POV: Lady Serah — Wife of Number 11 (Lord Halven)
Location: Northern Pearl Sector, First-Class Quadrant
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They didn't let me keep his number.
Even after all the years, the sacrifices, the legacy I helped build alongside him — I still had to buy my own identity.
They called it fair. They called it law.
The empire doesn't care that I bore him two children. It doesn't matter that I was beside him when his net worth was zero and his hands bled into our future.
Lord Halven — Number 11 — purchased his title with 7.2 billion Blackwood Credits. A smile graced his face as the gavel fell. I stood beside him, veiled in pearls, and I could feel every eye weighing me — wondering what number I'd be allowed to have.
I wasn't gifted anything.
He couldn't even transfer his number to me. That's how Blackwood 1 wrote the law. Every wife stands alone. Even in marriage.
> "Serah Valen," they called, "status: spouse of a First-Class Citizen. Source of income: partnership stake in Halven Enterprises. Net worth: 890 million BC.
Bidding begins at 3.2 billion for Number 58."
I swallowed a lump the size of my pride.
He didn't speak.
He didn't stop it.
He let the bidding begin.
I looked at him — my husband. I couldn't tell if he was ashamed… or just comfortable in the seat power had given him.
I won the bid.
At 3.5 billion.
Now, I am 58, and nothing more.
Our daughters are 11i and 11ii. Branded as heirs. They were born into identity. I had to purchase mine.
At night, when I remove my synthetic lashes and wipe off the pigment layers from my cheeks, I stare into the mirror and wonder...
Am I still me? Or am I just another number in his ledger?
And yet—despite the bitterness—I prefer this fate to those outside the First-Class Quadrant.
The Surviving Citizens don't even get the luxury of buying their numbers. They auction themselves in desperation, not dignity.
But what kind of empire needs women like me to prove their worth twice?
If they gave us numbers...
Then someday, they will learn—numbers can rise. And they can also rebel.
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