Chương 2: Chapter 1 - Unfair Judgment

Kiara couldn't do anything right. She often broke things by accident, without meaning to. It was mostly bad luck. She wasn't super strong or anything, she just happened to be there when things gave out their last breath. If a chair had been on its last leg for some time, it would almost certainly break when she was the one sitting on it. Her shoes would catch a loose floorboard in just the wrong way, and pull it up, snapping the board. She wasn't especially clumsy either, just incredibly unlucky.

At least that's what she told herself. She was certain that she was a burden to her parents, compliments of her bad luck, even though they constantly reminded her that she was still their daughter, that they loved her dearly, and there was nothing she could do to lessen their love for her. But still, she sometimes heard them whispering in hushed tones at night, worried about her… worried about the family finances and making ends meet when so many things were going wrong.

They'd hoped she'd get married, and find a nice husband, maybe settle down in the village, or even close by on the outskirts. Maybe close enough to help them finish raising her two younger siblings, Ava and little Gabe, ages fourteen and three. But she couldn't even get married right! Kiara wasn't especially pretty, but she wasn't ugly either. She was just what you would expect from a poor farm girl that lived on the outskirts of a tiny, non-descript village in the middle of nowhere in The Central Kingdom.

When Doug had proposed, it had come as a complete surprise to her, although she expected her parents had known beforehand, if the glint in her mother's eye was any indication. Doug's parents had known Kiara's parents since they were kids. They were a nice family, and had always been kind to her. Doug was soft spoken, and Kiara hadn't spent much time with him, but the few times she had, he had always been perfectly polite and kind to her.

The ring he'd proposed with wasn't anything special, just a simple band of iron that he'd had the village blacksmith make for him, but her eyes had filled with tears as he'd held it out to her. The symbolism behind it meant more to her than any fancy ring could ever replace. She honestly wouldn't have minded marrying Doug, which is why she had promptly decided to accept his proposal.

Before replying verbally, she reached out to accept the ring, but of course, with her luck, she had fumbled and dropped the ring before it could make its way onto her finger. To make matters worse, it cracked when it hit the ground. She hurriedly bent down to pick it up, but Doug also bent to pick it up, and their heads smacked nice and hard.

She had knocked him out cold, the poor soul, and when she retrieved the ring she accidentally stressed the crack in the ring at just the right angle that it came apart in two pieces in her hand. Or at least that's the explanation the blacksmith had given when asked why the ring broke so easily. He was perfectly sure he'd tempered it properly, and that it shouldn't have cracked at all, much less broken in two.

The only explanation he could think of for why it broke like that was that she'd managed to drop it at just the right angle to find a hidden weak point, and then pressured it in the perfectly wrong way as she picked it up. He'd never seen anything like it. When Doug came to, he saw the ring broken in half, and his cheeks went as red as a ripe tomato. He'd rushed off without saying a word.

She figured she'd better give him some time to collect himself, so she waited until the next morning to bake a small loaf of bread and take it to his house. When she arrived, he wasn't there. His parents said he was convinced she'd rejected his proposal. Although he wasn't heartbroken or anything, seeing as how they hadn't properly courted yet, he'd felt that he had no prospects for marriage in the village any longer, now that he'd been rejected once. He'd left to join the royal army.

And now, five years later, Kiara's parents were worried that she'd never find a match. Well, that suited her just fine, she wasn't too keen on the marriage idea after what had happened with Doug. She could only imagine how much worse it might have been if they actually had managed to get married. What would she have broken then? His heart? Their finances? Her… kids? She didn't know if she could trust herself to be a mother, as she didn't know if she could raise a child to adulthood without breaking it by accident.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. So, it came as no surprise to her that she had ended up where she was now, in front of Lord Grivalt. He was a weaselly looking man, balding, but with wisps of hair that he routinely slicked back with oil, leaving his head with an icky shine, and the hair coated in grease. Looking at him made her shudder. Not that she was allowed to look at him.

