01

Desire stared at the mirror in front of her, observing her curves and how long her legs had grown since she clocked 18, two years back. 

How time flies! 

She smiled at the memory of her eighteenth birthday that also happened to be her first day out of the mansion ever since she was brought by the master of the house. 

Every year, a new girl is brought to the mansion as a slave and gradually ranks up to a servant till she becomes a house maiden which is the highest rank ever held by a slave girl. 

The slave is the lowest rank in the mansion and it’s usually held by a set of girls who were brought from the southern part of their region that is plagued by poverty, diseases and hunger.

The servant rank is usually for girls who had served the house for more than four years, they’re believed to have more experience and insight on how to please the master. 

While the house-maiden rank, also called the House maids is held by girls who have spent more than 7 years in the house. 

Even though none of the girls living in the mansion has seen Mr Ho up close, the only thing they’re familiar with is his voice, side views and really loud intimate sessions his friends have with girls brought from the Harem. 

Desire picked up the love letter in front of the mirror stand and smiled at the memory of Chang, the guy who had been secretly sending her love letters after they had met on her first day out of the mansion. She’ll be thrilled to see him again.

It has been six years and eleven months since Desire was brought into the house and a month to her becoming a house maiden. She longed for the outside world and would love to fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse rather than stay in the mansion and become a house Maiden. 

She had always wanted to learn under the great physician and become a helper or a nurse under his service. 

‘From Slavery to slavery’ her subconscious self reminded her. 

She hissed at the sudden thought that came to her head. At least, one had a length of freedom more than the other. 

She quickly put on her dress and went out of the room before the court lady came barging in and cursing at her for being too late to the kitchen. 

Once when she was only five minutes late to the kitchen, she had been punished for three days by not giving her food nor water.

“Good morning, Lady Nor” she greeted the court lady’s assistant who was in every way nicer than the court lady. 

“My dear child, Bless you. Hope you slept well?” 

“Yes, I did and thank you for the green tea you gave me, it aided my peaceful sleep” 

“No need child, I do what is expected of me as a mother to you girls” Desire smiles at her as memories of her mother come back to her.

They stopped talking immediately when the court lady entered the room and they  resumed their daily chores almost immediately, out of fear for the woman. 

With Desire cleaning around the kitchen and Lady Nor getting the utensils ready to serve the table while the others in the kitchen cooked the master’s breakfast. 

“Master has requested for his breakfast in his personal suite, is it ready?” The court lady asked in a stern voice.

“f-f-few minutes is required to get everything ready, my lady” the cook answered with fear lacing her words. 

“Do you mind explaining what you have been doing all day!?” She barked at the young girl.

“We were looking for the spices to add to his breakfast and it took a while before we found it, my lady” 

Desire froze at that moment, she had been in charge of getting the spices at the market yesterday and she had forgotten to put it at its normal position. 

The court lady turned to Desire and she knew she was going to die at that moment. Smirking wickedly, she called her name, “Desire darling, how long is it till you become a house-maiden?” 

“One month, my lady” she couldn’t look at her in the face. 

“Well, how about you begin your duties immediately as a house-maiden?” Desire could hear gasp around her. At that moment, everyone feared for her life and no one dared question the court lady, not even her assistant, Lady Nor. 

Normally, before a servant becomes a housemaid, she’s introduced to the ropes and most precisely, to Mr Ho. If he pleases, he’ll order for them to keep her and if not, send her to the Harem. 

Any slave or servant that appears before Mr Ho without prior notice will be beheaded or stoned to death at their village square.

With shaking hands and unknown fate, Destiny took the food, accompanied by two other house maids to serve their Master his breakfast. 

After the door was opened by the knights in charge of protecting the prime minister, who is also their master, she stepped in and placed the food on the table.

“Who are you? and why are you in my suite?” The loud voice spoke behind her and if she could lean a little bit, she’ll be resting on his torso.

“I’m Desire and the court-lady asked me to bring your food up, my lord” 

She was still not looking at him and had her eyes fixed to the ground.

After a few minutes of checking her out and seeing if she wasn't any form of danger, he moved closer to the food, inspected it and sat down in front of it.

“Go stand at the corner” he directed her and told one of the ladies to get the court lady. 

Shivering from fear, she stood at the corner and almost couldn’t breathe so as to not make a sound that’ll disturb him.

“You asked for me, my lord” The court lady said as she entered the suite.

“Why did you send her up here?” He asked, pointing to Desire.

“She exchanged some of the ingredients purchased for the preparation of your food with poison and I thought it would be better if she explained herself about why she had to give you something that could kill you. Maybe she was planning to get rid of you all along” Even though Desire knew the court lady was evil, she just didn’t know she was that evil. 

She watched a huge feet stop in front of her and suspecting it was her master, she refused to look up and confirm her suspicion.

“Look at me, Dove” Her Master commanded.

“I can’t, My lord” She was scared, too scared to look at him.

“Why!?” He demanded loudly. “Why have you refused to look at me in the eyes?”

“Because it is forbidden my lord, for a mere servant like me to look you in the eye” He laughed wickedly.

“You’re too scared to look at me but not too scared to give me poison” 

“I didn’t try to poison you my lord, I can’t do that. I swear on my life, my lord” At this point she was crying and shivering suddenly from the coldness radiating from his body to hers.

“But at least, you tried” Next thing she knew was him grabbing her by the hair so tight she felt some of her thick hair removing. 

She was screaming from the pain.

He dragged her through chairs and tables, running her body down the long stairs down to where all of them feared the most; the dungeons. 

He opened the gate of one of the rooms and pushed her inside. 

“You’ll be spending three days in here, without food not water nor sunlight and till then, pray that God changes my mind or else, I’ll kill you once you’re out”