My name is Isabele, and everyone calls me Isa, well, some people who still talk to me do.

I am the daughter of Mr. Joao Figueiredo, owner of a farm around these parts of Minas Gerais, and a productive farm with a lot of beef and dairy cattle. Mr. Joao was a widower. He lost his wife, Mrs. Ana, a gentle, loving woman full of virtues, my mother, 18 years ago. She passed away from an unknown disease. To this day, no one knows what made such a strong and healthy woman die, so suddenly. She fell ill in one week, and the next, they were burying her. It was very sad and painful for Mr. Joao, especially because I was only 1 year old, and he didn't know how to handle me.

At that time, there was a cousin of my father's who claimed to be a close friend of my mother's, Iolanda.

Iolanda was a beautiful and young woman, and soon my father fell in love with her. In less than six months after my mother's death, they were already living together, and soon after, she became pregnant. My half-sister Renata was born. I don't quite remember where it started, but I know that as long as I can remember, I have been extremely mistreated by my stepmother, and later by my half-sister. They made my life a living hell. I had no peace, and my father became so foolish and sad, without sparkle, after my mother passed away. He never defended me, he never did anything for me. Sometimes he even helped with the punishments, which over time became worse.

I never had new clothes; it was always Iolanda's leftovers, what she didn't wear anymore. And the worst part was that I was much bigger than her, so the clothes were tight, small, and uncomfortable. My luck was that I had my Bah, who sewed the clothes, putting in patches to make them fit me.

Bah had been a loyal employee of my mother's; they were inseparable. And when my mother died, she took great care of me, and often she would step in front of me so I wouldn't get beaten too much and hide me in her room. In fact, for years I had been sleeping in the employees' wing. I put a bed in Bah's room and slept there with her. Today, at almost 20 years old, I already knew how to take care of myself a little and stayed away from the two of them. I knew how to make sure they didn't see me, so they left me in peace. I had gone to school little but had learned to read very well with the help of my Bah. So I read romances and one day imagined a handsome prince who would come to free me from the hell I lived in.

Then I looked in the mirror and what I saw made me very sad. I was very ugly. My stepmother cut my hair with the same scissors she used to cut the manes of the farm's horses, cutting it short. I washed it with bar soap; I never had shampoo or conditioner to use. Perfume only the ones Bah could afford with the pennies she earned. Meanwhile, my sister had everything good and the best: perfumes, moisturizers, creams, everything chic, and my father never questioned it.

I was thinking about this sitting in the outside area of the house when, without me seeing, the two of them, mother and daughter, arrived, pulled my hair, and knocked me down in a way that I fell on some branches, hurting my arms and face, and then they laughed, laughed a lot like hyenas. They felt pleasure in seeing me in pain, hurt.

Mr. Francisco. I am Francisco, a very rich and well-known farmer. I work with beef, dairy, and insemination. I have several farms spread throughout Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, and also outside of Brazil. I have the best cattle genetics on my farms, my animals are worth millions.

I am the father of Thiago. My son is now 25 years old and doesn't have much sense, very hardworking, but doesn't want to take a girl seriously and get married, so I told him that if he didn't get married, I would disinherit him. He was furious, but I didn't give in. He tried to negotiate in every way, but I didn't budge, so he said that I should choose a woman for him to marry. He would even marry, but he didn't promise me anything.

But I know that if he marries a good, responsible girl, he will fix himself and develop some sense. I am very afraid of him becoming a frivolous person like his mother was.

I heard that in the house of Joao Figueiredo, my neighbor, there were two girls. I went to find out about them and learned that there was a very beautiful one in the range of 18 years, educated but very spoiled and frivolous. In contrast, there was the older one, 20 years old, who was not beautiful, who was very mistreated by her stepmother and lived as a servant in the house, and they hadn't even let her attend school.

I thought about it and went to visit my neighbor Joao, to see if I could arrange for one of his daughters to marry my son.

I arrived at Joao's house. We greeted each other at the gate because he was arriving from the city. He invited me to enter. As we were arriving at his house, I heard some laughter, and when I looked, I saw a depressing scene. There was a girl lying on the ground, actually on some branches, and two women, actually a young girl and an older woman, laughing hysterically at the girl who was on the ground, even bleeding. That hurt my heart.

Then I thought, I will unite the useful with the necessary.

Isabele. I never let my guard down because I knew how evil they were, but it had been so long since that had happened that I imagined it wouldn't happen again, not like that. What hurt me the most was the humiliation and knowing that I couldn't retaliate because I had no one to take me in and help me. The only people who loved me were Bah and Tizil. Tizil was a very frail little boy who had been born prematurely, and when he was five years old, his parents were driving a tractor to a friend's house, and on the way, they passed near a ravine. His father lost control of the tractor and they fell into the hole. They died instantly because the tractor fell on top of them. It was very sad. They were very loved among the colonists, so no one wanted to take care of the boy, who only didn't die because he had been sleeping and I was taking care of him. He was very frail, so I asked my father to take care of him, and for the first time, he did something I wanted. Iolanda went crazy because she didn't want that little rat in her house. According to her, he would be a burden, but my father liked the boy's father very much, so I think he agreed to let me take care of Tizil along with Bah. Today he was nine years old, very smart, and helped me a lot, my boy.

