Red Scar

PROLOGUE-2 The path to love

I hooked my dress as the morning sun rose behind me . It was a pretty pink dress with rose patterns spread throughout the dress, designed to hug my curves and shape my body well. The dress was very expensive. Lord father said it was brought from the fort especially for my marriage.

I wonder how much it must've cost. The cost of these dresses of mine were huge, especially because my father had them all made especially from the fort itself. The fort was out of our reach, we nobles who ruled the commoner lands. Getting a dress made from the court maidens was huge and very important,it counted for so much and was so important too. But my father loved me, and we were wealthy enough to afford the cost of my dresses. Although even I didn't know it's actual cost .

I sat down on a chair near my window and stared outside the glass. The glass was also from Bulldon, which was in turn controlled by the fort. While lord father had never gone inside the fort, he had travelled to the city of Bulldon plenty of times. Bulldon was a city of plenty for the nobles. The nobles in Bulldon had much more money than us and lived a better life. The people there were also meeker. Easier to control and direct. The Bulldon controlled river of summer. Us in Dwivel, we didn't control much but the taxes. It was obvious that the Bulldon nobles would be better off than us.

Dwivel wasn't ugly. It was beautiful. Very beautiful. It wasn't harsh like the other peaks of Valoran. Here we had gentle slopes and good roads and bustling markets and merchants from the whole valley. The city-town sat nestled between the eastern range and the great ranges, but it had green grass and arable land. Enough to let people live in peace and pay a good amount of taxes. Dwivel was a rich place , at least in the valley. The lord of Dwivel was the richest man in our valley. He was ambitious, smart and precise. Of course, he was also greedy and cruel and sneered at everyone who came near him. But he was rich and successful enough, so it didn't matter. As his daughter and the successor of Dwivel, it was expected of me to love him with all my heart, despite his other qualities.

Mother had died when I was still young. I remember her clearly, though. She died when I was only ten. Her face was tiny and pointed, fair and bordered with beautiful brown curls . She was always smiling. She balanced my father well with her kindness and happiness. My father doted on her a lot. But she died. And once she died my father changed.

Of course, my father was very good to me. I got everything that I wished for. Or rather, everything he wished for. I got beautiful dresses, many maids, delicious food, teachers who taught me singing and playing the instruments I liked. It was good life here. I was never not provided. He always made sure I got the best there was. The very best. And I was always happy. Even if I wanted to go out and see the world for myself, I was forever happy of my life . I was expected to be.

Now I am of age. And I'm beautiful, with my mother's hair and my father's face and eyes. I look good. I've a good body. I am most probably fertile. Men will faint at the sights of me and die for my heart, my father says. I believe him. I will be his weapon that he will wield to get more. He loves me, of course. But perhaps, just perhaps, he loves his own ambition more. Of course, that's expected.

I was going to be married to the lord of Icekart. It was in the plains. He was not very.. famous. People said he killed his first wife. Anyways, he was very rich. He had enough money to buy 3 Dwivels whole. My father would get a lots of power and wealth if I got married to him. I didn't mind that he was going to sell me away. Even this, was expected.

This world of nobles walked on a path of expectations. Expectations were like thorns to a dreamer like me. They hurt me so very much. But yet again, I was expected to go on with all of it without a word of protest or pain. Because I was a lady of the house and what's to happen if I rebel against my own values. A lot. Perhaps my father would do all of those to me. And I feared him.