Chapter 0 – [Prologue]

“AAAAAH!”

The scent of an unwashed body hit her nose and turned her stomach inside out. It felt like her head was filled with hazy smoke, to the point that it was hard for her to remember where she was. Her slender ankle, writhing, was caught by a large hand and her legs were forced to open.

How did this happen?

Saye bit her lips until it bled. She hoped the pain would help her come to her senses.

***

Saye’s parents were part of a nomadic tribe. They were people who moved from one small village to another. Had the Sultan’s army not passed near the village they were staying at, she wouldn’t be in this situation right now.

Her father, who sent his seven-year-old daughter to Sultan’s harem.

Her mother, who was sorry but couldn’t do anything to help her.

The Sultan, who put the girl into his harem and promptly forgot about her.

That seven-year-old girl was able to survive in the harem where nearly a hundred women lived. She held her breath and lived like a ghost so that no one would notice her. Hiding in the deepest, darkest corner, she’d sneak out late at night when the whole palace was asleep to eat their scraps.

Yet, she lived with hope. She kept believing her mother, father and brother would come to rescue her.

11 years passed.

11 unbelievably long years had gone by.

She can count on one hand the times she saw the rising sun. By hiding in the darkest corner where sunlight doesn’t even reach, her skin became so pale that it almost looked blue. Day by day, her body lost it’s youthfulness as she became emaciated due to lack of proper nourishment.

She didn’t know how long she could last.

By then, she’d accepted the fact that no one would come to save her. Yet, she kept on hiding her existence.

She would willingly suffer through the whole thing again if it meant she wouldn’t appear in front of the Sultan.

One night, she snuck out of her hiding place to wash. Everyone was in bed except for the slave who guarded the harem.

On that fateful day, her luck had run out. She was caught by the Sultan who was on his way to Desar’s bed chamber, his favored concubine.

“Who are you?”

Saye stood still. It was clear he was talking to her. When she caught sight of the Sultan stroking his long beard contemplatively, she knew there was no turning back. However, the Sultan only gave an order to the servant next to him and went on his way without another word. Saye felt relieved and started breathing again.

Three days later, the Sultan called her into his own bedroom.

“That right, I remember now. You were that young nomadic girl.”

The Sultan found prepubescent girls who hadn’t had their monthly bleed yet distasteful, which was why he placed her in the harem and forgot about her. The Sultan’s harem was full of concubines, some of which he hadn’t embraced even once. He scrutinized the girl in front of him.

With his wrinkled fingers, he raised her lowered face.

He smiled with wicked delight as he gazed at her pale cheeks.

“What a beautiful color.”

They weren’t by themselves in the Sultan’s chamber. There were always guards and dozens of servants around him to cater to his needs.

At first, he thought her hair was white, but upon closer inspection, he found out it wasn’t.

The pale moonlight made her hip-length hair glow, making it look like silk woven from silver. Her eyebrows and long eyelashes were the same silvery color. Even her eyes, which were looking up at him, were a shade of dark grey.

“Where have you been all this time?”

She caught his attention. It was a pity he overlooked her beauty for such a long time. Well, he’s going to make up for all that lost precious time.

The clothes she was wearing were designed to be easily taken off. With a small tug, it fell to the floor.

A lush, young body was revealed under the moonlight. The Sultan leered at Saye with lascivious eyes.

Suddenly, Saye was lifted and thrown onto the bed. She tried to get up, but the Sultan covered her body with his own.

“Am I your first?”

“Your Royal Highness….”

Her weak voice trembled.

The only part of her body that was a different color were the lips that called to him. The Sultan leaned down and devoured her lips.

When her mouth opened in surprise, a wet and slippery tongue pushed in between.

When she instinctively pushed him, the Sultan bit her lips and cursed.

“Impudent girl. If you refuse me again, I’ll cut your hand off.”

She knew that was not an idle threat. Saye’s trembling hands which were pushing him lost their strength and fell back into the bed.

She wished time would pass more quickly. She wanted the whole thing to be over soon, so she could cower back in her dark corner where she felt safe.

The Sultan bit Saye’s neck, while his hands groped and squeezed her breasts. He roughly handled her fair bosom and buried his face between them. His scratchy beard left painful red marks.

“Ah!”

That was not an exclamation of pleasure, but of pain.

She squeezed her eyes shut when she felt his hands move lower. The moment his finger touched her nether regions, Saye struggled to get away but was grabbed by the ankle and dragged back.

