Snow in the Dark

"Snow in the Dark" is a single volume manga by Yasuhiro Kanō published in 2007 by Shueisha. It's simply referred to as "the dark tale of Snow White."

ummary

The story starts out with a young Snow White-- 4 years of age-- finding a commoner named Larry, who, at first, thought he was going to die (the reason of his near-death is unknown). His parents had died of a plague that had killed many people after the birth of Princess Snow White.

It then fast-forwards to ten years later. Larry is now a man who serves her and Snow White is growing prettier by the day. Snow White is seen biting into an apple and wanting to go apple tasting. She tells that Larry is to stop being formal to her even if he is a commoner and tells him that he would go apple sampling with her. The Queen then gets jealous after the mirror tells her that and plans to kill her. Instead of sending Snow White into the forest, she orders her knights to kill both Larry and Snow White. Larry protects Snow White as the Queen tells Larry that a great witch was hidden in Snow White. Theresa, the former Queen, had been killed by the current Queen whom she had been best friends with. After the birth of Snow White, the Queen simply "removed the core" of Snow White's witch self. The Queen then says that she wanted to act like Snow White's mother for one more day and that seeing Snow White hurt also hurt her. Her final words say that only a barren knows the meaning of a mother-child relationship. After an intense battle where Larry fights knights that are sent to capture both of them, Snow White gets possessed by Theresa. Larry takes the matter upon himself and decides to stab Snow White in the neck in order to get rid of Theresa. He succeeds and after doing so, he turns the sword on himself and dies. Snow White lives and is then seen on an apple tree picking apples.