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ERIC’S POV

The royal chef presents the goblet filled with wine. I gesture for him to leave and he bows his head before leaving. I look towards the goblet. It is a silver goblet adorned with different precious and rare stones. I pick the goblet up and take a sip of this wine of Eden. The moment the liquid touched my tongue I felt heavenly bliss. This is my favorite wine because its red color represents victory, my victory. It has always been said that red is the color of victory and that is the reason I like it.

I look at the map sprawled in front of me. I, Eric Leonor has now become one of the most powerful kings of this world. I have made my kingdom the strongest by conquering a large number of towns and villages. I have made my kingdom the largest by extending its territory. Now I will extend the trade over to far areas. I bring the goblet to my mouth and gulp the whole goblet filled with wine in one go. Now no one can defeat me.

I look towards the servant who entered the tent. “Sir Marius is here to meet you, my king”. He says with his head bowed. I gesture to him to send Marius inside. Marius is the head of my army and is one of my most loyal workers. He has gotten old now but because of his skills and experience in wars, he is still my army head. He has been the army head since my father’s reign and has proved his loyalty more times than one could imagine.

I respect him because he was one of my father’s friends. I know he can never betray me. He is a strict man and in the twenty-five years of my life, I have hardly seen him smile. He is the one who has taught me how to use a sword and archery.

“The preparations of our return to Ash Ville are now complete and we are ready to start our journey, my king”. Marius says after bowing his head. I look towards his face and then again pour wine into my glass. He is looking at the floor with his eyes cast downwards. He knows how close he is to me but still bows his head like others.  

“Ok. If everything is ready then we should start our journey before noon. I want to reach Ash Ville as soon as possible”. I order him and he bows his head obediently before leaving the tent. AshVille is the capital of my kingdom. It is the biggest city in my kingdom and is the center of trade. Things from all around the world are present in Ash Ville. You can buy anything you want from here.

My eyes fall on the box placed on the table near me. I pick it up. It is a box made with the best and the most expensive wood. This box is made by skillful makers of Ash Ville. Its unique design is what makes it special. I open this wooden box and look at the worn-out bracelet made of colorful threads. This bracelet may look too cheap for this expensive wooden box for any person but for me, this bracelet has enough worth to be placed in this box.

One would think that why I have placed this old, worn-out thread bracelet inside this box? The answer is quite simple. For me, this bracelet is not common but it reminds me of a special person. It reminds me of that person whose memory I always want to keep inside my mind. This bracelet reminds me of the only woman I love and want with me my whole life.

This bracelet belongs to a special person in my harem. That special person is the slave in the harem. For me, she is more than a slave. The first time I saw her was when I had conquered her village and she was captured by my soldiers as a slave. I had seen her during my two days' stay in the palace after conquering her village.

She was brought here to this palace as a slave.

The very first moment when I saw her, I was captivated by her beauty. Even in her disheveled state, she was looking quite stunning. Her white skin was shining brighter than the stars.

She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Her beauty is enough to blind my eyes. When she is in front of my eyes, I cannot see anything except her. She has captured my heart by her innocence which I have seen in her eyes. She has awakened those emotions in me which had died a long ago.

She has made me feel love again. NO, it is not love that I feel for her. What I feel for her is far more than love. Maybe this love has now turned into an obsession. I crave her touch and the need to be with her is more than anything. I had never thought that I, the strongest king Eric Leonor can ever feel such emotions for a woman who was brought into my palace as a slave.

I again look towards the bracelet. When she was brought to the palace, she had this bracelet on her wrist. I still remember how good it looked on her wrist. I had taken this bracelet from Lillian when she was going to throw her old things. Whenever any girl is brought into the palace her clothes and other things are the first things that are changed. This is how I got this bracelet.

She is one of the most important reasons why I want to return to the Ash Ville as early as possible. It has been a year since I have not seen her and two years since I started conquering the neighboring villages and towns.

She was young at that time, that's why I did not want to mark her as mine but now she has turned eighteen. Now nothing can stop me from claiming her, she also cannot do anything about this. It is written in her destiny to be mine. If becoming mine is not written in her destiny then I will write it myself.

I wanted to claim her when I saw her but still, I stopped myself. One reason was she was not of age and the second reason was that I was leaving for the war. I was in the palace only for two days. I did not want to leave her after claiming her as mine and I knew it would be hard for me to leave her after that. My duties as the king come first then my desires and I had no option but to leave her.

