Serana

Serana Whitestone was born in a small merchant family.

Her father, Lucas Whitestone was an ambitious merchant, that took every opportunity he found in order to increase the size of his business.

One such opportunity was marrying Serana's mother, a daughter of a distant branch family of a great merchant.

Serana grew up in a family where hard work was very important. Her father needed any help he could get, and that included Serana and her mother.

Helping her parents since a young age, Serana quickly learned how to read, write and do a certain level of arithmetics and bookkeeping.

Slowly, Lucas Whitestone's business started to grow. He managed to hire more employees and expand his business. His name was gaining more recognition and the great merchant groups were starting to notice him.

Soon, Lucas Whitestone entered a merchant group that was somewhat powerful in the area, the Gold Trust Group.

Since then, Lucas' renown increased rapidly, and the stability of his business was guaranteed. As long as no disasters happened, his family path to riches was safe.

Serana, who was raised by the family also became somewhat famous. She was young and very beautiful. She had a good mind for business and had experience in managing.

Many ambitious young man desperately pursued her. Whoever managed to conquer her, would get a beauty and many riches.

Serana wasn't interested in romance however. She loved to help her parents managing their business and loved doing business. She was never bored of meeting new people, hearing of distant lands and the incredible stories they heard and told her.

She dreamed of going to explore the unknown like the cultivators un the stories she heard, meeting amazing people and making incredible feats.

She wasn't allowed to travel however, as she was just a young maiden in her early teens. She wasn't too unsatisfied however, as she understood her situation and knew how dangerous her dream was.

Rhe good times didn't last long however. As her father tose in power, he obviously became the target of greed and envy.

The distant relatives of her mother, eyeing the family's fortune, arranged to have Serana's parents killed, during a business trip to another city.

The plot worked.

Some days later, the whole caravan was found dead, with all the goods stolen. Anyone could say it was the deed of bandits, a perfect cover.

Unfortunately for the plotters, while Lucas Whitestone occasionally took his wife with him on his trips, he never took his daughter with him.

The twelve years old girl didn't get murdered, and she obviously inherited her parents' business.

After a period of mourning, the young girl, together with a group of loyal subordinates and old contacts, managed to keep the business alive, much to the plotters discontent.

Using their authority as her elders, they successfully managed to wrestle the power to make decisions from her, successfully usurping the company from the girl.

Serana was then brought in by the usurpers, to be raisef by them. Even though their tracks were wiped, it didn't take a genius to understand their takeover hade some shady aspects. They needed to show a front to society, Serana would be that front.

Her life just got worsr and worse. Though she wasn't directly mistreated, in her relatives' mansion, she was basically ignored and isolated.

They didn't allow her to leave her room too much, much less run the business or talk with other merchants and travelers.

Serana litros ved in these conditions for nearly five years, until her family sold her to Byron Chauff, an heir to the up and coming Chauff merchant family.

Byron was glad in recieving such a beautiful girl as his wife and contact to a powerful family, and the family was glad in selling the girl that was bother for them for so long, making a lot of money in the sale.

The only one unhappy with the deal was Serana herself, but she couldn't do anything about it. She thought that at least she could try to help her husband in managing the business.

Her fantasy was short-lived. Her husband, Byron, was clearly a second generation silk pants. He didn't have any interest in managing the family business. All he cared about was women, food, alcohol and power.

It wasn't unusual for him to come back late from brothels, smelling like exotic perfumes and alcohol, and proceed to assault her physically and sexually.

It was no secret his father favored his younger brother over him, as he was petty, impatient and easy to trick. He would never inherit his father's position.

The situation got even worse after some years. The beatings were almost daily activities and Byron would bring prostitutes home to have fun.

No matter how much time passed, Serana just wouldn't get pregnant, and people started gossiping about Byron's lack of capacity to have heirs.

After getting older, Byron's greediness and pettiness just increased. He started making plans, together with Serana's family to get rid of his brother, in order for him to inherit everything.

After some years, their plan succeeded, Byron's brother was killed, and Byron was the only heir to the Chauff family.

Byron however was considered a trash by the society. He had many gossips about him. He was infertile, beated his wife, played with prostitutes every night and probably killed his brother.

Byron obviously heard these rumors. One night, he heard some powerful people gossiping and making fun of him on the same brothel he was using.

They were too powerful for him. Byron couldn't be said to be smart by any stretch of the word, but he certainly wasn't stupid. He couldn't mess with them, he had to swallow his anger.

Upon returning home, when he saw Serana, he was instantly reminded of the people who made fun of him.

That night, he gave Serana the worst beating yet.

This time Serana really had it bad. She had multiple broken bones, she had bruises all over her body and had damaged organs. She clearly wouldn't survive long.

Byron contacted her family and told them what happened. At this point, Byron was already their puppet.

On her deathbed, Serana was visited by an elder of her family. He mocked her while telling her everything they had done to her and her family, before forcing a pill down her throat.

Serana died an agonizing death. Even though she hated her husband and her family, her deepest regret was not being able to roam the world. To know the wonders she heard of. To have never seen the miraculous deed and paradisiacal places she heard of.

These were her last thoughts.

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Back to the present, Guihu Luixing shaked his head to Serana's question.

"I can hear your request, but I can't make any promises before hearing it."

"Can I be free?" Serana's soul asked.

"Hm? I'm afraid you'll have to elaborate." Guihu Luixing didn't understand what she was asking.

"If I accept your proposal, and serve you for some time. After that, will I be free? Will you just return me to the cycle of reincarnation where I'm again be a slave to my fate, or can I keep the power you'll gift me so I can choose my own path?"

Guihu Luixing reflected on her words before answering her.

"As long as you don't show signs of maliciousness towards me and don't interfere with my plans, I see no reason for me to go out of my way to deal eith you after our contract ends."

He continued "Your freedom however, is never assured. Though ghosts are tolerated and used here in the Ghosts Fox Valley Sect, in most places, they usually seen as vile creatures and are targets of elimination. After our contract ends, you can stay on the sect, where you'll be probably become a servant to someone else, until they don't need your services anymore or you perish, or you can leave the sect and look for your own chances. The first route is safer, but your freedom will be severely restricted. The second route you'll have total freedom, but it's much more dangerous."

Hearing his words, Serana didn't tarry and answered.

"I accept."