| Canon Story | ||||||||
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| The Princess of Hell's Highland | ||||||||
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| Artist | Writer | |||||||
| David Hopkins | David Hopkins | |||||||
| Previous | Next | |||||||
| Arc XLIV: Choosing Sides | Arc XLVI: In The Beginning | |||||||
In Hell, the Devil breaks the fourth wall in a prologue to address the readers and tell them the following story includes a "gag" and is a flashback to Hell's simpler time.
In Hell's Highlands, Princess Belle, a callous royal, has issued a contest to seek a suitor. Each candidate must answer three riddles from the princess. However, if a candidate fails to answer correctly, he will be beheaded and his head placed on a pike to discourage future suitors. Prince Kaliak of Hell's Lowlands is the latest suitor to fail the test, and is being led to his execution.
Among the crowd gathered to witness the beheading is a blind beggar and his slave girl Hezzy, though in reality he is the former king of a now sacked kingdom. He stumbles into a young man who recognizes the blind man as his father. He prevents his father from speaking his name out loud fearful their enemies might discover them. Prince Kaliak meanwhile sadly heads to his fate, but is unremorseful as he considered the risks worth it. The blind king dismisses his youthful feeling of love, saying they're wasted on a heartless person as the princess. Hezzy in turn hints at her love for the prince, but it is unnoticed and unrequited.
Despite his initial anger on the princess, upon seeing her walk out on the balcony to witness the execution, he is immediately infatuated with her. The crowd begs for mercy for the prince, but Belle will have none of it and the execution goes forth. Despite witnessing the beheading and the pleas from both his father and the princess's ministers, Ping, Pang and Pong, to not seek the princess's hand, the unnamed prince proceeds and publicly declares his entering the contest by banging the village's gong.
Ping and Pang get to work preparing separate ceremonies depending on the two outcomes of the contest, one preparing a wedding and the other and funeral. Belle's father the king, filled with grief from all the recent executions, tries one last time to convince the prince to drop out of the contest. He is steadfast in his commitment and the king reluctantly allows Belle to proceed.
Belle tells the prince of how in life her grandmother, a good and gracious queen Lu-O, was murdered by a man who's advances she rejected. Angered at men and completely disillusion with the idea of love, the princess now delights in the opportunities in Hell to enact revenge in her grandmother's name, never satisfied with the number of heads she takes.
She asks her three riddles, each more challenging than the last, and the princess answers all them. She is shocked to find him win the contest, and her servants and subjects are elated. Belle tries desperate to escape her obligation, but her father and ministers both remind her her oath was sacred. Despite winning the contest, the prince will not be happy with the princess The prince gives her an out: if she can guess his name by the next day's dawn, he'll submit to execution. Belle issues a decree to her village: if no one finds out the stranger's name by dawn, she'll execute the whole village.
The minister's try one last bribe to make the prince leave, fearful the princess will kill everyone the next morning, but again the prince stands firm. He is shocked to discover the princess is torturing his father and his retainer Hezzy. Both refuse to mention his name, and Hezzy sacrifices her life rather than give up her beloved's name. The prince is saddened at her death and angrily confronts the princess, but he still admits his love for her. After embracing her, he tells her his name: Prince Tarix.
Before she can act on this, the Devil suddenly interrupts the story, pointing out that the story is based on the classic opera "Turandot" and mentions that it was at this point that the opera's writer Giacomo Puccini had passed away, and that another writer came in to finish. Finishing up the story, the princess claims the prince's name is Love. The characters are then revealed to be actors who were putting on a play in Hell.
The Devil encounters Jack, who seems confused why the Devil would put on a production with a happy ending. The Devil mentions that happy endings are torture for the damned, because the dreams of Heaven add to the tortures of Hell.