The Spider Queen

Chapter 172: The Tragedy Of A Slave

(Nameless Slave girl’s POV)

Beauty is a blessing.

Beauty is a curse.

Slavery has been formally outlawed under the Earth Federation government for over one thousand years. 

Having experienced the oppression by the terrible Draxes, it was a key point written into the constitution of the Federation that we would not inflict those same sufferings onto others.

As a child growing up in a relatively well-off family, slavery had always seemed like a foreign concept discussed only when talking about ancient history.

There were always rumors and articles circulating occasionally on the virtual net that one could buy people on certain dark sites, but I dismissed them as pure nonsense.

Any commoner found owning a slave or taking part in the slave trade would be punished with a death sentence regardless of the circumstances.

I used to be just a normal girl going to high school, hanging out with friends, gossiping about boys, and arguing with my parents.

My beautiful face and goddess-like physique always made me stand out when placed within a crowd. 

In fact, I even had silly dreams of going into the entertainment industry.

I was blessed with long flowing golden hair, piercing deep blue eyes and a fair complexion inherited from my mother who used to be a model.

Although competition was quite fierce in the industry, I was vain enough to think that I could stand out among the sea of virtual idols.

My parents always had a rocky relationship, but I always had enough money to spend on clothes or anything that caught my eye.

I had even managed to befriend a girl from a noble house named Athena Gardford who would take me to social gatherings under the guise of her attendant.

Seeing the wealth and prestige of the noble class really made me feel a sense of envy but my good looks and charming personality allowed me to fully assimilate into the circle.

My popularity gradually eclipsed Athena’s and I could not count the number of love letters sent my way from eager noblemen. 

One of those letters came from a young man who was the second son of a Count and very handsome as well.

His name was Logan Fisher.

He was the perfect gentleman and wooed me with sweet words and promises that made my younger self swoon with happiness.

I decided to give him a chance and accepted his courtship with some hesitation in the back of my mind. 

He took me to magnificent restaurants, showered me with only the finest jewels and made me feel like a queen.

Our relationship was a secret, but I decided to share my experiences with my close friend Athena as I just had to tell someone.

If only I had known, the disaster that one stupid decision would bring me…. 

Unbeknownst to me, my boyfriend was actually engaged to Athena by a marriage pact long before the two were born.

My naive and innocent self excitedly told a noble girl how I was in a relationship with her fiance and described our dates in great detail.

Athena to her credit did not deal with me personally and I truly believe that she never found out what exactly happened to me.

She simply told her father who contacted Logan’s family and informed them of the situation that was going on.

Count Fisher was a no-nonsense man and immediately let his son know that he needed to break up with me.

Logan refused without a second thought and continued to bring me to various places as his companion.

It was a tense situation as my friendship with Athena was now broken beyond repair, but my boyfriend assured me that he would be there for me forever.

One day I was contacted by Count Fisher who arranged a meeting with me at a private restaurant that he owned.

I wanted to make a good impression on my boyfriend’s father, so I dressed up in my finest clothes and met him.

Count Fisher did not even wait for me to take a seat before holding out a thin credit card and offering me a sum of one million Enas to leave his son alone.

This was a crazy amount of wealth to an ordinary girl, but the months spent together with Logan had made me reluctant to give him up.

He promised me that we would be together forever. In my heart I knew that I had finally found my soulmate.

I politely refused the count and professed my love to his son. 

I told him that all the money and power in the world was useless to me. 

I simply wanted to be with Logan.

He was my happily ever after.

I could still remember the strange expression that flashed across the count’s face as I ended my speech.

He said little for the rest of the meeting and I left the restaurant with the mistaken belief that I had persuaded my future father in law to see my point of view. 

My second mistake was not taking the damn money.

For I soon learnt about the power difference between a young commoner girl and the hidden forces of a noble house.

It was only a few days later that Logan broke up with me. 

His father threatened him with disinheritance and those sweet flowery words and promises amounted to nothing.

It was then that I realised what the expression that flashed across the count’s face really was….

Ridicule. 

