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When she was a kid, her father, the king, arranged for her to marry a prince in a kingdom far away. But no matter how their parents pushed, Princess Odette and Prince Derek didn't have any interest in each other. She thought he was immature, he thought she was ugly, and they never seemed to get along every summer they spent together at Derek's castle.
[He leans over anf picks up the sleeping puppy on the ground, settling him in his lap.]
But by the time Odette and Derek grew up, Derek came to realize that she had matured into the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. He wanted for them to wed immediately, but the princess was skeptical about why his decision was so sudden. Odette was taken aback when Derek proclaimed his love for her was only because of her appearance; he couldn't come up with anything else to say about her that he loved. And so Odette left the castle with her father to return to their kingdom.
As they were heading back, a powerful wizard attacked the carriage, killing everyone, but spared Odette's life. Instead he cast a spell on her that would keep her as a swan from the time the moon went down until it would rise again on the lake she was held captive in. Every night, if she wanted to transform back into a human, she would need to swim out to the reflection of the moon on the water and touch it with her wings. The only way to break the spell would be for her one true love to proclaim his love for her in front of the world, otherwise she would die.
But Derek was far, far away from her, y'know, so the odds of him finding her were slim. But Derek vowed to find her, even knowing that she could be dead, because he had to prove that she was more to him than just...a pretty face. ...Got it so far?