Within a dark room filled with barrels of aged wine, a girl with black hair silently sobbed as she clutched the edges of her dress. The room would occasionally shake, causing dust to fill the air.
"When will Master come back for me?" the girl muttered between laboured breaths. "I hate these tight places."
Vivid memories of a horrible childhood flashed past her eyes. Being locked in a cupboard for days at a time by her mother, who endlessly screamed at her through the door, "A noblewoman should watch what she eats! Did you dare to ask the cook for another portion? Starve in there for all I care!" The raving woman continued to rant about every little flaw in Melinda's personality. She was starved and beaten daily; any servant that tried to help her was either fired or joined Melinda in the beatings. Melinda complained to her father, but he always gave her an indifferent expression. He simply turned a blind eye toward her suffering.