He was a tier 2 mage, and the Lord of the village and the surrounding area, and she was just a commoner. Rightfully, she should keep the extent of her interactions with him to bowing. All the same, she had taken a quick peek as she was brought before him, just to get a measure of the man she was dealing with. Just being in his presence gave her the heebie jeebies. And not from a magical aura or anything, he just gave off major 'that guy is the worst' vibes.

As a tier 2 mage, he didn't really have an aura, at least not that she could feel, but he was still powerful enough to erase her from existence with a flick of his hand. She wasn't really scared of death, but she knew it would be hard on her parents, so she really hoped he wouldn't kill her. It wasn't really even her fault that she was in this mess, just bad luck, really. His carriage had been driving through the village and had hit a pothole in the rough dirt road as it drove by her.

The wheel had come loose, and she'd ran forward to try and alert the driver before it came off. Of course, it came off right as she ran up to the carriage, and she'd been blamed for the entire incident. Now she was here, awaiting his judgment.

"So, this is the worthless trash that attacked my carriage?" he asked. Uh... what? She thought to herself. Is this guy an idiot? I didn't attack anything! As bad as it was to look at him, listening to him was even worse. His voice was nasally and full of disdain. She hoped he had at least a shred of intelligence and decency, and would be willing to hear her side of the story. She dropped to her knees, kowtowing before him in an act of humility.

"My Lord," she began, but the guard standing nearby bashed her on the head with the staff he was holding.

"Silence!" The guard roared.

"You will not speak unless Lord Grivalt asks you to speak."

"Thank you, Trevon," Lord Grivalt said haughtily to the guard that had hit her. So there was that. Not even a tiny sliver of the decency that she'd been hoping for.

"What's her name?" Lord Grivalt asked with a sneer.

"Kiara Dunsun, sire," Trevon responded. Kiara kept her head down, but could see from Grivalt's shadow that he nodded in response.

"Find her parents and her family," Grivalt replied, "They will serve as indentured servants here at the estate for the next 10 years as punishment." What?! Kiara felt her cheeks flush with anger at the injustice. Not only was this not her fault, but now he wanted to punish her family as well? It didn't make any sense, why would he do such a thing? She had heard stories of evil people who abused their power in such ways, but had never expected to meet one in her lifetime.

The overwhelming urge to protect her family got the better of her, and she looked up in defiance at Lord Grivalt.

"My family has nothing to do with this!" She exclaimed loudly.

"Why, you…" Trevon took another swing at her head, but she dodged it just in time, and his staff hit the ground, splintering in two. She barely spared it a glance.

"I didn't attack your carriage! I tried to warn your driver that the wheel was coming loose. And even if I had, why punish my family? They didn't do anything wrong. Do whatever you want to me, just please… spare my family." She'd started out strong, but ended on a soft note, trying to appeal to any sliver of humanity left in that man's soul. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything there to appeal to. Trevon grabbed her roughly by the hair and hauled her to her feet, then punched her hard in the stomach.

She doubled over in pain, coughing hard and on the verge of throwing up. Lord Grivalt held up a hand.

"Enough, Trevon. Go and find her family, and bring them back to the estate. For her insolence, they'll serve me for the next 20 years instead of 10. Go at once, I'll deal with this one myself." Fear for her family flashed through her mind as Trevon exited the room. What had she done? She couldn't even get punished properly! She'd accidentally dragged her entire family into this. Her parents were hearty and adaptable, they'd be fine. But what about Ava? She was only fourteen.

And little Gabe was only three, he wouldn't understand what was happening. Their entire lives would be upended, just because she's tried to do the right thing and warn that stupid carriage driver about the wheel being loose. She should have just let it come off and let the carriage crash. That would have served Lord Grivalt right. She felt her body rise into the air, although Grivalt hadn't touched her physically. She tried moving, but couldn't, he was controlling the air around her, keeping her locked in position.

He raised her head so that she was looking at him.

"I want to be the last thing you ever see," he said with a snarl.

"I don't usually waste my time with trash like you, but I'll make an exception this time." He smiled wickedly and snapped his fingers. Everything went black.