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Chapter 2 - The Coming of Age Trials

The Louis family name has been known in Haespia for centuries. It would be uncommon for someone not to know about them. They were the most prestigious and well-known family in the country next to the royals.

The family gained their riches by owning land in Haespia. The land was so much that when states were being finalized they got the section of land that they owned turned into one. There are six states in Haespia, and Louis is the second largest, after its neighbor, Inas.

Eleanor has not been outside her state much. Her mother always told her that there was nothing much to see in the country since everything she needed was right beyond her fingertips. That had to be the main reason why Eleanor was so against getting married. Once that happened she would be forced to stay with her spouse and her chances of ever being free would diminish to nothing.

"I'm so happy that you are finally getting married, Eleanor. I'm sure that whoever wins will be the best husband in the world. Just like Daddy." Mirabelle, Eleanor's ten-year-old sister told her, as they rode in the carriage to the arena.

Eleanor gave her sister a tight smile. She was just like all the other girls that age, thinking the same way because they were conditioned to do so. Once upon a time, Eleanor was like that too, she thought that the Coming of Age Trials would be the most important thing in her life and was the only thing that gave her value. But as she grew up and paid attention to the relationships around her, she realized that it was nothing more than a trap.

A trap that she was terrified to step into.

The sound coming from the arena was more than enough to make Eleanor want to make a run for it. There were over eight hundred people, willing to get potentially life-threatening injuries, all for the sake of marrying into her family. She understood that some people needed the money to help themselves or their families to survive, but most were here out of greed.

Her heart was racing. It had been for a week. And with each step she took towards her special seating in the arena, the more the jitters in her stomach increased and the more her heart briefly stopped beating. Teasing an escape from the situation but not giving it to her.

The closer she got to the balcony, the louder the noises from the arena became. There were not only participants but spectators as well, making the total number of people close to thirteen hundred.

"Eleanor," her mother called for her as she stopped just short of the archway leading to the balcony.

She stood just a few feet shy of the entrance. Daylight shone through the opening and brightened the otherwise dim hallway. The rest of her family had stepped into the sights of the people, cheering and calls of anticipation filled the arena as they waited to see the reason why they were all there.

Eleanor's hands trembled viciously, and she gripped her dress in a futile attempt to calm them down. Her eyes skirted around, desperately looking for a way out, but she was surrounded. Guards and maids everywhere, ready for whatever she may try.

"Eleanor." her mother called again, this time harsher. "Come here."

Her nails dug into her palms through the fabric of the dress. "Please don't make me do this."

Clearly, over her antics, Kathrine left the archway and grabbed onto Eleanor's arm. "You don't have a choice in the matter. This is what is always and will always be done."

"You're going to wave me in front of those men like a prize to be won, Mother. And I have no say in the matter of who I end up with. You don't care about any of that."

"If we didn't care then you would not be here right now. We are finding the strongest and most capable person to be your husband, Eleanor. How many times do we have to tell you this?" Kathrine slowly began to pull a resisting Eleanor towards the archway.

"And what about morals, mother? You don't know these people's intentions. I could very well end up in an abusive or controlling relationship because all you seem to care about is muscles." The closer she was getting to the balcony, the more her eyes began to burn. She could feel her throat closing with every passing second. The scream of frustration she wanted to let out seemed to be stuck in her chest but ever-expanding.

"Your father and I, just like my father and all those before me have made sure that nothing like that has ever happened Eleanor."

"You just don't seem to realize that you think they cared about you but they didn't. If they did then they would have let you choose a husband for yourself. Instead, you were given Father and told that he was suitable for you. To which you responded by thinking so."

Kathrine's face contorted into many different emotions all in a couple of seconds, but eventually, her features relaxed and she sighed. "You are just a child who does not understand anything. This trial is doing you a favor, and one day you will come to realize that."

And before Eleanor could respond, she was pulled out of the hallway and into the daylight. The reaction from the crown was instantaneous. Cheers and screams filled the arena as the people laid eyes on her. Eleanor Louis was the latest victim of her family and people were more than happy about that.

As she stood on the balcony above all those people, with hundreds of men shouting inappropriate things to her and swearing that they would win her, Eleanor could not help but feel betrayed. Betrayed by her maids for not helping her get out, betrayed by the guards who knew very well of her unwillingness to participate in this, and betrayed by her family for being too brainwashed to see how messed up this was.

How was it that she was supposed to marry one of the men down there who were promising to get her pregnant within the first week of their marriage or saying that they hoped she stayed a virgin in the five years that the trials were put off?

Eleanor's eyes scanned over the arena floor at all the contestants that were packed into it. But as she made her way to sit down, her eyes caught onto something that almost made her miss the chair completely. Or more precisely, someone.

He was surrounded by a group of people that obviously looked to be his guards. And although they were all dressed similarly, he stood out from all of them. Porcelain skin practically glowing as his blond hair shone in the sunlight with his emerald green eyes that were currently staring at her. His posture was perfect and his hand rested casually against the hilt of a sword that was attached around his waist.

There was a look on his face that conjured up a bad feeling in Eleanor's stomach and she had to slow her movement to make sure she landed in the chair properly.

"Mother," she called with a slight quiver in her voice.

"Hm." Kathrine turned away from her conversation with her husband.

"What's the Prince doing here?”

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