The Captain of the Guard lifted Beauty's chin, and holding the rope above her, said gently:
"You must turn around, Princess."
"O, please, Captain," she whispered.
"Don't make a sound, Princess, I beg you. Our Lord is very strict," he said. "And it's his wish that everyone admire you."
Beauty, her cheeks flaming, obeyed, turning so the crowd could see her reddened bu**ocks and then again to show her br**sts and her sex as the Captain kept his finger under her chin lightly.
It seemed she breathed deeply as though trying to remain very calm. The young men were calling her beautiful and saying her br**sts were magnificent.
"But such bu**ocks," whispered an old woman nearby. "You can see that she's been spanked. I doubt the poor Princess did anything much to deserve it."
"Not much," said a young man near her. "Except have the most beautiful and pertly shaped bu**ocks imaginable."
Beauty was trembling.
Finally the Prince himself came out, ready to leave, and seeing the crowd as attentive as before, he himself took the rope down, and holding it like a short leash above Beauty's head, he turned her. He seemed amused by the crowd's grateful nods, and thanks, and bows to him; and very gracious in his generosity.
"Lift your chin, Beauty, I shouldn't have to lift it," he reproved her with a little deliberate frown of disappointment.
Beauty obeyed, her face so red that her eyebrows and eyelashes gleamed golden in the sun, and the Prince kissed her.
"Come here, old man," the Prince said to the old Cobbler. "Have you ever seen such loveliness?"
"No, your Majesty," said the old man. His sleeves were rolled to the elbows, and his legs were slightly bowed. His hair was gray but his green eyes gleamed with a special almost wistful pleasure. "She is truly a magnificent Princess, your Majesty, worth all the deaths of those who tried to claim her."
"Yes, I suppose so, and worth all the bravery of the Prince who did claim her," smiled the Prince.
Everyone laughed politely. But they couldn't conceal their awe of him. They were staring at his armor, at his sword, and above all at his young face and dark black hair that fell to his shoulders.
The Prince drew the Cobbler closer. "Here," he said, "I give you permission if you like just to feel her treasures."
The old man smiled at the Prince gratefully and almost innocently. He reached out, and hesitating a moment, felt Beauty's br**sts. Beauty shivered, and tried obviously to repress a little cry.
The old man touched her sex.
Then the Prince drew up her little leash so that she was standing on tiptoe; her body stiffened and seemed to grow more tense and at the same time more lovely, br**sts, and bu**ocks high, her calf muscles lifted, her chin and throat a perfect line down to her swaying bosom.
"That's all. You must all go now," said the Prince.
Obediently they backed away, but they continued to watch, as the Prince mounted his horse, and instructing Beauty to clasp her hands behind her neck, he ordered her to walk before him.
Beauty led the way out of the Inn yard, the Prince walking his horse behind her.
The people made way for her. They couldn't take their eyes off her lovely vulnerable body, and they squeezed against the narrow walls of the town to follow the spectacle to the edge of the forest.
When they had left the town behind, the Prince told Beauty to come to him. He gathered her up and seated her before him again, and kissed her again, and scolded her:
"You found that so hard," he crooned. "Why were you so proud? Did you think yourself too good to be shown to the people?"
"I'm sorry, my Prince," she whispered.
"Don't you see, if you think only of pleasing me, and pleasing those to whom I show you, it will be simple for you." He kissed her ear, holding her tight to his chest. "You should have been proud of your br**sts and your shapely hips. You should have asked yourself, 'Am I pleasing my Prince? Do the people find me pleasing?'"
"Yes, my Prince," Beauty said meekly.
"You are mine, Beauty," the Prince said a little more sternly. "And there is no command that you must shrink from obeying ever. If I tell you to please the lowliest vassal in the field, you will strain to obey me perfectly. He is your Lord then because I have said so. All those to whom I offer you are your Lords."