Chapter 1

Desire stared at the mirror in front of her, observing her curves and how long her legs had grown since she turned eighteen, two years back.

How time flies!

She smiled at the memory of her eighteenth birthday, which also happened to be her first day out of the mansion since she was bought by the master of the house.

Every year, a new girl is brought to the mansion as a slave and gradually ranks up to a servant before she becomes a house maiden, which is the highest rank that can be held by a slave girl.

Slave is the lowest rank in the mansion, and it's usually held by the set of girls who were brought from the southern part of their region, plagued by poverty, disease, and hunger.

The servant rank is usually for girls who have served the house for more than four years. They're believed to have more experience and insight into how to please the master.

Lastly, the house maiden rank, also called housemaids, is held by girls who have spent more than seven years in the house.

None of the girls living in the mansion have seen Mr. Ho up close. The only things they're familiar with are his voice, his profile, and the really loud intimate sessions his friends have with the girls brought from the Harem.

Desire picked up the love letter in front of the mirror and smiled at the memory of Chang, the guy who had been secretly sending her love letters ever since they had met on her first day out of the mansion. She couldn't wait to see him again.

It had been six years and eleven months since Desire was brought into the house, and she was a month away from becoming a house maiden. She longed for the outside world and would've loved to fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse rather than stay in this mansion and become a house maiden.

She had always wanted to study under the great physician and become an assistant or a nurse at his service.

'From slavery to slavery,' her subconscious self reminded her.

She hissed at the sudden thought that had come into her head. At least one had more freedom than the other.

She quickly put on her dress and went out of the room before the court lady could come barging in, cursing at her for being late to the kitchen. Once when she was a mere five minutes late, she had been punished for three days without food or water.

"Good morning, Lady Nor," she greeted the court lady's assistant, who was nicer in every way than the court lady.

"My dear child, bless you. I hope you slept well?"

"Yes, I did, and thank you for the green tea you gave me. It helped me sleep peacefully."

"No need, child. I do what is expected of me as a mother to you girls." Desire smiled at her as memories of her mother come back to her.

They stopped talking as soon as the court lady entered the room, and they resumed their daily chores almost immediately, out of fear of the woman.

Desire cleaned around the kitchen and Lady Nor got the utensils ready to serve the table while the others in the kitchen cooked the master's breakfast.

"Master has requested to have his breakfast in his private suite. Is it ready?" The court lady asked in a stern voice.

"A f-f-few minutes are required to get everything ready, my lady," the cook answered, fear lacing her words.

"Do you mind explaining what you've been doing all day!?" She barked at the young girl.

"We were looking for the spices he likes in his breakfast, and it took a while before we found them, my lady."

Desire froze at that moment; she had been in charge of getting the spices at the market yesterday, and she had forgotten to put them in their normal spot.

The court lady turned to Desire, and she knew she was going to die at that moment. Smirking wickedly, she called her over, "Desire, darling, how much longer until you become a house maiden?"

"One month, my lady." She couldn't look her in the face.

"Well, how about you begin your duties as a house maiden immediately?" Desire could hear gasps around her. At that moment, everyone feared for her life, but no one dared question the court lady, not even her assistant, Lady Nor.

Normally, before a servant becomes a housemaid, she's introduced to the ropes and, more precisely, to Mr. Ho. If he is pleased, he'll keep her in her position as housemaid; if not, he'll send her to the Harem.

Any slave or servant that appeared before Mr. Ho without prior notice ran the risk of being beheaded or stoned to death in their village square. It all depended on his mood.

With shaking hands and an unknown fate, Desire took the food, accompanied by two other housemaids, to serve their master his breakfast.

After the door was opened by the knights in charge of protecting the prime minister, who was also their master, she stepped in and placed the food on the table.

"Who are you? And why are you in my suite?" The loud voice spoke close behind her, so close that if she leaned just a little bit, she'd be resting against his torso.

"I'm Desire. The court lady asked me to bring your food up, my lord." She was still not looking at him and had her eyes fixed on the ground.

After a few minutes of checking her out and assessing if she presented any form of danger to him, he moved closer to the food, inspected it, and sat down in front of it.

"Go stand in the corner," he directed and told one of the ladies to get the court lady.

Shivering in fear, she stood in the corner and almost didn't breathe so as to not make a sound that would disturb him.

"You asked for me, my lord?" The court lady said as she entered the suite.

"Why did you send her up here?" He asked, pointing to Desire.

"She swapped some of the ingredients purchased for your food with poison, and I thought it would be better if she explained for herself why she would give you something that could kill you. Maybe she was planning to get rid of you all along?" Desire knew the court lady was evil, she just didn't know she was that evil.

She watched as huge feet stopped in front of her, and suspecting it was her master, she refused to look up and confirm her suspicions.

"Look at me, dove," her master commanded.

"I can't, my lord." She was scared, too scared to look at him.

"Why!?" He demanded loudly. "Why do you refuse to look me in the eyes?"

"Because it is forbidden, my lord, for a mere servant like me to look you in the eyes." He laughed wickedly.

"You're too scared to look at me but not too scared to give me poison?"

"I didn't try to poison you, my lord. I could never do that. I swear it on my life, my lord." At this point, she was crying and shivering from the bitter cold radiating from his body to hers.

"But you tried at least?" The next thing she knew, he was grabbing her by her thick hair so tightly that she felt some of it being pulled out.

She was screaming from the pain.

He dragged her through the chairs and tables, pulling her body down the long stairs, down to the place they all feared the most: the dungeons.

He opened the gate of one of the rooms and pushed her inside.

"You'll spend three days in here, without food or water or sunlight. And the whole time, you better be praying that God changes my mind, or else I'll kill you once you're out!"