ISABELLE’S POV
I look towards the door. It is still locked. No one came to open this. I don’t know how much time has passed since I am locked in this room. I don’t understand why Lillian has locked me inside the room. I think the sun must have set by now because I have started to feel cold. The weather is changing and winter is in its initial stages so it is cold at night but days are usually normal.
I feel like as winter is approaching the coldness inside me is increasing. There is an unknown thing freezing me from inside. I am feeling like a trapped bird in a cage that has wings but is not allowed to fly. The bird who was once free in the blue skies is now trapped inside the hard walls of the cage. I think soon my wings will be clipped too if things continue to be like this.
Is there any purpose in life? Is there any point in living a life like this, the life of a trapped bird? Life is not meant to be like this. It is us people who make it like this. Life should be meaningful and have a purpose. It should be filled with happiness, not with the fear of the king or the sadness of being trapped in a cage. Sometimes I wonder how my life would be if the king had not attacked my village.
Sometimes when I look around me, my heart fills with thoughts about my captivity here. My heart cries on my misery. Why did this happen to me? Out of all those women in the village, why did the king capture me? Why did the soldiers bring me here? Was it all written in my destiny or was it God’s doing?
All the other slaves in the harem say that I should be happy, I am lucky, I should feel blessed for being treated like this but I only see my bad luck in this. Why are their thoughts so different from mine? I despise the very idea of being a slave but they want me to feel blessed about it. I hate their thoughts.
In my one year of being here, I have never seen anyone talking about leaving this palace. It seems like they are happy to be in the palace. They are happy to be under the cruel king. I have never heard anyone saying that they want to escape from the palace and their life was much better than being here. All women here are happy. They consider this palace as their home.
What I understand from their situation is that they are blinded by the beauty of these big walls of the palace. They are blinded by the benefits of being here. I remember some months ago, there was a slave who was thrown in the dungeon for two days by Lillian. Her fault was that she had broken an important vase while cleaning.
When she returned, I asked her if she wanted to leave the palace. If she wants then we can both try to escape together. I tried to be friends with her. After hearing me, her reaction was not what I expected. I thought she would agree to escape with me. She started laughing at me. Her laughter continued for around two minutes. I was shocked by her reaction. That day her words made me realize that every other slave in the palace is not like me. They are happy to be here. They all have lost their minds.
She said that I am stupid and because I want to leave this palace. She said that this palace is much better than her village. She thinks this palace is much better than her home but what I think is quite the opposite. In my eyes, the meadows and the farms are much better than the big walls of the palace. The air of freedom which was filled with the smell of hay and animals, which I used to inhale every day is much better than the air I breathe every day being a slave.
The small room which I used to share with my little Lily and which was filled with lots of useless things was much better than this room. The cheap clothes which I used to wear were much better than the expensive dresses I wear every day. Only God knows that I can do anything to have my previous life back.
Tears appear in my eyes when the face of my father, mother, and Lily appears in front of my eyes. Where will they be? Had they escaped the village or did the soldiers capture them? Are they even alive? What if they are dead? No, this is not possible. This cannot happen. God cannot be this cruel to me. He cannot do this with me.
Please, God, I beg you. Please let my parents and sister be alive because if they are alive then there will be the hope of meeting someday. There will be the hope of seeing them again. There will be the hope of living together again. I will never let this hope die. I will get my life back. I will escape from this palace and will look for my family. I will go back to my village. I will search for them in nearby areas but I will find them. We will all live happily together again. No one can break this hope within me. My life will again be filled with happiness.
The sound of the door opening brings me out of my thoughts. I am sitting on my bed with my knees against my chest. I look towards the door and wipe my eyes. I don’t want Lillian to see me crying. I don’t want to see the smile on her face. Ivy comes inside my room. Oh, So Lillian has sent Ivy. Tears again fill my eyes when I see her. She is holding a large tray in her hand.
Upon seeing me crying, she rushes toward me and sits beside me.
