Joshua Turner awoke to the sunrise’s light dancing across the walls of his bedroom. He watched as the gold accents that trimmed the polished white walls spread their golden glow across his room. The beauty of his own vanity brought a smile to his face. The view of his wealth after all was his favorite sight.

It wasn’t long before he pushed himself his bed and dressed himself in his normal royal attire. His outfit, made from the finest materials known to man, had been personally tailored for him. It hugged and released his body to call to attention his best features while covering his flaws. Just how he liked it.

He made his way out the door and through the halls taking in the marble pillars, masterful artwork, and beautifully carved sculptors. Every hall, room, and corner was purposely crafted to show his family’s wealth. Anyone who told him “money couldn’t buy happiness” had clearly never seen his morning stroll from his room to the palace balcony. Once he reached said balcony he greeted his mother and brother as he joined them for morning tea.

“Aw yes dear, how wonderful of you to join us.” His mother said in her normal prim and proper voice that had been passed down from the generations of women before her. “It is wonderful indeed.” His brother added in a similarly practiced but not yet perfected tone.

Joshua grabbed his own cup as one of the servants filled it for him and join his family opting to lean on the balcony railing, a fine slab of marble carved by one of the words most renowned sculptors.

From there he watched as the delicately manicured palace lawn extended into the working fields beyond. There in the midst of their crops were the servants with their bronzed skin marching through the plants occasionally stopping to pick one or two before moving onto the next crop. Hundreds of them moved through the fields like ants. Miniscule and yet mighty.

Upon their backs rest all of his family’s, if not the kingdom’s wealth. For the first time he pondered their existence as the once beaming sun hid behind the clouds allowing him to relax from the blistering summer heat.

He thought of their usefulness as a young women fellalong the edge of the field. He couldn’t make out the details of her face, but he noticed how the soil seemed to cling to her. It had been a few seconds before the regained her strength and push against the soil to begin to stand when he noticed that she had not only caught his attention. The overseer who sat on horse back only a few feet away rushed over to her and for the first time in his life he watched one of the servants receive punishment.

The whip cracked against the woman’s back with a sound that resonated back to the palace walls. The woman’s body crashed into the soil causing small specks of the dirt to displace from their tilled position. He watched with widened eyes as she attempted to stand again only to be meet with the whip again. And again. And again. After the thunderous sounds stopped when she no longer got up. The soil beneath her swallowed her soul as the overseer moved over to her body, examined it, and called to more servants to haul her away. From there He watched, in horrified awe, as two of the woman’s own lifted her from the soil and carried her in the direction of the rotted shack this woman had most likely called home.

For perhaps the first time in his life, Joshua questioned everything. His mind withdrew from clouded sky’s, riches beyond measure, and comfortable clothes. And there he felt something pressing on his heart. Some feeling he had never felt before. A weight that squashed his heart and made it race with anxiety. The singular thought raced through his mind. How many souls had been claimed in the pursuit of his wealth? Ten, Twenty, Thirty? No, deep down he knew it was much larger. His family’s practice of servant workers had gone on for centuries. Deep down he knew the number was unfathomable.

He turned from the balcony’s view and noticed, for the first time, the young girl who had poured his tea. She was no older than 14 and yet he had seen her for the better part of a decade. Yet, he had never actually seen her. It was only now that he noticed her dark hair tied in braids that cascaded down her back, the brown of her eyes, the dirt smudged dress she wore that reminded more of a tablecloth than a dress. He also noticed something else about her. The way her eyes ran away in fear after only meeting his for a moment. The girl, even as young as she was, knew her place. A place that he had never meant to give her. That same weight pressed his heart down even harder.

“You! Uh… girl.” Christ sakes he didn’t even know her name. “What’s your name?” He watched as his mother’s and brother’s conversation about their last game of crochet went ended just as abruptly as his question had come.

The girl dropped her eyes to the floor and a muttered in a small voice. “Charlotte, your excellency.” He noted the false pleasantry in her tone as practiced as his mother’s regal one. He took a step forward and noted as the girl tried to withhold herself from flinching. He extended a hand to her. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” He watched as the girl’s eyes looked up and the sunlight danced across the pools of amber that made up her irises. And for the first time, he saw something more beautiful than all his wealth. He saw the value of a human life.