Prologue

Of course, why would father and mother love me? It's clear that they adopt me to prevent this humiliation from happening to their precious daughter, Clareen.

Chiara bit her lower lip with a heavy heart as her father continued his ruthless words.

"Chiara, don't you think this is the perfect time to repay all your debts to this family? After all, we've fed you and dressed you for so many years, this is just a little payment I'm asking for."

His cold voice crushed her fragile heart, how long has it been since she lived here in the Florentine mansion as a slave?

Yes, a slave.

She was the first lady of this family by paper, but in reality, she was treated like a slave that even servants would dare to harass her.

What fed? What dressed? All the foods she ate in this house are leftovers by her little sister, the real daughter of the Duke of Florentine household. Even the dogs could get more than that. And aside from the shabby and torn dresses she's wearing everyday, she never experienced wearing even a tiny bit of jewelry.

How cruel, she was adopted as a daughter of the Duke ... but her fate is worse than animals.

Now her father is demanding a 'little' payment from her, which is to get married to the emperor who was already old enough to be her grandfather and was known for having a whole town of concubines.

"Father, don't do this to sis! You're the duke, right? You can do something to not let this happen, right?"

Chiara's little sister, Clareen, cried and pleaded with her father, but the latter knows more than anyone else in the world how cunning and manipulating this little devil is.

The duke frowned and sighed, "My dear, I already fathom that this will eventually happen sooner or later. The emperor likes young ladies and as a ducal family who is next to the royal family in rank, I will have to eventually sacrifice my own daughter if the emperor wishes to."

Clareen hugged her older sister and pretended to cry more, but she didn't forget to tease Chiara at that moment. She moved her mouth and whispered, "My dear sis, we will eventually cross paths again ... because I will soon marry the crown prince. Now, should I practice calling you Mom?"

Chiara trembled in humiliation. All the things she experienced in this house are merely appetizers for what is yet to come, because the main dish that she didn't anticipate is actually more disgusting than her meals.

Awful.

For the first time in her life, she could feel the coldness of jewels on her bare skin. She was finally able to wear an elegant dress befitting of a noble lady. Her hair was finally freed from all the hair ties she has to wear everyday because Clareen doesn't like the way her hair falls, especially its unique silver color.

For the first time in her life, she saw how beautiful she is ... But happiness can't seem to touch her heart no matter how many luxury things she wears.

In a week's time, her marriage with the emperor will take place at the royal villa. What's more disgusting is that the emperor seemed to already favor her even before they met, because their wedding will be the biggest wedding of the century and the Florentine household couldn't be happier.

Chiara visited the capital with six royal guards assigned by the emperor himself to accompany her, so they eventually caught unwanted attention even if she didn't want to.

She lowered her head and hid her face behind her hair, but she could still feel the people's eyes digging a hole on her back.

"Is that the first daughter of Duke Florentine? The one to wed the emperor next week? She's so young ..."

"Not so young, she's probably of marriageable age ... though yeah, she's too young for the emperor."

"That duke something is too greedy to send his daughter to an old man, don't you think so?"

"You're right, but that lady must've liked it this way, she'll become a royal and live in the palace with the 99 more ladies like her. *Giggles*"

"Hey, do you want to get arrested? Huh? Don't talk like that about royals and nobles again! Go somewhere else!" An old woman interrupted the ladies talking in front of her little souvenir stall.

"Why? It's the talk of the whole town, why are we not allowed to talk about it? Isn't that the lady that auntie was talking about?"

"You dumb brat! Come back and I'll give you a good beating!"

Those mocking voices and humiliating words came from commoners who had nothing compared to their status, but truly, she wanted to become like them who's living a simple life without worrying about political marriage.

"Don't mind them ... please." Chiara whispered when she noticed that one of the guards was about to approach the commoners who spoke ill of His Majesty.

The guard looked at the pitiful lady and somehow felt his heart ache for her. Such a waste ... He thought.

A week passed and the rightful day came. Chiara was wearing the most luxurious handmade dress that is solely made for her, even the jewelries around her neck and hair are the finest and highest quality. Her face is covered with a thin make-up that complimented her angelic face even more, such a rare beauty to be found.

This is supposed to be the best day for every woman, but for her, this is the end of everything.

She boarded the carriage with an empty soul and resigned to her fate for the last time, because she already decided to take her life in front of everyone's eyes during the wedding, right before they exchanged vows. But halfway through, the carriage abruptly stopped. The ground was shaking like there's a battalion of armies going their way, next, she was forcefully pulled out of the carriage and dragged away with her eyes covered.

Never did she know that when she resigned completely to her fate, it moved in a different way than what she expected.