Chapter 02: Starless Night

The Kingdom of Aino was a prosperous country, even the most unfavored child of the King had her own castle. Although it was small and had fewer servants than any of the princes and princesses, Princess Zarniya did not need maidservants in any case. She grew up in an environment where she had to understand that there was no one willing to serve an unfavored child of the King and a daughter of a maidservant. 

At least she should be grateful that the maids were willing to dress her up every fifth of the month, not that she cared about her image. But she still had to consider her bloodline as part of the royal family. Fortunately, those maidservants did not want to get punished by neglecting their duties from an outward viewpoint. 

She took a seat on the windowsill and the moon was covered by the thick clouds, there were no stars either. Zarniya recalled what happened during dinner, she thought that the reason for having the attention of her family was when the King would announce her marriage of alliance. She did not expect that she would hear about receiving a slave instead. 

It was strange…

Although princes and princesses had already received their slaves when they were fifteen, it was weird that suddenly she was given one. It was not even her birthday and there was no special occasion in her life. It was the eldest birthday of the royal family's children that was about to be held, not hers. 

'What is this situation?' Zarniya silently thought. 

She shifted her eyes to the maids who were preparing for her chemise, and they came and left in a flash. Zarniya returned her eyes to the night sky and hummed a song she heard from tonight's dinner gathering. The song was nice, it was just she did not hear half of it because she was too anxious after hearing that she would be receiving a slave. 

A slave…

She knew slaves were sub-humans, their standing in society was very bad. They were treated worse than pets. Zarniya did not know much about the outer situation but at least, she witnessed how the princes and princesses treated their slaves. 

Because all of them were already young adults, it was not a secret that most of the newly obtained slaves were used in the bedroom by the royal family. Zarniya did not need that kind of entertainment, soon enough she would be used in a wedding alliance. But judging from the rumor, according to the maids, it was hard for the King to find her a suitable match since she was a bastard. The Queen did not make an ounce of effort to pick even the worst marriage alliance. 

"Even Penelope is engaged to a foreign prince," Zarniya said. 

Princess Penelope was the ninth child; she was only twelve years old. Though, it would be expected since Penelope was the daughter of a concubine.

The hierarchy between the royal children was not solely based on the order of birth. The ranking after the sixth prince was according to the ranking of status. From the first to the sixth, it was according to age, since they were the legitimate children of the King and the Queen. 

The seventh to the thirteenth were children of the King from another woman. The total number of children that the King had was more than twenty, however, most of them died before, during, and after birth— it did not matter that much because they were children of other women. 

If they survived, then good. If they did not, then it was unfortunate. 

Zarniya was one of those who were fortunate. But she did not have a talent like Princess Xililan, who was good at pleasing the King, Queen, and the legitimate royal children. 

Zarniya thought that it was good enough that they were not disturbing her, so she should not look for trouble and continue to live in silence. She liked that she was not 'seen', it was safe that way. 

But suddenly, tonight, not only was she given a slave, but she was also invited to the birthday banquet of the eldest.

She heard that a month ago the eldest started acting strange after recovering from sickness. Then, did this all happen because the eldest initiated to bring her into the situation? It did not make sense, why would the eldest suddenly give her interest? 

Was it a blessing or a curse?

Zarniya closed her eyes and leaned on the window. "What should I do?" 

Zarniya opened her eyes when she felt that the cloud left the moon, it was finally shining bright through her window. "Pretty." 

She narrowed her eyes to the moonlight, though there were no stars in the night sky was enough to clear her thoughts. 

It was not like she could do anything with what suddenly transpired. She had this uneasiness enveloping her heart. She could not ignore it, maybe because this was too abrupt, and the changes were not foreseen she felt threatened. Like anyone, she was terrified of dying, she did not know why she should be scared of something like dying. But witnessing different deaths of people surrounding her, seemed scary and painful. 

Everyone had their way of survival, hiding and pretending to be invisible were Zarniya's way of surviving. If they could not see her, they would not harm her… 

"I can't ignore the eldest invitation," Zarniya said as if she was talking to the moon. "Since I'm already invited, then I have to go." 

