CHAPTER 1 – THE KING WHO NEVER LET A WOMAN SEE THE SUNRISE
The kingdom of Valedorn had stopped celebrating weddings years ago.
Not because people had forgotten how to love.
But because every family with a beautiful daughter lived in terror of the royal summons.
Every sunset, the palace gates opened.
Every sunrise, another funeral began.
No bells rang.
No prayers were spoken aloud.
Only a single wagon draped in white cloth rolled silently through the streets while mothers closed their children's eyes so they wouldn't witness another young woman leaving the palace for the last time.
King Adrian was only twenty-eight.
Young.
Handsome.
Brilliant in battle.
Yet everyone feared him more than any invading army.
The rumors were endless.
Some believed he was cursed.
Others whispered that a demon lived inside him after midnight.
The oldest servants swore they sometimes heard two different voices coming from the royal chamber—one belonging to the king... and another that sounded ancient, inhuman, and hungry.
But nobody dared investigate.
Because those who tried disappeared.
The royal physicians examined every victim.
No stab wounds.
No poison.
No bruises.
No broken bones.
Each woman looked as though she had peacefully fallen asleep.
Except for one strange detail.
Every body had completely white hair.
Even girls barely eighteen years old.
As though decades had passed during a single night.
The palace became a prison built from silence.
Servants were forbidden from speaking after dusk.
Guards changed shifts before midnight because no one wished to remain near the royal wing once darkness covered the castle.
Some claimed they heard screaming.
Others insisted there was only laughter.
A laugh unlike anything human.
One guard quit after seeing a woman's reflection waving from inside the king's bedroom window... even though everyone knew she had already died hours earlier.
No one believed him.
Three days later, he vanished.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring Kingdom of Ardenfall, King Aldric received another royal decree sealed with Adrian's crimson wax.
Deliver one noble daughter.
Or prepare for war.
The council erupted.
"We cannot sacrifice another innocent!"
"If we refuse, Adrian will burn every border village."
"Our army cannot defeat his."
Hours passed without a solution.
Finally...
The aging king stood.
"There is... one daughter."
The room froze.
Many ministers looked confused.
Some exchanged frightened glances.
One elderly advisor whispered,
"Does he mean... her?"
King Aldric closed his eyes.
"Bring Elisa."
Far from the palace, surrounded by forests and mountain herbs, a young woman quietly crushed medicinal leaves inside a wooden bowl.
Unlike princesses raised among silk curtains, Elisa had spent her life healing wounded travelers, delivering babies, and studying forgotten manuscripts left behind by an elderly healer named Miriam.
She knew hundreds of poisonous plants.
She knew antidotes forgotten by royal doctors.
Most importantly...
She understood something few others did.
Not every death leaves poison.
Sometimes...
Fear itself becomes the weapon.
When royal soldiers arrived, she already knew why.
Her father couldn't even meet her eyes.
"I failed you long ago."
"You owe me nothing."
"But I owe this kingdom everything."
Elisa smiled gently.
"If fate has chosen me..."
"Then perhaps fate has made a mistake."
Those words unsettled everyone in the room.
Because she didn't sound afraid.
She sounded...
Prepared.
That evening, dressed in silver instead of white, Elisa crossed the enormous palace bridge beneath hundreds of torches.
Every servant she passed lowered their heads.
Some secretly crossed themselves.
Others silently prayed for her soul.
One elderly maid suddenly grabbed Elisa's wrist.
"Child..."
"There is one thing every victim said before entering."
Elisa stopped.
The old woman trembled violently.
"They all claimed they heard someone crying inside the chamber..."
"...before the king even arrived."
Massive bronze doors slowly opened.
King Adrian sat beside the fireplace with a glass of dark wine.
His face looked impossibly calm.
Too calm.
He studied her without speaking.
Finally...
He smiled.
"My guests usually beg."
Elisa stepped closer.
"My teacher always told me monsters prefer frightened prey."
The king laughed.
A genuine laugh.
"You are different."
"So are you."
Silence filled the room.
Outside...
The enormous doors slowly shut.
Lock after lock clicked into place.
The palace bells struck midnight.
And somewhere beneath the castle...
Something answered.
Not with words.
But with a low...
May you like
Breathing sound.
To Be Continued...
