[Before the auction]

“Cataleia, dear, you worry me.”

A soft touch reached her shoulder, and a pair of gleaming baby blue eyes lowered down from the reflection of a mirror. A mother was brushing the thick, silver locks of her child – who was about to be married the next morning.

Her warm but calloused palms stroked the glossy surface of her shoulders as she leaned to her daughter’s side of the neck. She looked at her with a dreamy smile and hopeful orbs for she couldn’t wait for her to pursue the royal family’s title.

“…when Piolo comes, make sure to greet him.”

Cataleia remained frozen like a gargoyle as she stared at her own empty vessel in the mirror. Her face was lifeless, and not a single smile was evident on her lips. Her eyes were bland as if staring at an abyss she wanted to jump at.

Nothing was meaningful to her anymore.

Today, she was to be wedded to the governor as one of his many concubines. She was not at all keen on this idea and had since been fighting against all odds to break free from this.

Her family was poor, just like every concubine the governor had. If only he had paid attention to his people, perhaps Cataleia would be wearing satin and silk just like his lady.

To anyone, they were no more than prostitutes one would frequent in a brothel.

Had they been clothed better, perhaps they would become proper concubines.

“How do you like your dress?” her mother asked while braiding her ashy-silver hair. “Isn’t it pretty? You’ll only get to wear it once.”

“Is it?” was her sharp reply.

Her mother, taken aback by this, was clearly offended by her tone.

“Can’t we just go home? Aleis and Connie are waiting for me.”

“Your sister and your hound can wait.”

“Aleis will not be happy if she learns I will be marrying the governor, Mother.”

“Aleis will be happy if you come back home with a ring on your hand.”

Cataleia tightened her fists into small balls and gritted her teeth. She then stood up and flicked her mother’s hand away from her hair.

The child was fed up.

“I am your child, not your slave. Do not place your distant dreams on me.”

A split second later, a sharp high-pitch noise echoed the room, and her face shifted to the side. Cataleia felt the resounding slap against her cheek as it turned into a bright shade of scarlet.

There was a moment of silence, before her mother spoke again. “Cata-”

“I am going to bed,” she turned her back on her and went straight to her mattress to lie down.

Her mother stared from the distance, tightened the comb against her chest, and said nothing more before leaving the room. Only the sound of the door closing brought Cataleia’s chest to release.

The eighteen-year-old buried her head against the pristine sheets, silently praying for the gods to come take her already. She shivered at the sight of the governor touching her skin with those sinful, meaty fingers.

She had just come of age, and she was to wed him for he had favored her to become one of his twelve concubines.

She could’ve easily avoided this, she could’ve easily hidden in the poor village not to be seen again. If it weren’t for the death of her father, to which their family was called to the palace for his funeral – the governor may have never seen her.

He may have never desired her.

All of the sudden, Cataleia’s bedroom’s door creaked open, and a chill ran down her spine.

The first thing that her mind screamed at her was to leave. She had not shifted her head to look at her unwarranted guest, but simply from the disgusting atmosphere, she clearly knew who it was.

“My lord,” she spun her head around only to see the drunk governor on her doorstep with an intoxicated face.

Cataleia froze, her teeth chattering from fear. The governor’s lustful eyes rested upon her chest and then on her legs before he explicitly licked his lips and approached her. Cataleia grabbed a coat in a hurry to hide her exposed flesh, but the governor flipped the coat stand, causing it to fall.

The girl hurriedly reached out for any clothing that could cover her nightgown. As she was crouching on the ground, the governor stood against her, looking at her from above with a lustful gaze.

She was petrified.

The governor soon grabbed her hair and threw her against the mattress. Cataleia’s limbs started to tremble.

“No, no, my lord!” Cataleia screamed as her ankles were pulled toward him. The governor grabbed her skirt and pulled the girl toward him before his servants closed the door.

Cataleia would never forget the faces of those maids that left her to be smothered by the governor.

She protested as she heard the governor slowly unbuckle his belt. “No! Please! I beg of you, I am not-”

She earned another slap on the cheek, causing her vision to go hazy. She’d been slapped twice today, and she’d also been beaten by the guards as she tried to escape that afternoon. Her body was weak.

“Hush now, love,” the governor, who was no less than in his forties, whispered against her shoulders as he planted kisses on them. “Tonight, I will make you a woman.”

“I said, no!” Cataleia abruptly swung her elbow into his mouth, causing the governor to fall on his arse on the floor.

Blood gushed from the governor’s mouth as a tooth dropped to the floor. Cataleia’s sleeves were drenched in blood, but at that moment, the girl was more than ready to fight for her life.

She no longer wanted to be a slave to men.

The governor’s furious eyes locked on hers while he slowly got up on his feet. He stared at her, ready to devour her for what she had done to him.

“You hit me… do you know what it means?”

The girl shook her head.

“It’s a crime, punishable by death.”

Cataleia no longer feared death at that moment. At the day of her father’s dismissal from the land of the living, she had lost her fear of that.

“Let it come,” she replied firmly. “Everyone dies in the end.”

“Yours will come sooner.”

“No, my lord.” The young girl reached out for a vase beside her bedside table and held it tightly. “Yours will delay mine.”

The governor charged at her with his sword. As the governor was about to teach her a lesson, Cataleia diverged her body as lowest as she could when the governor swung his sword. The blade flew in only a few inches above her head, missing her. The girl, swift as the moonlight breeze swept past the governor and twirled. With her fingers tightly wrapped around the vase, Cataleia smashed the governor’s head with it causing the royalty to freeze and drop to the floor.

Blood erupted from his scalp painting the mattress with a deep red. Cataleia’s fingers were stabbed by the shards as well, but for some reason, she couldn’t feel pain. Her mind was rushing many meters ahead and the adrenaline was slowly getting her.

Realizing what she had just done, the girl approached the governor and gave his warm body a strong shake, only for it to remain lifeless.

Her face turned even paler when she realized he hadn’t breathed.

Cataleia took a step back, knees weakened, and dropped to the floor with a distant, empty gaze. She stared at her bloody hands before whispering to herself repeatedly: ‘You deserve it. You deserve it!’

The blood trickled and ran on the floorboard all the way to the tips of her toes to which she awoke. She took a step back and ran with her nightgown, and rushed into the empty halls of the sleeping palace.

The guards who were standing on the sides looked at her with suspicion when they saw the bloody footprints she left on her trail. A scream of a maid was heard resonating in the corridors and in that very second, Cataleia knew her life would no longer be the same.

She had killed the governor.

And her head will become bounty.