The bride of the crown Lord

Episode 1 I opened my eyes to the loud noise of motor vehicles passing my window. This one-room rental apartment had been tortured by time. Despite the hard work I did, despite the multiple part-time jobs, I still couldn’t afford a better place to sleep. Looking out the window, it was all the same. Cars rushing by. Busy people. People hurrying to work. Nothing interesting. Nothing that could catch my attention. It was the same thing over and over and over again. I glanced at my clock. 10:30 AM. By this time, I was supposed to be at work. But something in me just wanted to stay behind and rest a little. Yesterday had exhausted me to the point that the moment I laid down, I couldn’t move. Now, as I woke up, I felt like not going back to work at all. But I had no choice. The life of a poor girl like me was hard, and I had to work to stay alive. So I sat down and rested a little before dragging myself up. I took a quick bath and put on my usual clothes: blue jeans and a T-shirt. Then my shoes. I looked at them and felt sad. The shoes had been on my feet for two years now, and I had no plans to change them. Many parts were worn out. The soles looked dull. But I didn’t mind. I wasn’t going there to showcase my shoes. I was going there to work. My work was part-time. Morning and night shifts, just to survive. I went to my usual morning job: a grocery store where I worked for Mrs. Jane. She was a kind woman, but very strict when it came to work. She wanted everything done perfectly. She didn’t make room for mistakes. Sluggishly, I went to work and began my shift. Life of a typical girl like me… what could I do to change my fate? Nothing. I worked from 11:00 to 3:00 PM, signed out, and collected my pay. Then I went to my next job. One of the hardest jobs ever. A factory job. In that place, they produced soap. So the air was always thick with chemicals. The factory machines were so loud they felt like they could burst my eardrums. And I was always standing. Every single minute. It was one of the most exhausting jobs I’d ever done. But I had to do it, because it paid more than the grocery store. So I worked and worked till my legs felt numb and my hand were weak. It was already late by the time I was called to the manager’s office. My stomach twisted. Anxiety filled my body the moment I stepped inside, because this man was always after me. Not me as a person — after my body. He was always looking for ways to convince me to sleep with him. He wanted an affair with me, even though he was married. But I never agreed to any of his tactics. I wasn’t about to date a man over forty who was way outside my league. Still, I wasn’t too scared. I knew his games by now, and I knew how to get out of them. I walked in. He sat behind his desk — a middle-aged man, fat like a pig, staring at me with ugly eyes and an irritating smile. “Hey, Maya. You’re here already. Come, sit down. Let us talk about your pay,” he said, grinning at me. I forced a smile back. “No, sir. I’m good. I just want to collect my pay and leave as soon as possible.” He stood up and started walking toward me. “Oh, why do you have to go so quickly? Why don’t you hang around? We can talk, you know… catch up.” I already knew what he was planning. I took a step back to avoid any physical contact, but he came closer anyway. “Sir, please,” I said, my voice tightening. “I came here to collect my pay. Pay me and let me leave.” Then he grabbed me. That was new. He’d never touched me before. He shoved me against the wall, hard. My back slammed into it and pain shot through me. “Why are you making this difficult?” he hissed. “Can’t you spend time with me? Do you think you’re so special, huh?” He started shouting. I tried to pull his hands off me, but he held me firm against the wall. “Answer me,” he demanded. “Who do you think you are? Don’t you know how many women chase me? Don’t you know how rich I am? And here you are, refusing me. How dare you?” I didn’t say a word. I just looked away. That’s when he slapped me. The hit was so hard I felt blood in my nose. Tears rolled down my face before I could stop them. Seeing what he’d done, he let go of my shoulders, threw an envelope at me, “Get out of my office!” He shouted. I took the envelope and walked out with a bleeding nose and tears on my face. I walked out of the factory with tears blurring my eyes. I didn’t bother wiping them. Let the world see I was broken. What did it matter? I didn’t go straight to the bus stop to head home. Instead, I just… strolled. No direction. No plan. My feet took me to the bus park eventually, but when I got there I stopped. I didn’t board any bus. Because I didn’t want to go back to the house so quickly. If I got home early, Madam Laura, the landlady, would be waiting. And she always had the same quarrel for me: `Mia your rent is overdue. When are you paying me?` I didn’t have an answer. So I walked instead. The cities cold night brought goosebumps on my tender skin, My bleeding nose had dried, but my face still hurt from the slap and the shame. People rushed past me, but I moved slow, dragging my factory shoes across the dusty road until I reached the compound. The gate was open. The yard was quiet. I had barely entered the compound when I was called by an Unknown number. I answered with a shaky voice. “Hello?” “Maya? This is Dr. williams from St. Mary’s Hospital,” a man said. “I’m calling about your mother’s bill. Her medication and bed fee are overdue. If you don’t clear the payment by tomorrow, we’ll have to discharge her.” The words hit me harder than the slap. My mother. Sick in bed for months. The only reason I was killing myself with two jobs. “Sir, please…” My voice broke. “I don’t have the money right now. I just got paid, but it’s not enough—” “I’m sorry, Maya,” he said, softer now. “But the hospital has rules.” The call ended. And I collapsed right there by the gate. I cried. Not quiet tears this time. Ugly, shaking sobs that tore out of me. Because I was tired. Because I was broke. Because my mother was going to be thrown out and I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t have enough money. I was broke. I was still on the ground outside my compound gate, crying, when the air changed. It got very very cold. Wrong cold. This place was never cold at 7PM. The street noise cut off. No bikes. No shouting. No music. Just silence. Like someone had pressed mute on the whole world. I looked up, wiping my nose with the back of my hand. Above my compound, the sky tore open, with thunder striking the ground. A swirling hole of liquid light opened up and spilled down onto the road. Then they came through it. Three of them. Tall. Armor that wasn’t metal, but something that looked like hammered gold and black bone. Their faces were covered with masks — no eyes, just a thin slit glowing red. And they didn’t walk. They floated an inch off the ground. I scrambled back against the gate. “Who— who are you? Stay away from me!” The one in front didn’t speak. He just pointed at me. Golden chains shot out of his palm. Fast. Cold. They wrapped around my wrists and ankles before I could scream. “Let me go!” I thrashed, but the chains only tightened. “I haven’t done anything! My mother— I have to pay for my mother!” The second Guard stepped forward. His voice was muffled behind the mask, flat and inhuman. “By order of the Crown Lord of the City of Melideon You are chosen.” “Chosen for what?” I was sobbing now, kicking at the dirt. “I’m nobody! You’ve got the wrong girl!” The third Guard grabbed me under the arms like I weighed nothing. "You are now the Lord's bride,” he said. “come with us now.” “No! Please!” I reached back at the gate. Holding it tightly with all my strength like my life dependend “I can’t leave her! She’ll die without me!” They didn’t listen. The first Guard raised his hand, and the hole above us opened wider. Wind that smelled like flowers and blood pulled at me. The last thing I saw was Madam Laura face at the compound window. “Mia? Mia!” Then the world ripped away. The chains yanked me up. The ground fell away. And the floor disappeared And I was dragged, screaming, into a place I knew nothing about.