Inside a cold dungeon where the rays of sunlight cannot penetrate, lying in the middle of a pile of moldy straw, curling up in a fetal position to keep warm. Julia awaits the hour of her trial alone with the company of the rats that usually sneak through the holes in the wall.
Five days had already passed since his arrest, without the possibility of mediating a word with Rafael. Having barely confirmed what his officer had informed him, he gave the order to throw the young woman into the cells in the basement of the castle.
With her lost gaze in the direction of the bars, Julia saw how a dim light was intensifying, projecting a silhouette on the wall. The jingle of the keys hitting her belt was the signal that the jailer was approaching to transfer her to parliament to start the trial.
Spitting on the ground as he turned the key in the lock, the guard bawled incoherently as if drunk.
"Retreat now! From here I will proceed to escort the prisoner" – The voice of a man in his thirties was heard from the other side of the fence, his appearance was barely distinguishable in the middle of the darkness by the flames of the torch, but the brightness of the pin that he wore on the lapel of his coat was unmistakable.
Antioca military academy . At the time as a fencing instructor, Alfonso shared brief moments with Julia; barely exchanging half a word except for the essentials, but having mutual respect conveyed by the clash of the blades of their sabers.
-" Alfonso, I..."
– " I don't want to hear anything that comes from you. If you have something to say, save it for the jury" – The harsh attitude with which Alfonso treated Julia was something that she already expected at the moment they spoke to each other. For all these years, she had lied to the world without the slightest qualm. In her thoughts, she considered it fair that Alfonso did not want to know anything about her, even more so for having taken her confidence as a mockery.
Putting the shackles on her wrists, the lieutenant pulled the chain signaling for Julia to start moving to get out of the prison. Putting her eyes focused on the ground, the young woman realized that Alfonso was taking her through the parts where roots or pebbles could hurt her bare feet.
That subtle gesture of kindness comforted Julia, who thought for a moment that perhaps there was hope of obtaining his forgiveness even on the brink of death.
"Liar bitch! Kill her !" – As soon as they stepped through the threshold of the cells to the main courtyard, the sunlight was so blinding that it did not allow Julia to see clearly around her. A crowd of commoners had gathered awaiting her release from prison, ready to shout insults at her and throw stones at her seeking to hurt her.
Alfonso looked at her out of the corner of his eye as she put her arms to her face trying to cover herself, making her react instinctively as a knight, raising her shield to cover her with her cape, pressing her body against his as they walked through the mob.
"Thank you, lieutenant." – Trembling a little from the cold air that hit her clothes dampened by the confinement, Julia gently pressed the edge of Alfonso's cape, who only remained silent continuing the march until reaching the doors of the court.
The officers stationed at the ends of the great door of the court, immediately approached the lieutenant to take the prisoner and take her inside the enclosure. Turning her face away for an instant, Julia watched the worried expression on Alfonso's face as the door closed.
At each end of the great hall, the dais set up for the royal officials were packed with a huge crowd. Both nobles of the capital and the always marginalized nobles of the countryside shared a place, without making distinctions between them as if they were unitedly gathered to put an end to the sinner.
Arriving at the stocks that had been arranged for the occasion, Julia was taken by the head with force and held firmly while the plank closed on her neck and wrists. Leaving her in an awkward position on her knees, causing her shoulder injury to ache as she hadn't fully recovered.
"Everybody stand up! Prince Rafael and the honorable Count Solera have entered the premises to preside over this trial!" – As a mockery of the word honor, Solera strutted with his chin up as he walked alongside the imposing figure of the crown prince. The nobles who were aware of their true nature kept their faces straight while trying to contain their contempt for a man they considered worse than a dog.
When Rafael came to the throne in front of the accused, he smiled with an expression of satisfaction at seeing the state to which poor Julia was reduced.
"The sinner has been singled out by the royal house on charges of identity theft, crown fraud and filial conspiracy against a member of the royal family! How is it declared? – Reading the charges with a severe tone that echoed on the walls of the silent room, Solera inclined his gaze with contempt on Julia, hoping that the accused would protest her innocence of the charges against her.
"I am guilty, your honor!" - With a defiant tone considering that she had nothing left to lose, Julia felt no fear when pronouncing those heavy words directly from her lips.
She thought to herself that declaring innocence would be useless in the face of the accusations that implicated her. Knowing very well that that trial was just one more of Rafael's petty games; the captive young lady preferred to face death directly to serve as a mockery with the pompous nobles surrounding her.
