As soon as Yuki walked back into the palace, Sean stepped out from behind a door and approached the basin.
"Bring the girl, host, and return to your home. She will come with me. If Yuki comes to me for the consummation of this marriage, I will release you."
"Will you be kind to her?"
"With Selytha? Perhaps. With Yuki? Never." Sean said with a cutting look and walked away. He was anxious to know what tricks Yuki would use to seduce him.
...
That evening, without an invitation and without their agreeing, Yuki and Sean met in the dining room and ate together. In silence. Sean was enjoying himself. He pretended not to notice the dress that was too tight on her body and the cleavage at breast level. She had also worn make-up typical of her people and he immediately imagined that Janethe was already giving her directions.
He put down his cutlery and stood up.
Yuki immediately abandoned her food and stood up too, placing her hands on his chest and looking into his eyes.
"Durin, please..."
"Sean..." He corrected, looking at her tempting lips.
"Sean."
He pulled away from the contact of her hands.
"Tell me what you want, Yuki."
"I want you to stay with me tonight."
He looked interestedly at her body.
"Without reproach?"
She looked inquiringly at him.
"I think so."
"Is that all you want, Yuki? You're not going to ask me for anything in return for this... Sacrifice?"
Yuki shook her head.
"No, Sean. This isn't a sacrifice, this..."
Sean advanced on her and pushed her against the table and his arms wrapped around her body, squeezing it against his own.
"You don't do anything without getting something in return." He said with his lips very close to hers.
"No, Sean. You got it wrong..."
Sean pulled away a little and then turned her back to him and made her lean against the table.
He didn't see the surprise in her eyes or the tears.
"So, you're telling me that I can consummate this marriage here and now, that you won't consider it 'violence'?"
Yuki bit her lip. She didn't understand why Sean was doing this. This wasn't how she had planned it that night.
Sean's hands moved over her body.
"Well, Yuki? I need to hear it!" He said angrily.
Yuki knew she had no other choice.
"Yes. You can consummate the marriage here." She said, closing her eyes as she felt him rip her dress as he lifted it violently and then heard him opening his own belt and then the pain. She cried, but didn't scream. He didn't stop. And she knew he was aware of the pain in her body. When he pulled away, she still stayed in that position, waiting for him to sodomize her again.
But he just put his penis back inside his pants and made her turn towards him.
"Don't you ever dare betray me again, Farida. Don't you ever dare lie to me again! I know now that you've always been a slut!" He said and angrily released her. "You gave up your body so you could see your daughter, right? If I could, Yuki, I would have gone back and never married you. Now, I'm Pharaoh and I have no choice but to start a family with you. And since you like to sell your body... I'll buy it. Every time you make me happy in bed, I'll let you spend an hour with Selytha. And every time you give me a child... Yes, I want lots of children." He amended when he saw her face contract in disgust. "Only in your months of pregnancy will you be able to spend more time with Selytha than an hour a day. And you'll have nothing left of me. I'm disgusted with you, Yuki. As far as I'm concerned, from now on, you're just the body that bears my children." Sean said and left.
...
Yuki arrived in her room, with dried tears blurring her makeup.
Janethe approached her with a worried look on her face.
"My Farida! What's wrong?"
Yuki passed her and after looking at her decay in the mirror began to remove what was left of her dress, and Janethe ran to help.
She put on her robe and after washing her face, Janethe helped her brush her hair.
"Yuki, if I can help..."
"No one can help me, Janethe. I put myself in a degrading situation and... Now my daughter is being held hostage by the man who... It doesn't matter."
"Do you have any children?"
"Only one daughter."
Janethe looked thoughtful as she brushed Yuki's hair.
"I was abused for a long time by the Gumis and it left me with a keen intuition. As soon as I looked at you when I walked through that door, I knew that you had been sexually abused."
"How did you know that?"
"I knew it from the look in your eyes. It was the same one I saw every time I looked in the mirror."
"Life hasn't been generous to both of us."
"Yes, it has. You have a daughter and I was saved and now I'm here. The women who came before me weren't so lucky."
"You mustn't repeat to anyone that I have a daughter."
"I know."
"Do you think I was wrong to bring my daughter to this country?"
"No. Don't think like that, Yuki. You're next to the man you love and you'd never be happy if a part of you was missing. As for these laws... Well, you changed the law to save me, you can do it again to save your daughter."
"Do you know where the palace dungeon is?"
"This palace has three..."
"The bronze sword dungeon?"
"Yes."
"I want you to go there and I've told the host that I've done what we agreed and I look forward to him fulfilling his promise to me."
Janethe put the brush on the dressing table.
"I'll go straight away." She said and left.
Yuki closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and that was all she had time to do before Sean burst into her room. She stood up and looked bravely at him.
"I met with Janethe. I told her to go to sleep. Selytha is no longer with the host."
"What do you want here, Sean?"
"What do I want here? Yuki, you still don't seem to understand that if you want to ensure your daughter's safety, you won't have any more privacy. However, today I'm still so disgusted with you that I feel repulsed at the thought of touching you again. I'm here to warn you to put a smile on your face whenever we're in public. I want to convey the image of a happy, perfect couple to everyone and don't you dare even blink uncomfortably when I approach you in front of other people. You're an excellent actress, Yuki. It won't be difficult for you to act that you're a good wife."
"You can't hurt Selytha. She can be your daughter too."
"That girl means nothing to me, Yuki. No Pharaoh ever cared about his daughters. And now that the people need Gumis, I won't care if she's handed over to them either. I think that the great Pharaohs of the past also felt this way about their daughters and so gave them to the Gumis."
"Selytha is just a child!" Yuki said indignantly.
"She'll grow up, Yuki. The Gumis really need to wait until the child is at least twenty years old before they can take possession of their... Protected."
The tears rolled down Yuki's face again.
"You said you'd let me see her whenever you..."
"No. I said I'd let you see her whenever you made me happy. Do I look happy to you?"
Yuki moved a little closer.
"Sean... We can be happy. It doesn't have to be like this. Let's not waste our youth on enmities. I never intended to hide anything from you. I'm not your enemy."
Sean looked at her coldly.
"Yes. I want to live in peace with you, Yuki. But you've made it a very difficult task. As long as I don't forgive you, it'll be the way I've told you. Follow all my guidelines and in a few years, I'll look at you and I won't see this woman standing in front of me."
"How do you see me now?"
"A dirty woman. A woman who deceives. Who lies."
Yuki couldn't hold his gaze.
"And yet you want a woman like that to be the mother of your children?"
"I don't have a choice."
"You didn't marry me on impulse, did you? It was all an act."
"I'm not as cunning as you, Yuki. But I confess that I planned to ask you out on a date for many months and when I saw you in my living room, and Mycon pressuring me to get married... I thought this was a good opportunity." Sean said and walked to the door, but turned around before leaving. "I love you, Yuki. But I'll never let that feeling guide my life." He said and left.