Kris - Part Two

Oh... Maiden.

 

“Maiden?” A voice spoke up from the door and you lifted your chin as you were in the kitchen, preparing lunch for the Prince and need you say, there was this feeling in your gut when she walked in.

She being the old lady who inspected you the other day, the lady that took in and cared for you like her own child because as you reached the age of twenty-one, you were officially an orphan. It was a very long story that would make your heart clench if you were to think or even talk about it, so to summarize it all, this old woman meant the world to you, now.

She is the world, to you.

Even with that, as long as you two were in public, in the castle, formality would be used but if you two were alone in your room you two shared, it would be just regular pet names but since you two were around in the castle like this, you two were trained like an automatic switch to speak in this way.

“Yes?” You spoke up, glancing back down on the dough you were kneading as you were making bread but it seems like you couldn’t when she tapped on your shoulder. You stopped your hand movements, turning to look at her with an eyebrow raised, “Yes?”

She swallowed and you saw evident fear in her eyes but that only made you frown, pulling your hands away from the dough where you patted the flour off on your apron before you tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear as you tied your hair up in a messy bun. “What’s wrong?” Now you were partly worried on how she stared at you.

She sighed and brought you away from the counter. “There’s a room you need to clean.”

Your eyes widened in amusement where you let out a small laugh.

That’s all she was worried about?

You shook your head and tried to wash your hands as you said, “I’ll get right to it.”

She held you back by your arm, “T-That’s not it.”

It was your turn to sigh as you brushed her hand off and turned around just to dip down where you leveled your eyes together. A smile was spread on your face as your smile warmed her up, “It’s just a room – it’s not going to eat me. I’ve been cleaning for the longest I can remember-“

“It’s the Prince’s room.”

“-and there’s-...” Your voice trailed off, your smile fading as your eyes widened, “What?”

 

---

 

You played with the rag and the handle of the pail in your hands as you stood uncertainly in front of the red velvet painted door. Evident royalty dashed all over it as the door was framed with real gold and even the handle was made out of gold. You gulped as you took this moment to appreciate the work of the door as it was now your shield before you entered.

“You can do this.” You breathed out quietly, and your hand inched up to open the door with a positive mind. “Just get in there, clean and get out. He won’t even notice that you’re here…”

Your mind scoffed, ‘Maybe you’re going to get sacked and be homeless. The Prince would probably hate your guts’.

Your heart tried to defend you, though, ‘Maybe he just wants to check up on you. The Prince is a nice person’.

You shook your head, “Forget this.”

Your hand pushed open the door as quiet as possible and you breathed out in huge relief (in which, you didn’t even know you held in your breath). Instantly, the waves of how grand and royal the Prince’s bedroom was had hit you like a ton of bricks as you let out a soft, “Oh my god…”

You stepped into the room and closed the door behind you. The feeling of the red carpet brushing on your feet tickled you but it gave you a nice feeling. “Wow…” You breathed out in disbelief and it felt like you were even more worthless than the value of his bedroom.

The chandelier right above the grand  was so grand and shiny, you were wondering how on Earth you were going to clean that. The glass windows on his room appeared to be so huge, it was probably going to take forever for you to clean all of that. The wooden, mahogany study tables he had accompanied by rows of books he had seemed like it was his own personal library.

As your eyes roamed around the room, your breath hitched when your eyes landed on the figure that was on the bed.

There he was, lying down peacefully with his eyes closed on the king sized bed, a striking purple comforter snuggling him in as his hands were placed on top of one another on his abdomen – he looked simply gorgeous.

“Oh…” Your voice went down an octave, slightly disappointed that he was in here but truthfully, your heart was pounding twice as hard now that he was in here, sleeping. You frowned, “How am I going to clean properly with him here…?!”

‘You can do this – or you’re out of here…’ your mind told you positively and you groaned inwardly, “Yeah, way to go… mind…” You grumbled quietly and placed the pail of water down with your hands clenching and unclenching before you held onto the rag, “I guess I’ll have to start, now…”

---

 

His eyes peeked open as you were now letting him have a perfect view of your side profile as you were now cleaning the dust off the shelf of books. He noticed how your eyes sparkled with curiosity – you were just so pure as your hand reached over to pull out a book.

He narrowed his eyes and managed to make up that you pulled out his book about archery, in which, made him smile a little that you somehow pulled out his favorite book.

“Is this what dad used to do…?” He heard your voice questioned with so much sadness, it made him frown as he saw that your eyes flickered with dejection as if something horrifying had flashed through your mind. He could see how your fingers inched to open it but he could also see how scared you were on reading what was hidden that you contemplated, staring at the book as if it was going to come to life.

He gulped, just staring at you as it triggered so many questions – he wanted to know so much.

He wanted to ask so much, but he knew he had to wait.

Just as you pushed the book back in, he hurriedly closed his eyes shut and when he heard you letting out a soft sigh with a muttering of, “I’m sure it was called ‘archery’…”, it made him more determined to figure out what does his favorite past time had something to do with your life until it left a huge impact.

 

---

 

“I could sell my bottom and it still wouldn’t be enough to buy all of this…” You mumbled, picking up the rag again as you went on to wipe the glass clean.

You tried to stop yourself from talking to yourself, but it would be such a bore.

Heck, you even forgot that the Prince was in the room that you continued.

“That is, if anyone would buy my bottom…” You muttered under your breath, scrubbing hardly on the glass to make sure it was clean and your heart froze the moment a voice replied you, “Well, it depends on who you sell your bottom to.”

