Her life was not something you would dream of. Living on the edge of Zone 2 in a small house made of wood and thatch, working on a field whole days, grazing sheep and helping her mum with cooking, cleaning, and taking care of younger siblings. Even though it wasn't as comfortable as a life of people living in Zone 1 and couldn't even get close to those in Zone 0 of Metropolis, she was happy. Her parents always made sure that she and her 3 siblings had something to eat, drink and some wood to heat their small house. She loved talking to her mum while preparing bread for the next few days. She loved playing with her younger sister's hair when her mum was feeding small Chanyeol with baby food. She loved the late dinners when her dad and Minwoo came back home from work so they could talk and play comfortably. Sometimes it was tiring, working the whole day but yet earning so little just to give it back to the Lord, yet they manage to live and survive in this cruel world. 

Since she could remember, she was always the closest to her older brother Minwoo. She loved him, respected him, cared about him a lot. Minwoo was a person she would like to become in the future. He was 19 years old, smart, tall, and handsome, with a smile that made people weak as soon as they saw it. A lot of middle-aged women from Zone 1 or even from Zone 0 offered him a job as their servant or an with really high pay and life in luxuries. But he always refused, saying that he would rather die out of hunger than live in luxuries knowing that his family is starving. He was young and full of passion, trying hard to do something big in life, make a change. As a child, he wanted to be an engineer, make machines that will help poor people in improving their everyday life. When he was 10, he found small pieces of metal and built a beautiful mechanism of a moving, metal bird that he gave to his back then 6 years old Bom. Later that day he told her that one day he will build a machine that will make everything for their parents so they won't have to work anymore, then he will patent it and they'll be as rich as the King of Metropolis. Since then he collected all the metal parts that could be used for his project. Sadly, when he was 13, the Lord of the 7th District lived in raised taxes and he had to start to work in the factory to contribute to their family budget. But he didn't give up on his dream, he kept experimenting with the wasted parts from the factory to build something useful, such as a generator to produce electricity from the vapour in the oven. 

She also had 2 other siblings. Dara was 5 years younger than her and was a really sweet girl. Always energetic, always found something to do with a big smile on her beautiful face, she adored her older sister. Every day when Bom and Minwoo had to go to work, she would wake up earlier to spend some time with older siblings just to make them smile, jumping, and dancing around, cute piggy tails in mess, even though Bom did them just 15 minutes ago. The youngest one, Chanyeol was only 3. He had the cutest chubby face, protruding ears, and the cutest smile a child his age could ever have (even though he still lacked quite a few teeth). He rarely cried, made his family happy with a simple hug, and "I luv yuuuuuu" and had a weird obsession with ferrets (hence the ferret house in their small garden).

Their parents were the kindest people you could imagine. Won Sang was the nicest man on earth. Even if he had nothing, he was always ready to help others who were in a worse situation than him. He was also an charming man who showered his family with love. Even though he worked 14 hours a day, he still made sure to spend time with his family, usually sitting on the big chair, putting little Chanyeol on his laps, Dara on the other side, looking with an affectionate gaze on his older children and telling them made up stories about princes, princesses, and dragons living in a paradise, where there were no divisions, everyone was equal and everyone could just enjoy themselves. Then he put the smallest one to the bed and went to the kitchen where he helped his beautiful wife in cleaning, giving her small kisses on a forehead and tender touches every time he had the opportunity to do so.

Sol Mi was the most beautiful woman in the 7th District, even some noblemen were interested in her, but she rejected them all to marry her one, true love. She always told her daughters that what is important in a man is not his appearance or his wealth, but his personality and a good heart. Watching her parents like this, Bom always dreamed that one day, she will marry a good man that will take care of her and simply make her happy. 

###

The very first time she saw a black Brougham carriage with Lord's arms and 2 harnessed horses in front of her house was when she came back from the shearing shed at the age of 15. She slowly entered her small house and noticed Lord's servants, her dad, and Minwoo sitting next to the table. Her eyes went from the sly smirk of one of the servants to her brother's rather annoyed expression on his face.

"No."

"Listen, Park. You may love your daughter but you have other children and huge debt. You better...."

"Didn't you hear my dad?! You're not taking my sister away!" Minwoo stood up annoyed, eyes burning with anger. "I will work harder, for longer hours, but I won't let any of you put your filthy hands on my sister!"

"Minwoo, dad. What's going on?!"

"Honey, it's nothing. Those gentlemen are leaving." Her dad looked at her with soft eyes and smiled a little. "Gentlemen, you already know my point of view, You can leave now." Both servants stood up and looked at her father.

"Listen, Won Sang. You can escape it now, but don't think the Lord will let you go like this."

"It was good seeing you Jinyoung. Goodbye." With that, her dad pushed both of them out of their house. 

"Dad, what's going on?"

"Don't worry Bom, I will always protect you." her brother said and then hugged her tightly. 

###

After that, they lived happily for a few months until her oldest brother started to feel a bit unwell. Firstly, it wasn't even that visible. He was a bit paler, ate a bit less, and came back from work a bit more tired than usual. But then his very high fever, chills, and chest pains started. He could barely move, needed someone's help with eating or going to the toilet, yet he insisted his parents shouldn't call a doctor because it's just a cold and he will be healthy in no time. His parents gave in but called a doctor anyway, as soon as they saw him coughing up blood.

