The mansion's golden chandeliers sparkled above her, but their beauty only hid the venom that lingered in every corner.
She quickly realized she was not welcome.
The whispers followed her everywhere—mocking, cruel, dripping with envy. The servants whispered about her "lowly origins." The women in the mansion looked at her as though she were a mistake that dared to breathe their air. Even the corridors seemed to echo with laughter meant only to break her spirit.
At first, she tried to endure it. She lowered her gaze, clenched her fists, and swallowed every insult. But every day, the hatred pressed closer, trying to suffocate her.
And then came the night.
She had been walking through the courtyard garden when shadows crept behind her. A group of women cornered her, their eyes gleaming with malice. Their words were sharp, their intentions sharper.
"You don't belong here," one sneered, her voice honeyed with cruelty. "A stray cat pretending to be a queen."
The strike came suddenly—a shove, a blade flashing beneath the moonlight. For a moment, she thought it was over.
But the air shifted.
The ground trembled beneath her feet, and an invisible force burst outward from her body. The knife shattered mid-air, the attackers thrown back with cries of terror. Her eyes glowed faintly, her breath ragged, her heart pounding with something both alien and familiar.
She had saved herself. But at what cost?
As the women scrambled away, whispering of "witch" and "curse," she fell to her knees, trembling. She had no idea what was happening to her—only that something inside her was waking, something vast and unstoppable.
And in the shadows of the balcony above, he watched.
The man who had brought her here—the only one whose gaze softened when the world turned cruel—stood in silence. His lips pressed into a thin line, his expression unreadable, but his eyes… his eyes burned with something she could not name.
Was it fear? Was it wonder? Or was it something more dangerous—something closer to desire?
Her heart stuttered. She wanted to hate him for dragging her into this gilded prison, but when their eyes met, a strange calm wrapped around her, soothing the raging storm in her chest.
For a fleeting second, she wondered—if his love truly was the only thing strong enough to keep her from breaking, then what would happen when that love was tested?
And deep inside, the mansion whispered its answer:
The storm has only just begun