Apricot Blossom Girl

I was the personal maid of the young lady of the Earl’s household. Since I’d saved her life as a child, I was assigned to serve her. I dreamed of earning my freedom, leaving the household, and marrying a respectable man, so my descendants wouldn’t be slaves for generations. The young lady smiled and promised she would make it possible for me and the man I loved to be together. But then she turned around and married me off to the steward, who had beaten three wives to death.