INTERTWINED DESTINY

2. Wishing

                                  Sandy's p.o.v

"I'm going to my room, do sleep well Mom and Dad." I whispered softly.

I was exhausted from the party and I needed to rest.

"Wait Honey, there is something that we would like to discuss with you." Dad answered.

I frowned then cleared my throat.

"Now?" I asked.

"Now." He answered.

I looked at my mother nervously then nodded. They had never talked to me for more than five minutes in the house. The fact that they wanted to discuss something with me made me very nervous.

"Last week when we went abroad, we met Janet an old friend of ours. She's not only well known, but she comes from a very respectable family, and so it happened that her son is looking for a bride to marry." He said as I blinked a few times in disbelief.

There was just no way that he was telling me all this so that I could offer myself to a stranger.

"Luke her son is charming, quite a looker, and a very well-mannered young man." My mother continued with a smile.

"I'm sorry but why are you telling me all this?" I asked seriously.

"It's because we have decided that you will be marrying him." They said together shocking me.

I kept quiet for a minute then burst out in laughter.

"My gosh Mom, you almost got Dad to play along with your joke." I said between laughter.

Dad took in a deep breath then released it.

"We are not joking, that's why I suggest that you start preparing yourself mentally for marriage." Dad answered seriously.

My laughter instantly faded, I looked at him coldly.

"You can't be serious." I whispered.

"Have we ever joked with you before?" He asked.

"This is really a joke. You can't expect me to marry a stranger!" I yelled on top of my voice.

"Yes, you will!" My mother yelled back.

"No!. I have always listened to you Mom and Dad. All this time I have been acting as a perfect daughter, now that you aren't satisfied with me you want to throw in a perfect son-in-law!" I screamed.

"Watch your tone." He warned.

"Or what Dad? will you take away my jewelry and cars!. Then go ahead because I don't need them!. All this time I have been going to your lame ass parties. Pretending to be happy when I'm always sad and lonely. I hate the riches that we have. I hate everything that you have ever bought for me. But mostly I hate the both of you so much for being horrible parents to me!" I screamed as tears rolled on my cheeks.

"You have never given me the closure and attention that I needed. I at times even dared to question myself if I really was your biological child!. While my friends had their mothers hugging them when they were crying, you Geniveve went out shopping. While my friends had their fathers take them out for games and sports, you went out to take care of business Martin. Do you even know what I hate or like?. No, you don't, because you don't give a s**t. You took away all the servants I got attached to!. Got rid of all the people that tried to get close to me, and now you are selling me off to a stranger all in the name of status. I hate you so much Martin and Geniveve, you are the worst parents one could ever ask for. I won't marry the f*****g guy, so go and f**k yourselves!" I screamed then turned and ran upstairs into the library.

I locked the door with a trembling hand immediately I walked in then fell on the floor weakly. All this time I had kept it in and let them do as they pleased.

But by the end of the day I was the weird one because deep down in my heart, I still loved them a lot.

They couldn't even wait for it to be morning. They just had to tell me right after the party and at night.

I stood up and walked to the bookshelves.

"You are horrible!" I screamed out in anger then pushed a few books from the shelf role and watched them fall.

"You don't love me." I whispered then pushed more of them.

  I was about to push the last book on the role when it couldn't move, I held it tightly and tried to pull it, but it still was stuck there.

I wiped off my tears then held it with both of my hands and pulled it again.

 Suddenly a small shelf that was on my left moved, revealing a door that was open.

I quickly looked around then back at the door I had never seen before.

"Sandy, don't do anything stupid, just call your parents." I whispered to myself while pressing my hand on my chest to calm my loud, rapid, beating heart.

"No. I don't need them." I answered when it clicked that I was still upset with them.

I moved closer and stood in front of the door entrance, debating whether to go in or not.

I was so curious to know what was in the room because I could see a lump hung on the wall, a small table and chair was set between the room.

 "Here goes nothing." I whispered then walked in.

The room was so cold compared to the library. The table and chair looked old and roughed up. On top of the table was a scroll.

I moved closer and took the scroll from the table. wasting no time in unfolding it and spreading it on the table.

The handwriting written was very neat but somehow scribbled, luckily I could read the words perfectly fine. on the top, it was written.

STEPHEN THE FOURTH PRINCE OF EMPRESS GREATER & EMPEROR JOHN.

"Emperor John?" I asked myself loudly then quickly sat down with a smile.

Even though I had read only a chapter about emperor John because not much was recorded on him. I knew perfectly well that he was the father of Richard and his two brothers. But what surprised me was that I had no idea that he had a fourth son.

 All this time I only knew of my favorite three princes who one ( Richard ) later became a great emperor who ruled with the help of his two brothers.

