Louisa Hendraki

"You will marry the king of Nendes and that is my decision" King Achan yelled at Louisa who was kneeling on the red carpet in the throne room, afar from him. Her cheeks were wet with tears as she pleaded with her father to be lenient with her sentence. "Father please... he's much older than me and I heard he tortures his women when he gets bored with them. I can marry anybody else but please not him..." "...You deserve a man who will torture you, Louisa. You are worthless, just like your mother. Prove your worth and marry Nikolai" Achan remarked in rage, shutting Louisa up. He had never been kind to her but this time, his wickedness to her was out of hand. Louisa stood up from the carpet where she had been kneeling for hours begging. She wiped her tears quietly and turned to walk away, when her father called, "Where are you going? I'm not done with you, w***e!" Those words rang in Louisa's ears but she kept quiet. Slowly, she turned. "Your wedding is tomorrow. Try not to look dead. Get out!" Louisa just turned away quietly and left. If her father would finally see her worth and stop calling her a w***e, then she would marry this Nikolai, however brutal he may be. Then she thought of her mother. Her mother, Melanie had been the belle of the kingdom in her youth. King Achan had been married then to his first queen, Doris whom he later cast away for Melanie. Melanie had been forced and bullied by her parents to accept Achan's proposal. She had accepted after so many pressure and Achan was happy. But after two years, Achan returned to his reckless behavior of womanizing. He didn't care if his wife was present or not. After all, she hadn't given him a child. His desire for her had faded. Instead, he harboured deep-seated hatred for Melanie. Melanie gave birth to Louisa that year. She was supposed to be the bond between her parents but instead, Achan hated Melanie even more. He resorted to beating Melanie. He would beat her in private and in public in front of the servants. How dare she birth a daughter, he would ask. He took mistresses after mistresses to spite her. Yet Melanie always loved her husband. She always forgave him whenever he embarrassed her. She also taught Louisa to love him and forgive him. Little Louisa never understood why she has to turn a blind eye to her father's cruelty, yet she never stood up to him. Until one day... Louisa was fourteen then. The king was having a party. Rather than let Melanie sit by his side on her throne, he told his mistress to sit there while he forced Melanie to wash the woman's feet. Louisa had felt blood rush through her veins when she saw the woman ordering her mother. How had a queen become a servant?. Rage clouded Louisa's vision and she had rushed over to her mother and snatched the bowl of water from her and poured the liquid all over the mistress. Everywhere was quiet for a while before Louisa realised what she had done. It was too late. Achan had locked her mother in the dungeon. Then that night, he had beaten Louisa for the first time. Louisa bled from her nose and mouth throughout the night. The days that followed were torturous for her and it was only the intervention of Roman, her father's then eighteen year- old war general that stopped her from dying. He had pleaded for the king to allow a physician to visit her. The king had conceded after three days. From that day, Louisa never saw her mother again and she wasn't allowed to ask. And she blamed herself everyday for whatever became of her mother. That was four years ago. Now at eighteen, Louisa always kept to herself. Her father didn't have sufficient cause to pick on her. Yet when he had the chance, he always made her cry and she hated it. If marriage was the way out, she would do it gladly and happily lose her life in the process if it came to that... "Are those tears in your eyes, Princess?" She stopped and glared at him. "What is it, Roman?" "You were crying. Why?" he pressed. She straightened her shoulders. "I wasn't crying, General. Don't ask again". Then she walked away hurriedly. Roman watched her go. He already knew of her intended marriage to the King of Nendes. He hated it. Yet he couldn't help her. It made him angry whenever he couldn't do anything for her. She had always looked up to him ever since her unfortunate incident with her father at fourteen. He sighed. Roman was very good-looking with shiny black hair that brushed his shoulders. His well sculpted face was very attractive enough to pull any girl. Any girl but Louisa. She never had time to look at men. Of course she would never have her choice of men so why should she bother, she thought.