Episode 1

Sardonic Kingdom...

Spring is my favorite season. The giant golden flowers shine brightly, blindingly, in truth, they are not made of gold, but their petals have a color that resembles gold, and when the sun's rays shine upon them, their brilliance invades the entire field, leaving it completely illuminated. It's the most beautiful thing to see.

Princess Taya

"Taya! Taya!" I hear Asnam calling me.

I stay quiet, watching him from the top of the apple tree.

"Taya! The King wishes to see you," he shouts, searching for me among the flowers.

I grab an apple and throw it, hitting him squarely on the head.

"Ouch!" he complains, putting his hand on his head and looking up, finding me.

"So there you are," he says grumpily.

"I am!" I say excitedly.

"Come down, let's go!" he says.

"Wait, I'm coming," I say, jumping on top of him. We fall to the ground, I can't help it, and I start to laugh.

"I wish I had a job that didn't involve keeping you safe, Miss."

"Asnam, I'm not that much trouble, am I?" I ask.

"If you acted like a true princess, I wouldn't have so much work."

"Being a princess is boring, I wish I were a peasant."

"You don't know what you're saying! You should be grateful to be born a princess."

"And you should be grateful to take care of me," I say, and he laughs.

I mount my horse and he mounts his.

"Asnam, why does my father want to see me? Do you know why?"

"The King of Alexandrite is at the castle, with his son, Prince Cuskun."

"And what do I have to do with that?" I ask.

"I think the time has come," he says, looking sad.

"Time for what, Asnam?"

"For you to get married," he says, looking ahead and letting out a long sigh.

Married? I don't want to get married! The thoughts of living trapped in a castle far from everything I'm used to terrify me.

"I don't want to get married, Asnam!"

"It's not something you can choose, if the King decides, it's decided."

I start to cry, I feel my heart tighten just imagining myself leaving here, and living in a kingdom completely different from mine, my freedom trapped in a bunch of rules and duties. My father doesn't care much about me, he lets me be free, because I'm a daughter he didn't want.

"You have to help me, Asnam, I don't want to get married."

"Unfortunately, this time I won't be able to help you."

I dry my tears, dismount the horse.

"I told the king that you were painting by the lake," Asnam says.

"Right!"

"Now hurry up and get ready to introduce yourself."

I enter the castle; when I arrive in my room, the maids are already waiting for me, a beautiful green dress on my bed. They start to undress me; I feel a lump forming in my throat, without reaction and led by them, I enter the bathtub and, one on each side, they begin to wash me.

Then, they start dressing me in all those clothes I hate!

"Don't tie my hair up!"

"As you wish, miss."

When they finish, I leave the room, Asnam looks at me sadly.

"You are very beautiful!" He says.

"Thank you, Asnam," I say sadly.

"Hey, don't be like that, everything will be fine." He hugs me and lets out a long sigh.

"I wish there was a portal to another world, I'd rather fall into the darkness of the universe than have to marry this Prince Cuskun," I say angrily.

"I wish I could help you, Taya. But now we have to go."

When Asnam opens the door, I refuse to enter, simply frozen there. Asnam looks at me and motions for me to enter the hall, but I can't, I don't want to! I want to run away!

"Please, Taya come in," Asnam pleads.

"Trust me, we'll figure something out, but for now get in this room and accept the king's proposal," he says, and then my feet begin to obey my command.

I enter the hall; on his royal throne in all his sovereignty sits my father, to his right the King of Alexandrite, and to his left the pain-in-the-neck Prince Cuskun. I already hate him just by the way he looks at me, I feel like a piece of meat in front of a hungry beast.

"This is the most beautiful woman in the entire universe, Princess Taya!" My father says, and I want to throw up, literally throw up!

Prince Cuskun gets up and comes up to me, my father clears his throat reminding me that I have to bow, there's one thing I hate! If, in this case here, I were another prince, we wouldn't need this charade, but I'm a woman and before this man, I have to bow.

I wanted to tell them a few home truths, this decrepit old man who claims to be my father, and then these two idiots, to say: I want you all dead! I know it's horrible to wish this on your own father, but if you were here in my shoes, you would wish the same and without a shred of remorse.

This gentleman who claims to be my father never showed me any affection, the poor queen, my beautiful mother, died of sadness, and I, if I were in her place, would have died too.

He never held me, he always said that I was something that went wrong, because what he always wanted was a son, that life punished him by giving him a daughter.

And now? He's going to trade me for God knows what! Bastard!

"Bow!" he yells, startling me.

With my heart filled with anger, I bow and see a satisfied smile on the damned prince's lips. Without thinking about the consequences, I spit in his face.

"You're going crazy!" My father gets up from his throne and slaps me in the face.

"She looks like a difficult mare to tame," the nasty prince says, wiping his face.

"But that's no problem, you know how to tame a mare very well, my son," says the King of Alexandrite.

"Yes, Father, I love a challenge," says Cuskun.

"Can we skip the ceremony and go on our honeymoon?" Prince Cuskun asks my father.

"As you wish."

"I'm your only daughter! And you're not even going to have a ceremony? You're just going to give me away like that?

"It's what you deserve for being so rebellious. Go pack your things, you will leave this very day with your husband." A lump forms in my throat, I leave that room devastated.

Asnam accompanies me to my room, the maids pack my bags, I cry desperately, this can't be my destiny, I can't end my life being the wife of such a nasty man!

When everything is ready, Asnam hands me a ring.

"It was my mother's; she gave it to me before she died. She said it was enchanted, that it had been passed down through our generations. I don't know if that's true, but I have it as my lucky charm."

"Then I can't accept it, Asnam."

"You must accept it, you will need it more than I do."

"Thank you, Asnam." I give him a hug and say goodbye.

During the journey to the kingdom of Alexandrite, I can't stop crying, I think of several ways to get out of this situation.

• Kill Prince Cuskun and become a prisoner or even be hanged for it.

• Take poison and die.

• Run away to who knows where.

"Are you going to cry the whole trip?" the nasty man asks. I say nothing in response.

"You can cry, but the real crying will be when I get my hands on you in my chambers."

He's gone too far, I'd rather die than submit to this jerk.

I want to get out of here, I want to get out of here. I start repeating endlessly, my tears flowing like a waterfall, I grab the ring Asnam gave me. Meanwhile, I close my eyes and start to pray, begging the gods, my mother and anything that can get me out of this situation.

"Stop it!" I hear the idiot's voice in the distance and suddenly a very bright light comes out of that ring like a flash taking over the carriage.

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