And yet that was not the end of the story, my existence was seen as a thorn in the engagement between Athena and Logan.

An open secret that was gossiped about in the noble circles. 

Count Fisher was not amused as the political benefits from such an alliance were just too important to mess up. 

His solution was to contact a group of pirates to kidnap me and send me off the planet. 

As for where he got the idea from…. I suspect that it was Logan himself who gave him the answer.

He must have reasoned that my disappearance would cause the gossip to eventually fade. 

Who knows if they were right or not.

I was walking home from school one day and suddenly the world turned dark. 

I awoke several hours later to find myself on a strange starship. 

My body was restricted with metallic bindings and I was inside of a cell.

Dirty greasy men and women stared at me with expressions ranging from pity to open lust. 

I was terrified.

Tears flowed down my cheeks and I begged my captors to return me to my family. 

I threw away my dignity and knelt as I pleaded with them to show mercy.

It was no use.

My impressive beauty caught the attention of the crew, but the captain saw an opportunity instead and kept me in an isolated prison for my own safety.

Commoners were unlikely to take the risk to buy slaves, so the majority of traders targeted members of the nobility.

Virgins or untouched slaves would fetch a higher price, so the captain was determined not to let his men have their way with me.

Perhaps in a sick twisted sort of way I should thank him.

Compared to the experiences of my fellow sisters sold to the slave traders, I was relatively fortunate not to suffer any sexual humiliation.

As for what would happen after I was sold…. 

I did not dare to think about it.

It was obvious that with my beauty, I would be nothing more than a pleasure hole to the noble who bought me.

I spent three weeks onboard the vessel before arriving on a tiny planet that I would later learn was controlled by the pirate king Edward the merciless.

Once again, I was administered a strange drug and blacked out as the captain sent me to the slave market.

He must have gotten a good price as I saw him leaving the slave market with a cheerful grin on his face.

The experiences I had while being locked up and put on display in a cage will forever haunt me for the rest of my life.

We were no better than animals.

Buyers would scan our bodies and negotiate prices while those sly merchants eagerly showed off their goods.

Goods…. that’s what they called us.

Not people.

People had rights. 

We were just a commodity to be bought and sold.

I saw terrible scenes in the slave market. 

During the first few weeks, one lucky girl managed to commit suicide by stealing a dagger from the pocket of the client.

That incident resulted in a greater level of restriction and buyers were no longer to come within touching distance of the slaves. 

Good treatment and comforts were only afforded to the slaves being sold via an auction while those of us displayed on the outside were just side products.

My great beauty was not even enough to warrant a place in an auction list.

Nobles had far higher standards than what my natural body could even hope to compare to.

My doom finally arrived when I along with twelve other decently attractive girls were sent into the slums.

I was surprised that we were apparently being sold to a commoner, but little information was given to us by the traders.

From what I could gather from the whispers of the guards, we had been bought by a horrifying monster that ate humans.

The girl next to me shook with fear and begged the guards not to send her to the beast but naturally received no reply.

I don’t know why but instead of being afraid….

I just felt relief.

It was a small mercy to be killed than to spend a lifetime of suffering.

Walking through the slums was a novel experience as it had been the first time, I had really seen how the scenery looked outside of the slave market.

Run down shacks, sewage waste piling on the sides of the road and fierce men leering at us made shivers run down my spine.

Eventually we arrived at a wooden house slightly bigger than those around it and the guards promptly left after watching us go inside.

The door closed behind us with a dull thud which caused several girls to start screaming. 

I tried my best to keep calm and scan the surroundings for anything that could be used as a weapon. 

Then the beast walked into the room.

A massive man over seven feet tall with a bulky frame and four sharp blade-like appendages jutting out of his back.

I knew any resistance would be futile against such a monster.

Still I clenched my fist and prepared to at least try one final attack when the man dropped a small vial filled with a purplish liquid.

I tried not to inhale the fumes, but it was no use. 

As my vision swam and distorted, I prayed that my death would be a quick one.

This cruel universe and the rampant abuse of power by those wretched nobles had broken me. 

Logan…. I hope that you suffer as I did.