The Blackmail

~Penny~

"Let me come back to the point, Penny. Jeez, woman, you are so distracting." He made it sound as if I walked in here naked. 

"You will need to live in Mountbatten for a bit. Since you are originally from there, it will be much easier for you to blend in."

Easier for what? A part of me ached for the familiar cobblestones of Mountbatten, a world away from this miserable life. But freedom wasn't an option. Not yet. My eighteenth birthday was only a week away. Perhaps I could defy my scowling uncle then and escape with my brother.

"Pay attention, Penny, will you? The Duke of Mountbatten, Leander Vance Bauer, will be officially coronated on his twenty-fifth birthday. It's only a couple of months from now. He has become a constant growing pain. To make things worse, his people love him too much. His political accession was done years ago, but Mountbatten will formally and fully accept him on the day of his coronation."

How did this have anything to do with me? I could barely remember the Duke's father from when I was little. Wasn't twenty-five too young to become a Duke, anyway?

"How is Benjamin doing, by the way?" He asked, edging closer. Ben was my brother. He was five years younger than me and had lost his hearing on the right side during the fateful train accident.

"He's well, Your Highness, hard at work in the stables as always," I replied. I tried to tell him several times in the past about how my uncle was mistreating my brother and me. How did I fail to see that the Prince never really cared about me? It was more than obvious now that he didn't give a damn about me.

"At least he is alive... not condemned to the coal mines to scar his lungs with coal dust, or even worse, to the army. I wonder which one would kill him faster. I'm sure he would prefer your uncle's beatings to that?"

My blood ran cold. This wasn't the Prince I knew. His eyes narrowed, a malicious glint flickering within their depths as he grabbed my wrist, his grip bruising.

"You have the option to keep your dear Ben alive," he hissed, "but not with prayers. You will do as I say. Leander cannot get that coronet, no matter what. Mountbatten should reek of discontent. And you will see to that. You will destroy him, Penny!" 

I shook my head in disbelief.

"H-how? And why me?" I knew nothing about whatever he was talking about.  

"The weaker sex always makes for the best kind of spies. Besides, there is something about you, Penny. Your charms will work on him like no other." Inching closer, he dropped his voice to a lewd whisper, "these fucking inviting eyes and this naïve yet bewitching face of yours, they can bring any man to his knees and even accept defamation. Not to mention your juicy---" I grimaced in revulsion and cut him off politely. This could not be the man I was so infatuated with.

"What is defamation?" I asked, pushing his fingers off my lips.

"My pretty Penny. You will seduce him of course, which you darn well know how to, and then you will let him fuck you."

"Your Highness?" I could feel the blood draining from my head upon listening to his sinful words. Did I hear him wrong? 

"Don't fucking interrupt me again. And yes, you'll seduce him to have sex with you. Just once is enough. Enough to accuse him of rape. We will discuss more in our letters on how to sensationalize the rape charges. I will be right there in the audience when you come out screaming and crying your lungs out."

Betrayal clawed at me. Did he ever feel anything for me, even for once? He made so many promises of love and our life together. I couldn't have imagined myself to be so deluded. Why did I keep convincing myself that he loved me but had to push me away because of being the Crown Prince? This was no prince. He was the scummiest of the scums who wanted to use me for some political goals. 

"Why don't you look excited? You have nothing to really lose by doing this. You lost your virginity already. In fact, you will get to live a much more comfortable life there. But... IF you fail, you won't see your little Ben ever again."

The threat hung heavy, but I knew it wasn't an empty threat. My words sounded like a desperate plea against his deaf ears.

"I'm not the right---"

"Your uncle will be happy to send you to work at the steel mill if I tell him to, fourteen hours a day, six days a week." 

"But---"

"Pack your bags soon."

"I d---"

"We will talk more about where I might place you in the Duke's castle." I could feel his patience growing thin.

I gritted my teeth, with fists balled by my sides. I was too scared to talk back. I hated feeling so powerless and helpless all too often. I was a mere pawn on a giant chessboard for the Prince to play his vile, ruthless games.

Taking a deep sigh, I dipped a quick curtsy and left to pack my stuff.