The Harvest || h.s.

Chapter 1

I. GRAVEYARD

Lena

The gentle breeze of July blew her hair gracefully, as she trudged through the endless fields of the burial ground, toward the so familiar tombstone, the one she has been visiting almost every day since the previous year.

She placed eighteen sunflowers on the ground, one for each year her brother would have lived for. Lena Marrow kneeled down on the grass and caressed the tombstone as a tear fell down her rosy cheek. She wiped it, closing her eyes and sighing.

"Hi Brad," Lena smiled at the rock with her brother's name, "so it's been one year since you left. You do not realize how much I've missed you. Everyone at home misses you. I see Trina has come too; she left you sunflowers also," she chuckled back tears, as she placed the flowers her brother's girlfriend had brought next to hers. "She remembered those were your favorite flowers. She still loves you, you know. And she is doing well, too."

"Our family is in a stronger economic condition now, thank God. I'm doing good too, coping with your loss and everything. Mom is doing so much better; she started smiling and helping us with the crops again. We were also able to afford our own cow, our cheese and milk are a hit in the market. Ethan just turned two, and he looks so much like you."

"So today's the day of The Harvest, and it's the first year I must attend to the event. Amelie will help me with my dress and hair. She is so talented for her age. For a fourteen-year-old, she makes the most delicate dresses ever, people from the High Class buy them from her, so she has helped our family a lot." Lena heard the Cathedral's bells ringing in the far distance, so she  said a quick goodbye to her brother and left heading for home.

She wandered through the busy streets of Adwick, stopping in her tracks as she saw the castle. Which belonged to Prince Harry, already feeling sorry for the girl he would choose that night at the annual Harvest.

The dark, ominous castle loomed up menacingly above Lena's head. Its skeletal frame reminded Lena of a corpse, as the ones rumored to fill the castle; the bodies from the previous Chosen.

There were loads of rumours going around about the Harvest. Some said that the purpose of the Harvest was for the Prince to kill and torture the girl he chooses, that way he let out all the anger accumulated inside of him. Some said that he took the girl to bed and after a night of pleasure he killed her in the morning. Others believed he did it to avenge his dead wife; who killed herself because the power had addled the Prince's mind. So every year on the anniversary of his late wife, Princess Alyssa's death, he chose between every young lady over the age of twenty-one in his Kingdom and took her to live in his castle with him.

But the second the Chosen walked inside of the massive mahogany doors that held all the secrets of the castle, nobody heard anything from her. What happened inside of the creepy, enormous castle that terrified every child in the kingdom was a mystery. And it was Lena's first year in taking part in the mandatory annual Harvest, and she and her family could have not been any more scared.

The thought of Lena standing there, exposed to the dreaded Prince, terrified her mother and her father. Many men have approached them when Lena was a child, telling them how gorgeous she was, and that made her parents overprotective of their child. She used to have gorgeous light brown hair, turned lighter over the years due to endless days of hard work under the sun.

Lena wondered what took place inside of the greatest and most magnificent building of the Kingdom, she wondered what the master chamber was like, or if they had any servants working for the Prince. Was there anyone besides the Prince residing there? Did he own pets? Or friends that came from other kingdoms, perhaps?

She stopped staring at the unbelievably huge castle and continued walking to her village. As she passed, she saw little High-Class kids playing with dogs and smiled. Lena loved children, especially her younger brother Ethan, and couldn't wait to have some of her own.

She arrived home and was greeted by her younger sister, Amelie.

"Thank God you're here, Lena." Amelie rolled her eyes; she was sassy and very mature for her age. "Come on. Take a shower and wait for me in our room. The dress is waiting for you! I can't wait for you to see it!" she said in excitement. "Hurry."

Lena headed upstairs to the bathroom which all of her family members shared. She got rid of the dirty rags she called clothes and got into the shower. It was her favorite part of the day. She just stood there with her head down as she followed with her eyes all the dirt and sweat from that day as it was being washed away. She felt beautiful, fresh, and clean after her daily shower.

Lena stepped out of the shower and covered herself with a towel, before heading to the room she shared with Amelie and Ethan, where she saw the most beautiful dress she'd ever seen waiting for her.

Amelie was the gifted one in the family. She discovered her ability for sewing and designing dresses when Brad died while trying to clear her mind off everything that was happening. Filling the hole in her heart that Brad's death left.

Lena ran her fingers through the baby pink fabric. "It's so beautiful," she said, almost in a whisper. "Thanks, Am." Amelie smiled and helped Lena into her dress.

"How did your visit to Brad go?" asked her mother from behind her as she did her hair.

"It was peaceful, as always. Trina visited him earlier, too. She left some sunflowers."

"How sweet of her." her mother smiled. Trina was the daughter of a middle-class merchant. When Brad was sick, she offered to pay for all of his medication and his doctor's appointments, but there was nothing the doctors could do. He passed peacefully in his bed surrounded by his family and Trina.

Lena's mum finished her hair, and she looked in the mirror. She smiled and thanked her mother, but her expression soon shifted to one of fear as nerves ran through her body. Her mother seemed to notice the sudden change in Lena and sat next to her.

"Hey, sweetie," she cooed, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Don't worry, okay? Everything will turn out fine. He will probably choose the daughter of a merchant or someone from the High Class." Being as pretty as Lena was, was a huge disadvantage in the Kingdom she lived in. It meant you had a higher chance of being the Chosen and spending your last few days, or God knows what, in the castle.

Lena nodded and sighed. "Where is father?"

"He is still at work. The market will close soon, but don't expect him to come home before The Harvest. Ready to go?" Lena nodded, and they went downstairs, following the crowd of people that headed to the Town Square, where the Harvest took place.

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A/N: let me know if you like it please😊 love x