Charmaine's POV
We lingered a little longer in the wheat field before she took me to a road that went to a flower field.
The diversity of hues and flowers was stunning. All clashing together, magnificently developed and grown, one was taken aback by the magnificence of this specific plot of land.
All because of these flowers.
"Isn't it lovely?" She inquired, a little grin on her lips.
I nodded in agreement as we proceeded down the road that ran through the flowers, making it even simpler to get to them.
"Who owns this land?" I inquired.
"I'm not sure. Nobody does. We only know that these blooms have always been present. They attempted to clear the area and plant additional wheat here, but the wheat constantly dried up and the flowers sprang back with no one replacing them." Charlotte elaborated.
"They decided to dig deeper to remove any remaining roots beneath the earth before replanting the wheat, but none of them thrived. Every time they tried, only the flowers bloomed, so they abandoned this location." She continued to explain.
I had no clue something like this existed.
"Most individuals who have heard this story are terrified of coming too close to these flowers. Some take advantage of the situation and sell the flowers at the market; however, not everyone is aware that the flowers were taken from here. And because no one looks after these flowers, the flower merchants at the market make a lot of money, and they take all the earnings for themselves."
"That is not acceptable." I spoke my thoughts aloud.
"You are correct, and therefore, it does not take long for the business to fail. These flowers are said to be cursed." She agreed.
Cursed?
But why is that?
Who would dare to curse such lovely blossoms for no apparent reason?
Who, for example, walks about cursing flowers?
Charlotte laughed as she stooped down to pick one of the purple tulips.
"They say a man cleared this stretch of land of wheat and laid up a picnic for the woman he had a crush on. He wanted to tell her how he felt and even gave her flowers. These flowers are claimed to have been plucked from 37 different kingdoms that the guy traveled into, and it wasn't easy because flowers could only be found in the wild at the time." Charlotte provided narration.
"The woman turned him down, dumped the flowers on the ground, and fled. When the woman's father discovered him here, crying and intoxicated from rejection, he murdered the man." She concluded.
That was rather sinister.
And I couldn't believe she was brave enough to even touch these flowers.
"What made the father murder the man?" Because that seemed strange, I inquired. How could someone kill someone else so seamlessly?
There has to be a reason why the murder occurred.
"Sometimes I'm not sure whether you're truly a five-year-old." She murmured under her breath.
"Hopefully this doesn't give you nightmares and you keep calling me at night," she groaned. I agreed with a nod.
"The father had cautioned the man numerous times to keep away from the daughter since he was a slave. As a result, the guy attempted unsuccessfully to obtain release papers from his master. So he killed his master one day and eloped with all his master's riches, and he traveled across the kingdoms hiding from the authorities until he returned to profess his affections for the woman." Charlotte provided narration.
"Furthermore, these grounds belonged to the father of the woman the guy had a crush on, so the father's initial thoughts when he saw the man here were that this man was attempting to steal from him since, in the father's eyes, this man would always be a slave. As a result, he murdered him." She continued.
"After declaring bankruptcy several years later, the father tried selling these lands, and the wealthy people of the kingdom tried to purchase and tow these entire lands, but they all ended up reselling them in the end, until no one wanted to waste their money by buying these lands anymore, so the King at that time, took these lands to plant wheat for the villagers of this area." Charlotte explained.
"Is that the complete story?" I inquired.
"Why the affluent keep reselling these lands and how these flowers came to be, I have no idea," she sighed and shrugged. " If you inquire around the community, the most prevalent theory is that these flowers are the very same with that, which the woman rejected that day, and were planted as a memorial for the slain guy. I don't know who planted the flowers, so don't bother me with inquiries." Charlotte explained.
I, too, sighed.
"But what surprises me the most is that a slave may seek their master for release papers." I inquired, recalling what she had mentioned in her tale.
She responded with a nod.
"But why haven't the slaves throughout the kingdom requested them?" I inquired.
"Do you believe it'll be that simple? Slave release papers are provided to slaves who are held by a master who is terminally sick or who want to travel to another kingdom but does not wish to bring them along. Rather than reselling them to other affluent people, some slave owners may give their slaves release papers stating that they are no longer slaves and should not be bought or resold to another person." Charlotte elaborated.
"Rather of handing them release papers, most masters prefer sending them to friends or relatives or even reselling them to obtain their gold or silver back." She stated.
"Believe me when I say that release papers are rarely issued. That is why most slaves elope and are haunted by their masters for the rest of their lives until they are recaptured. They are slain once they are caught." Charlotte explained.
"There is no way out once you become a slave. The only way out is death unless you have the release papers. That is why you must use extreme caution when out there. The world doesn't care who you are; it only cares about your worth, and after they're through with you, you're quite useless to them."
"I've already talked too much. That's a lot of words for a child like you to hear." As she plucked another bloom, she came to a conclusion.