Eyes of Envy (Rewrite of "The Lady Or The Tiger")

I knew this would end badly for me. One door hid a magnificent but starving tiger ready to pounce in the blink of an eye. The other door, made of the same wood and metal of the first one, held a much slower and loving death. A fair lady, who would be married off to me despite of my love for the princess. The barbaric princess...Who had come to see me die. What kind of love is that? I wonder who is behind the maiden door. Someone loving, and caring, who would rather die than see her love die a death from a beast as horrible as a tiger. Someone...unlike the princess. 

I shook these thought from my head. I could not abandon my princess’s love, she must have been forced to come to the arena. They must have told her, “Why, you must go! You must learn to watch these judgments, as you will one day take your place in this throne.”  

I felt like the eyes of the princess would help me decide on my love for her. My true love? Or puppy love? And this...This would help me know what door I might choose. So I shot my dearest a look of questioning. Two questions, one for her and one for myself. I asked her, “Which door?”. 

Also asking myself, “Do I love her, and does she love me?” 

She looked at me right in the eye and waved to the right. When I saw her face and hand I felt a melancholy and guilty feeling wash over me because I knew. I knew which door consumed what in darkness. The king had talked to me prior to the trial to give me a test on my love for his jewel of a daughter. A dirty jewel...

“Child, the door to your left is a lady, and a pretty one at that. The door to your right is the beast. If you choose the left, I’ll know you never actually loved my daughter. You will know you never actually loved her. And all this would have been for nothing. Now choose the door to your right and you will die, but with faith in your love.” he had said while gliding his hand over his raggedy beard. 

He stopped and smiled, yellow teeth illuminated by the nearby torch in the dungeon cell they held my in. “Either choice is rather bad for you in some way. Why don’t you let her choose?” 

Suddenly I was back in the arena and my heart dropped like a stone. She wanted me to die, now would I give her what she wanted?  I started slow at first, one foot at a time. The rocks and sand crunching beneath my shoes, the only sound to be heard in that moment. Then I walked, and jogged, and ran. Soon, my hand was on that oh-so cold metal of the right door. With my free hand, I sadly brushed the tips of my fingers against the handle of the left door. 

Both of my hands were now on the right handle, and they gripped that handle harder than anything I’d ever gripped before. All I had to do was open the left door, and I could live. But no, I held on to that handle for dear life even though that handle was taking it away. I breathed, and I pulled it open slowly. For a split second I saw eyes of green envy, and I knew this was my end. The tiger crouched, jumped, and I fell to the rocks underneath.