At that moment, I came out of my trance and realized that they had quickly stopped laughing maliciously. Then I looked to the side and saw the reason. My father had just arrived and had a visitor with him, a very distinguished and well-dressed gentleman who looked very rich, and he didn't take his eyes off me. Then I felt my face burn with shame. I lowered my eyes, and as hadn't happened in many years, tears fell, from shame, sadness, and frustration. Then I saw a hand in front of me being offered to help me get up. I got up and saw him offering me a very white, very clean handkerchief. I said I didn't need it, so he said it was to wipe the blood that was running down my face. I took the handkerchief, and at that moment I heard my father calling the gentleman by the name of Francisco, and telling him not to worry about me, that it was just a little game between mother and sisters. Then I raised my eyes and managed to see the contempt with which that distinguished gentleman looked from my stepmother to my sister to my father.

At that moment, I ran away and went to the stables. I felt good there. In fact, I felt good anywhere that was far away from those two.

I took the opportunity to feed the small animals. It was Tizil's job, but since he was going to school and I was running away from the big house, I went to take care of the chickens, the pigs, and when I was almost finished, I looked and saw my Bah coming towards me, all breathless, telling me that my father was calling me and that I should go quickly because he needed to talk to me.

My heart tightened. I can't explain it, but I felt that something serious was going to happen. I arrived at the house through the kitchen, and my stepmother and my sister were there and immediately came to ask what I had done wrong because I was never called anywhere. I passed them without even looking at their faces. I was angry. The humiliation still hurt in my head, and my heart bled more than the wounds left by the twigs.

I arrived at the door of my father's office, knocked, and heard him say to come in. I entered and saw that Mr. Francisco was still there. I lowered my head and asked my father how I could help him. Then he spoke with an unusual joy.

"Daughter, you won't believe it. Mr. Francisco has just asked for your hand in marriage, isn't that wonderful?"

My world collapsed. What do you mean, get married? And to a man who could be my father? How wrong I was. When I looked into his eyes, I thought he was a good man, but now he wants to marry me? And where would my Prince Charming be, and when he arrived, I would be married to a gentleman?

I looked him straight in the eye and saw that he felt sorry for me. Maybe that was it. He felt sorry for me for seeing me broken on the floor, humiliated. Maybe he wasn't my prince but my savior, yes, my savior, the one God sent to take me out of this torment that was my life in that house.

Then I raised my head and said, if you let me take my Bah, my Tizil, and my horse, I'll marry you.

My father immediately smiled from ear to ear. After all, he would be rid of me. It would be one less problem. My heart hurt a little more. I didn't understand why my father had never helped me with anything, why he had always condoned all the evil they had done to me. There were days when I begged him to take me out of punishment or begged him to let me study, and nothing. He just looked at me, sometimes angry, sometimes apathetic, but he did nothing.

I looked at him and smiled too, thinking that finally I would be away from this gentleman who called himself my father but who all his life was just a gentleman with no action to defend his motherless daughter.

Mr. Francisco. When I arrived at that farm thinking about finding a wife for my son, I didn't imagine I would see everything I saw there. I arrived with the owner of the farm at his house and the first thing I saw was a girl fallen on the ground amidst a pile of tree branches that had been pruned and thrown there. She was bleeding on her face and arms, her gaze was one of humiliation, sadness, frustration all together. In that moment when she looked at me, I also saw a remnant of dignity, of pride, and despite her being poorly dressed with her hair cut very short, it even seemed like someone had taken a knife and run it through her hair, with nothing artificial about that girl, but she possessed a beauty and a dignity that those two who were nearby and laughing at her never had and never would have.

It's incredible how people's qualities lie in their soul, in their eyes, in their posture, even when they are in the mud, those who have sensitivity can see and feel it. That girl was a lady.

At that moment I was sure, this would be my daughter-in-law, my son's wife, I just hope he can see in her what I see, I hope he has the sensitivity to see this girl's soul.

When I arrived at the office, I told her father that I wanted his daughter to marry my son, at first he thought it was the youngest daughter, the neat, pretty one, but in reality she had no beauty, you could see how evil and of dubious character she was.

So I told him that I wanted the older girl, he laughed a lot and said that I was crazy, that the older daughter doesn't have the beauty requirements to be my daughter-in-law,

then I looked at him seriously and said, I'm very sorry my friend, if you are not capable of seeing how beautiful your oldest daughter is, perhaps because she is neglected her physical beauty is hidden, but her beauty of character and soul, that is clear.

At that moment Joao looks at me seriously, but says nothing.

He immediately calls the maid and asks her to call the girl.

When she arrives, all suspicious, I could look at her properly and how regrettable, so beautiful and so neglected.

I would make this girl the most beautiful in the region, perhaps in the country. My daughter-in-law would be a queen, my son deserved the best. I realized that when her father said that I had asked for her hand in marriage, she had several conflicting thoughts, she certainly thought she would marry me and it was clear that her father also realized this but at no time did he tell her that she would marry my son, I remained silent, I didn't want to create conflicts until this girl was my daughter-in-law, after that I would make these people regret what they were doing to her.

After thinking for a while she said that if she could take Bah, Tizil and her horse with her, she would marry, I laughed inwardly, what was important to her were the people who were perhaps the only ones she loved or who loved her.

We agreed to her conditions and she left the office, I noticed she was very dejected, but I thought this will change.

I looked at Joao and we went to sort everything out.

It was agreed that the wedding would be held in three days and that it would only be on paper, we would leave the church for later after they got to know each other better, the wedding would be held there at my farm, her father would take her there, and we would sign the papers.

Everything agreed, I went home to face the beast, I would have to tame my son, otherwise this girl would go from the spit and fall into the embers.