The Kidnapping

It was just after sunrise when the birds started chirping happily and the markets in town had begun to open. It was the day that everyone was excited about, the day the Princess of Colistes was getting engaged to the Prince of the Northern Kingdom. This would bring peace amongst the people and new opportunities in the future. It was a joyous day for everyone, everyone except the Princess.

Inside the grand castle behind the lively town was a princess who was getting scolded by the Queen first thing in the morning.

They were eating breakfast with the whole royal family when the Queen remarked on how the Princess was holding her spoon.

"Why are you holding your spoon like that?" the Queen asked.

The Princess looked at her mother who was smiling at her. It wasn't a friendly smile, it was the type of smile a mother would use in public when their child embarrasses them in front of others. The Princess quickly fixed her spoon and continued eating her broccoli soup.

The maids were always generous and would give the Princess extra to eat but today they weren't even in the dining room. They were all busy, decorating and finalising the ballroom for the engagement.

"Xia, you have to get ready now or you'll be late." The Queen said once the Princess was done eating.

"Isn't the engagement in the evening? It's barely morning now, why do I have to get ready so soon?" Xia protested.

"Because you need to look fabulous! It would be an embarrassment if the future Queen looked like a pig."

Xia sighed slowly. She didn't want to marry the Prince. He was rumoured to be a womaniser amongst the nobles. Still, the King of the Northern Kingdom wouldn't believe that his cute innocent son had several affairs and even an illegitimate child.

But there was another reason she didn't want to get married.

Many people know that the Queen is the one that rules the kingdom and not the King, it had been a tradition ever since the beginning. However, when the Queen had given birth to a boy it meant that whoever he was married to would rule over the kingdom. The Queen didn't like this and taught Xia how to be ladylike instead, in fear she'll lose all her power. Nobody, but close relatives knew about this.

The Princess headed out of the dining room and was greeted by the head maid who took her to the bathhouse to give her a bath.

After her bath, she was escorted to another room where Lady Edith, her personal teacher, was waiting for her.

There was a mannequin with a dazzling wine red ballgown in the centre of the room. Next to it stood Lady Edith who was beaming with excitement. She had been waiting for this moment ever since she became the Princess's teacher.

For the next few hours, the teacher was finalising the speech Xia would say in front of everyone and what she was supposed to do at the party. The Princess was heavily exhausted. She wanted to go to sleep but instead, she was getting her make-up and hair done.

Before long, it was the evening and the castle was packed with nobles and other important people. The drinks were being handed out as everyone awaited the beginning of the ceremony.

The trumpets began blowing as the Queen emerged into the hall, followed by the King. She made her speech and waited for the Princess to come into the hall.

A few minutes passed but she still wasn't there. The guests were getting fidgety so the Queen ordered the knights to go find the Princess.

The knights searched everywhere but the Princess wasn't even in the castle.

The Princess was abducted.

Xia woke up to see both her hands and feet were tied up and were attached to the wall behind her. Her mouth was covered with a thick layer of tape and she was in a cold room that was dimly lit up by the light coming from under a door.

'Where… am I?'

The door suddenly opened, revealing a group of men. They walked up to Xia, crouching down and looked at her with a smile.

"As expected, she really is a beauty up close,"

Xia tried talking but with the tape that was covering her mouth, only weird noises came out of her mouth.

"Let's get our job done before boss gets mad and breaks our necks," ordered someone who was leaning against the door.

The people started untieing her which she then used as a chance to escape, but her body just didn't want to move. She flailed her arms around as the men grabbed them and held her in place. They soon started undressing her from the chest down.

'No! They're going to find out!' Xia panicked as the last bit of cloth was torn off her waist.

Silence.

The men stared at Xia for what seemed an eternity. Finally one of them broke the silence.

"Ophi, go tell the boss there is a problem..."

Xia watched as a younger boy hurriedly walked out of the room. The men that were holding her let her go and allowed her to put her clothes on. They then left the room one by one silently, not uttering a word.