The Art of the Corset (2017)

Chapter Thirty Two- Ladies and Whores

"Pardon me." Terrah spoke as she entered a tent of the opponent's belonging and demanded attention. Following her had been fifteen women who had been completely altered from servants to true and proper ladies. Standing with confidence and shy smiles to entice, some hid their blushes behind fans as others had simply turned their gazes away and then batted their lashes to the suitors looking at them. With Evelyn sitting in a nearby carriage, with her door open and her completely unseen by guards and other soldiers, she listened to everything carefully.

"The finest women from our humble kingdom." Terrah spoke before giving a curtsy and watching Adams emerge from the crowd. Standing just a few inches over Terrah, he had now grown a few pounds heavier along with a scar that was still healing upon his right cheek. Looking to her with curiosity, Adams pulled her against him before the other women looked to one another with confusion.

"How much are you asking for 'em?" He asked as he looked at each of them as if they were animals instead of humans.

"They are compliments of the King and his people."

The girls stood with pride as they were graceful upon introductions as Terrah moved to Adams and whispered something quietly before returning to the front of the tent.

"The finest whores." Terrah said before all gazes fell onto her.

The tent filed with a gasp as Terrah realized the impact of what she said as fear lingered upon the girls' faces. Many of them wailed as Adams then used a loud leather whip that would be used upon a horse and hit it on a nearby tent post.

"Listen here...you are gifted to us...and we shall accept you as you are...now each man gets as many as they like...for war is approaching."

As Terrah left to return to the castle, she found Evelyn creeping around the tent. Remaining unseen, she had been pulled by Terrah just before being discovered by a passing knight.

"They did not know of what they were being altered for? How is that possible?"

"None of them dared to question the king."

"We cannot allow them to be used as pawns in a sadistic sexual trade! At our hand!"

"There is nothing we can do, Evelyn."

"You knew of this..." The stage coach began to leave as she glared to her supposed ally across the way. "You know what life it is to be a bargaining chip...yet, you freely do not give them even the slightest option."

"They are our only hope for not going to war."

"You care more for war than you do of their lives? What of when they resist it? When they are whipped and branded for being something they didn't even have the choice to be?"

"It is fifteen maidens against an entire kingdom of millions. The lives of those children who CAN have a choice, who are not covered in dust and mud from cleaning the castle-"

"The castle that we make dirty!"

"Why are you defending them?"

"We ARE them! You remember the days of sweating for a man who did not care of your name. Or even if it hurt...whatever it was that he fancied with you. When the sound of clinging coin was not enough to surpass the guilt and filth you felt when doing it. You expect me to trust you when you will not be honest with me!"

"You would have not allowed it."

"I still will not."

Upon the ceasing of the stagecoach, Evelyn jumped out and stomped directly towards the King's chambers to find him looking over maps near his bedroom window. With her entrance, he jumped up before Terrah followed quickly after.

"I attempted my best-" Terrah tried to state before the King raised his hand, telling her to cease.

"You sold their souls..." Evelyn spoke with tears in her eyes. "They had no option but to be sold as animals and treated the very same!"

"It is politics, Lady Evelyn."

"Politics be damned! Their lives matter, the same as you and I!"

Causing for both the girls to jump, the king hit his hand hard on the table in front of him.

"It is not the same. They are not straddled to horses with cheering coming from either side of them, those who adore us who throw petals of the most beautiful flowers just to land under the feet of our horses. They give us the great, so we can keep them safe."

"Not all of them."

"You seem to forget your place, Lady Evelyn!"

"If it is a place where you sell one another for a possible different fate...I want no place in it."

"And the lives of millions matter not to you? Just that of just over a dozen maidens who I can guarantee, you do not even remember the names of."

"It was unjust for them. Perhaps they had families...husbands...children..."

"And the same reside in my kingdom! Those who work hard in the mines and upon the water, who leave their families for months at a time to return to assist on helping our kingdom be what it is. We are not built upon good morale and promises. We are built upon blood, bones, and sweat. The same structure that has taken you from being a worthless, gutless, horrendous whore...to a woman that a man like Marth will actually touch."

"How dare you!" She spoke while reaching to slap him before he caught her wrist, surprising Terrah as she gasped.

"Allow me to explain where your place is. Beside your husband, allowing him to go to war; a woman of this castle, a smile upon your face even as you loathe every second of your miserable existence; a whore...to any man who wants you."

"I will not be what you made them."

"You forget, you do not have a choice!" Moving his hand towards her as he wrapped his arm around her back, she pushed away before Marth entered the room with a suspicious glare.

"Your highness...the nobles have gathered for our festivities."

"Grand! I have so much to inform them on. Come, let us all go to dine." The King moved before them all as Marth wrapped his fingers between Evelyn's to find her trembling.

"Are you ill?"

She shook her head as her eyes were filled with tears. "I cannot speak of it now." She whispered, being unheard by both Terrah and the king.

Marth nodded before escorting her into the dining hall to find twenty place settings in front of her. Each branding the same cutlery in the same location, flowers stretching from one end of the table to the other, and maidens waiting for the king to request the food for his guests. As Evelyn sat in her designated spot, beside Marth, she was introduced to the most noble men of the kingdoms; most labeled such as "Prince" or "King", the had all been eyeing Evelyn in a mysterious fashion. The King himself had done this as well, on multiple occasions.

"I cannot contain myself any longer." The King spoke as he stood on his feet and raised his glass, as everyone else followed. "Our village may finally be approaching peace, thanks to Princess Evelyn. There is so much poverty and disease in our kingdom, and yet, we find even the most damaged flowers can indeed withstand the most horrendous fires. Which is why I want to formally acknowledge how a woman such as Evelyn can not only marry but end up in a social status as she is." Evelyn begged with her eyes for him to not continue, but he disregarded her completely and fixed his gaze upon Marth. "A legend of whore to princess...quite a tale if Evelyn wishes to tell us."

Her face turned to Marth as he fixated on the placing in front of him, his hand now withdrawn from Evelyn's and a clenched jaw forming under an attempt to remain content.