“Don’t cry Belle. Everything will be fine”. She tries to console me but I face away from her. I don’t want to talk with her. I know she cannot help me. I don’t want her to be worried about me.
“Nothing will be fine. As long as I am here, nothing will ever be fine in my life. I am tired of this life. This palace has snatched my happiness”. I say to her while trying to stop my tears. I wipe my tears with the back of my hand.
“Don’t cry, Belle. You should stop thinking like this”. She says sadly. I ignore her last sentence. I don’t want to discuss my views about this palace with her. The thought of Lillian enters my mind. I don’t understand what problem she has with me.
“Why did Lillian lock me here? I had done nothing wrong. I did whatever she told me to do then why did she do this with me?”. I ask her sadly. Only I know what I felt being locked here. I was scared.
“She did not want you to roam in the harem. King has returned today and there were greater chances of escape because celebrations were going on that’s why she locked you here. She thought you would get a chance to escape and if you escaped then the king would have killed her”. Ivy tells me sadly.
Oh! So, to save her life she locked me here. A question enters my mind. I look towards Ivy.
“Tell me one thing, Ivy. I want you to be honest. Don’t you want to escape from this palace? Don’t you feel trapped here? Don’t you want to return to your previous life where you were free?” I ask her. Her expression turned into shock. I look towards her eyes to see any hope but I find none. Her eyes are blank. A sad smile crept on her face and she looked toward me.
I am having an inner feeling that I will not like whatever she is going to say next. Her expression says everything.
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ISABELLE's POV “No Belle. I don’t want to escape from this palace. I don’t feel trapped here and I don’t want to return to my previous life. I am happy here and you should be too”. She tells me. In her eyes I see honesty. I can see that whatever she is saying is true. She is really happy here. “But why?” I ask her. I cannot understand why does not she feel trapped here. Why does not she want to escape? “Are you asking why I am happy here?” She asks me. At her question, I nod my head a little. “Who would want to leave when here you get clothes to wear, food to fill the stomach and you are not worried whether you will have food for the next day or not? You don’t have to worry about anything here. I have no family, Belle. My parents died when I was nine years old. I have no siblings. I am alone in this world. Before coming here, my life was a mess and I was living in poverty. I hardly had clothes to properly cover me. I hardly earned money to have one loaf of bread for the day. At n
ERIC’S POV “The mistress is here, my king”. The servant says. I pour wine into the goblet and look toward the servant. I move my eyes from the servant towards the big windows from which the magnificent gardens are visible. The windows are open so cold winds are coming inside my room chamber. I like this cold wind. I am sitting on the couch. This couch is placed near the windows. “Send her inside”. I order the guard and he leaves after bowing his head. I am feeling so lonely tonight. I know this is all because of Isabelle. This room feels so lonely without Isabelle. Before her, I never felt these foreign feelings but now because of her, I have started to have feelings that I never had. I am feeling bored. I want her to be beside me, near me so that I can touch her. More than this, I think I want her presence. Only her presence can bring peace to me. She is the only one who can give me peace. I want to inhale the beautiful scent which comes from her. I want to roam my hands in her bea
ISABELLE’S POV Another day passed with me inside my room. I was not locked inside like yesterday but I stayed inside with my own choice. I did not step out of my room the whole day. Simply because I did not want to. There were many reasons why I decided to spend my whole day inside this room. I woke up early as usual. I have had a strange feeling inside me since the moment I woke up. I was feeling like something bad was going to happen but then I thought what worse can happen to me as compared to what has already happened. I chose to ignore this feeling as it was making me worried. Moreover, where can I go except to the harem. It is not like I can roam the palace. I am tired of this whole place. I cannot leave this harem and I am feeling caged. Whenever I think about this, I feel my throat constrict. I snicker at my misery. I have to live with this. I thought to meet Ivy and Elise and spend some time with them. At first, I did not want to meet Ivy after yesterday but she is my fri