“This body doesn’t know pleasure, huh?”

The Sultan was over sixty. Despite his age, a day hasn’t gone by when he hasn’t deflowered a woman.

When his hands rubbed her mound, Saye felt no pleasure, only excruciating pain. He ruthlessly invaded the area no one had touched before.

She knew this day would come eventually. She comforted herself with the thought that all women would have to go through the same thing. Nevertheless, she could not stop tears from falling from her tightly closed eyes.

“Eugh!”

His finger pushed through her tight, dry channel. His nail scratched her insides as he roughly pushed it in and out. She clenched her teeth hard as she tried to endure the pain.

Without warning, the Sultan grabbed her hair.

“Open your eyes.”

Will the Sultan let her go if she was unresponsive and uninteresting? With that naive hope, she opened her eyes slowly. Her expectations were quickly dashed when she caught a glimpse of a rough black bush and a ponderous chunk of flesh.

“Put it in your mouth.”

His thick fingers tried to force her mouth to open.

He’d kill her if she refused, she knew instinctively.

The Sultan’s eyes were glistening with desire. She knew what would happen t0 a woman that couldn’t satisfy the Sultan or who would dare to harm him. Such a rumour spread like wildfire and reached her ears, hidden as she was.

He pried her lips open and pushed his appendage in. The hard organ filled her mouth. It carried a foul stench, which assailed her nose and left the taste of disgusting raw fish on her tongue.

He kept on pushing it deeper on her throat, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

“Urgh!”

He only pulled back when his meat grazed her teeth.

Pulled!

Her mind went blank. She saw all the servants lower their heads and the guards put their hands on their swords.

Belatedly, she realized blood was flowing from her lips. Before she could do anything, she was pushed down the bed again.

The Sultan splayed her legs wide open. It was futile to resist so she just lowered her head. Sultan rubbed his **** on her parched entrance. The wet and slippery head of his ***** started to penetrate Saye.

The coppery smell of blood pricked her nose and made her want to puke. But if she did that, she was certain her severed head would decorate the castle walls come daybreak.

…….Saye, do you want to live?

She was eager to live. Even though she didn’t have any reason to keep on living, she still yearned for life.

She just – she just…

She just wanted to go outside. She hadn’t stepped outside ever since she joined the harem eleven years ago. She wanted to see how the world outside had changed and breathe in the fresh air.

The Sultan’s **** went deeper. Even one finger was painful enough. She couldn’t imagine how much it would hurt her later when he finished his assault. She clenched her teeth in anticipation of the imminent pain.

“Sultan, your royal highness!”

“Do you wish to die?! Where do you think you are?!”

The servant girl who burst into the chamber turned pale. She screamed when the guard’s leader drew his sword and pointed it at her neck.

“T-There’s a revolt!”

The Sultan suddenly moved away from Saye as fast as lightning.

“What are you talking about?!”

“Please leave this place at this instant. Half of the palace is already -”

“Who the hell headed the uprising?”

“The 9th Prince – Prince Kainer did!”

Sultan haphazardly put on his clothes and beckoned all his guards and servants out of the bedroom. In an instant, Saye was left alone in the room *****.

“Prince Kainer…”

She knew him. She’d seen him several times from afar. The security in the harem was only tightened up at night. During the day, a limited number of people were allowed to enter the harem.

In the daytime, Saye spent most of her time in the Sultan’s library where people rarely go. She loved reading books because it gave her a way to escape her reality.

The only people who visited the library were Saye and the 9th Prince. Too late she realized it was her who was intruding on his space rather than the other way around. She could only laugh bitterly at that fact.

Clang! Clash!

The sound of a fight indicated that the uprising was real. The loud sound of clashing metal caused Saye to sit upright.

It was not the right time to be idle. It might be her last chance to escape, her last chance to survive and step on the soil of the world outside…

If the current Sultan was deposed, his concubines could be freed –

“Or killed,” Saye whispered.

Will Prince Kainer release all the women in the harem? She couldn’t be sure as she only knew him superficially.

Any of the two was fine. If she was released, then she can start a new adventure in the outside world. If not, she was also fine with dying.

She wished she’d be able to step outside the harem before they killed her but she’d resigned herself to the fact that it might not happen. After all, her destiny was set ever since she entered the harem.

