Breaking Tradition || #ONC2024

Chapter 1: Falling For You

Erika had always known that this day was coming after spending years watching her older siblings disappear one by one. For years she prayed that her father would change his ways and that her life would be spared, but after celebrating her 18th birthday all alone she was woken up the next morning with news of her engagement.
Her Servants were all thrilled by the news, non-stop congratulating her all day long as if the situation was some kind of happily-ever-after fairytale. But the talk of the wedding made Erika feel sick - talk of "love at first sight" only made her feel worse.

But even though she despised the idea of being married off at her father's will, Erika never let the smile fall from her face. If her Servants knew that she was miserable then her pitiful mood would spread to them as well and Erika didn't want to crush their good spirits.

The young woman allowed herself to be dragged around through various wedding planning activities all day long just to keep everyone happy. After all, her entire purpose was to keep the centuries-old family tradition alive. She was nothing but a prized possession to be traded away to another man, her father treating her like a prized baseball card selling at auction. Throughout the day Erika wondered what her price tag had been to make all of this worth it.
A million dollars like her older sister Sabrina?
Ownership over a medical technology manufacturing company like Jessica?
Erika would never truly know what her price tag was unless her father or her groom-to-be ever shared the information with her, which was bound to never happen. Jessica and Sabrina only knew because they overheard conversations about their trade deals after the wedding night. To this day her sisters Rose and Monika still had no idea what their price tags were... and both of them were married over ten years ago.
Erika's father said the deals were secret information to keep everyone involved safe - after all some of the trade deals wouldn't look very pleasing to the public eye. He always claimed it was because he had their safety and happiness in mind but the truth was that he simply didn't want anyone to know what happened behind closed doors.

All day the only thing Erika had been somewhat looking forward to was the grand feast that was pulled together at such short notice to be a rushed practice ceremony. Of course, her father hadn't shown his face at the meal so once again it was just Erika sitting alone at a grand table. However, her feast had been cut short when a servant rushed in and dragged Erika out of her seat.
The mysterious groom-to-be had arrived several hours earlier than they had been expecting and it was bad luck to see your partner before the wedding. So instead of keeping the strange man on one side of the mansion and letting Erika live her last night alone in peace, the man was given free rein of the home and Erika was locked into her room.

Defeated, Erika collapsed back on her bed with a groan of frustration. This entire situation was completely out of her control and that fact alone was driving her mad. In less than 24 hours she was going to be forced to walk down the aisle and agree to a lifelong engagement with a total stranger.
She rolled over and buried her face into one of the many pillows on her bed before letting out a scream into the fabric, only to be cut short by a gentle knock at her door.

"Come in," Erika called out with her face still shoved into a pillow.
An elderly woman entered the room upon Erika's call, a sweet smile quickly turning to a frown as she saw Erika. "Are you okay Miss. Voxx..?"

Erika sat up with a heavy sigh, brushing the hair out of her face before giving the woman a weak smile. "Just fine Margrett is there something you needed?"
The old woman didn't seem to believe Erika but she didn't try to argue against the younger woman's word. "No Ma'am, I just wanted to make sure that nothing else was needed before I headed to bed for the night. We have a long day ahead of ourselves tomorrow."

Traditionally the daughter's closest servant would travel along with them to their new home after the marriage. It was one of the many things Erika had fought with her father about - Margrett had lived her entire life here serving the Voxx family. It didn't feel right to force her to move to an unknown location, making this sweet old woman leave her home behind. But her father wouldn't budge on the rule, furious that Erika was trying to change the terms that the Voxx family had followed for so long now.