"Your majesty, you have already heard her! She shows no remorse for her crimes, execute her!" – The angry voices of the nobles erupted like an effervescent eddy of emotions in the courtroom, igniting the spirits before the haughty attitude of Julia.
"Silence! Do you dare give orders to your lord?" - Pounding his fists against the armrests of the throne, Rafael raised his voice and directed his gaze to the dais where the nobles were scolding him.
The awkward silence that followed the monarch's outburst left the room submerged in a tense calm, while Rafael put his hand to his forehead while gnashing his teeth with a crouched look at her.
That reaction was unexpected for Julia, who did not know why Rafael, being so impulsive and complacent towards those who wanted to gain his favor, was keeping quiet even though that request was very much in keeping with the bloodthirsty tastes of the heir to the crown.
"As you know, my father, King Edward II this morning has fallen into agony after his illness worsened. In the last moments of lucidity, your lord and my lord, as a last wish, have asked me to show mercy to the accused.
That is why, before the plenary meeting, this is my verdict as the wish of your king: Since her real identity is not that of Andrés de Valera, the accused is deleted from the family lineage registry of the Valera house. Being relegated to commoner status.
On charges of fraud against the royal family and conspiracy, his punishment should be the death penalty. However, for having yourself executed the traitor of the Duke Rogelio Valera, you are acquitted of all charges" – The verdict of acquittal pronounced by the lips of Rafael, was like receiving a breath of air in the midst of the suffocating ordeal of the confinement that he had lived .
Julia considered that being demoted to commoner was something insignificant if it allowed her to stay alive; allowing him to leave the kingdom, in search of Princess Elena's allies and bring with him the documents that would end the prince's tyranny.
"However, the fact that the accused was impersonating a nobility identity at the time of executing Valera's traitor, assumes that a commoner injured a member of the nobility. For this reason, I, Prince Rafael, in my capacity as representative of the law of the kingdom of Antioca , condemn you to receive the status of prisoner in slavery for life" – Unanimously, the nobles seconded Rafael's decision on the sentence verdict that fell on Julia's head.
At the moment of hearing the resolution, the young woman felt the ground beneath her split in two, swallowing her in a bleak abyss of despair beyond what hell itself could mean.
The guards on the sides opened the trap and threw Julia at Rafael's feet. Who, giving a sign with his right hand, asked to be held by both arms while an executioner carried a bracero from which smoke could be seen coming out like a dense cloud.
Still desperately resisting what was to come, Julia's pleas fell on deaf ears in the face of Rafael's attitude. Who, taking the red-hot iron seal, placed it on the delicate white skin at the level of the young woman's sternum.
The pleas quickly turned into screams of agony that were accompanied by tears that kept flowing from Julia's eyes. There was an expression of abandonment on them, as if everything had ended the moment he received the cruel mark of slavery. Losing consciousness as soon as the iron was detached from his lacerated skin.
When the room was about to conclude the meeting, the church bells sounded in a solemn tone of series of three. Announcing with it that King Edward II had ceased to exist in that world.
-" The king is dead! Praise your monarch, long live the king!"
-" Hail, hail our new King Rafael I" – The nobles, led by Count Solera, shouted the acknowledgment cheers for their loyalty to the new ruler. Without the approval of the law of succession, there was no impediment for the prince to take the crown on his head.
Bowing his face as if moved by mourning as his body shuddered, Rafael gave the impression of shedding tears of pain for his father. However, under his hands that covered his face, an unhealthy smile was outlined as he held back his laughter at his victory.
"Take the slave away and prepare her for her duties!" - Count Solera maintained his indolent posture before the despondent woman, instructing the guards to take her by the chains and transfer her to the servants' quarters.
In their departure at the beginning of their true torment, the nobles did not take their mocking eyes from the young woman. Mocking under his breath as he contemplated Julia's battered body, which exhibited bruises and dirt on her white skin.
"What's up Andrew? Does mama's little boy want to cry again?" – Nailed deep in his memories, that vivid memory came to his mind with the clarity of a crystalline torrent of a river.
At the age of eleven, Duke Roger had arranged for his daughter's admission to the military academy. Unlike other levels of education within the kingdom, students who entered their classrooms were allowed to stay off campus, as long as they were accompanied by a higher level student.
Being a perfect opportunity for his daughter to receive academic instruction beyond private tutoring, the Duke made a deal with the house of the Marquis Olvera. Edmundo Olvera, an illegitimate son who had entered the family with the sudden death of Orlando Olvera, leaving only his sister Noemi without the possibility of ascending to head of the family.
