Katherina was born into nobility. Being the youngest daughter of Andrei, she was admired by all who laid eyes on her. When her father decided it was time for his daughters to get married, many suitors lined up and drowned the family with exotic gift...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Lilac
The extract from the flower can be used as a perfume. The flowerers treat fever. Lilacs symbolize the first emotions of love.
...
Vitaly
My body finally stopped rolling down the hill. My back ached from the impact and my head was spinning uncontrollably. Once I steadied myself, I looked at the girl I collided with. She looked so familiar, I didn't know where I have seen her before.
Her skin looked soft and her lips were very pink and smooth. Her brown hair fell upon her body and looked gold where the light sparkled on it.
I began to shake her arm in an attempt to wake her up, and then the most beautiful blue-green eyes opened and focused on me. Confusion was written all over her face and quickly turned to realization.
Once I saw that she was alright. I began to get up and look for my buckets so I could complete my task and return to Mika. I did not want another whip landing on my already sore back. But then I felt a hand on my shoulder.
The girl was staring at my hands and lead me to sit down. I followed her and then watched as her touch gently mended my wounds. I have never had anyone care for me. And this beautiful girl put so much patients into healing me that I forgot who I was.
As I was leaving, her name kept playing in my head, Katya. Realization hit me, she was the girl sitting on the windowsill.
...
When I returned to Mika with the water, the frown on his face instantly made my body tense. He grabbed his whip and told me to stay still. He pulled his whip back and I clenched my jaw tightly.
The whip cracked in the air and landed on my shoulders. He began to yell at me and with each blow my vision went blurry until my legs gave out and I dropped to the floor. I did not bother explaining to him what happened since with my previous owner that would result in more beatings, and my body would not be able to handle that right now.
After Mika was satisfied that he hurt me enough, he told me to go to the slave quarter and wash up.
My crumpled body did not want to listen to me, and the pain was pulsing through my back. I slowly pushed my legs to let me stand up only to feel my vision go black. Placing my hand son my knees I steadied myself and slowly began to walk towards the slave quarters.
Once I reached the quarter, there was a small piece of stale bread given to me and a basen to wash in. The water was ice cold but I was grateful for the small bar of soap provided. I gently removed the remaining leaves that were on my writs. They have already dried from when Katya put them on. I forgot the pain in my back but still had to gently dab at the swolen region where the whip collided with my already sore cuts. The bark that Katya made me chew was helping imensly with the pain. I kept wondering to myself how she knew to use it.
Once I was finished. I was given a towel to dry off on and an outfit to put on. The material of the clothes was exquisite. I put on the uniform and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I looked raveshing, as if I was not an outdoor working slave in rags but a rich man.
Mika called me and a couple other slaves over to give us our commands. Since this was my first time serving the family during dinner, I was put in charge of keeping the wine glasses full.
I followed the other slaves to the kitchen where we met Mariana the head chief. She gave me the wine pitcher and showed me how to properly pour wine and into which glass. She also informed me to keep my chin down and not to make eye contact.
We entered the dining room and stood there, waiting for the family to enter. The entire meal, I did not make any eye contact with the family eating at the table. The only thing I looked at were their wine glasses to make sure that they were all filled.
But then my gaze went up and I spotted the girl who healed me earlier. She looked completely different. The girl I met in the woods was dressed as if she came from an impoverished family, her hair was messy with flowers in it, and her nails had durt in them. The girl sitting at the table had a gorgeous expensive dress on, her hair looked exquisite, and her entire facade looked completely different. As if the girl I met in the woods was a completely different person.
What caught my attention the most is how her brightly lit eyes were fogged over. She looked tired and bored of the conversation the dinner table had. But when her gaze met mine she smiled politely and I snapped out of my trans and back to looking for the empty wine glasses.
As I poured wine into the half empty glasses I felt her eyes staring at me. Then I heard her father clear his voice and my attention fell on the young gentleman sitting in front of her. Fear corsed throughout my body as I recognized the face.
The man in front of Katya was Roman, my previous owner, and the flashbacks just fell upon me while I stood there like a pole holding the wine.
I was in a dark room, in the cellar of the Aminov family. Roman shackled me to the stone wall. And my shackles only permitted me minimal movement. I was locked there sitting in my own feces, eating what minimal food was provided. Not seeing any daylight or feeling the fresh breeze on my emaciated body.
I was only released months later when the slave monitoring me told Roman that I was close to death. After that incident, I decided to only speak when I was asked a question. My punishment was for asking my master something and to this day I still can't remember the question that lead to my suffering.
I snapped out of my flashback when Kaya's father cleared his throat in frustration and then her mother announced that Alexandrina would be playing the piano for them.
I felt Roman's hate radiating off of him. Then the family got up and left the dinning room. As Katya was waking out I felt her uneasiness as she held onto Romans arm. And then in the corner of my vision, I saw a small flower fall from her hair and onto the floor. As the family was making their way out of the room, I was surprised that the flower did not get crushed under their feet.
Once the dinning room was cleared of the family. I walked over to where the flower fell and picked it up. Descretely placing it in my pocket and then helping the other slaves clear off the dinning room table.
The other slaves and I brought all the dirty dishes to Mariana's kitchen and cleared off the dining room. After everything was cleaned, we headed back to the slaves quarter. I was instructed to change and go to sleep for early wake up tomorrow morning.
As I lay on the hay matress, my body began to aich again and all I could think of was Katya. Her beautiful smile, here mesmerizing eyes, her long brown hair, her kind healing hands. I healed the purple flower that fell out of her hair and smelled it.
I hid the small flower in a opening I found on the wooden wall of the room, and lay there on my thin hay matress, shivering. I closed my eyes and tried to dream of her, and the more I thought about her the more relaxed I felt until exhaustion took over and I fell asleep.
~~~
Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know if you like the medicinal herb facts. I'll keep updating every chance I get :)
