The Cursed Bride

Chapter 2

"Young Mistress, please rest well." The maid bowed her head and closed the door.

The girl inside the room raised her eyebrow and chuckled. You dare to lock the door and  and yet you call me Young Mistress? Aren't you a young mistress instead and I a simple prisoner? What can I do except for sleeping.

Cha Mong sat on the bed and touched the quilt. Such a smooth quilt and a good quality too, if she was to sell it she would gain a lot of money.

At the thought of money, Cha Mong quickly got up and clapped her hand joyfully. Alright, let's find some useful things so I could sell it.

Although there was only a room and a bathroom, the chamber was quite big for only one person. As she checked everything in the chamber she didn't notice that it was now night.

"Young Mistress." The maid was stunned to see the young mistress sat down on the dinner table. Did she stay in this position all day? "Here is your dinner."

Cha Mong was amazed by the food but didn't show anything. Great, she could also sell the foods!

And three days passed like that. The maid would put food on the table and left the room just after. She would lock the door too.

"Young Mistress, please eat well." As usual, after putting the foods on the table, the maid bowed her head and left.

Cha Mong smirked. After arriving here, she learned a lot of thing. The heaven was just the same as the human words. There were an emperor, ruler, servants, maids, merchant and everything. The only difference is that each ruler had power and lived on different land.

If it was like that, couldn't she be a servant or a maid? Or even a woman in a brothel? She was very confident about her ability to play any instrument and sing any songs. Or even a seller? Why did she have to be the official wife or the concubine of the God? She hoped it would be the latter.

Cha Mong signed. She heard the servants said that she wasn't the only one so she really hoped to be just a mere concubine.

She went to sat near the window and chuckled. They locked the door but the window didn't have anything, if a thief was here it would be so easy for him to steal. Look like the gods are quite stupid, if they wanted to be stolen, just give her everything.

Cha Mong could still remembered clearly how stunned she felt when she heard that man talking about the heavens. She was even mocking him but it seemed he was right.

"Zhen* is the son of heavens."

"That is too bad but we do not believe in heavens. Thus, we are unable to follow Your Majesty since we are too stupid to understand Your Majesty's greatness." She replied to him while looking at him in disdain.

[Zhen: It's how the Emperor adress themselves. In short it mean 'I' but they say 'We like this'.]

But it seemed what he said was true. There were really a heaven. Then, if he was their son, why did they make him die? The same went for that other guys. All of this was useless, they were all dead so what the use of thinking about the dead?

And thus one week passed like this.

"Young Miss."

Cha Mong lifted her head when she heard that voice, it wasn't the soft voice of that maid. Then a thief really came?

...It didn't seem like a thief. She looked at the old person in front of her.

"Yes?"

"Please follow me to the great hall."

"Yes." So it was now time for her to meet her master? She still prayed to be his concubine. Even his maid or servant, no even the concubine's servant was a perfect position! She only wished to be a servant so it should be easy.

When she arrived at the great hall, Cha Mong was stunned by the number of girls. There were at least more than one hundred girls, all of them were between twelve to twenty.

Great, just perfect, with this number, she can be a maid.

Another old man with a long bread came up to the stage and shouted, "We are going to call your names. Those whose names had been called, stand on the right. The others stand on the left."

...That just felt like the girls that the emperor was going to make his consorts or concubine and give them title. What title? She wasn't a scholar she never cared for those kind of things. What the point of having a name when people was never going to call you by that name?

"That's all. The ones on the right please follow the man in front of you."

That's all? Wait, wait, wait, you only called twelves people? Isn't that a mistake?

"Now, again, those that I will call their names had to stand on the right."

...What the hell is happening?

Then again, the man only called twelves people. By the time of burning two incense or dancing six dances, she wasn't still called.

"Do you know what is happening?" A girl asked her.

Cha Mong was taken aback and smiled, "No, do you?" 

Girl, we all are from the same place, how do you except me to know?

"No. I just hope these girls will have a good life in the future."

Cha Mong smirked, girl it's just like wishing your daughter that will be the maid of the emperor to be an empress, isn't that quite impossible? And even if the emperor were to fall in love with her, whose ruler will abandon his power, wealth and people for a woman?

Time passed and she still hadn't been called. Maybe she was really sentenced to death? That would be great.

"Cha Mong."

"..." No one moved.

"Cha Mong!"

"..." The girls looked at each other, who was that outrageous girl?

"CHA MONG!"

Cha Mong woke up by the sudden shouting voice. "Yes." Oh yeah, that was her name.

Since she was the only one speaking, a voice didn't have to be big to be heard by everyone. She quickly went to the right on saw the girl that talked to her earlier. It seemed their fate were connected.

Then just like any others group, the followed an old man outside. There she was stunned by the carriage, it was floating. It was just so pretty. Everyone started to comment about the carriage but they were soon shut up by the old man's glare.

Cha Mong smiled nostalgically, if only they were here.

"Please enter the carriage." The girls entered by the order of their calling names. Cha Mong couldn't help but feel strange about that number. The number 12 just remind her of something. And then they were floating on the sky, she didn't know why they were going but she just hoped to be a maid. 

[A/N: The collection: "Elles : The Twelve" but I don't think that what is Cha Mong thinking.]

The girls inside the carriage were all amazed. Cha Mong couldn't help but smile, if they still have the strength to live then of course they would have the strength to be amazed by the scenery.

But she wasn't, all she cared about was her dead.