She grabbed her clothes and put them on quickly. It was made from thin, transparent silk that showed her body. She knew she couldn’t make it far in just her pajamas. Nonetheless, she just wanted to be rid of this place, no matter what.

She hadn’t fully made up her mind but she couldn’t bear it any longer. So she ran.

“KYAAAAA!”

She shuddered when she heard the scream from afar, but her legs never stopped running.

She returned to the harem and saw all the servants and concubines running around trying to escape with their precious jewelry.

Saye ignored them and ran into the harem’s garden. Located near the back of the garden was a small door used to receive deliveries of produce from outside. No one knew about it except for the person in charge of food. Saye only found it by chance.

Would it be possible to escape using that door tonight?

She contemplated running away and using that door as the exit a few times before. However, it was closely guarded so she gave up. Today might be different.

Sharp stones pierced her feet. Even when it registered she was running barefoot, she didn’t stop.

Everything was just like she hoped. The door was left unguarded. She grabbed the door handle and pushed as hard as she could.

Creeeeeaak.

Did all the slaves escape already? The door, not as heavy as it looked, opened.

She took her first step outside…

Splash!

Something warm dripped down her face. Her eyes went blank as she looked straight ahead. Something massive blocked her view before it fell to the side. She realized that ‘something’ was the body of the slave who usually guards the door.

“Is she the Sultan’s woman?”

She was blinded by the light of bright torches. They were standing in the shadow so she couldn’t recognize them. The substance around her was not blood, was it?!

Dozens of corpses littered the ground. The foul smell of the blood made her nauseous. Now’s not the time for that.

She needed to take one more step. She wanted to step on dry land, not one soaked with blood.

With a stoic face, she was about to step around the bodies when –

“Stop.”

A sharp blade pointed at her neck.

Instead of cowering, Saye smiled brightly. The edge of the sword trembled a little. She could feel the man’s bewilderment, but she couldn’t stop.

Instead, Saye grasped the sword with both her hands until blood dripped down her wrists.

The silk pajamas which were barely hanging on her body fell down.

As she took one more step to the dry ground, her ***** body was clearly revealed under the light of the torches.

Slowly, Saye released the sword from her grasp.

“Now it’s enough.”

She smiled as she looked at the person aiming the sword against her. It was only then that she realized how young he was, as he looked to be around her age. She thought it was crazy how such a young soldier fought with his life for Prince Kainer.

“Enough what?”

A cool voice came from behind the soldier holding a torch.

She didn’t answer the question. Instead, she stared at the sky above for the last time. The moon that shone in the Sultan’s chamber before, continued to shine brightly even then. If it was not for the light of the torches around her, maybe she’d be able to see the stars next to the moon. It was such a shame.

Before she knew it, she was wrapped with voluminous cloth and lifted off the ground.

“Huh?”

Upon closer look, she realized she was wrapped in a black cloak and was held up by a man’s strong arms. She held her breath when she recognized the owner of those arms.

Hair as dark as the night. A high nose bridge and sharp jawline. Eyes the same color as his hair. He was twice as big as Saye even though they were around the same age. The magnificent image was only ruined by his lips which were pursed tightly.

“Prince…?”

When she called him unconsciously, he turned his gaze slightly to look at Saye.

“Be-Beurk!”

The nausea she endured before had returned. She struggled to get away from him, but he didn’t budge.

In the end, Sayed spewed the contents of her stomach over his shoulders.

“You weren’t afraid to die by the sword, but you’re afraid to puke on me?”

She hadn’t eaten anything so what came out of her were stomach juices.

The Prince entered the harem with her in his arms, not the least bit bothered by the filth on his shoulders.

“Kyaah!”

The women, who were trying to escape with their valuables, screamed at the approaching group of armed men.

“QUIET!”

Prince Kainer’s left hand man threatened them with a sword, which only increased their hysterical screams. The left hand man thought all the women might be killed if they didn’t stop. The Prince doesn’t like messy and noisy situations.

“Gather all you can and leave. All those who are still here by morning will be executed.”

The palace was now his. The previous Sultan may have escaped with his guards, but the Prince wasn’t worried. The rest of the servants have sworn allegiance to him and wherever the dethroned Sultan may be hiding, he’s confident he can find him.

From the beginning, he only had one purpose for uprising.

Kainer looked down at Saye who was still in his arms. Her eyes were closed so she must have lost consciousness.

“Call the healer.”

“Yes, Sultan.”

Everyone knelt at Sultan Kainer’s feet.

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