For the Marquis, Duke Rogelio's offer was a highly profitable long-term benefit; since not only would his heir receive a better status in social circles by appearing as guardian of a ducal house, but it would also allow him to obtain certain concessions over the duke. Who was well known for his inflexibility in business that seemed marginal to the ethical.
During the first year of her stay, Julia was careful enough to change her clothes in the same room as Edmundo, taking advantage of the moments when the young man was late getting up to go to the academy.
The fact that he was a lazy man favored the young woman, who thought that her secret would remain safe and she would succeed in her studies. But reality is sometimes a bucket of cold water that falls on us without warning, as she experienced before the arrival of her first period.
Without a mother to talk to her about the intimacies of a woman, for Julia, who had never experienced such a situation, she made her scream in the room as she changed behind the bimbo.
That cry of terror barely made it out of the thick walls of the room, but it was enough to make Edmundo come out of his morning lethargy and jump out of bed thinking that some thief had sneaked into the house.
- " But what is this? Blood?"
-" Please don't look, turn around" – With her face flushed as she covered herself with a sheet, Julia's eyes were shedding tears of fear of what she was suffering at that moment.
Trying to conceive the magnitude of that situation, Edmundo put his hand to his mouth as he took a few steps back without being able to react appropriately to the scene. Minutes passed and seeing that she wasn't bleeding to death as she thought, Julia asked him for a bucket of water and some cloths to clean up.
Still stunned by the situation, Edmundo nodded and did as the young woman had requested, remaining outside the room leaning against the door while waiting to go in for his things.
Having finished bathing and dressing as usual, Julia opened the door a little, revealing part of her face through the crack. Still embarrassed at having been seen naked by Edmundo, she slowly opened the door and sat on her bed with her eyes downcast.
"So, are you Andrew? How long did you think you could hide it? Hide that you are a woman" – Leaning against the door frame, not daring to enter the room due to the discomfort of the moment, Edmundo fully approached the situation looking for an explanation from Julia.
Who between sobs began to tell her how her life had been in the last twelve years, how she was forced to behave and dress like a man in order to inherit the dukedom of Valera.
-" So if you had to get married to keep up appearances?"
-" I don't know "
-" And what about the heir? all nobles are forced to have a son…"
-" I told you I don't know ! You think I have an answer for everything, I don't know. I just don't know what to do, or how to live. Having to keep up appearances for being born a damn woman" – Julia burst into tears, unable to control her emotions as she trembled with helplessness at the situation she was experiencing. Nothing guaranteed that Edmundo would not reveal his secret, or that he would blackmail her into keeping it and thus obtain a puppet at his service.
For a marquis, being able to control a duke was a highly beneficial business, so the silence that was maintained for a few minutes made him feel those fears materialized.
"My mother, she was a good woman. A simple servant in the house of the Marquis Olvera, who worked to send money to her mother who lived in the countryside on the edge of the kingdom. When the wife of the Marquis found out that my father had taken her by force one night when he arrived drunk, instead of taking his side, he threw a bag of silver coins at her and threw her out of the mansion" – With a serene voice and the eyes full of nostalgia, Edmundo contemplated the window of the room, diverting his gaze from Julia.
"Having nowhere else to go, Mother returned to Grandma's house and told her what had happened. My mother was terrified, she was a single woman and she was pregnant.
When he told the grandmother that he was thinking of aborting me, she slapped him saying that the blame did not lie with those who were innocent.
That she should give birth to me no matter what the evil tongues would say, because she was not to blame for having been raped, but she would be guilty of taking an innocent life instead of the perpetrator's" – Bearing the burden of his tears, Edmundo finished his story before the expectation of Julia, who was looking at him directly with a pained expression to the point that he felt the impulse to get up from the bed and hug the young man to comfort him.
-" What are you doing? I'm supposed to be the one who should comfort you."
-" Just shut up, let me stay like this for a moment longer" – The young woman's heart was moved by Edmundo's words, who had far exceeded Julia's negative expectations. Feeling her face drop in embarrassment for having thought ill of such a noble knight, Julia buried her face against his chest as she tugged at the lapels of her jacket a little with her fists clenched.
"Don't worry, I'll keep your secret so no one hurts you. My real mother would not forgive me for lowering myself to the level of my father" – Edmundo placed his right hand on Julia's head gently caressing her, while the rooster sang his trill to make way for dawn.
The days that followed inside the academy, Julia experienced as if a great weight had been lifted from her. With young Edmund's unconditional help, it was easy for the young lady to sneak out of the academy under the pretense of being injured from sword training, in order to hide her periods.
When they finished the academy, that friendship continued for several more years through correspondence between the young people. Those who told each other their day to day life even in the most trivial details, so much so that for Julia, that relationship touched a very deep fiber within her being.
