My heart yearns for the closeness we once shared and it wonders why you try to be so lonely, keeping me so apart from you...

After about an hour of socialising, it was finally time for the grand royal dinner which was to be served in the great dining hall. While every royal got ready for the meal, Princess Sarocha decided it was best to dine on her own in her own room.

"Are you suggesting we have a romantic dinner? Just the two of us?" Prince Saint playfully enquired.

"You must dine with them. The king and queen have set our chairs right next to them. It would be impolite for neither of us to be in attendance"

Prince Saint reluctantly nodded his head, his spirit dropping a little.  He wanted to know why the princess suddenly wanted to eat alone but he wouldn't ask. He had a feeling he would get an evasive answer at most. "But I was eagerly anticipating the opportunity to spend some time with you."

Even if the Prince asked the reason, the princess was not prepared to tell him that she was terrified her maid would run away with some unpopular Prince of a poor kingdom.

The princess gave a little smile and the couple started heading towards the grand stairs together followed by Becky and others.

There was comfortable silence as they walked up the stairs and through the hallway towards the room where the princess stayed.

Becky was partly relieved the princess would be retiring to her room early. She had pleaded with Prince Chen to let her stay in Aries a little longer. But something about how he looked at her did not feel right. If she stayed around him longer, Becky was sure Prince Chen would come up with a plan to convince her to go back with him.

Becky heaved a sigh and she stopped as she realised they had already arrived at the princess's room.

She looked ahead and saw Prince Saint gently raising the princess's hand in his. Becky almost forgot about her problems and smiled a little. It was endearing to see the Prince be very gentle with the princess.

"I shall come to get you after dinner, My beautiful fiancée," Prince Saint said.

And just when Becky thought Prince Saint would turn and leave, he gently put his finger under the princess's chin, leaning down a little and planted a kiss right on the princess's lips.

Becky's smile dropped. She had never felt that uncomfortable seeing two lovers share a moment. She immediately looked away, running her fingers through her hair in a futile attempt to calm her raging heart. What was wrong with her?

Prince Saint left.

Becky and the other maid entered the princess's room as they were told to. For the past few days, Becky had been staying in a shared room with the maids she came with but today, it seemed like the princess needed company.

The princess had freshened up and was sat at the little dining chair in the grand room. No words were said. Becky sat on the intricately designed sofa in one corner of the room. She fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. The silence was very uncomfortable. Her friend had gone to bring some of the stuff she would need as the princess had ordered one of the maids to stay with her that night. Ultimately, she was the chosen one. She looked down at the sofa she was sitting on. It seemed like she would be sleeping on it as they did not bring sleeping futons to the palace. The maids were too provided beds.

After a while, trolley after trolley of food rolled in accompanied by chefs with tall and white toques on their heads. Aries butler walked in right after.

The princess picked the food she liked. From delicate appetisers to main courses. The food was served with meticulous care and attention to detail and the chefs waited for further orders from the princess of Aries.

The tantalising aroma of savoury flavours filled the room.

"Arrange her dinner and deliver it here as well" Becky clearly heard the princess say. She confusedly looked at the chefs who were also looking at her with subdued confusion.

But a princess's orders were orders.

"Yes, Your Highness." The chefs responded in unison.

"You may leave"

With that, the chefs exited the door.

Did the princess just order her food from the royal chefs? Was she imagining things?

Without missing a beat, as soon as the door to the room was shut, Aries Butler took a clean plate and carefully scooped little portions of the princess's food onto the plate.

It was safe as long as the royals from all over the place were dining together. But not so when a royal is dining alone in a foreign kingdom with hidden enmity. The food had chances of being poisoned, although slim.

Becky understood what was going on. The reason she was also asked to stay inside of the princess's room when there were guards outside the room whenever the princess was inside suddenly made sense to her. Was the princess in any sort of danger?

"Miss Armstrong" Becky's thoughts came to a halt when she heard the Butler call out to her. "Could you please come here?"

Becky was up in no time and was walking towards the princess. Her heart was furiously beating. She understood her assignment. Truthfully, she would do anything for the princess in a heartbeat, even if it meant risking her life.

"It is unnecessary to involve Miss Patricia. Please go ahead and sample the cuisine. It's inconceivable that they would risk such folly by poisoning my food." The princess said in a rush.

The royal butler had to remain silent for a while as he tried to reason with the princess's decision to let him do the poison test instead of the servant girl in the room. As a royal butler, shouldn't his safety come before the maids'?

But he was in no position to question the princess.

"Ah, yes, Your Highness." The butler said, "I don't presume they would dare do anything untoward."

Becky stayed frozen where she stood. She watched the butler try the scoops of deliciously cooked food one after the other.

The butler waited the several minutes the princess spent eating. Becky had retired to her seat.

