Episode 1. The Unwanted selection
Chapter 1
There was a large notice board in the center of Gretna’s downtown. Sometimes, the country would put up a large poster to inform the people.
When the poster was put up, people would run to it and exchange their opinions about it. There were many big things that could be put up on a poster, so once a poster was put up, the area in front of it would be filled with people for a while.
The new posters that were put up today were especially so. The search for the Black Dragon’s bride usually happened once every 100 years, but this time it was 20 years earlier. People were busy witnessing the story that had been passed down like a legend with their own eyes and talking about it.
“The Black Dragon’s Bride really exists.”
There was news that they were looking for the bride of the black dragon who guarded Mount Winslow in the north of the kingdom.
The search of the bride of the black dragon was three months later. All the noble young ladies who were twenty years old this year and had black hair were to gather at the Black Dragon Castle on Mount Winslow.
“Isn’t it true that the bride of the black dragon will be a form of a human sacrifice?”
“There’s a saying that those greedy nobles would sell their daughter to save their family’s wealth. They say that if their daughter becomes the Black Dragon’s bride, then their family will make a lot of fortune.”
“Hey, what’s so lacking in nobles that they would sell their daughters to beasts?”
“How many families are noble in name only? They have to sell one daughter to fix it.”
In fact, no one among the commoners knew exactly about the Black Dragon’s Bride. To them, it was just a fun topic to talk about.
Everyone just talked about whatever they heard. Jade, who was twenty this year, also had black hair, so she found the Black Dragon’s Bride’s story interesting. However, as a daughter from the slums, it was not relevant to her.
“It seems the Black Dragon doesn’t like commoners. It seems he only seeks out nobles.”
“Black-haired commoners are useless. They just get pointed at.”
Women born with black hair were almost always nobles.
Sometimes, if a commoner’s child was born with black hair, then it was treated as a disgrace to the family.
Black-haired children were more likely to be illegitimate children of nobles.
Jade quickly checked with her hand to see if her hood had come off, feeling unnecessarily nervous as she listened to the people’s stories. The remaining hood was loose because the fabric was hanging loosely.
“Is it true that the black dragon protects the country?”
“Tsk tsk, haven’t you read the history books? You know how that dragon almost ruined the country for hiding the black-haired princess? The people of the empire didn’t even get a single drop of rain or to catch a single fish until they gave up their princess.”
People’s conversations continued endlessly. Jade had many questions, but she didn’t have time to listen any longer.
“Wait a minute.”
Jade got out of the way of the people who were gathering in front of the poster and making a lot of noise. She had been out since dawn doing chores at other people’s houses, and when she got home, there was more work to do. No one in her family helped Jade, but she couldn’t complain.
Jade didn’t look like anyone in the family, so her father suspected her mother of infidelity. Her mother was adamant that she had never had an affair, but no one believed her.
After Jade was born, her father became addicted to drinking and gambling and never brought any money home. Despite all the fighting, she had three more siblings.
Her mother hated Jade for being the cause of their domestic strife. She used Jade as a substitute for her husband who had left home.
At the age of six, Jade was already walking around the neighborhood to collect laundry, and from the age of twelve, she was helping out in other people’s houses. She kept her head tightly covered with a hood to hide her mother’s infidelity.
“Still, today is my lucky day.”
Jade helped with the housework for the wedding preparations and received a fair amount of potatoes and meat. She headed towards the slums beyond the downtown area in a good mood for once.
If she was late, she would get scolded. Even if she walked diligently from now on, it would take an hour to get to the house at the end of the slums.
“Ahhh”
Jade, who had been walking absentmindedly with her head down, couldn’t see ahead properly and hit her head on the back of a strong man, causing her to stumble. Even at that moment, Jade held the sack tightly in her arms, worried that the food she was going to eat today might fall to the ground. Jade, who soon regained her balance, apologized unconditionally first.
“I am so sorry.”
The man turning to Jade had well-maintained shoes that were shiny and clean. Just looking at his shoes, you could tell he was a nobleman. Jade slowly raised her head.
The man was so tall that Jade had to lift her head to look at him.
He had neatly-groomed black hair, flawless white skin, pitch-black eyebrows that drew a bow, cold, dark eyes, a straight nose, and plump red lips.
He was so handsome that there was nothing wrong with him. She had never seen such a handsome man in this small town. The well-fitting black suit he wore made his muscular body look even more captivating.
Jade was stunned by his overwhelming beauty that she had never seen before.
“Are you okay?”
Jade’s face flushed as the man’s gaze fell on her. Although she was at an age where her heart would flutter when the spring breeze blew gently, Jade had never held a man’s hand before.
With her grandmother’s hood, dirty clothes that didn’t get stained even after washing, her skin that was tanned from the sun, and her body so thin that her cheeks were chapped, she didn’t attract the attention of men her age.
There was no way such a handsome nobleman would be interested in her. The beautiful noble ladies like butterflies would be by his side, while enticing him. Even knowing that, Jade’s heart fluttered at the gaze of the unfamiliar man.
She felt guilty just by looking at him.
“You have black hair.”
Jade realized then that the man was looking at her head, not her face. Her black hair was slightly visible under the hood that had been pushed back when she hit her head on the man’s back.
Jade put the hood back on and looked around. Fortunately, no one else saw her. The man didn’t seem to be from around here anyway, so he probably didn’t know who Jade was. She had to get out of here quickly.
“Thank you, goodbye.”
Jade ran home, panting, without looking back. If Jade’s parents found out that she had showed her black hair to others, they would not leave her alone. Even in the slums where there was no honor, Jade was a disgrace to the family.
