There was silence all around. Then the Prince's harsh words broke through the stillness:
"Soldiers, put this girl in the dungeon. She is nothing to this Kingdom anyway."
My heart sank. I looked at the soldiers who had come with me, hoping for help, but they stood silent. I begged the Prince for mercy, but he was as unmoved as stone. His eyes carried no emotion, no pity. The soldiers seized me, and I could do nothing.
Fear turned into anger within me. I have already spoken so much… then what more do I have to lose? I gathered my courage and shouted,
"How can you be so cruel even with so much power? People like you disgust me. You call yourself rulers, but you are only sinners. You kill the innocent, and one day, the same fate will fall upon you!"
My voice echoed , shocking everyone around me. The soldiers froze, their eyes wide, but the Prince stood as if he hadn't heard a single word. Then, with a calmness that was even more frightening than anger, he said:
"She should receive twenty lashes every day. That is all she can bear. Take her away."
And with that, everything ended. I was dragged down into the darkness of the dungeon, my wrists chained, my face pressed against the cold stone wall. The heavy silence there was more painful than any weapon.
"Wow, today a good goat is trapped, it will be fun to hear its screams. He took his weapon and hit it hard on the wall, the sound of that weapon echoed.
"tell me girl, should I hit it this hard or a little faster. And then that cruel man started laughing loudly.
I was unable to say anything, then he started hitting his weapon on my back, I was not screaming because that beast wanted to hear my scream but he was not going to get it, I remained calm but waves of tears were flowing from my eyes.
"Oh," so if you are enjoying it then let me hit you for some more time, because I am not going to leave you without hearing your scream.
He did not stop hitting me even after hitting me 20 times.
That beast was enjoying hitting me, there was no way I would be spared. I was writhing in pain at that place. My back was shaking and he was laughing as he was hitting me, he beat me the whole night but I could not do anything because, in a few days I would be killed.
I started remembering those who loved me for the first time when I was alive, high status man. And perhaps that was my only aim to experience love once in this life and now my end has come.
A lot of time had passed, the one who was hitting me, went to sleep. Even my flesh was probably visible, but I could not do anything except writhing in pain.
Time passed slowly. I did not know how many hours had gone by, but the weight of pain and exhaustion pressed heavily on me.
Far away, in a chamber lit by golden torches, Phils was speaking to his most loyal companion.
"Master Phils, I have searched everywhere, yet I found no records of this girl,".
"You are late," Phils replied coldly.
"My apologies, Master. But I must ask—why did you choose her? I see no power in her. She is ordinary."
A faint smile appeared on Phils's lips. "No… she is not ordinary. There is something different about her. You will see in time."
The companion bowed. "As you command, Master."
Just then, another soldier rushed in nervously. "Commander, forgive me! I forgot to bring the ID you gave me."
Phils narrowed his eyes. "So… the girl has not yet arrived at the palace?"
The soldier bowed deeply, trembling. "Yes, Commander. It is my mistake. Please forgive me."
Phils exhaled slowly. "Go home. You must be tired."
The soldier looked up in surprise, then thanked him and hurried out.
Turning to his companion, Phils said quietly, "Philip, take care of the registrations now. Everything must be in order."
"Yes, Master," Philip replied, and left.