The following evening, after a full day of exhausting, non-stop work, Hazel was completely worn out. Yet these two little bundles of energy still had plenty left in the tank and absolutely refused to go to sleep. Somehow, after a morning of farm work, horseback riding lessons and a round of ball games, the two of them still had energy to spare for mischief.
Utterly defeated, Hazel had no choice but to use magic to round up the two little troublemakers darting around chaotically. She carried them both back to their room, planning to tell them a bedtime story to lull them to sleep. But little Luna insisted on volunteering to read Thumbelina herself. Lately, her vocabulary had grown considerably, and as a result, she'd become quite the fairy tale addict.
Lulled by Luna's steady, even reading voice, little Luca quickly drifted off into a peaceful sleep. Hazel planned to wait until both of them were sound asleep before carrying each one back to their own room. Just then, Luna mumbled sleepily that she too wanted to be Thumbelina, so she could sleep in a bed made from a walnut shell.
A flash of blinding lightning tore across the sky, making all three of them jump. Outside the window, heavy rain suddenly began pouring down in sheets. All the drowsiness the two children had felt vanished in an instant. Little Luca whimpered, insisting he absolutely had to sleep in Hazel's room tonight.
Hazel found herself in quite the bind. Before leaving, the Grand Duke had strictly forbidden the children from sharing a room with her. But with a storm raging like this outside, leaving them alone and scared felt far too cruel. She turned around only to find that little Luna had vanished into thin air. It turned out she'd already scrambled under the bed at some point. And yet that stubborn little mouth of hers kept insisting, as the heir of the Grand Duke's line, "How could I possibly be scared of a little thunder?" No sooner had she finished speaking than a booming clap of thunder instantly shattered her tough act.
With no other option left, Hazel gave in and let both children sleep beside her. Before long, the two little ones curled up together and drifted off to sleep. This warm, cozy moment felt just like that very first day she'd stepped into the Grand Duke's estate.
Clang, clang, clang. The sharp ring of clashing blades suddenly tore through the silence of the night. Hazel crept outside quietly to see what was going on. Once she came to her senses, she realized a fierce brawl was breaking out just outside. At first, she assumed it was just some drunken guards squabbling with each other. But looking closer, she realized the man fighting so recklessly out there was none other than the knight Daniel. And the enemy he was fighting wore clothing that clearly wasn't a servant's uniform from the Duke's estate at all.
The stranger, having just stepped out of Luna's room, shot a cold, sharp glare in Hazel's direction. He snarled, "So, you're the nanny, huh? Where are the brats?"
Sensing extreme danger, Hazel panicked and bolted back to the room as fast as her legs could carry her. From a distance, the knight Daniel roared at the top of his lungs, "Don't you dare hand those children over to him."
Without any idea what this whole mess was about, the most important thing right now was getting the children to safety immediately. Hazel rushed to the bed to wake the two little ones, who both sat up groggy, still half asleep. For Hazel, taking both children with her at once was genuinely going to be difficult. So she pulled out a vial of potion. "Do you two want to try Thumbelina the princess's special strawberry juice?"
The moment they heard there was a drink involved, the two children eagerly wanted to try it right away. But after drinking it, Luca realized it didn't taste anything like strawberries at all. Before either of them could react, they'd both already been shrunk down to a tiny size. Hazel gently placed the two of them into the palm of her hand.
Just then, the door burst open with a crash. "Where are the brats? They're not in the room. If you don't want to lose your life at such a young age, you'd better start talking now."
Hazel quickly hid the children behind her back. Seeing her silence only made the vile man even angrier. She figured the children must be terrified. She knew she had to resolve the situation right away. So she carefully tucked the two little ones into her pocket.
"How dare you wake my children? I've had enough of this."
To protect the children she loved, Hazel finally made the decision to use dark magic. After one devastating burst of magic, the assassin who'd been so arrogant and violent moments ago was instantly turned into a toad, which Hazel coldly kicked straight out the window.
Hearing the commotion, the assassins outside came rushing in as well. This must be the room where the children are hidden. She probably had to work hard to get them to sleep. But in the end, this incident only cemented her reputation as the wicked witch of everyone's rumors.
Right as she was fleeing, an assassin nearly caught her off guard with a sneak attack. Luckily, the puppy leapt up and clamped down on the man's sleeve, then glanced back at Hazel as if telling her to take the children and go, that it would handle things here.
A little while later, Hazel finally made it back to her familiar cookie cottage. Sure enough, both children were on the verge of tears with fright. She hurried to soothe them. "It's okay now. It's okay. Wait here quietly for a moment, okay? I'll go find you a bed."
Now shrunk down in size, the children were absolutely delighted at the sight of the cookies. Luca even begged to climb right into the sugar jar. Hazel then fashioned two little walnut shell beds for the children. Luna cried out happily, "This is just like Thumbelina. If only we had a little blanket made of flower petals, too, that would be perfect."
Naturally, Hazel granted that tiny request right away. "Sleep well, you two, and have sweet dreams."
Breathing in the sweet floral scent, Luca's eyes were already growing heavy. But Luna kept her eyes wide open, tossing and turning restlessly. "What if those bad people come back?"
That remark instantly caught Hazel's attention. Even though Luca no longer remembered, the girl herself could never forget a memory from her own childhood, a time when she'd nearly been smothered with a pillow by her old wet nurse. Hearing Luna recount this old memory, Hazel finally understood why the children hated caretakers so much. Aching for her, she said, "It's okay, Luna. I'm here now. Leave the grown-up matters to the grown-ups. Just relax and get a nice sound sleep, okay?"
Meanwhile, elsewhere, the knight had already tied up every last one of the intruders. Still, the pile of sausages scattered all over the floor left him thoroughly confused. Where did the witch and the children go? Someone quickly pointed toward a wardrobe, saying they were hiding inside it. The knight never imagined that at such a critical moment a wardrobe would come in so handy. He stepped through the wardrobe and found himself inside the cookie cottage.
Seeing the children fast asleep, he said aloud, "I will absolutely report every detail of Miss Hazel's efforts to the Grand Duke." The little princess and prince had nearly been kidnapped by villains, but in the end were saved by the witch. Truly a fairy tale with a happy ending.