Princess Sarocha gently dabbed with the linen, golden-laced napkin, turning ever so slightly towards the palace butler who had been standing silently, waiting for her to finish up. 

When he noticed the princess had done eating, he bowed a little again and proceeded to roll down the scroll he had been holding.

“Your highness, the formal invitation of the post-coronation royal ball of our west neighbor hosted by their new king is here.”

“Cut to the chase, when must I reach?” The princess spoke.

“It says 15th of this month, the event will be on the day after, your highness.”

“Make arrangements. We will leave my palace five days from now.”

“Certainly, your highness. And, your highness, Prince Non, your brother, also got the invitation. What shall we do since his highness is not present in the palace?,”The butler asked. He did not want to mention the prince after what had happened but he had to.

Princess Sarocha stood, “It is sad that he will not go since he is not here.” 

The princess started walking off but stopped abruptly as if she had remembered something, “And I will require tighter security. We can never trust our western neighbour, can we?” 

“I understand, your highness.”

On her way out of the dining hall, the princess walked past the head maid, who, upon noticing the princess bowed slightly.

“Mami” 

“Yes, my princess?”

“You are making sure Miss Patricia is eating properly, right?”

“Your highness, I did deliver her dinner myself last night but her roommate took over from the door.”

“Mami, I specifically asked you to see to it yourself.”

“My apologies, princess.”

“Have you taken care of her breakfast and lunch this morning?”

“Not yet, your highness.” The middle-aged woman replied, not properly comprehending why she was put into this position. 

The princess’s jaw clenched ever so slightly. She was annoyed. Her calm face could deceive anyone but people who have known her long enough would know she was not pleased at the moment and the head maid, being one of the people closest to the princess, did not fail to notice it.

“I’ll take care of it right away, your highness.” 

The princess strode towards the exit.

Lady Nam hurriedly wiped , “Wait up,”

Lady Nam walked briskly in an unladylike manner to catch up to her cousin who wouldn’t even spare a glance her way. “Where are we going now?” 

“Nowhere”

However, she did not have to wonder for too long as it became apparent to her that they were headed in the direction of the maid’s chamber. 

“Let me guess.” Nam said, “You are so bored that you now want to go and terrorise the poor kid.”

“Why does it bother you?”

“It doesn’t bother me at all” Nam continued, fixing her hair a little. “Just saying you need to find a better hobby.”

The princess sighed. “I wonder what you are still doing in my palace. I already made it sufficiently clear I do not want to see you here anymore.”

Lady Nam put a hand on her chest and let out a dramatic cry. “I am so hurt right now,”

The princess resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 

“Does it ever occur to you that I am your only friend that actually likes you? All of your so called friends from other kingdoms hate you. It is only I that tolerate you.”

“Hate is a strong word, my cousin.”The princess slowed down her strides and looked at her cousin. “Nobody hates me. They either fear me or envy me.”

“Yeah sure, Princess Narcissist”

Now, they were at the door. Lady Nam knocked on the door lightly, “Room Service” she  jokingly called out in a high pitched voice.

This time, the princess couldn’t suppress an eye roll.

Becky opened the door rather slowly and she was visibly surprised to see the princess and Nam outside. 

She hurriedly bowed and in her confusion or rather, a lack of the right thing to say at the moment, wished the two a good morning. She couldn’t even tell if it was noon already or not. 

 The princes scanned the girl up and down. Becky was clad in an all white nightdress. She looked significantly cleaner than before but the princess’s spirit sank a little seeing how skinny the girl had become.

“Have you had your breakfast yet, my dear?” Lady Nam asked, letting herself into the room.

“I-I woke up just a while ago.” Becky admitted, closing her eyes in embarrassment. “I am sorry, I am such a failure as a maid. I-I-"

“It is fine. Calm down, kid.” Lady Nam interrupted. “The princess is not here to lay you off from working here if that is what you are worried about.”

“What did you have last night for dinner?” The princess enquired, trying her best to sound uninterested but failing miserably.

“Some broth, your highness”, Becky answered fast. 

Right then, the head maid walked in with Becky’s lunch. She was not expecting the royals inside the room. She bowed a little and lady Nam nodded in acknowledgement.

“You are excused from working today” The princess told Becky.

Becky did not know whether to say thank you or to say sorry. She diverted eyes and searched inside her brain to come up with a polite answer. Her brain failed her and she simply watched the princess leave her room. 

Becky did not know where she stood with the princess. It felt like the princess had some sort of a switch that went back and forth between being nice and downright terrible. For Becky, she was drowning in the little care the princess would show her once in a while. She felt pathetic but deep down, she would not trade it with all the riches of the world.

