There used to be a story in Estonia. It starts as many stories do. A starving peasant girl is captured stealing food from the marketplace. She is brought to the palace for punishment and locked down in the dungeons. Stealing is punishable by death, and the king is well known for giving the maximum penalty. When he comes down to pass judgment, the girl offers the king all she has ever had to give. Herself. In exchange for her release, she will do whatever the king asks of her, let him do whatever he wants with her. He doesn’t refuse.
The girl is cleaned up and sent to the king’s chamber. There is no gentleness, no sensitivity. There is only the king’s desire and the girl’s supplication. And when it ends, there is release only for him. She is taken away to the harem, where she has earned her seat.
Was it a better fate than death? Only she knew that. But, the moral stands, when you give yourself for freedom, you end up a slave.