In the Heart Moon City, inside the most feared prisons for the scariest convicts and criminals, a couple of guards walked to cell no. 237.

It was five in the morning. The birds chirped politely, humming a song that appeared too calming for a place as scary as this prison.

The weather was as warm as spring outside, but it had little effect on the cells. This warmth of the spring wasn't enjoyed by these convicts. Their underground cells were as cold as their hearts that committed all the heinous crimes without remorse. 

Among these scariest and most threatening convicts, some innocent souls were here because of their cursed fate.

One of them was Elliana Heart.

Elliana Heart was a mystery that no one could unravel even after her one year in prison, no matter how hard they tried. 

With olive skin, knee-length brown hair, cat-like amber-brown almond eyes, and half lips at 5'9", she was the definition of perfect fallen beauty.

The dirt on her face and clothes was doing nothing to hide her porcelain-sophisticated beauty.

The calmness of the environment broke when the guards hit the iron bars of the prison with their wooden rods.

"Elliana Heart? Your term is over. Let's get you out of here. Someone got you bailed," The guards were polite, remembering who this girl was.

'You are an abomination,' 'Who would want a child like you?' 'You are lucky that we are feeding you. Bastards like you don't deserve to live. They deserve to rot,' 'You'll only have to cover up for her acts. Is that too hard?' 

The girl snapped out of her thoughts and raised her long lashes, her eyes droopy and filled with a monotone sadness. She lifted her head from her knees and looked at those guards, unsure. 

She couldn't sleep the entire night because she had a hollow feeling in her heart. It has been like this for a year. Sometimes, she would sleep for more than 12 hours, and some nights, she just stayed awake.

It was all because of the words that her family said to her, the words that were not bothersome noises that chanted themselves in her head like a never-ending curse. 

Elliana blinked her eyes thrice, and the guard thinned his lips as they looked at the girl, who never got in trouble with anyone. She was too sophisticated for her own good.

She looked like an artifact placed in a dumpster.

No one apart from the head sheriff knew why she was brought here a year ago. Strangely, the queen herself came to drop her off at prison as if she was dropping this girl at some boarding school. Maybe she committed a heinous crime against the royals, but it still didn't explain the queen's affection towards the girl.

"Is that so? Thank you," Elliana stood from her place, patting her dress as she wiped the dirt off her face. She looked at the other ladies in her cell, contemplating if she should wake them up, but her soft voice immediately alerted everyone in her cell, and they opened their eyes and looked at the guards.

"Have you guys checked?" One of the ladies asked. 

"She is much safer with us than with the outside world. She doesn't even have a family. Those royals messed her up badly. Who could be the person who bailed her out? What is that person's purpose?" One of the old ladies from the corner stood and placed her hand on Elliana's shoulders.

"The royals are my family," Elliana corrected the lady, and the latter pressed her lips before scoffing.

"Are you still dumb after living here for a year? Those royals got you into prison for something you didn't even do. Don't try to clean their name when they don't deserve it," the lady flicked Elliana's hair before looking at the girl with a sigh.

They couldn't believe one year passed with her. Even though this was a prison and they were not supposed to create bonds, Elliana's good nature grew onto them.

They stopped doing drugs and smoking that they used to traffic into the prison illegally because Elliana was against them.

"That's not our job. She got the bail, and we are to bring her out. What happens to her or who takes her away is none of our business," One of the guards rolled their eyes at the overprotective ladies.

"However, the sheriff has arrived with the person, so I think you shouldn't worry about that," The other guard opened the door for Elliana, and she turned around with a soft, natural smile.

"I can't believe you are leaving us," the lady said, holding her hand. 

The lady turned Elliana's hand softly and pressed her thumb in the middle of her palm.

"You know what to do, right?" She asked, and Elliana looked down before nodding meekly.

"Stop being pessimistic, G. You should be happy that she is getting out of this goddamn place," The other lady smiled.

Elliana hugged everyone one last time and bid them goodbye before she walked out.

She followed the guards to the main office, her hands sweating as she felt slightly happy and relaxed for finally leaving this place.

As much as everyone in the cell treated her nicely, this was still a place for convicts, and there were times when she almost got molested by some of the females of the other cells, if not for those ladies who saved her and trained her to be strong.

Elliana stopped when her gaze fell over the secretary of her father.

"Mr. Han," Elliana bowed.

"Let's get you back to the palace, princess," Mr. Han bowed back, and the girl nodded.

As she exited the prison with her belongings and Mr. Han hot on her tail, the first thing she noticed was the royal car nearing them

She wasn't sure if her stepmom was also in the carriage.

"Elliana, my dear," Elliana heard a familiar voice, and she froze before bowing in respect. She didn't know how to respond anymore. The emotions in her heart were piling and clogging her throat, rendering her unable to speak.

"Dad,"

The man in front of her, sighed with a smile before he stepped forward and patted her head.

"My dear, I am sorry you had to go through all this for Madeline. How have you been? I had been constantly talking to the Sheriff to lessen your term, and we finally got you out," the king said, and Elliana blinked back the tears before hugging her father as tightly as she could.

