In return, the Moon Princess decides to share the moon pearls with both families. But the power of the pearls incites greed in her father and fiancee, and the two begin to fight over them. In the scuffle, Sir William gets the locked casket containing the pearls, and Sir Wrolf the key. Angered and hurt by their selfish desires, the Moon Princess curses the land. If another Moon Princess does not arrive to reconcile the families and return the pearls to the ocean within five-thousand moons time, Moonacre valley will be plunged into eternal darkness. From that day on, the Merryweathers and de Noirs despised and blamed each other for the loss of the pearls, which mysteriously vanished.