Now the war has ended and I have conquered the town and villages I had always wanted to conquer. I will not leave her now. She will have to spend her whole life with me either by choice or with pain. There is no other option than this for her. If she chooses to disobey then I don’t mind breaking her. I will have pleasure in breaking her bit by bit. I will make her forget her family. She will always only think of me. It will only be me who will be in her dreams and no one else.

She will have to accept my love and me. I don’t think she should have any problem with becoming mine. She is a mere slave. If I had not given her importance when she was brought to the castle then she would have been living the life of a servant but still just because I loved her, I did not want her to do the common chores. I made her the special slave of my harem.

I love her so much that I want to make her my queen. I want to have children with her. I want to make her the queen of a slave. She should feel blessed. The moment I imagine her with my kids I feel an inner satisfaction and desire. The desire to be with her. I cannot wait to reach Ash Ville where she is.

A strange thought enters my mind and all the happiness vanishes. What if she was touched before? What if she is not a virgin? What will happen then? These thoughts make me shake with anger. I can feel rage pumping in my veins. I have already killed most of the people in her village. I will burn that person who has dared to claim what was mine even if he is in the grave. I will take his dead body out and will burn him.

This is time to start the long journey to Ash Ville. It will take two days for me to reach there. I pick up my sword and leave my tent. The moment I step out my soldiers bow their heads. “Long live the king”. They all chanted the slogan. I smirk and mounted my horse. I am coming, my love. Just wait for me. It will take only two days for me to reach you.

ISABELLE’S POV

“Isabelle! Isabelle, are you fine?” A hand on my arm brings me back from my horrific trance of thoughts. I look at her and I am unable to understand what is happening? Ivy and Elise are looking at me worriedly. I just noticed that I am sweating. This makes me suddenly remember the thing which has triggered the fear-filled thoughts in my head. The king is returning! I look around me. I cannot stay here. I have to go. I have to go back to my room. No, I cannot stay here.

I quickly stand up on my feet and start taking steps toward my room. “Isabelle! What happened?”. I hear Elise's worried voice from behind but I don’t stop. My steps are shaky but steady. I was passing Esme when she stopped me by grabbing my arm in her hand. I look at her with confusion. Why is she stopping me? She has already ruined my day, what else does she want? Does she want to kill me now?

“You got what I wanted. Now I will not let you have peace either. You will also burn in the fire which is burning me”. She says with loathness dripping from her voice. She leaves my arm and I quickly run towards my room. I did not take anything from her. I am not the reason for the pain she is feeling. I never desired the thing she wanted. Then why does she want to destroy my peace? Why has she become my enemy?

The moment I am inside my room, I lock the door behind me. It has been a year since I have been here. I have always wanted to escape and have my happy life back. I never wanted to be here or stay here. I have always thought of this palace as a prison for me. I want to escape and be away from the palace, the king, and this harem.

No matter how much I was aware of this that I cannot escape, there was still hope though it was as small as the grain of wheat still it was inside me that I would escape before the king’s arrival. Now, this hope has died too.

Now, what will I do? I can see only darkness for me in the future. I can see my future as dark as doom's day is for a sinner. I see only pain and suffering. I don’t know what will happen to me or what the king has planned for me but from what I have been told and I have heard in the past year, I can expect that there is only pain for me in the future.

I don’t know what being a special slave means but the head maid, Lillian has surely given me a little idea of the special duties of the special slave. I have realized this fact that my duties include serving the king. I hate the very idea of it. I don’t understand why Esme is dying for this position? What is good in being a slave to the king? How can a woman willingly present herself to a king for him to do as he pleases?

There is no need for Esme to burn me because I am already burning. My life is already dark and filled with pain. I miss my parents, my little Lily, my village, and the happy life I once had. I miss the days when I would wake up with no worries. I miss the days when life was simple. I miss being the farmer's daughter. I miss being a common girl who lived in a small house in the village.

These thoughts make me cry. These happy memories make more tears flow out of my eyes. The realization that I can never have that life back shatters my heart.

I hope that the king has already forgotten about me. I hope my parents are alive and they are fine. I know this is impossible but still, there is a chance that they escaped before the soldiers arrived. Yes, they must have escaped. I will never meet them and get my previous life back.

I try to not make much sound. I cover my mouth with my hand but still, I cannot stop the tears and cries that erupt from my body. The last thing I remember is falling asleep while crying.

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