The fact that there was another brother mentioned in the paper made me excited and somehow curious to know why he wasn't mentioned in the book. I carefully scanned the scroll with my eyes and noticed that there was no name of the author or writer written.

"Oh well, let me read." I whispered to myself and began to read.

- Prince Stephen, the fourth son of empress Greater and the great emperor John. Was born in a cold winter after the empress had suffered with a lot of blood loss and pain. He was a beauty to look upon until he opened his eyes and everyone in the palace feared the child. He had pure red eyes that no one had ever seen before, in all royal generation he was the only one who had eyes that shone so bright with a colour of blood.

The empress couldn't even look at him in fear and regret. She was so sad that she later passed away after a week. The emperor hated the child so much that he ordered it to be kept by a servant away from his sight until it was older.

The old servant who was given this task was so gentle and kind, she treated the prince like her own son. unfortunately, when the young prince reached the age of 10, the old lady passed away. And then the rumor began to spread of a cursed child who had red eyes, that sucked the soul of an old woman who took him in to raise him. 

The emperor didn't want the news to reach the people outside the palace. So he ordered the guards to put the cursed prince in the dungeon and never let him out. There, the prince was chained by the legs and only allowed one meal after two days and a cup of water, he was rarely taken to the bathroom or toilet. The prince couldn't understand what he had done wrong to have such misfortune, and how his own father would despised him so much.

The servants in charge of him badly mistreated him and called him names. While others went on to hit him badly, to the point of bearing scars on his body.

Years went by without the prince seeing anything outside his walls. He grew thin and weak but still had hope of surviving. One day he overheard the servants crying, saying how the emperor had died, but luckily passed on his throne to his firstborn son prince Richard.

Stephen didn't want. Sadly he couldn't help but have faith that his brother would take pity on him, and allow him to at least a plate of food once a day.

But his fate was already decided cruelly, little did he know that his brothers were bad-hearted and only pretended to be nice in people's eyes. They secretly ordered the general to kill him, because the new servants he had taken in began to feel pity for Stephen and telling the people outside the palace how he was hidden. To silence the rumor and deny that they had no fourth brother, they decided to kill him and get rid of the body. And so the prince was killed. But before he died he only wished he could have been born more stronger and smarter than all those that had made his heartache with betrayal and mistreatment.

I was in tears as I read the words out loud, how could they treat someone innocent in such a cruel manner.

 I turned the scroll to see if they were more written words about Stephen when.

On the other side were the words. THE LADY THAT LOST HER SOUL and the recorded date was written down below was in the same era as prince Stephen's recording.

I cleared my throat then continued to read the scroll.

- Scarlet was a wise lady, born and sold by her poor parents to cruel rich people. She was practically a slave to a well known rich family that had bought her. Her job was to bath them and their children. Dress them up, clean the house and do all chores without food or water given to her.

But she still kept on standing strong despite being harassed by the male servants of the house. At times she was beaten up badly and left to die.

 One day she was nearly r***d by the male savants of the house. Luckily she ran away, but sadly the same male servants followed her and drowned her in the River where she died with a heart full of regrets and sorrows.

After I read that. I couldn't understand how the two stories were recorded and who wrote them down. Moreover, why didn't I know about the scroll and secret room? I was suppose to worry a lot but for some reason, I wasn't. My head and heart were aching badly and my tears couldn't stop falling.

 I wasn't crying for myself, I was crying for the people I had read from the scroll too. It didn't matter if it was based on a true story or not. Somehow we went through something similar, we both were not loved or cared for. We were nothing to the people we loved and we didn't matter.

I lay my head on the table and sobbed loudly while placing the scroll against my chest.

If only I was born in the past. If only I could have known Stephen in person. He didn't deserve to die, he didn't deserve to be humiliated and killed by his own blood brothers, he didn't do anything wrong, it wasn't his fault to be born with red eyes. All he needed was to be loved, understood and cared for. 

 Scarlet too went through a miserable hell. How could her parents be so cold as to sell their child for money? Not only did she bear her mistreatments, but she also had no one to turn to. If only she had a true friend who she could turn to, a friend who could give her a shoulder to cry on. A friend who she could rely on completely.

Their death wasn't suppose to be in vain. They surely didn't deserve such a horrible ending. And to think that I liked Richard with his two brothers. All this time I thought of them as the greatest leaders of the past era who were so pure-hearted and kind. When in truth they were monsters.

I bite my lower lip to keep in my voice as I sobbed. 

"I wish I wasn't born in such a horrible family, with horrible parents." I whispered then closed my eyes.

I was very tired and my eyes were sore. What I needed was a little rest before facing my parents again.