You gulped and looked over your shoulder where you could see him sitting up on the bed with his hands on the bed slightly behind him as he leaned back like that, the comforter pooling around his waist as he was in his sleeping attire. You’d never thought that he was someone so simple – he was so average.

The Prince you’d expect to see was someone in a silk robe or something close to that expensive but he was just in a white v-neck shirt and you could make up that he was probably wearing regular pants to sleep. You turned around hurriedly, bowing once where you remained like that, not being able to face him.

“I… I’m sorry, sir.” Your body bent back up as you meekly peeked at him, “Did I wake you up?”

That little smile he let you see assured you that he wasn’t angry at all – there was no slight anger in him as he replied you lightly, “Not really, it was about time I woke up.”

You let out a soft ‘alright…’ before turning around where you lightly tapped the side of your head, “You really need to learn how to keep quiet…!” You scolded yourself quietly before you exhaled deeply before looking up on the curtains where you needed to hook them back together because they were did wrongly. You frowned as let go of the rag into the pail before you tried to tiptoe, arms extended where your fingers tried to reach for the hook, your lips pressed together to form a small frown.

“God…” You huffed, standing on your feet again where you sighed.

You tried to jump once but that would only make your skirt flow up and down before you landed on your feet disappointedly. You could hear a soft chuckle behind you and you looked you’re your shoulder to see him fishing out a blank look on his face as if he didn’t laugh but you knew that he was the one chuckling at you. You let out a hushed, “Great…” before facing forward again where your eyes stared at the hook as if that was Captain Hook’s hand that you wanted to break.

“Alright, one more time. And if this doesn’t work, I’m bringing the stool…” You grumbled quietly as you tried to reach for it again and this time, you felt a boost pushing you up where it made you gasp loudly. You were suddenly face to face with the hooks and the curtains where you could easily just hook them back but you weren’t in your right mind at the moment.

This couldn’t be…

You looked down, staring widely at his arms banded around your waist strongly that promised he wouldn’t let you fall.

“Are you hooking them back, yet?” He questioned, as if this was something casual and you swallowed hard with your hands trembling. “I…I…”

“I can’t put you down if you don’t hook my curtains properly, maiden. Hook them back.”

You blinked at him rapidly before your eyes flickered up to stare at the hooks, “Y-Yes, sir…” Your voice was soft and you could’ve sworn you felt his cheek against your lower back but that wasn’t even on your mind right now because of how you were shaking just to hook the curtains back. How could something so simple appear to be so hard?!

“Anytime of the day now, maiden.” You heard a pinch of mischief in his voice and that drove you to hook them back perfectly as you looked down on him, “S-Sir, I’m done.”

Upon hearing your words, he had bent down to let you stand on your feet where you shuffled away from him like magnets of the same sign. He blinked at you abruptly when you reached for the pail and you gave him a small bow, “T-Thank you, sir. I’ll be taking my leave now.”

Just as you turned around, staring at the door to make your way out, his words had made you stay put. “Wait,”

You sighed inwardly, that deep feeling in your gut just kicked you.

He’s going to sack me out – there I go out to the woods again…

It was great while it lasted, here…

You looked over your shoulder, meeting with his eyes for a moment and as his hand motioned you to turn around. You did as you were bid, putting the pail down too just so you could stare down on the red carpet where you didn’t know where to look.

You heard a quiet laugh from him, “Is the carpet more attractive than my face?”

Your eyes widened, looking up immediately where you shook your head, “N-No! I was… I was just…”

His head cocked sideways, his eyebrows raising in amusement as he stared at you try to come up with why you weren’t willing to make eye contact. “Just what, maiden…?” His voice was coy, his hands behind his back as he took a step forward while you took a step backward – this was all so interesting to him as he made his way towards you while you shifted backwards each time he tried to come close. “I… I just didn’t know where to look. That’s all…” Your voice trailed off when your back was pressed against the door – it made you gasp the moment you knew there was nowhere to run.

You had your eyes closed when you felt his breath hitting your skin and he could only smile on how you were partly curious on what he was going to do as well.

He shook his head with a smirk and your eyes opened with another gasp the moment his hand cupped your chin to make you face him where you two locked eyes.

“There’s something about you, maiden.” His voice was quiet, gentle and calm as he spoke to you but it echoed into your ears, making your heart race as you stared at him. Your fingers were pressing against the door with you biting your lower lip and it made him tilt his head sideways just a little to tease you, “And it makes me wonder a lot of things, maiden.”

You swallowed hard, eyes looking down on his hand cupping your chin before your eyes roamed up to meet with his slightly dark brown eyes, “I…” You couldn’t say anything. How could you even say anything when he was this close to you again, his breath hitting your skin, his hand cupping your chin for the second time of your life – no maiden in the right mind could even say anything to him even if they tried.

“Meet me in the garden at half past ten – I’m sure I’ll be there to watch you enter, maiden.”

You could’ve felt your cheeks burning up with a deep shade of red as you blinked at him incredibly fast as if something was caught in your eye – that made him grin as he leaned away. “You may leave now.” He spoke up, reminding you that you were here to clean in the first place but it seems like now you were leaving with more than just a rag and the pail.

You were leaving with a private invitation from the Prince to meet him at the garden – it scared you a little but it also triggered your curiosity as you shuffled over to carefully pick up the pail, brushing past him to open the door where you scrambled out. The way you hurriedly slip on your wooden slippers as you got out to close the door behind you had him laughing quietly as he stared at you.

The moment the door closed, he let out a much brighter smile while you leaned your back against it with your heart still racing as if it was running a marathon. You tried to slap yourself, making sure that you were awake and you didn’t know if you should be happy or sad that all of this was actually happening.

“What did I get myself into...?”