"I was scared, Dad," she whispered, and her dad pulled her into the car with him.

"Now that I am here, everything is going to be alright. No one's going to harm my daughter anymore," the king whispered into her ears as she laid her head on his chest.

Mr. Han looked at the happy father and daughter duo and didn't know what to think about it. Even though Elliana was the king's illegitimate daughter, he never treated her otherwise.

Though the king didn't speak much in front of his wife because she was the Human kingdom's main King's sister, and because he was out on business most of the time, whenever he was around, no one dared to mess with Elliana. 

But this time, wasn't the king making an empty promise and telling her lies about- 

Mr Han shook his head. 

After a long pause, Elliana lifted her head and looked into her father's eyes with tears brimming her eyes.

"Did you find anything? About mom- It's been a year. You said you got some hint about her presence in the Blue River city," Elliana asked with great difficulty, and the man immediately stiffened.

"You should rest, my love. Regarding your mom, we are still finding out about her. I have searched the entire state where I met her. I am unsure where she moved, so we are still looking for her," The king lied through his teeth, and Mr. Han looked at the rearview mirror before sighing.

One more lie. 

In honesty, after his wife found out that he was looking for Elliana's biological mother when Elliana was just seven years old, she threatened the king that she would kill Elliana or throw her out if he didn't stop the madness. The king stopped looking for Elliana's mom immediately.

Elliana sighed dejectedly before nodding with her first clenched on her dress as she looked out of the carriage, unable to express her displeasure. 

After three hours of driving, they finally parked in front of their royal palace, and as soon as she stepped down, the maids rushed to her side with sweet smiles.

Elliana looked at them warily. None of what was happening seemed real and justifiable in her mind. Why were they acting like she was someone loved in the family, by the queen and their real princess?

'Uhh… Why don't you just die? No one in the family wants you. Aren't you just uselessly becoming a burden? Do us a favor and leave. We will happily enjoy the meal wasted on you. Do you think you are royalty? Wake up, dumbass. No one cares whether you are alive or dead,' All those words the maids used to say to her a year before she went to the prison, surfaced in her mind and clenched and unclenched her hands around her dirty clothes. 

They didn't even consider her a part of the royal family.

If they had, she wouldn't have to go to prison for - Elliana shook her head to delete the sad memories.

Of course, they would treat her like that. How can she forget that she was with her dad right now?

Only she knows how she had lived in that prison for a year. The experience in the prison changed her completely, and those people made her realize something that she couldn't in her eighteen years of life.

Her mother and sister weren't her family. A family wasn't supposed to throw you under the bus right when some mishap appeared.

"No, thank you," Elliana's soft voice was crisp, and the maids stepped back.

The second illegitimate daughter had never denied them anything. She never voiced out anything because that's exactly how she was.

Elliana was the result of a mistake made on a drunk night by the king at some local pub. He didn't even know about her existence until the girl was five years old and practically thrown to the royals.

One day, someone sent her to the palace mysteriously with a note that the girl was the king's daughter, and Elliana has been living with the royals since then.

Though she was a mistake, the king never treated her differently, and that's everything she needed to survive.

The queen never liked her, but it wasn't like she had a choice in front of the king. Everyone knew about the queen's hatred for the girl, but one day, the queen suddenly started to accept Elliana. 

Everyone was shocked at this turnout of events. However, everything became clear when the sweet and innocent Elliana started taking all the blame for Madeline's faults and mischievousness.

Elliana walked inside the royal place that they called home. 

"Elliana, my sweetheart. How have you been?" The queen rushed to her with the same sweet smile she had when she was dripping her off to the prison but stopped when she noticed how dirty Elliana was.

"Oh my god, what did they do to my poor daughter? Why don't you get cleaned up? I will ask the chef to prepare something delicious for you, okay?" The queen said, and Elliana nodded stiffly before leaving for her room.

After she washed up, she walked to her father's office and was about to knock when she heard her stepmom talking.

"I don't care, James. Do you think this is a joke? There is a reason I practically begged my brother to help us bail her out. You have to talk to her. This is not something I am being selfish over. This is for the entire Kingdom. You can't be selfish. If her marrying the vampire king would save everyone, why not?"

Elliana's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach when she heard the words, and she rushed back to her room, closing the door with a bang.

Tears welled in her eyes as she slid down the door, shaking her head in denial.

No. This wasn't real. Her heart squeezed painfully. Even if the queen never liked her, she would never do something as evil as marry her to a monster. 

She cried ugly tears, wiping them to control her emotions as she didn't want her glow to start reacting when her hand froze on her face…

'There is a reason I practically begged my brother to help us bail her out,' her stepmother had said, but her father said…

'I had been constantly talking to the Sheriff to lessen your term, and we finally got you out,'

It was a lie. They lied to her once again. Elliana clenched her hand around her chest in pain and shock that her father would betray her like this too, fear settling in her heart. Was sending her to jail not enough for them that now they wanted to marry her to the monster? She hiccuped, pulling on her hair in anxiousness.