But one day the correspondence abruptly ceased between the two, as if something had happened to young Edmund.
Some months later, within social circles it became known that the Marquis Olvera had to throw his son out of the house because it had been discovered that he came from commoner blood. For the aristocracy, an illegitimate child was already something difficult to tolerate, but the fact that such a child was the product of what they contemptuously called dirty blood meant that it was impossible to inherit any title or receive honors.
Edmund who had graduated from the academy at the top of his class, aiming to be a suitable candidate for the royal guard, was stripped of all distinction and his name crossed out of the academy records. As if it had never been registered in it.
For Julia, knowing this was a devastating blow, something that affected her for weeks, causing her to be unable to get out of bed due to depression. The man in whom she had found her oasis in the midst of a filth like nobility, had been taken from her in the worst possible way.
The last thing he heard from him was that thanks to the military training he had received during the academy, he enlisted in a mercenary corps that used to work for merchants escorting merchandise between the kingdoms.
With no chance of ever seeing him again, Julia wept for her dear friend with great bitterness, swearing that one day she would take revenge on the man who had spread those rumors that stripped him of his place: the infamous Count Solera.
"Wake up already at once! We don't have all day, you damn liar" – A bucket of cold water was poured over Julia's body, who woke up from her memories in the midst of trembling and fear caused by the disorientation in which she found herself.
The maids who were assigned to clean and dress her treated her with extreme rudeness, rubbing her delicate skin with rough sponges that left reddened marks that soaked into the touch of soap.
Tugging at her hair, the maids took out their frustrations on her. Remembering him when he pretended to be a man in the service of his majesty.
Finishing drying her and dressing her in clothes that appeared to be rags made from patched fabrics, the maidens cruelly exposed the mark of slavery that had been etched like a scar on her skin.
"What are you doing like an idiot looking in the mirror! Take these utensils and go clean the hallway corridor outside the prince's quarters. Oh it's true, our new king" – Saying those words with a mocking tone, the maidens mocked Julia; who , repeating old habits, looked at them with an inquisitive look.
"Who do you think you're looking at like that, you piece of trash?" – A strong slap was marked on Julia's right cheek, to the point of splitting her lip a little. The maidens, angered by his defiant attitude, reminded him that he was no longer a nobleman to whom they should respect. But also as a slave, she was nothing more than a simple object whose rights had been withdrawn.
"Hurry up and move! Or I'll tell the butler that you don't want to follow orders so he can take you to the stables and whip you like a beast" – Clenching her teeth trying to contain her rage, Julia lowered her gaze before the maidens, nodding her head as she walked in silence with bucket and mop.
The stairs that she had once climbed with the dignity of her royal guard uniform now greeted her like a dirty beggar. She had become a slave, subject to the whims of the servants and whatever the will of his majesty commanded.
When she got to the floor where the new monarch's rooms were located, a malicious silhouette interposed her foot, causing the young woman to fall face down without being able to put her hands in.
His right cheekbone where he had received the slap was now purple, and from his nose a slight trickle of blood could be seen. Wiping him painfully with the sleeve of his rags.
"But what a filthy thing we have here. Oh, but it is Her Majesty's new toy. How clumsy of mine, forgive my rudeness my lady" – Using a sarcastic tone while covering his nose with a handkerchief making gestures that he stank, Count Solera looked at Julia with implacable contempt. Who could not answer any insult, since that would mean being flogged for offending a noble.
"I beg your pardon, Your Excellency! This beast will not stand in your way by dirtying your tracks!" – Without falling into Solera's provocation, Julia wiped the dust off her clothes and continued walking without turning to look at that despicable man. Who throwing a tantrum at not getting his way, stomped down the steps to attend King Edward's funeral.
Passing through the hallway windows, Julia watched the pigeons take flight. Hundreds of them in a flock, an offering that was made as part of the king's funeral rite. Seeing those white plumage capturing the essence of the sun's rays, the young woman sighed briefly thinking about how her father's body should have been treated due to the charges of treason.
" Andres !" – A voice from the other end of the corridor was heard calling the young woman, who out of habit reacted by turning towards the fountain, dropping to her knees in shock.
With a black dress and a veil that covered her face, that silhouette accompanied by her maidens was none other than Elena. Who hurried to catch up to Julia, standing before her like a scene of a sinner pleading for forgiveness from a goddess.
"Elena, I..." - Unable to contain the tears of regret for having lied to her all those years, Julia looked up at her like a stray cat looking for a comforting caress.