Thud, thud, thud. 

Each hard knock against the door sent shivers up my spine. I had to cover my mouth to avoid being heard. "Open up, you bastard of a whores' son! We know you stole the bread! Should we tell the emperor huh? How your filthy hands ran through the cabins of the scullery? How those disgusting criminal hands of yours touched the food of the royal family!?" Silence followed. Did they leave? They come here every day. Sometimes they even bring food. A water bowl with crumbs of mud in it. They said I should be thankful that I was being fed, since a son of an unmarried commoner who dared to spread her legs for beings as divine as the emperor shouldn't even be allowed to breathe. I was thankful; these people were the only ones who kept me alive. That was what I thought. Until I saw her.  

I lost my mother that day. We were confined to a small cottage far off the palace grounds. We were never allowed to step foot anywhere else, because people like us would spread illness, and we should hide. I always thought that it was because the emperor wanted my mother to be close. He thought she would leave immediately if she could, and he was right. She did. She ran as far as she could. I never blamed her. It was my mother's life too, and it would be selfish to say that I wanted her to stay with me. She was almost free. She ran, ran, and ran. I could see she was close to the edge of the forest. But then, an arrow was shot. Right in her back. She fell, hard, on the ground. She stopped moving. I ran as fast as I could. That's when the people in harness dragged her away; they were the king's people, they said. They'd take care of her. But how could they, when they were the very people who shot her down? But what could I do? Someone like me couldn't protest anyway. I slumped back, crying. I hadn't cried that day, not even when she packed her bags and told me she was leaving. Not even when she told me she couldn't look at me, because half of me was him. This time, I bawled.  

My tracks came into an halt when a large carriage came trough the large white gates. The gates were the paragon of showing how rich our royal family was. Tall, with golden frills. It gave everyone the same warning: don't impose, unless you're someone deserving, someone with a title. Ofcourse, I am saying this while standing behind this fence. This carriage is ready to go to the other side. The side where they serve things on a golden platter. That means the people on this carriage are nobles. My mother told me I'm half a noble, but that makes me even worse. The knights next to the fence spoke to a man in attire. Lately, I'm getting better at distinguishing people by their attire. This man is richer than a lot of people who pass through these gates. That's also possibly why they're in within 10 seconds. After they pass, the carriage comes to a stop. The man walks out and says something to someone inside the carriage. He walks towards the palace. The person in the carriage doesn't come out until the man is out of sight, so I assume they've been told to settle down. Not that I care, those people don't talk to me anyway. I almost turn around to walk back, but then I hear a ruffle.

 Someone is stepping outside. Not someone big, someone with strong and long legs, flat shoes and laces. No, those legs are short, thin, and the shoes are pointy. How does one even  walk on that? The tiny person steps out completely and jumps on the ground. This pipsqueaks hair was long, no. That wasn't just how you described... the.. girl!? That's definitely a girl. The palace seemed to reflect around her. Like it existed solely to fit her picture. Gold specks of dust floated around her golden hair. The hair touched her heels. How do you manage that everyday? Mother told me my hair was already troubling, and it's just up to my ears. Then, the strange creature looked around. Like she was looking for something. And then, just when I was wondering what her face look liked, her eyes settled on me. Red. Her eye color. Like a forbidden fruit. Something you should never look into, or you'll want it. And there isn't anything to want. She looked like she found what she was looking for. Me. But why? No. She can't. I smell like a dog, I'm hideous. So she couldn't-. But then, she paced towards me. And quick.

"Hello." She said.

It was like she sung a lullaby. She sounds like the music box of the dancing lady we have inside our cottage.

Episode 1 end.

Hello dear reader,

thank you for starting on my novel. We have a long way to go! I still don't have cover art.. so I thank you for trusting in me even though there isn't a handsome male lead to look forward to.

But I can assure you, I will fight for one!

Until the next episode!

Love,

Haesu.