"I have bad news," the doctor looked at them with sad eyes. "it's tuberculosis, the last stadium."

"What does it mean, doctor?" Sol Mi looked at him with tears in her beautiful eyes. "Will our Minwoo..."

"I'm sorry, madam. There is nothing I can do for him. But I would recommend checking on your health as well. This bacteria is like a plague those days."

Bom looked at her dear brother. In her life not even once she thought that she'll see his death at the age of 19. She wished she would be the one that is going to die instead of him. Minwoo was strong, tall and handsome, he was smart, he was able to work for their family, take them out of the growing debt. She had nothing to offer, she was small, skinny, weak, she was a girl. She couldn't just go to the factory and work, no one would employ her anyway. He was their everything, she was useless, why would life be so unfair and kill him instead of her?

"Bom," she heard a faint voice "Bom look at me." she came closer to her brother's bed and grabbed his cold hand. "It's funny, right? I promised to always protect you yet here I am, on the edge of death."

"Minwoo, don't say it like this. You will always be my saviour." 

"I would love to but I don't have any more time."

"Minwoo..."

"Please, don't interrupt." he coughed and Bom noticed a small stain of blood on his handkerchief. "Please, promise me you'll take care of mum, dad, Dara, and Chanyeol. I know they look strong, especially dad, but I don't think he can take more than this."

"Minwoo, I'm not sure if I'm able to do it."

"You are Bom. You're the strongest person I've seen in my life, always took care of me so well. I know I will die soon, but I just want to let you know that for all those years, you were my biggest strength. I love you, little sister."

"I love you too, Minwoo. Now get some rest. There is a long day to go through tomorrow."

2 weeks later Bom stood next to her brother's grave in a long black dress and black veil on her face with tears in her eyes. "I promise you Minwoo. I'll take care of them no matter what."

###

The second time she saw Lord's Brougham carriage was on her 16th birthday when she was cooking dinner with her mother. Her dad opened the door and 2 servants from before invaded their house.

"Jinyoung, what are you doing here?"

"You know what I want, Won Sang."

"I told you before, I won't give Bom to Lord."

"You don't have any other choice! You have a huge debt to pay off, you don't have money, Minwoo is dead and there is no way you can pay it off! If you won't give her, the Lord will take away your house, your garden, everything you own. You have 2 younger children, you want Chanyeol or Dara  living on a street in Zone 3 stealing fruits and money from people's pockets to survive?"

"No, but..."

"Dad, what's going on?" Bom left the kitchen and started to listen to the conversation as soon as she heard her name is involved.

"Nothing, honey. To help your mum."

"No, Won Sang. Bom is a grown-up woman she can decide by herself. Listen, young lady. Your family is in huge debt because of not paying enough taxes. According to the law of the 7th District, I should take away your house and send you to the Zone 3 to live on the streets, but Lord came out with an idea. He will let you keep the house and cancel your debt if you will become his son's personal servant." Bom really didn't want to do it. She heard the Lord's son has a heart made of stone, not caring for anything or anyone that doesn't fit his idea of the existing world. But then she looked at Chanyeol's chubby face smiling softly as Dara tried to do braids from his rather short hair. She promised Minwoo she'll take care of the family no matter what, and she can't just let them live on streets.

"I agree."

"What? Bom, no! You can't! Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

"I know that you will, dad but I just can't let you live in a street. I promised Minwoo that I will take care of you and if that means I'm going to serve the Lord for the rest of my life, I will do it for your safety."

"Great, now that we established everything we will go and come back tomorrow. I think you should start to pack up." with that, both servants left the house.

###

"Bom, servants will be here in 15 minutes!"

"I know mum, I'm ready."

"Can we talk for a minute?" Sol Mi looked incredibly concerned right now.

"Yes?"

"I... you remember when we talked about... emm... relationships... and I told you that  you shouldn't let anyone  touch you unless it's your husband."

"Yes, mum. But why are you telling me this now?"

"You see, now you will kind of belong to Lord's son... that means you... you should treat him the way you would treat your husband, if... if he is willing for you to do so."

"Mum?"

"Honey, I don't want you to get hurt so please, allow him to do whatever he is willing to do, but no one else. I'm sorry we ended up like this. I could take better care of you."

"No, mum. That's alright. You took the best care of me that is possible. I love you."

"I love you too."

Then they heard a soft knock on the door announcing that the servants came.

###

After  3 hours of journey, they finally got to the palace of Lord Lee. It was a great, old building with dark walls, green hedera climbing up them, and creeping around gothic windows. The building was tall, with ugly gargoyles looking at her with their malicious eyes as if making fun of her situation. Pointy roofs and small towers made the palace look even more threatening, giving her a warning of what is waiting for her in the future. The servant opened heavy, dark double doors and led her to one of the spacious rooms with hemisphere windows on the front of the building where she noticed a man sitting on a chair. He was absolutely stunning with his skinny yet masculine posture and long legs, wearing simple black trousers and a white collared shirt with 3 bottoms opened and rolled up sleeves. His profile was also amazing: lean face, long nose, and beautiful pink lips, his eyes focused on a book and brows furrowed in concentration. Then he looked at her and she could already get drowned in the depth of his eyes. He eyed her carefully from head to toes and she could notice a faint smile on his lips.

"Park Bom, am I right?" she just nodded shyly. "I'm Lee Soo Hyuk, the Lord's son, and your master."