Forced marriage

While Rebecca was having her breakfast peacefully some stern looking knights suddenly barged inside the cabin and one of the knight grabbed Rebecca's right arm and dragged her out of the cabin without saying anything

"Hey,where are you taking your highness"Mia said in a loud panicked voice after being dumbfounded for a while but she didn't got any response from the knights

Rebecca didn't know why but she suddenly got an ominous premonition in her heart judging from the way the knight is dragging her it seems to be the way where the guest rooms are located inside the castle,along the way she noticed many people pointing fingers at her and discussing at low voice but each and every single word of them was heard by Rebecca

"Hey,is that the princess?"

"What princess that is nothing but a jinx who send her mother to the heavens after being born"

"But isn't Mia fine?"

"Did you forget about Anne,wasn't she well before her death how did she died all of a sudden"

"Wasn't it because of her illness?"

"Fool,that jinx must had worsened the condition of her illness"

"I bet Mia's days are numbered as well"

"Let's stay away from her"

"Yeah we do not want to have bad luck because of her"

Listening to those taunting comments,Rebecca's mind had gone blank,her face had gone ghastly pale and then her body started to tremble in fear.

She never faced any situation as such so she does not know what to do apart from lowering her head it was as if by lowering her head would not make them notice and those people would not speak ill of her

Mia was enraged listening to their remarks filled with contempt but she does not want to bother with them for now because the knights are walking so fast that she cannot even catch up with them even though she is running,she doesn't know how the weak Rebecca is keeping up

The knight took Rebecca inside one of the guest room and released his grip from her arm,Rebecca groaned in pain,her arm was hurting from the knight's earlier tight grip and her leg's muscles were twitching after walking as her life depended on it and she is panting crazily,she felt that she is a moment away from fainting

The knight ordered Mia,"You must make your highness dress up like a royal"

"For what"Mia questioned with bewildered face

The knight didn't responder her instead he turned around to face the other knights and instructed them,"You all must guard the door well lest they run away"

"Yes captain!"the knights responded in a vigorous voice

The captain opened the door and strode into the corridor after finish instructing them leaving Mia with a still bewildered face

When the knight was striding towards the door Mia stopped one of the knight she has some friendship with,"what the hell is going on,Sev"she asked with furrowed eyebrows and confused eyes

The knight named Sev sighed and said in a voice filled with pity,"your highness is going to get married to the Archduke of the Magic Empire"

These words were thunderclap to Rebecca,her legs weakened,she sat on the floor,keeping both of her legs on one side and resting her palms on the floor to support her tired body

"What! Why?!", Mia was shocked and asked Sev hurriedly

Sev explained in a low voice,"The Magic Empire wanted to conquer our kingdom and the king knew that our kingdom is no match against such an advanced Empire but he wasn't willing to lose all his power so he tentatively made a proposal to the Magic Empire that our kingdom has a golden eyed princess which he could offer to the king in exchange for the Empire to not attack our kingdom in the next 6 months,the empire agreed and a treaty was formed but nobody know why instead of the king the princess is going to marry the eldest son of the king who is the pride of the Magic Empire,Ian Aiden Augustine,today the empire will take the princess from the kingdom"

After saying all of these the knight went out of the room and stood outside in his position to guard the room.'It would be great if the Empire could conquer our kingdom then we can learn magic after being a citizen of the Magic Empire',Sev sighed as he thought regretfully

And here Mia turned to look at Rebecca who sat motionless on the floor with her head lowered,she was worried that Rebecca was crying so she squatted in front of her and tilted her head to look at her as she called her gently,"Rebecca",now she wants to stay by Rebecca's side as her sister not her maid

Rebecca tilted her head up to look at Mia,she wasn't crying or angry as Mia expected instead her eyes showed a complex emotion that Mia could not figure out

"Am I really a jinx?"Rebecca asked hesitantly in a low voice after she lowered her eyelids

Mia was shocked to hear such a question a question from Rebecca and immediately thought of the comments she heard on their way,she grasped Rebecca's arms and shook her head side to side and said,"Rebecca don't listen to their nonsense,you are not a j-"

"Is it true that I made Anne's illness worse"Rebecca interrupted Mia and continued speaking softly in a self deprecating way,"It must be because of my bad luck"it was as if she is talking to herself,trapped in her world

That realisation struck Mia as she called Rebecca's name loudly snapping Rebecca out of her trance

Rebecca was confused for a moment before she apologised,"I am sorry I didn't mean to ignore you"

Mia looked into her eyes and declared,"listen up Rebecca you are not a jinx,my mother's death has nothing to do with you,it is normal for anyone to die of illness if it isn't treated on time and your mother's death also has nothing to with you,it is normal for women to die during childbirth because of excessive loss of blood"

Mia took a deep breath and continued as she stared intently at Rebecca's eyes,"both your and my mother's death is natural,it isn't your fault"

Rebecca curled her eyebrows as she recalled Anne's death,after confirming that Anne's death really has nothing to do with her let out a sigh of relief

'It's seems that I am really not a jinx'Rebecca thought

But after the relief she felt that fate was unfair to her

'I obviously did nothing wrong but why do I have to go through all of this,my father doesn't love me,that's okay,but why does he have to put me on a house arrest and not even give me a name if it wasn't for Anne's begging and persuading him I won't even be called Rebecca by Mia now,maybe it will be something like 'you','hey' or 'sister' and now that man who took away my freedom wants to sell me to keep enjoying his power for a little longer,how ridiculous"

These thoughts made Rebecca wanted to sneer but her eyes watered instead and she sobbed silently and Mia didn't interrupted her as well because she know that her sister needs some time alone so she just accompanied her in silence

Rebecca remembered Anne's teaching,"life has so many challenges but we have to stand up to face all circumstances even though we are not good at that"

'Yes instead of crying I should think about what I should do next'Rebecca thought as she stopped crying

Seeing this,Mia asked,"Rebecca what should we do next"

"We cannot escape so I only have one choice that is to go to the Magic Empire and get married to the Archduke"Rebecca said helplessly

"But are you willing"Mia said in a worried voice

Rebecca has a wry grin on her face as she said,"it's not a question of whether I am willing but whether we can survive after leaving this kingdom,Mia"

Mia sighed dejectedly

"But this force marriage may not be a bad thing"Rebecca said

"Why do you think so"Mia said as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion

"I cannot always stayed locked up behind the castle someday I have to break free from my shackles and I guess compare to marrying some noble in our kingdom it is better for me to get married to a noble man from the Magic Empire as I do not want to stay in this kingdom which does not welcome me,I want to start a new life in a new place"

"But will the Archduke treat you well given how you are from a small kingdom"Mia said as her worried eyes fell on Rebecca

Rebecca lowered her eyelids to cover the coldness in her eyes and said,"If he treats me well I will treat him hundred times better but if he treats me badly I will destroy him even at the cost of my life"

Rebecca looked at Mia with a gentle yet determined eyes as she said,"Mia,I will take revenge against all the people who wronged us one day"she doesn't know where her courage came from but she knows that to walk her unknown future she has get strong,confident and courageous

Mia was moved to the point of crying

But suddenly Rebecca furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she analysed "Mia,the Magic Empire does not lack beautiful woman who are thousand times more nobler than me then why did the empire immediately agreed to the king's proposal after hearing the words 'golden eyed princess',is it because they want my eyes or for something else but still I find the whole thing weird because it is easy for the empire to conquer our kingdom,and after conquering our kingdom they can definitely do anything to me by force then why did they made this agreement"