted the King, prepared the Royal Palace's defenses, and made ready to wait for the rabbit to retrieve the tinderbox.
Surprisingly, the dog summoned by this tinderbox actually had some strange perception, discovered that the "true Princess" was not in the palace, ran to the small town outside the Royal Capital, and took Aurora away.
Aurora herself didn't even know she was a Princess!
Of course, Rhine had also considered the possibility of the dog coming for the true Aurora and had made preparations in advance.
As the dog abducted Aurora, Rhine also followed, coming all the way to the hotel where the Soldier was staying, observing in secret.
"Of all the princesses to kidnap, he kidnapped Aurora. He's really unlucky…"
Rhine looked at the arrogant Soldier in the mirror, trying to suppress his laughter.
He had confirmed with Granny Rosa that the magical creatures summoned by the tinderbox were indeed considered monsters to ordinary people.
But in front of this invulnerable Princess, who possessed strange strength, they were no different from a little Chihuahua!