"How Not To Get Chosen," Belladonna mumbled to herself in her silvery voice, her blue eyes on the cover of the thin black book she had just picked.
It was fairly covered in dust, making the letters on it a little unreadable.
She went down the ladder, then blew the dust off the book which made her cough lightly.
"By Moria Nakuriver," she mumbled the name of the author to herself and instantly shook her head.
This book would be of no help because the author actually ended up being chosen as a bride.
Moria was the daughter of the Village Head of Nakuriver, one of the seven villages that made up the mighty Kingdom of Ignas, which was ruled by the dreaded Dragon King.
When Moria was 18, she had participated in the Choosing Ritual, as the rules had demanded, and had somehow been lucky enough not to be chosen.
That was when she had written this book.
Almost every lady across the kingdom started reading it, so they could be as lucky as she had been. But then she got chosen at 25, and people threw the books out their windows, realizing that even the book couldn't save them from the doom they called a King.
In fact, Moria was the bride that had been chosen last year. Everyone had thought she would be the last bride but no! Something unknown had gone awfully wrong once again, and as usual, it was the next village's turn to produce a bride.
That next village happened to be Inaymi, the smallest and seventh village in Ignas, also the one where Belladonna lived.
Belladonna climbed up the ladder and put the book back in its place. She got down and then continued her search.
As her hands tapped across every book, flipped through some, reading their titles and seeing if they could help, she couldn't stop thinking.
The Choosing Ritual had been in existence for as long as she could remember. Each year, every lady between the ages of 18 and 27 who was neither married nor pregnant was presented during the ritual.
Seven of them would be chosen by the Dragon King as Potential Brides; they would leave with him to the castle, and then after some days or weeks, six would return.
The six that returned, usually would have no memories of their days in the castle, while the one who had been chosen as the bride would stay behind, never to be heard of or seen again.
Many said the chosen brides were killed, and some said he fed them to his dragon. Many people came up with different theories of what he was doing with them.
None, good.
The truth was that nobody knew what truly happened to those brides or why the Choosing Ritual existed to begin with, but no one dared to question the Dragon King.
He was ruthless and powerful, and anyone who fought against him, no matter how slightly, was sure to meet his end in a terrible way.
It was even rumored that the Dragon King was not human.
Truth or not, nobody knew.
They had never even seen his face before. Many suspected that he hid it away because it was hideous and monstrous - because he wasn't human.
Belladonna held the same belief.
She suddenly stopped and looked around the library. The sun was no longer brightly peeping through the window, but it was now golden, signifying the setting of the sun.
The library was now so empty that she could even hear the sound of her own breathing.
She sighed heavily, her legs already getting tired from all the searching, her eyes watering from lack of sleep.
She really needed to rest but she couldn't.
How could she when the Choosing Ritual would soon be upon them?
Everyone in Inaymi was scared right now. If possible, they would run away from the village with their families but they couldn't. The Dragon King's guards would hunt them down and drag them back here. No one had ever escaped from the Kingdom of Ignas and no one ever would.
Belladonna sat down in a chair, feeling absolutely exhausted. She heard the low rumbling of her stomach and she sighed.
For some days now, she hadn't been eating regularly but how could she eat, when there was fire on the rooftop?
Truthfully, she had no need to worry. In three days, she would no longer be qualified to be presented at the Choosing Ritual as a Possible Potential.
Why?
Because she would be getting married!
She smiled to herself, her stomach fluttered with butterflies at the thought of her fiancee.
Lytio.
Lytio was the perfect man in Inaymi and the one everyone wanted.
The 'standard'.
He was humble, handsome, and every other thing anyone could ever want in a man. He was also the first son of the Village Head and the best fisherman their village had.
In fact, sometimes, she wondered why he had picked her.
Lytio was a wonderful man, she had nothing but respect and love for him. So much respect and love that she adored the ground he walked upon.
She, on the other hand, was the weirdest of them all. Not because of anything she did but just because of how she would think. Her ideas were mostly termed ridiculous, even by her own family.
Belladonna normally had her extra curly black hair packed into a low messy bun, while she went through shelves and shelves of the library in her long blue tent gown. She was slim, curvy, with caramel skin, average height with a small, pointed nose and electrifying blue eyes
Those eyes - Lytio said, he loved most about her.
Indeed, she had nothing to worry about.
She wasn't in this library for herself, though; she was here slaving away for her younger sister.
Aniya, her younger sister, was 19, not pregnant and not married. She was obviously qualified for the Choosing Ritual and till that day would come upon them, she would remain qualified.
This had given Belladonna so many sleepless nights; although her wedding preparations had also been doing that, it was mostly her worry for her dear, sweet, and innocent Aniya that had kept her up late so many times.
She was always trying to find a way to pull her sister out of the wretched Possible Potential's list without ruining her sister's reputation in any way.
She had also been praying earnestly that her sister would be saved and not get chosen.
Today, she spent all her time looking for a book that could, perhaps, help Aniya. Sadly, the only one she found was unreliable.
She stood up, ready to leave. She got to the door quickly, the library wasn't a large one.
"Found anything?" The thick, low voice of the librarian stopped her from pressing down the old, heavy doorknob.
She turned and smiled at the old man, who was sitting at his table, a lantern on it and a scroll in his hand.
"Sadly no, but perhaps tomorrow." Her voice was gentle and a tired smile was on her face.
This Librarian was one of the few people that didn't think her weird at all. In fact, the only people who thought her weird were the young ladies in love with her soon-to-be husband.
They all wanted Lytio.
He smiled sadly and adjusted the little glasses that rested on the bridge of his straight, long nose. That nose took up most part of his small wrinkled face.
"I will try and search the register for you."
Then he focused on his stroll.
"That would be lovely. Thank you so much, sir. Goodnight sir."
"Goodnight to you too, child."
With that, Belladonna stepped out.
***
The sky was filled with stars and the big beautiful moon. The breeze blew gently too.
As Belladonna walked through the market in order to get home, the noises of the bargaining traders and customers filled the air. The lit lanterns placed on the tables and hung on stalls, the market women and men as they go about their night trade, the playful voices of children as they ran after one another, everything together made tonight.
Belladonna carefully maneuvered her way through the crowd, trying not to bump into anyone.
The market looked a lot more rowdy today because the closer the Choosing Ritual was, the more tense the villagers became. Right now, majority of the villagers were buying things in preparation for weddings.
Belladonna had passed by a temple on her way here, there was a wedding going on right now.
In fact, her own wedding would be the day after tomorrow. Hers and Lytio's family were so prepared, all they were waiting for was for the day to come.
Finally, she got home.
She knocked on the door but she got no response.
It was strange that her family was not in yet.
She pushed the door, and it slid open easily.
Her heart started hammering in fear.
Her parents were always particular about having the doors locked for safety.
The sitting room was dark. She looked around quickly to see yellow light seeping through the keyhole of the next door.
Then she heard it.
Muffled moans.
The closer she got, the louder the moans.
She could hear the grunts of a man and the high-pitched jargon of a woman?
Aniya?
Was she in danger?
Belladonna's hands got sweaty; she listened carefully and then realized that her cries weren't jargon...
...but a name.
She just couldn't process whose name it was.
She gulped.
With shaky hands, she pushed the door open quickly and her heart dropped.
Everything became quiet except for the moans of these two naked people roughly going at each other in her own bed.