...- 1 -...

..."Open the door! Open the door!"...

..."You fools! You don’t know who you’re dealing with!"...

..."Open it!!!"...

...The girl kept screaming, resorting even to meaningless threats....

...The girl, who once wore an ivory-white dress, now wore something of an unrecognizable color after days of imprisonment....

...The prison was filthy and damp, barely touched by light....

...She screamed and threatened for days until she realized threats were useless. When her throat dried out, she began to beg....

..."Please... open the door..."...

..."Why won’t anyone hear me?!... I know you’re out there!"...

..."Fine... water... damn it!"...

...…...

...No one opened the door for days. No food. No water. Only the darkness that devoured the place....

...She could feel the thirst climbing through her body like death knocking at her door....

...Her body trembled, her lips cracked, and her eyes drifted between awareness and hallucination....

...She felt death closing in, reaching out its hand to drag her into a world of no return....

...From behind the walls of her cell, she could hear the sounds of celebration and laughter—another world continuing without her....

...The girl curled up, hugging her knees, in a posture that reeked of misery. She didn't want to beg....

...Why should she? She had lived her whole life with pride and dignity. Why beg, when she had done nothing to deserve this treatment?...

...She wondered: What had she truly done?...

...And why must she beg? Why was she made to live like this? Why was everything stripped from her?...

...She lost all hope of survival, as if fate had written her ending before her story could even begin....

...And just as she grew accustomed to the suffocating darkness, something unexpected happened....

...Raindrops began to fall gently on the ceiling of her cell, then grew more intense....

...Clean water flowed onto the filthy floor. Miraldona lifted her weakened head....

...She drank the rainwater for the first time—water that felt like one of the greatest blessings fate had ever granted her....

...A moment of refreshment stirred something deep within her. A new heartbeat pulsed through her veins, despite the pain and the darkness....

..."I will never forgive you, you bastard... Even if I die, I won’t forgive you..."...

...That became the new rhythm of her life. And she realized—fate hadn’t written her death just yet....

...-------...

...Chapter Two...

...---...

...The door didn’t open. All that reached her were the sounds of laughter and celebration behind the deaf, unyielding walls....

...Meraldona lay on the ground, her body exhausted, her mind torn between pain and fading hope....

...In the thick darkness, footsteps approached....

...She slowly lifted her head, her eyes glinting with a mix of doubt and fear....

...“Who’s there?” she whispered weakly....

...The sound came closer, until the figure of a man emerged from the shadows… He wore a dark cloak, his face covered with a veil, but his eyes burned with a hidden fire....

...“Meraldona...” he said coldly, with a trace of cruelty, “It’s time to choose.”...

...“But I... I didn’t do anything…” she stammered....

...He gave a cold smile and pulled a small, clear vial from his cloak:...

...“This poison… will free you from all this pain. A noble death, as you once were.”...

...Then he pointed toward a dark corner of the cell:...

...“Or you live, marked as a slave… in shame and submission, but alive.”...

...He fell silent for a moment, then added in a low voice:...

...“Choose, Meraldona… death or slavery.”...

...She lifted her head slowly, looked at him coldly, then let out a faint, mocking laugh:...

...“You… the bastard from the fallen house, aren’t you? What was your name? Dari? Hahaha, yes! That’s right, I recognize that face.”...

...She raised an eyebrow provocatively:...

...“What are you doing here? A coup? A rebellion? A slave uprising? What do you call it, by the Maker’s name?! Doesn’t matter.”...

...She gasped between laughter, then continued:...

...“Why do you think the aristocratic society will allow you to keep up this madness? As if I’d stay here forever… Get lost!”...

...The man gave her a look of disgust, then bent slightly and placed the vial on the ground beside her....

...He parted his lips with a sarcastic smile and said in a quiet voice:...

...“The aristocrats? Oh, pampered princess of the court… They were the first to stab you. They sold off the nobles’ power to protect their own seats. Your father? He was just their final card—and they burned it when his use ran out.”...

...He paused, staring into her wide blue eyes, before adding:...

...“I didn’t bring the revolution…...

...The revolution brought me.”...

...Then he left, leaving her among the shadows of truths she’d never known, and the vial that waited for her decision....

...---...

...♡...