This is the fifth Belle diary entry in our Storybook Chronicles series — as Belle awakens to a strange new world inside the castle.

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Belle’s Diary – Entry Five: A Prisoner, But Not Afraid

Dear Diary,

I’m writing this from a tower room, high above the trees.

The walls are stone, the furniture grand but strange — like something out of one of my books. Heavy curtains. Candlelight. A fireplace that roars but gives no warmth.

It’s not a dungeon. Not exactly. But I can’t leave.

The castle is… alive in ways I don’t understand. I hear voices, echoes in halls where no one walks. And yet… I don’t feel alone. Not entirely.

The Beast hasn’t come back since he left me here. I don’t know what he wants — or what I’m meant to do.

But I won’t be frightened.

He may have taken my freedom, but I’m still me.

And I refuse to be afraid. Belle