Chapter 100: Chapter 100

**Trigger Warning: This chapter contains depiction of sexual abuse and violence that may be upsetting for some readers.**

SAMALAH:

My eyes did not deceive me… It really was her! That b*tch in a red and black off-shoulder dress, it really was Dahlia Hurst!

“Hah, and he said he was coming here alone… How pathetic,” I muttered in bitterness despite myself.

Tristan did not look like he was lying to me when he said he would venture out here to Dalrus on his own. He refused to bring me with him, knowing how I feel about auctions. I believed him, but here he was arm and arm with that brown-haired, pathetic sore eye of a girl. What further proof of his lie do I need to see?

It took every inch of calmness in me not to go over there and slap him as well as that girl. I really hated the sight of them together! I hated the way they smile at each other as if they were really head over heels in love, especially Tristan, who enjoyed showcasing that skinny she-wolf in his arms!

‘Why are you getting all worked up? Didn’t you say you didn’t like Tristan,’ my wolf Ranna said in a sarcastic voice.

I hissed as her. ‘No matter how much I refused to be with Tristan, he’s ours. He has always been ours, and I don’t like sharing what ought to be ours!’

That’s right. I can still remember how Tristan and I met when we were thirteen years old. I was sold into slavery at the Talandor black auction on a moonless night just like today…

At that time, I had lost all my will to live. Everything I had ever cared for had already vanished… My father was imprisoned, and immediately, my mother and I were sold as slaves just because they had an inter-clan marriage, something that the Talandor society did not approve of.

We were treated like rags by our first two owners. My mother died one night after suffering from infection from a festering whip wound…

I was so unlucky because no matter what I did, I didn’t die… I tried drinking poison twice, but the next day, I woke up sore to my stomach but still alive. I was kicked and punched numerous times, but on every occasion, I’d rise up and perform my daily duties at the field in a heartbeat.

My young body was also taken advantage of countless of times by my masters. They referred to me as a rarity – an alluring hybrid of a werewolf and water fairy. They were monsters, incapable of showing mercy even to a child like me. The next day, I was even made to clean my own puke and mess while my body was sore from it all...

I didn’t want to live anymore! I’m done living with all this chaos and wickedness around me. There wasn’t any future for me. I had no hopes, no dreams…

The only thing that kept me alive was a half-hearted promise.

“Samalah,” my mom whispered on the moment of her death, “promise me… Promise me you will live long enough to see justice being served…”

“Mama, please… Don’t say that, please… Let’s live long enough together to see that day come…”

“I’m sorry, my princess… I don’t think I can do that… But you… You are young. Promise me you will grow up wise and strong… Promise me you will live to see the day that people like us can rise from the ashes we have been buried into.”

Before I could even swear, my mom took her final breath, and she left me alone forever…

Standing limp and bruised at that auction, I did not care at all. All I could remember was the cold that beat against my body. I didn’t even realize that I was already bought until the auction master was already pulling at the chain around my neck and bringing me down from the stage.

Even when the chain had been broken by my new, young owner, I didn’t care. I didn’t lift my head. Why bother looking at my new tormentor’s face when the experience would all be the same every single day?

“Hey you, what’s wrong with you,” I heard a little boy’s angry cry. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Why aren’t you looking at us in the eye? Can you not speak?”

I immediately went to my knees and kissed the ground. That was all of them would require me to do anyway. No need to talk back.

It would better to just play dumb. Perhaps if I did, they would let me live quietly in their house.

“What? Why are you bowing down? Stand up!” The boy’s shrill and angry voice hurt my ears, but I didn’t do anything.

“Tristan, that’s no way to treat an equal!”

For the first time since I was enslaved, I had never heard anyone refer to me as their ‘equal.’ I was so stunned that I lifted my head up to see who it was.

That’s when I saw him – a boy with dark curls and eyes that looked like violet gemstones. The boy looked like he would cry. I could see tears forming at the corner of his eyes, threatening to fall down. Next to him, an old man with grey hair smiled.

“Samalah, from now on, you are not a slave. You are a free person. Let’s get up now. The ground must be freezing cold. It will hurt your knees.”

I didn’t get up… To be exact, I couldn’t get up. I was utterly speechless.

What kind of sick joke was this? I was just sold at an auction, and they tell me I’m a free person now? How cruel can they be? Did they say that just to get a kick on how I would react? Is my hope a mere form of entertainment for them?

“Hey, uncle said you should get up, so get up,” the boy said once more. He clasped my shoulders so suddenly that I winced.

Was he going to hit me too? He was just a little boy, but it seemed like his punches would hurt should they land on me…

“Tristan, that’s no way to treat a girl. You should be gentle with her. Offer her your hand instead of touching her without consent, alright?”

The boy colored up. Did he just get embarrassed in front of me?

“Um, Miss Samalah, will you get up now? The ground is cold. You’d get sick.”

He was extending his hand towards me. His eyes were shining, and his face glowed with a smile.

I didn’t know what came over me, but without a thought, I reached my hands to him.

He carefully propped me up into a standing position, and then, he shook some of the dirt off from my knees.

I was able to see his face clearly when he stood up. I was mistaken. This Tristan - he was not just any boy. He was the most handsome boy I had ever seen in my young existence. He was so handsome, he must be a god!

Later on, I was advised that Count Milford Abell and his adoptive son, Tristan Abell, had purchased my freedom and the rest of the auctioned slaves’ freedom that day.

It was a miracle. I truly had become a free person!

In the past, I thought that all men were demons, but I was wrong. Some of them can be angels too…

Now my angel had been ensnared by that slimy snake in red. Just looking at how tightly woven Dahlia’s arm was intertwined with Tristan make me want to puke all over the auction hall.

“Let’s see if you could last the whole night clinging to him like that,” I muttered to myself.

Little did I know that my words will really come true as the night of the auction deepened.