Year 1739, Batavia.

The rain was not heavy, but enough to wash away traces of blood on the land that had long forgotten the sound of peace. The air carried the salty scent of the sea, mingled with tobacco, sweat, and fear that crept through the silent tropical trees—witnesses to history carving wounds into the earth.

At the end of a muddy dirt road, a horse-drawn carriage came to a stop. A man stepped down—his uniform crisp, leather boots pressing into the mud without hesitation. His gaze was piercing, demanding submission even from the air around him. Captain de Vries, a young Dutch nobleman who had never learned compassion, now set foot in a nameless village yet to be claimed on the map of power.

"This land is wild," he murmured to his assistant. "But everything wild can be tamed."

He looked toward the bamboo houses with thatched roofs, full of people who had no idea that this day would change their lives forever. And among them, a pair of downcast eyes, unaware that her life would be rewritten—without her will.

"Bring that girl to the manor. Don't be rough, not yet. We'll start with smiles, and hunger will make them obedient."

His smile appeared, cold and slow like poison. For him, conquest was not just about seizing land—but souls.