An Exchange Bride For Mr Williams

~ASHLEY~

The room I wait in is a large, cosy room that is hauntingly quiet and features enormous portraits of red roses hanging from the walls.

Even if my body was six times larger than it is, the sinking soft bed I'm lying on would still be too large. I wear a black, see-through lace lingerie that is tied with a red butterfly bow around my waist.

When I arrived here, a maid gave it to me to wear. "Courtesy of the William family," she had said.

The lingerie is soft against my skin, but the fabric feels foreign. Wrong.

Like I’m wearing someone else’s skin...

... Diane’s skin.

I'm pretty sure I look like an offering to appease a god in heat right now because I have a blindfold tied around my eyes—the black gauze turning the world into shadows, preventing me from seeing much.

My hands are tied behind me, the silk tie just loose enough not to cut off circulation but tight enough that I can’t wiggle free.

Suddenly, the fragile silence in the room is broken by a click sound. I let out a soft whimper softly as the door creaks open.

I stiffen, my breath catching in my throat.

The only sound made by whoever enters is the muffled noise of shoes stepping on the thick rug that covers the floor, and I go pale with fear, my breath hitching.

I hear nothing else and the more time I spend in the awful silence, the faster my heart beats.

I freeze and go still when the bed dips beneath me. Warm fingers brush my cheek, rough against my skin, and I flinch so hard my entire body jerks.

I sigh softly, my lips parting as the fingers leave my face, and I tremble like reed on water.

"Please," I utter in a shaky tone. "Please... let me go."

The visitor repeats, "Let you go?"

I can tell that he's male because of the deep, commanding male baritone voice that is simultaneously strong, cold, and demanding. He's the person sent to inspect my body.

I hear the man chuckle. The sinister sound feels so cruel, cold, unfeeling, and almost wicked.

"Regretting you accepted this marriage so quickly?" His voice is ice wrapped in velvet—smooth, but with an edge that makes my stomach clench. 

There is no single emotion in his voice—I can detect neither happiness nor rage from him. It sounds empty.

It feels like it's merely a robot with a heart made of stone, blood, and bones asking a cold question without any form of emotion. The lack of warmth in his voice makes my entire body tremble.

I swallow hard.

I shouldn't even be in this room with him in the first place, but tonight, I'm standing in for my younger sister, Diane West.

There's long been a marriage agreement between the William and West families—the heirs to both family engaged to marry.

However, there's a secret feud between both families as the heads of the house had some kind of issue in the past. 

Because of the feud, the Williams deliberately put a body checking rite in place as a condition for Diane's marriage to their son as a means to deter Diane from getting married into their family.

Because who in their sane mind would agree to such?

Well, there enters my father—barely in his right mind. He's so blind about climbing up the social ladder, and a union with the Williams will give him just that, so it doesn't matter what cost it comes at—whether he needs to jump into a pit of fire, or swim across an ocean of sh*t. 

He offered me up in Diane's stead as the sacrificial lamb, to protect his precious daughter.

And I'm supposed to just s*ck it up and pose as Diane for tonight since no important family member of the Williams would be overseeing the rite, and there'd be no problem with identities later.

At least, that is what I have been told.

A bodyguard, or someone from the lower class of the Williams family is to examine my body, and although I never wanted this, my life stopped being mine to preside over a long time ago... Since I was born from an affair with another woman.

However, I'm not prepared for this at all since this means pretending to be like Diane. How, on earth, am I supposed to act like the jade of West family when I've never experienced that treatment myself?

My brain snaps to reality.

"I... I don't regret it," I say boldly, except, my quivering fingers betray my facade.

My eyes are still blindfolded, and save for the perfume that invades my nose, I can sense nothing of the man before me.

"You don't?" He asks, a mocking edge to his voice. Even though I can't see him, I can feel his aura; almost as though he is a king, and I, his subject. 

His finger traces the side of my face down to my chin. "Even after knowing what you were sent here for?" 

I feel his breath on the side of my face next; It is warm, with the faint scent of whiskey in it.

The whiskey smells expensive though.

I frown. Is it a common phenomenon for a lower part of a noble family to be able to drink such exquisite wine?

"No..." I whimper as his nose brushes the lower parts of my neck, squirming under his touch.

"So you don't feel aggrieved?" he asks, but this time, I can hear a tinge of emotion in his voice. Almost like, pity??

"I don't feel aggrieved but if I could choose, I definitely wouldn't be here," I say, gritting my teeth.

As the secret illegitimate child of the West Family, I don't have any say in any matter. Not even ones relating to my life.

It is the price I pay for being born out of an affair, and I've been told that I should be happy I'm privileged to pose as Diane tonight.

A rite as humiliating as this—to check if I have been touched by another—is what I should be happy about having to endure?

Sure.

What I don't know however, is how personal this body examination will be and how far it will go.

I jerk away when his nose brushes my collarbone. 

"Do you think you’re in any position to refuse me, Miss Diane?" He asks, and I can't faintly hear the smirk in his tone.

The way he says her name—my sister’s name—drips with disdain. Like the very syllables disgust him.

I harden my expression when he brushes my hands, his fingers touching my arms.

Another chuckle. Darker. Crueler.

His hands slide to my sides, loosening the ties around my wrists. For one wild, hopeful second, I think he’s letting me go.

Then his voice drops, low and mocking.

"Don't act all coy and innocent now," he says sarcastically.

"You and I both know your family is desperate to climb the social ladder using this family's standing. That's obviously why you're eager to make this marriage work by agreeing to their demand."

I say nothing...

Not because I'm not able to, but because I can't. How am I even to deny what he says when it's the truth?

There is a low rumble outside, followed by the clap of thunder, masking my emotions.

"If it isn't for this matter, you are not worthy of my time, I assure you." He adds.

I feel as though I am in the rain, only the dust before I am washed away.

He pulls at the tightly tied ribbon and it comes loose, causing my lingerie to open slightly. Cold air hits my skin.

I squeeze my eyes shut even though I am already blindfolded.

"Just get it over with," I whisper.

I'd like nothing more for my father to burst through the door and retrieve me, saying he's sorry for ever sending me in the first place, but that'll never happen.

I'm worth nothing in his eyes, and they all treat me the same way—like a worthless piece of flesh. And by they, I mean Mr and Mrs West, and even Diane.

"I promise," he mumbles, breaking my train of thought, as he presses my back onto the bed. "This won't hurt a bit."

A tear slides down my cheek.

Liar.

︎ꨄ︎ASHLEYꨄ︎

It rained all night, with thunder clapping viciously in the black sky, and cold, fat drops of rain pattered like tiny stones against the window.

I know this because it wasn't until dawn before I fell asleep. 

The bright morning showers in sunlight—yellow, and warm like molten butter. It's almost as though the night before never happened.

I open my eyes, my lashes fluttering like butterfly wings against the blinding brightness. As I sit up, I recognize immediately that the room I'm in isn’t mine. But if it isn’t, then where am I?

Just then, the events of the preceding night rush like floodwaters through a broken dam into my mind, and my drowsiness is replaced with fear.

I glance at the space beside me and find I'm alone on the same large bed from yesterday. The sheets are wrinkled and rumpled though.

Red stains mark the sheets, but I’d rather not think about what they mean—although