159 The Witch's Memories
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Cassandra felt the cold blade of Blake’s spear piercing through her neck, as she felt that her life was about to be taken away from her. Her eyes fixated into Blake who was ruthlessly glaring at her neck with a cold stare, her teeth couldn’t help but grit. Everything until this day, where these priests had arrived went well… Her life was finally improving after having lived miserably for so long… It made her feel extremely bitter.
Glimpses of her past reemerged within her corrupted mind, making her remember her frustrations, her fears, and the reasons behind her actions.
Cassandra was born in a poor family in the red-light districts of the Goldsand Duchy. Many people would think they would be fortunate to be born inside such a big city, but there was also a great amount of corruption in such a place, the red-light district was where all the trash gathered, which the duchy’s duke and the other nobles hid from the public, a place where all those that were poor and miserable went, and where corruption and crimes were an everyday thing.
Cassandra was the eldest daughter of his mother, a prostitute of the red-light district that sold her body to earn money. She was a woman with an expressionless face, without any hint of humanity left in her eyes, cold and ruthless to her daughter. Several times, the woman would blame Cassandra for having been born, and for even having decided to take care of her, as if she thought it was a mistake that she didn’t threw her into the trash when she was born.
To her mother, Cassandra was nothing more than a waste of money and space.
“I should had never raised you… Having a daughter had only ruined my own life even more! Die! Die!”
Her mother would push Cassandra into the ground and constantly punch her face, since she was merely 3 years of age, sometimes the pain was so unbearable that the girl fell unconscious in the ground, often waking up several hours later, confused, hungry, and sorrowful, filled with pain all over her face.
At such a young age, she didn’t knew why she was going through so much, her small mind and her immature nature couldn’t really understand why she was being treated in this manner, and she feared her mother, but at the same time, as a child, she desired her love and comfort, and always forgave her bad treatment… Mostly because she did not know better.
Anything Cassandra remotely did would piss off her mother, who would hit her to relieve her own stress, as her life was just as miserable, and she couldn’t live with the fact her daughter might be a bit less miserable than her.
Her mother barely brought any food to her, and she was often confined in the small room where she lived, with nothing but rags to wear and with not even a bed to sleep over… Many times she was forced to catch bugs and rats to eat due to the hunger killing her. She was never bold enough to steal fruits or food from other people outside, fearing she would get beaten even worse than how her mother beat her.
Everyday her mother came to the room, she reminded Cassandra that she would one day become a whore like her, and that she would use her pretty face to serve many men and earn her mother money so she could finally live on her own. Cassandra slowly figured out the reason a monster like her mother even decided to have a daughter and take care of her was because she wanted her to grow up and sell her body, give the money to her mother, and let her live off it…
“You better make yourself worth when that time comes, Cassandra! You’re a pretty girl, so I am sure that everyone would want you… Well, you’re 6 years, in four more years I suppose I can begin selling you off. There is a lot of bastards that are drooling for a little girl after all…”
“…”
“You’ll earn me a lot of money, girl, you’ll surely do… You better do, I am not sacrificing myself for you for nothing…”
“…”
Cassandra remained in silence, without knowing fully what sort of job her mother even wanted of her. As time passed, something that surprised her happened, her mother ended having another child, it was another girl. Her mother decided to make of that girl her second daughter and raise her to also one day become a prostitute that could pay for her when she was old.
Although such a horrendous fate awaited such a small little baby, the young Cassandra couldn’t help but love her sister. Her innocence, her cute appearance, and her bright and big eyes made her happy, she raised her sister as if she were her daughter, as her mother was never present in the day.
“Ruby… Your eyes are so beautiful… Like… ruby jewels…” Cassandra said, as she had named her sister as Ruby due to the beauty of the girl’s red eyes, as she held her when her sister was merely two years of age.
“Big sis… I’m hungy…” Cried Ruby, rubbing her face over her sister’s chest.
“Me too…” Sighed her sister. “But don’t worry, we’ll get to eat something soon. You have to endure it, okay? As long as we are together like this, I think I am already satisfied…”
“Satisfied?” Asked the little Ruby.
“Yeah… As long as I have you with me…” Sighed Cassandra, hugging her little sister as the two cuddled in the cold winter night, covered in various rags. “I’ll protect you no matter what… So for now, endure the hunger a bit more, okay? I’ll bring you… something to eat tomorrow morning…”
“Okay…” Sighed Ruby. “A-As long as I am with big sis… I am satisfied too…”
As her little sister slept, Cassandra looked into the mirror of that night, the moon was shining brightly with its moonlight. She didn’t knew that in such a day, things would end up changing forever.
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