ISABELLE’S POV “Don’t cry. Everything will be fine”. I say to the other girl who was chained with me. I am feeling so bad for her. I don’t know why but I just want to console her. She is so young to bear all this. She looks so young. I am sure she is not fifteen yet. Two girls are chained with me. One is continuously crying while the other one is unconscious. I want to help them. If I get a chance to run, then I will surely take these two with me. My heart is beating wildly inside my chest. I am so terrified. “What will happen with us now?” She asks while crying. This question has been roaming inside my chest since the time that soldier chained me. I am also trying to find an answer to this question. What will happen to me now? I don’t know but what I surely know is that whatever is going to happen will not be good. “I don’t know what will happen with us now”. I reply and look around me. I am still hoping that from somewhere my dad comes to rescue me. My heart is saying that this
ISABELLE’S POV The soldier stops in front of a tent. There is a fire near and some soldiers are preparing food. Everyone is looking at us. Some are looking at us with lust as if we are meat that they want to eat for dinner while there are some other soldiers as well who are looking at us with pity. Their eyes hold kindness and pain for us. They know that it is bad what is happening to us but they still cannot do anything about this. My attention moves towards the man coming toward us. He is none other than the commander Hugh because of whom I got slapped. He is walking towards us as if he rules this place and there is no one stronger than him. He has his big sword in his hand. “I have talked with the king. King has ordered me to shift them in a tent. These are now slaves and will be taken to the palace. We will leave for the city tomorrow”. He says and leaves. I just want to cry at my misery. I have now become a slave. Why did this happen to me? I was a free person who could do any
ISABELLE’S POV “Take her to Lillian. She knows what to do”. The king orders. I don’t look up again. I did not dare to. His voice is so harsh and holds authority. I never knew that one day I would come face to face with the cruel king whose stories I have heard. I never knew that when I will come in front of the king who ruined my village, I will not even have the courage to see his face. “As you order king”. The soldier says and bows his head. There is still time. Please change your decision and let me go. Please! “Come behind me”. The soldier says to me and I start following him. I don’t want to be in the king’s presence ever. I am too scared of him. He is the same as I heard about him. Now, what will happen to me? Now I am also a slave. When I think about my future my legs start shaking. I see only darkness in my future. I just hope that good things happen to me. I hope that I soon find a chance to escape before the king uses me as his slave. I don’t want to be used like a sex sl
ISABELLE’S POV This is how I was brought into the palace and then never got a chance to escape. My bracelet was taken from me by Lillian. She must have thrown it. That was the only memory of Robert. Ivy and Elsie became my friends that day and since then we have been best friends. On the next day, I was shifted to this room and was made a special slave. Then Esme started behaving badly with me. Later I got to know that the king had gone to war. I look towards the door. It must be evening now. I have spent my whole day in this room. Maybe I should now go to the main hall. Ivy and Elsie must be free now. I will spend some time with them and then I will come back here. They will help me to get rid of the thoughts about my past. Yes, this seems like a good idea. It is not like I am enjoying being alone here. I am getting bored so why not go to the main hall and talk with everyone. I get up and look at myself in the mirror. I am looking just fine. I open the door and start going towards
ISABELLE’S POV I continue to follow Lillian. My mind is jumbled with thousands of thoughts and none of these thoughts are giving me peace. My legs are moving but I want to stop. I don’t want to go. The time has come. After two years, I will be presented in front of the king. Only I know how many prayers I have done to God for the king to forget me. I wanted him to forget that I even existed. If he had forgotten about me, then this day would not have appeared in my life. Now, what will happen to me? What is going to happen to me? I am too much scared. My mind is screaming for me to run but where will I run? Where can I run? I have no place to go and escaping from the palace is too difficult. There is no one in the palace either who would help in escaping. Now we have entered a familiar corridor. I know this place. I have come here before. Why has Lillian brought me here? I thought she was taking me to the king. “What are we doing here, Lillian?” I ask Lillian. She looks at me and la