HOW TO LIVE AGAIN (girlxgirlxgirl)

Thirtytwo: Bonus chapter

"Parallels"
58

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When the foul wolf howls into the deep ocean of the night, a girl sits in her wagon and stares. Her eyes are black but bloodshot, just as red as the carriage is on the outside. It falls from side to side, but the girl does not bother to stop herself from swinging left to right. It is near that her head hits the wooden wall of her mobile prison.

In these times, it is imperative for one half of the population to stay within their home cocoons. They do leave their homes, at some point, to join another. But the home is their place and if not leaving to enter another one, they do not leave at all. She is just like that, Princess Ju, as sweet as the sky is blue. Living in her home cocoon, only to one day be thrust out like a baby bird from its nest. This is her wings taking their first flight, except her wings are tied together and she can't move no matter how hard she tries. Stuffed, that's what she is. Stuffed and ready to be served.

As the second daughter of the red king, she does not hold the most imperative position in the kingdom, but she certainly holds a role. And because of that this carriage, her restricted wings, is taking her where she needs to be to fulfill that role. It's funny, though. It's funny that a woman of such a helpless status as herself would be forced to partake in such a brutal tradition, despite the sensitivity of the moment. Ju is led through the kingdom of Red, on her way to the Kingdom in the east, in but a small man-held carriage of wood. This is tradition, and therefore the princess cannot close her eyes despite the pitch darkness around her.

Where she is going, her life will be very different. As a woman without a husband, she has lived as herself. But now, she will be married. That is why she is covered in red from head to toe, that is why she is traveling in this unforsaken carriage through the dangerous hills and forests between the two kingdoms in the east and in the west. Her marriage to the man in the east cannot happen until she has finished her journey, and there are only seven people with her on the way. The two men who drag her carriage, and the five who guard it. No horses are allowed. It's tradition. Everything must be done traditionally when people of her sex are involved. It has always been like that.

Once, she had seen a painting in the many halls of the imperial palace. It was the last time she would ever come to visit the palace. And there she saw a painting in the room of glass, in the palace of serenity. The face of a man with something so deep in his eyes, the emperor of the previous dynasty. Although having died young many years ago, he resembled the feathers of a peacock. Colorful, bright, proud, and everlasting. But it was so odd because he did not look like that. In fact, his face was as dull as the night sky on a cloudy day, and his expression was as grim as her mother's expression on her deathbed. But his eyes were so fascinating that it was hard to look away.

She felt connected to the painting, and it nearly hurt more to say goodbye to it, than to say goodbye to her father who had orchestrated this entire marriage of convenience.

Princess Ju sat awake, thinking about those paintings the carriage continued rocking on, swinging from side to side on the bumpy dirt road. She felt bad for the two men pulling her carriage, but not as bad as she felt for herself. At least they were allowed to stay in their homes. She was the one who through this marriage had now been cast out and doomed to this ridiculous life

Princess Ju, second daughter of the Red Emperor, is doomed to this life of marriage despite knowing how it will end.

Just like her sister, dead by his hands, that stupid, dangerous crown prince of the East.

If only that beautiful scholar from the golden empire could save her. Otherwise, all the begging she had done in her letter would be for nothing.