4 1.1 CHAPTER THREE: THE KNIGHT COMMANDER

1.1 CHAPTER THREE: THE KNIGHT COMMANDER

Karme stood as still as an oak tree in the flatform she was forced to stand in. Attendants rushed along around her. Her father had given them specific commands. Karme needed to be as noble as a de Serin maiden as her twin sister was.

He even had his personal cleric come and heal Karme of all the recent and old wounds he had inflicted on her.

It was going to be the first time people outside of the castle would be able to see her. Her first day as being presented was her wedding day. Karme could not find joy in what was supposed to be a happy occasion.

She had no idea why her father suddenly wanted her to get married, especially after being so adamant about hiding her from the world outside the walls of the castle de Serin. But she could not disobey him. After all–no matter what he had done, he was still her father.

He knew what was best for her. Karme wanted to believe that with everything in her heart.

The door to her room opened up. She looked up, expecting to see her father, but only Maya had entered. A sad gleam crossed her eyes. Despite the things her father had done, she had hoped he would at least see her before her wedding.

"I would like to be the one to do your hair, my lady," Maya started with a bow in front of Karme.

Karme smiled, reaching a hand towards the older woman with a gentle smile on her lips. "I would not have it any other way, Maya. You have been fixing my hair for me ever since we were young. And I would love for you to do it now as well,"

Maya stood up straighter with a bright smile. She took her lady's hand and led the younger woman down the platform she was forced to stand on. Maya guided Karme towards the chair and mirror with their conjoined hands raised between them. She sat the younger woman down and let go of her hand.

Before they could start, another maid entered the room with a tray. She put it down in front of Karme and left without a word. The young lady scrunched her face at the sight of the bitter medicine she had been drinking since she was a child. She picked the small bowl up and drank its content as fast as possible.

When it was all done, she wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out as the taste remained. With a laugh, Maya handed her a glass of water. Once Karme was done with her medicine, Maya started brushing her hair just like she always does every morning. Karme closed her eyes as comfort and warmth at the action so familiar. Maya's mother had worked for her own. And thus, since Karme was born, Maya was already beside her.

"You are so beautiful, my lady," Maya complemented with a smile as she looked at Karme in the mirror. "Your husband-to-be is a lucky man,"

Karme smiled back at her in the mirror as well. "Can you do me a favor, Maya?"

The older woman nodded vehemently, the smile never leaving her lips.

"Come with me?" she asked, her voice breaking. "When my husband takes me away–"

"I will always be with you, my lady," Maya answered, not letting her finish her sentence. She gripped the younger woman warmly in the shoulder as she lowered her head beside Karme's. "You are the only one I want to serve for the rest of my life,"

~oOo~

Karme could not remember anything. All she could recall was looking into her father's eyes by the door before it was opened. So cold, so uncaring. Karme waited, with bated breath, for her father to tell her words of reassurance and love. But all he did was smirked at her. Told her she was finally being beneficial for the first time.

As soon as the matrimonial ceremony was done, Karme rushed out of the grand hall her father had prepared for the occasion. Everyone was making merry, toasting for the marriage of a de Serin lady. Yet–the woman who had wedded was nowhere to be seen in the sea of people commemorating the event.

Karme found herself under the old Iloe(1) tree in their garden. It was her place of comfort. Her safe zone. She knelt down on the grass, uncaring if the first dress she had owned, not made out of the leftover from her sister, got dirty. She smiled, sadness overflowing from her, as she stared at the slovenly carved words at the bottom of the trunk.

Ki murangen(1), Karme, moro mou(2).

It was the only thing left of her mother that her father and sister had not taken away from her. She caressed a hand over the words as tears flowed freely from her eyes.

"I… I tried my best, mother," Karme cried in a low voice–the words came out in a soft croak. "I did. But I guess it was not enough for my father. He will never look at me the way he looks at Krianna,"

Karme rested her arms on her knees and pressed her forehead into it, crouched over–unbecoming of a lady of her status. But at the moment, she could find little to no care.

Out of the silence of the garden, Karme heard a soft rustle. She peered slightly between her arms and saw her husband's leaving figure.

He was a man with immense presence. She was small compared to him, figuratively and literally. She reached only up to below his shoulder. His arms alone were thrice the size of hers. Not to mention the pressure his words alone could make people feel, as she had witnessed him speaking with his knights earlier that day when she saw them arrive.

Karme sniffled and washed her face dry with the handkerchief she was given before the start of the ceremony. She fixed herself as much as possible and started walking back towards the ballroom before her father noticed she had gone out.

With a deep breath, she opened the ballroom door and was about to enter when she saw her husband and twin sister, Krianna. Her heart constricted at the sight. Karme may have been clueless about how the world works, but even she knew that her own sister was trying to seduce her husband.

And what Krianna wants, Krianna gets.

Especially when it was Karme's. She never had much from the start, but it was like her twin sister had made it her life's mission to take everything away from her.

Karme closed her eyes in utter defeat. She took a step back, hoping to run away once more. If even her husband were to choose her twin, Karme could not take it.

But just as she was about to leave, she saw the knight commander push Krianna away from him.

"Whether I love my bride or not, she is still my bride. I swore to her my faithfulness and fidelity," Lucian answered—his voice firm and unyielding.

And those words pierced Karme more than anything else. It clutched at her heart more than she expected. Her husband, a stranger as he was to her, did not admit he was in love with her. But he chose her.

He chose her.

For Karme, that was all that mattered.