Now that she calmed down. She thought that her worries regarding the party were futile. It was Princess Felina's grand twenty-first birthday. Everyone was looking forward to it since the eldest was the representation of the current descendants. 

Although she had no marriage alliance yet, it was well-known that she might not get married if she did not fancy anyone since the King and Queen did not want to send their precious daughter to another family. 

Being that said, her little identity would not be given any limelight in that banquet, and since she got invited, her clothes and other necessities for that event would be handled by someone else. Attending the party was not a problem at all. 

"I did not reject the slave either, since I accepted it, I have to have it."

This was the real problem. 

The slave. 

Zarniya did not know what to do with the slave. She did not know when it would be arriving but she was its master, so she had to take care of it. How could she take care of another person when she was barely just surviving in this place? Why give her a slave now? She was already old enough and she never had an experience raising someone under her wing. How could she take responsibility for another life?

It took her entire life to appease this castle to her convenience. Her status was high and low, she did not have respect from those who worked for her, but it did not concern her. Once she got married, she had to go to another place and work hard to gain people's little consideration for her existence.

Wish Beham would just bestow her a good marriage. 

Marriage… 

Anyway, a slave was coming in.

Focus on the problem!

Her half-siblings would always dominate their slaves through violence. Zarniya was not someone who could use violence, although they were sub-humans, they were also humans.

Her mother was a maid, and she was disdained because of her origins, she could not see sub-humans as things. She sympathized with them… It could be her, who was suffering like them.

Yet was lucky enough to be born half-blood royalty. 

"Princess," a knock on the door brought Zarniya to stop overthinking. The double door opened, and two maidservants went in. "It's time to take a bath and sleep."

Zarniya nodded and brought her feet to the floor. 

She followed the two maidservants in the room next door to take a bath. No one assisted her and she was left alone in the castle by the time she finished bathing. It was without doubt maids could stay in her castle, but they all chose to not stay. 

They all had better masters, if they were given an option, it was natural to choose the better place to live in. 

It was not a big matter for her, Zarniya liked the serenity in her castle, she was alone and free. She had given such a blessing that most people have, she was very lucky. 

She hugged her knees while she was submerged in the water. 

She was a lucky person, yeah. She was incredibly lucky and should be thankful for the blessings she received. 

"A slave means I would have a companion," she smiled at her reflection. "That… should not be so bad. Right? This is a gift, a blessing. Not a problem, right?" 

Zarniya talked to herself whenever she could, she practiced her speech and tried to be confident whenever she was talking. She was trying to always speak her mind so that when someone was willing to talk to her, she would not stammer like a fool. 

"Will it be she or a he?" Zarniya wondered but she was certain that it would be a man. 

She had been thinking that this slave was not meant for her, after all, it was very weird to be having a slave at her age. It must be a slave for the eldest for her birthday since she seemed not willing to get married to any bachelor… This slave must be a leverage to satisfy the eldest desires. 

She thought to herself to stop thinking about the problem, but she could not quite figure out why she was receiving the eldest gift. Recalling that it was the Queen who bestowed the slave to her means she was not offending anyone. The eldest even personally invited her to the birthday party. That would mean, the eldest was not angry with her or anything, right?

"Did I offend her in any way, and she was planning to take care of me herself?" 

By taking care of her it meant that maybe the eldest wanted to kill her or handle her, discipline her. Zarniya looked at the calm water, the bubbles started to fade, and she could see her black hair shining in the water's reflection. 

"But… but there is not a single incident between us. How did I get on her nerves? And she is not the kind of person that hurts others. After all, she had no reason to harm anyone, she was happy enough in her current circumstances. She did not pay attention to me before…" 

Zarniya was done cleaning herself, she dressed up and laid on her bed. She stared at the ceiling for a long time. It was so quiet.

She turned to look at the sky and it was still starless. The moon also hid in the clouds… she was alone.