Maya slowly regains consciousness after a deep slumber, until she suddenly remembers what happened the previous night. 

She looks down at Rio, who now has her head on her chest and one arm around her waist tightly.

Though at first glance, Rio looks like she is still sleeping, but Maya can tell that she is awake by just looking at her eyes, which are twitching.

"G-Good morning, your highness," Maya greets her with a nervous stutter, slowly her fingers through the princess' long, dark hair. "Were you able to sleep well? No more nightmares?"

"Yeah, thank you," Rio sounds very appreciative before she lets out a tired yawn.

"D-Did I do well, your highness?" Maya asks, hoping she gave Rio what she wanted.

"Yes, you did. Thanks again," Rio confirms, slowly lifting her head from Maya's chest. "You gave me exactly what I needed."

"Good," Maya gives her an awkward smile. "I know you probably don't want me to get up, but I think I should really get started on your dirty laundry now."

"Yeah, that's fine. You go do that," Rio responds, dismissing her from her room.

As soon as Maya grabs Rio's basket of dirty clothes, she makes her way out of Rio's bedroom, not thinking straight with thoughts of last night lingering in her mind.

She messed up again, but at least she was able to please the princess in a different way.

Though, as Maya made her way outside to the well to get some clean water to fill her laundry bucket, she came across Mako.

"Oh, good morning, Maya!" Mako greets her happily. "I'm glad to see you're already getting to work."

"Yeah, I'm doing my best," Maya responds, putting the wooden bucket she was carrying down so she could speak with Mako more properly. There are a few questions regarding Rio that she needs to be answered.

"Good, last night went well, I'm assuming? Sorry for leaving you with so many tasks," Mako asks then apologizes, feeling a bit guilty, but the royal maids are still down on numbers at the moment.

"It did go well, but actually, I have a few questions," Maya mentions, her voice starting to sound a bit nervous.

"Well, what are they?" Mako asks curiously, ready to answer them.

"I walked in on Princess Rio having a nightmare last night when I forgot to grab her dirty laundry," Maya partially lies, purposely leaving out the part where she spent the night in her room. "Is this a normal occurance? If so, why does she have nightmares so often? And is there anything we as her maids can do about it?"

Mako chuckles and then nods, having heard this from other new maids before. 

"Princess Rio has nightmares way too frequently," Mako answers honestly. "She was really traumatized by the death of her mother. They were very close, so she deals with some flashbacks and nightmares about that."

Maya frowns and nods.

"As for ways we can help, she often asks for her maids to spend the night with her so she's not alone," Mako also mentions. "I have done that a few times."

There it is. Maya's hopes and dreams of Rio liking her as more than just a maid are crushed.

"Did she ask you?" Mako as