***^***
Even after a day, the handsome man’s face was still unforgettable.
Jade had never thought much about men. Men from the slums always smelled of sweat, and clean-cut noble men smelled of
perfume. She didn’t feel much interest in men who were considered quite handsome. But he was different.
She had probably never seen such a perfect appearance in real life, so it felt like she was dreaming. She felt like a philistine for being excited by a handsome noble man.
“ha…”
A sigh escaped from Jade’s lips. Now was not the time to be thinking about men. She had been doing the laundry for her family for years and receiving a load of laundry from the neighborhood all day, thus her body was quickly worn out. It was a hard life, with no days off except when she was sick and was lying down.
The meat that Jade received from her work yesterday was all for her siblings. For her, who had to work hard all day today, two potatoes were all she had. The apple she ate for lunch was sweet and delicious even though it was bruised. Jade filled her hungry stomach with water from the stream.
The way back home after finishing the laundry felt particularly long. It seemed even longer because she had no energy.
All I could think about was getting home, making dinner, and resting. Jade’s feet were busy.
“uh?”
Jade looked at the black carriage standing in front of a narrow, old house that could be called a hut with curious eyes.
She had often seen carriages going back and forth in the downtown area, but this was completely different from the carriages she usually saw.
The two black horses pulling the carriage were shiny and looked large and expensive enough to seat at least four people. The coachman riding in front of the carriage sensed Jade’s presence, took off his hat, and greeted her briefly. Jade, who was very nervous about the visit of a stranger, bowed her head and looked around.
“How did you get to our house?”
“I know nothing Madam. Please go in and see.”
The coachman didn’t seem to be very interested in Jade. He just drove the carriage and didn’t seem to know much about her.
Jade’s mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts. Seeing the fancy carriage that didn’t fit her house, she wondered if her father had made a lot of money through gambling. But her father, who
ignored her, wouldn’t necessarily take care of her. It would have been better for him to sell her off to someone else.
“Jade!”
As she took a deep breath and opened the door to the shabby house, Jade’s mother Sylvia greeted her with a bright face. Jade had never seen her mother call her with such a bright face. Sylvia’s sallow face, wrinkled from hardship, was flushed.
“You are back?!”
The back of a man in a black suit appeared in front of an old table in a corner. Sylvia quickly dragged Jade, who was standing blankly in front of the door, to the table. The man, who had a rough teacup in front of him, turned to Jade.
“Nice to see you again.”
Jade immediately remembered the man’s face. It was the face that kept lingering in her mind. The man who had caught Jade with her black hair. It was nice to see his beautiful face again, but it was ominous that the man who had caught her black hair that she didn’t want anyone to see had come to her house. Sylvia poked Jade’s waist, who had turned pale.
“What are you doing? You have to say hello.”
“Oh, hello. What brings you to my house?”
It was not the man but the excited Sylvia who answered Jade’s trembling question.
“He said he wanted to take you to recruit the Black Dragon’s bride.”
“Me? I’m not even a noble….”
A man stepped forward to help Jade understand Sylvia’s incoherent story.
“I am Erwin Travis, the butler of the Morgan Dukes. You have been adopted as the daughter of the Morgan Dukes and we are now preparing for you to become the bride of the Black Dragon.”
Jade couldn’t immediately understand what was being said even though she was listening to the words of the origin. The Duke of Morgan was the highest noble in Gretna. She couldn’t believe that she would be adopted by such a house. It was so absurd that it didn’t seem real, so she wasn’t surprised.
“It will take time to acquire the basic qualifications to become the Black Dragon’s bride. Since we only have three months, I think it would be best if you come with me right away.”
Jade looked at her mother. Sylvia nodded with a bright face as if she would do so.
However, Jade did not want to become the bride of the black dragon. It was nice to be a bride, but people unanimously said that she was a human sacrifice.
It was horrible to be eaten by a black dragon at the age of twenty, and end my life, even though I had not done anything yet.
Even if it was not now, I wanted to meet a man who would love me someday and live a long and simple life happily.
“I don’t like it.”
Jade stepped back. But Sylvia’s strong hand immediately grabbed Jade. Jade’s body flinched at Sylvia’s rough touch.
Sylvia’s gaze at Jade was always filled with disgust. -‘The curse I gave birth to. The disgrace to my family. I couldn’t bring myself to kill my own child.’ Her eyes said it all.
“What do you hate about it? Do you think it’s easy to become the Duke’s daughter? You think anyone can become the Black Dragon’s bride?”
“You’re trying to make me do it because it’s something bad.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. Since she was young, she had never been to a house in the neighborhood that didn’t need help.
While all her peers went to school, she felt embarrassed going from house to house to work. However, she always made up her mind to be grateful to her parents for not abandoning their daughter with black hair and raising her.
That’s how Jade had quietly done whatever her parents told her to do, no matter how hard it was. It was for survival. However, she didn’t want to be forced into such an obvious situation.
“Relax. Nothing bad will happen. I promise.”
Erwin’s voice was calm and gentle as he tried to calm Jade down. But Jade didn’t believe it.
There was no way something good could happen to me. It seemed like Lady Luck had never smiled on me, let alone looked at me.
“No… I don’t like it.”
Jade shook off Sylvia’s hand that was holding her and ran out of
the house. Sylvia was taken aback when Jade, who was usually was very docile, rebelled. In any case, she didn’t like it.
“Jade! You! Don’t you dare come here again!”
Sylvia’s voice could be heard following her from behind, cursing.
Jade ran out of the house and towards the low hill like crazy. She didn’t want to become the bride of a beast even if it meant dying.
***^***
