Until Sunrise

CH 1: My Time

Yeon Mi's POV

Chains

Blood

Knives

Chains

Blood

Knives

That same pattern has been repeated over and over again to the point where I have lost count of the rounds my body has taken today. 'All this was necessary' is all that keeps echoing in my brain.  My kingdom is depending on me and they can't have someone weak as their queen.

As I look up I see my mother and father each one sitting in their corresponding chairs enjoying the wine that was given to them half way through the discipline they have been giving me. Their faces holding nothing but signs of happiness at the sight of me kneeled on the floor with nothing but blood and my underwear to cover me.

"Yeon Mi darling you are so much stronger now!" The queen states giving me what I assume to be a loving smile.

"I was just thinking the same thing, she managed not to move this time!" The king replies with a similar expression.

As I give them the best smile I can manage I reply, "I am glad to have made you proud my King and Queen."

They both turn and share a mysterious look towards each other before they start going into a deep hushed conversation only to then turn back to me.

"I think you are ready," The queen says with the same excited smile. She doesn't give me much time to think about what she means before she signals for the guard next to me to unlock the chains on my wrists and ankles and grabs a robe from the hanger next to her to wrap around my bloody almost naked body.

"Take her to her room and get her treated and if anyone other than you and the nurse sees her like this, you know what to do," the king orders to the guard.

The guard nods and lifts me up to my feet. As I am basically dragged out of the throne room, I notice how numb my body has become to all of this. For 13 years I had been training for the moment that I could no longer feel pain. I still remember the first few times my parents began doing this treatment, my mother had told me as tears streamed down my 5 year old face, "you will never become queen, as long as you have emotions you are considered weak and unworthy" From that day forward I had made a promise to myself to not let my parents down.

I had trained day and night to at least get some sort of approval from my parents. I wanted to feel the satisfaction that came with my parents giving me a hug and telling me that I did well but, now that I repeat those words in my head "I think you are ready", I finally get what they mean, that was their form of approval. I finally got their approval but now I don't feel anything? It's almost like a part of me has been shut down making me numb to everything. Even as the guard leads me towards the familiar grey hallways of the palace where my room lies, there is nothing. No pain. No emotion. Just cold and numbness.

But this is what I was trained for so this is a good thing right?

"Your highness the nurse will be here in a little while," the guard says knocking me out of my thoughts only to notice that I am already sitting in a chair in my room.

"Alright you may leave" I say with a stoic expression, after a few seconds I hear the lock of the door behind me signaling the leave of the guard.

As I get up to look out the window I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and pause, my long dark brown hair is a disheveled mess and my body is covered in blood, dirt, and scares. The only place that remains unscathed and that my parents never let the guards hit was my face because according to my mother "A woman isn't a woman without her beautiful face" . I keep looking at myself for a little until I start to feel nauseous I hug the robe tighter to my body not standing to see myself anymore and limp my way over to the window bench.