Becky sighed. She decided it was fair. No one was perfect and she understood that. The princess looked like a goddess. It was not surprising God compromised on her behaviour to balance things out. 

“Hello! Earth to Becky”

Becky blinked confusedly at the hand waving in front of her which was none other than lady Nam’s. “Eat all, see you” Lady Nam said before exiting. 

Becky gave a little bow to the royals after they had left. She felt as if she had used all of her energy in that short but tense interaction. She sat down and thanked the head maid, who instead of going, sat down in a stool and looked at Becky in a foul mood.

“Do not waste my time, child. Eat up fast so that I can go and do my actual job.” 

Becky nodded and began eating. 

________________________________________

The next day in the early hours, the princess met her brother at the palace gate.

She absolutely did not expect her brother to show up this quickly after what had happened.  She considered her brother spineless for not lasting that long but at the same time, she was pleased her brother came to his senses and was finally there to ask for forgiveness.

“Didn’t take long for you to realise the wrongs you did.” The princess spoke.

Prince Non stood, his head hanging low, several feet away from his sister. 

“Forgive me” He said softly. 

The princess walked towards her brother ever so slowly.

“Do not try me, my dear, little brother.” She spoke, “You and I both know that I will always win. If I want something, I take it and own it.” She whispered. 

Prince Non clenched his fists with his eyes tightly shut. He knew what his sister was implying. It made him sick. He did not want the throne for himself. But he felt he needed to take it to save the people from his sister. 

If his sister married the Crown prince of Neftai, he thought his sister would rule alongside him in his kingdom. In that case, the throne of Aries would be his. As it was the case with most of the marriages between the heirs of two kingdoms. But his sister had bigger plans and it was no longer a hidden agenda. His sister’s plan was to combine military forces and resources of the two kingdoms with Aries becoming the main centre and giving Neftai just about enough autonomy to keep them from rioting. 

It was the best choice for her sister since the Kingdom of Neftai was fairly powerful and was located at the sea coast. It was working out in her favour since Princess Sarocha also had a major crush on the crown prince, now her fiancé of Neftai, ever since they were young. 

The princess seemed pleased as she enjoyed her afternoon tea in her garden. It felt like a mini victory that her brother came to apologise that soon. It was never a good image to put forth in front of all her people that her brother did not cooperate with her. 

With everything sorted out, she felt at ease. She watched , sipping her tea, as Lady Nam approach the garden. 

For some reason, Nam also seemed to be in a very good mood.

The head chef poured lady Nam her tea. 

Nam happily sat down and took her cup, looking at her cousin with suppressed excitement. 

“You seem very happy your brother came” Nam stated.

“What can I say?” The princess replied, a little smile on her face. “It is such a lovely day, today,” The princess glanced over at her cousin.

“You have no idea what happened today. All of what I thought is true” Lady Nam sang.

“Yes?” The princess hummed.

“You know, your brother visited Becky today. He didn’t notice me even when I am wearing shiny clothes and all these jewellery” 

All hints of joy were wiped out of the princess’s face and she sat up really straight it was alarming. Or at least the head chef thought.

“He did what?”

“Oh that is not all. He went and hugged Becky, like, it was so romantic. He was apologising again and again for what happened to her saying it was his fault tyrant Sarocha put poor Becky in the dark cell where she almost died”. Nam recounted what happened with a hint of a joke.

But Princess Sarocha did not find any of it funny. 

“And what the hell were you doing in her room again?” 

“What?”

Before Lady Nam could say anything else, the princess stormed off. 

Princess Sarocha went straight for the royal butler.

“Your highness”, the elderly man bowed.

“There is a change of plans. We leave for the ball today. Lay off one maid. I am bringing Miss Patricia instead.”

“But your highness, I am required to attend a ritual with his majesty tomorrow.”

“I need you to come with me today.” The princess spoke firmly. “Make arrangements as soon as possible.” The princess said, raising her sweet yet dangerous undertone voice up a little. “And You are not to tell my brother he was also invited.”

***************************************

Can I know what you think of Prince Non?

And yes Crown prince Saint of Neftai, who will be introduced in flesh and blood in the next chapter along with Becky’s Prince Chen. Them all gonna meet in the West Kingdom next chapter. 😌

You know I am a lazy writer and you guys are kinda boring too. You never leave your thoughts. It is not exciting to write next chapter 😌 do say something. 🥹

Next chapter underway. Happy New Year