The Oath (Kingdom)

III. Merchant's daughter

A new day came.

A lot of soldiers left infirmary and headed to their homes. If they are lucky and can walk. Few of them stayed to make company with their injured comrades and help to clean the castle from the remains of the battle. They were burning bodies and removing the trash from the ruins.

Yeong shin felt better, so he helped others. He didn't notice it but he was still somewhere around the building with injured soldiers. Like he was attracted to that place.

He was walking around when he found a few soldiers sitting around and resting. They even looked like they were relaxing.

"Nilah please!" he heard the pleading voice of a man.

"Yes, please Nilah!" came another.

Like he was focused on her name. When he heard it, everything else became quiet.

He picked up one of the wooden planks and came closer to the infirmary, like nothing happened. He just needed to fix the broken floor, nothing else. He lied to himself.

Nilah was lying on her cot with pillows under her back, that she was almost sitting. Her hair was loose, falling around her face and swaying in the light breeze. She was pale, still weak, but she was smiling. When he came inside, she locked her eyes with him, like she was waiting for him. He didn't want to admit it, but his heart started to beat faster.

"All right, but just one story." She laughed and took a sip of water. "Just because you were pleading like little kids!" she was mocking them, but it was obvious that she was glad.

"I will tell you a story about a merchant's daughter. In the land far far away..." She started, but suddenly was interrupted by new incoming. Beom Pal walked in looking for Seo-Bi, when men shushed him. The female healer was taking care of the injured men, rebounding their wounds and giving them meds.

"You are telling a fairytale? I love fairytales!" He sits on the floor as close to Seo-Bi as possible. Yeong shin rolled his eyes and leaned on the wall.

"In the beautiful land, far far away from here, where water was clear as crystal and fruit was sweet as honey, lived a wealthy merchant.

He was powerful and clever, even the king of that country was dependent on his decisions. That powerful he was.

But that merchant was also very cruel. He earned his money from people in need.

When there was drought, he was selling water for gold. If there was hunger, he sold food for double the price. He owns almost the whole country so people must buy from him.

That merchant had a son. We can call him Harlan. He was a golden boy. Everything he ever touched was in his favour. He grew to be the handsome man every girl desired. He was the true heir of his father's empire. Smart and strong.

And the merchant had a daughter..."

"Call her Jasmine!!!" Beom Pal shouted excitedly.

"All right my lord, we can call her Jasmine." She smiled, but Yeong shin noticed it was a sad smile.

"Merchant hated his daughter. He was blaming her for his wife's death. After delivering her baby girl, she threw herself from the highest waterfall in land.

People used to say that she was weak and cowardly, but after years Jasmine realised that it was the bravest thing her mother ever did. She freed herself from her husband's influence. It was her only way to escape him.

Jasmin and Harlan were growing up side by side. He was learning how to fight and hunt and how to lead his father's empire. She was learning dancing, singing, languages and how to be a good noble lady. To listen and be quiet.

Her father wanted to find her convenient husband. Convenient mainly for himself and his business.

Harlan was a good son for his father but he had a soft spot in his heart for his sister. Since their childhood, he teaches her everything he can, to keep her safe. He teaches her how to defend herself, and how to fight. He loved her with his whole heart but sometimes he was too hard on her. Harlan was hot blooded, and sometimes he hurt her for her own good, like he used to say.

The day came, when the merchant called for his children and told them that he found a perfect husband for Jasmine.

Her expectant groom was a wealthy man from foreign country far East.

Jasmin was devastated. She left her father's chamber and almost fainted in the hall. She longed for true love. She wanted a husband she would love and desire, not her father's business partner.

That night she was crying and then Harlan beat her. He was crying too and he let go his frustration on his sister. He can't bear the idea of her leaving him.

She left with their father the next day. Her blood was still too fresh in her brother's hands. The merchant didn't say anything. He thought that her brother was keeping her in her place. He doesn't know about his son gone mad from her disappearing.

Their journey was very long. Maybe months. Lot of their men died on the road. When they finally reached their destination.

Jasmin was terrified, people there looked so different from her countrymen. They spoke a language she knew, but couldn't get used to. She was scared like never in her life.

Until she met her future husband.

He was an awful man. His appearance was terrible, but it was nothing from his manners.

First day he organized mass execution of prisoners. He was laughing when she was sick of it.

"Weak woman!" She understood his words.

That night she sits in the corner of her chambers, crying so hard that even the soldiers standing guard by her door shed tears.

Next evening was her future husband serving dinner in his chambers.

After the meal she didn't even touch, he attacked her. Calling her by disgusting names, accusing her that she is not pure.

But she remembered her brother's hard and sometimes cruel training. Harlan was right. It was for her own good. She defended herself and run away.

She left everything behind and ran. She didn't care that she was in a foreign country, she didn't care, she had only things she wore. She didn't care about anything else.

She was free for the first time in her life.

She sold one of her mother's earrings and bought herself food. She was traveling several weeks until she came to land where war had just come to an end.

Soil was still soaked with blood of innocent people and warm from cruel fires. She was walking through like a ghost when enemies on the run attacked her. She was weak from a long journey, and not too trained to defend herself from five soldiers.

She was almost saying her goodbye to this world, when her attackers felt dead to the ground.

A noble lord was returning home from battle and saved her. That day she fell to her knees and made an oath to serve him to the end of her days. She owed him for her life.

And that day she found her rightful place..."

"and what about her true love?" Beom Pal was watching her excitedly.

"I...don't... She..." Nilah was astonished, she couldn't find the right words.

"It's enough. Nilah needs rest." Came Seo-Bi "and I need to rebound her arms." She pulled a veil around her place and hid her from the curious eyes of men.

Yeong shin was tense. He still had eyes locked on her shadow on veil, holding his fists tight, that his knuckles were white. He saw her silhouette to touch her face...to wipe away tears.

"That was a great story." Beom Pal stretched his stiff body and yawned.

"It was." Yeongshin whispered with a tight throat.

He knew that the merchant's daughter's name wasn't Jasmine.

It was Nilah.