The Princess’ Gilded Cage

In a darkened room, the haunting sound of piano can be easily heard. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata seems sadder as every note plays by. It's tempo leaving a gaunting feeling of melancholy as if all hope will soon be gone.

Playing it is a girl named Yu Yan. A name fitted for a girl with a beautiful smile. However she seems to put that name into shame. She has long luscious black hair that every girl would kill for. Her skin is as white as snow and fair as a jade. A very beautiful girl.

As her hands danced through the keys, her mind wandered to the unknown. When was the last time she genuinely smiled? When was the last time she felt alive?

Maybe it was when she played the piano for the first time? Nah, that was too far behind. She was only six when she first learned to play. She was amazed at how something so beautiful could offer something more. Every sound it produces soothes her ear as if lulling her and comforting her childhood loneliness.

Piano was her companion when her parents never came home. Piano was the sound she listens to when her parents shouts at each other as if they are two worlds apart for it. Playing the piano was her safe haven. However it also became her nightmare.

When did it become so hard to play the piano? When did she stop having fun playing the piano? She can't even remember.

The feather light touches she made before that produced light sounds is nowhere to be found. Her fingers felt heavy and the once magical tone sounds robotically played. She still played every note as it was, never missing anything just like a programmed computer but it didn't sound the same.

Those who don't know anything about music will definitely think 'Wow she's good'. But others who are well versed will know something is missing. Something she lost along the way and she never got back.

She thought being a world class pianist will eventually bring her the same happiness it brought her parents, but it never came. While her parents expectation became higher and higher, the joy she felt little by little left her. She practiced day to night. She missed meals and gatherings just to practice her piece and eventually graduated in Juilliard but all the time she invested at the end was not worth it.

Not only did she lose the happiness of what playing the piano brought her, she also lost the only thing she was sure of. The only man she ever loved, Li Jun.

Li Jun was her fiancé. The man she was being prepped for to marry. She was trained to be his wife. To stand beside him as the queen of high society. They were supposed to be the couple everyone envied but as she was preparing and putting her time and effort in trying to be the perfect lady suitable for him. She lost her chance. She wasn't even able to fight for it.

However she had no one to blame. She wanted to be the best daughter for her parents. A daughter they can be proud of. And the perfect woman for the man she loved. The kind of woman she knew he deserved.

All she wanted was to be the perfect daughter and the perfect matriarch for the family she will build with him. She worked so hard, fought her way in a foreign country but she shouldn't have left.

Who would have thought that being the best was not the prerequisite in love. She thought that being the best would give her the fighting chance to be with him. To be suited for him, funny enough, it made her lose him instead.

As the piece she was playing came to an end, she can now feel how sore her hands became. She was wrong. What she should have done was stick to him. Stay by his side and grow beside him. Not fly in some foreign land to get recognitions that lost her everything.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

This will be the very first novel I will publish. I thought of making a fanfic before but things happened and I wasn't able to even put the first chapter.

Sorry for the mistakes I made and will be making in the future. And thank you to those who gave this novel a chance to be read. ❤️ please comment, I really appreciate the feedback. So that I would know what to improve in the future.

The continuation of this novel depends on the number of readers who will be waiting for its release. Thank you and enjoy😊