Gentle and hesitant knocks startled Becky and almost instantly, she got up to tend to the door. She knew she would hate to see Prince Saint on the other side of the door. Fortunately, it was none other than her maid friend, who had come with Becky's thin blanket, pillow and a nightgown to change into.

Becky sheepishly took the items from her friend, noticing some cooks standing near the door. It seemed like her meal had arrived. She would most probably be served when the princess was done with her meal.

Becky said goodnight to her friend and set her pillow and blanket down on the sofa.

When the princess was done, her table was cleaned and the exquisite tableware and luxurious cutlery were taken away. Shortly after, Becky's meal came and hers was served in the corner of the room on a small table that the cooks brought.

Becky started eating like she had been hungry for the whole day. Every bite was heavenly. She was sure her share of the meal came from the royal kitchen.

By the time she was done, she noticed everyone had left the room. It was only her and the princess. The princess was scanning through the bookshelf on the far side of the room.

Becky cleaned after herself. She stacked up her plates and glass on the tray and got up to go and drop off the utensils.

"Where do you think you are going?" The princess enquired, loud enough to make Becky jump a little in surprise.

"I-I, I was just about to" Becky started, her words completely dishevelled. She looked down at the tray she was carrying to make her point as she was not able to form a sentence at the moment. "I wanted to return these downstairs."

"There's no need for that. Just keep them on the table. The room service will take care of them."

Becky nodded and did exactly as she was told.

Right then, knocks were heard and Becky rushed to the door. She opened to see none other than a smiling Prince Saint, who greeted politely, despite being the Prince.

"May I enter, my queen" Prince Saint jokingly asked as he entered anyway.

The two lovers chatted for a couple of minutes before they decided to leave the room.

The princess seemed to be in a completely different world with the prince. She'd smile and be friendly. Glimpses of her old self as Becky remembered. It was sad the princess had only reserved that side of herself for the person she loved. Becky heaved a defeated sigh as she retired to her sofa to wallow in sad thoughts for a while.

_____________________________

Princess Sarocha and the prince briefly strolled in the garden.

"I believe it is time we retire to my chambers. There are too many people outside." Prince Saint proposed.

Soon, they were in Prince Saint's room. Princess Sarocha declined fine wine served to her by her fiancé.

Soon after, he was talking about their future and how he could not wait until they were finally married. That he didn't want to live far from her.

"May I kiss you?" Prince Saint asked, slightly red in the face. "You look so beautiful today."

The princess found it funny how the prince would ask for her permission. She leaned in and gently kissed her fiancé. With the green signal, the prince pulled the princess closer to him and kissed her will all the pent-up desire he had been holding. They only separated to catch their breath before the prince would come in for more.

Princess Sarocha felt the Prince's rough hand going up her dress, urgently feeling up her thigh. Another hand tried to slip up to her .

That was when the princess decided that it was enough for the day. She stopped the hand that was going up her thigh and slowly leaned backwards sending a clear message that she was not in the mood.

_____________________

Meanwhile, Becky sat on the floor, leaning against the door. It had been several minutes since she discovered that she was left inside the room, locked from outside. She wanted to go and grab something from the maids' chambers but there she was, crying a little, on the floor. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but be suspicious that the princess had locked her up, never to come back again, plotting her demise. Although she also thought the princess didn't hate her to the extent of abandoning her in a strange place, the idea was still sad enough to make her cry.

She convinced herself that the princess had mistakenly locked her up. There was no reason for the princess to do it on purpose, was there?

Becky would never know that the princess had indeed, purposely locked her up to prevent her from running away. And no one would tell Becky the truth because no one knew of it, except the princess.

______________________

The princess, feeling that it wouldn't do anyone good for her to stay any longer, decided to retire to her own room.

Prince Saint led her through the mostly empty large corridor to her room. Most of the royals were partying and having fun downstairs and therefore the corridors above remained mostly vacant.

The utter displeasure that cursed through the princess when she saw Prince Chen lingering about the hallway, alone, and without any guards to accompany him was overwhelming. The princess absolutely hated his guts. She instantly knew why he looked very distraught. He must have been looking for her maid. And she knew, by the looks of it, that he did not find her with the maids where she was supposed to be staying.

Some of her guards and her other maid knew Becky was staying in her room. It was only a matter of time until the prince would get the information.

She would really not hesitate unaliving the man if he decided to knock on her door.

Becky heard footsteps closing in. She could tell, the princess had come back with her guards. She wiped the stray tears off her face and stood. Right then, she could hear the key turn. She rushed to the sofa to make it look like she had been on it and had not been crying on the floor the whole time.

She could hear the prince's voice.

Minutes passed and they were still outside. Although she was sure the prince had left.

"Tell their butler I require his presence in my room with keys to all spare rooms immediately." The princess ordered one of her guards.

She entered the room and looked for Becky who stood up upon seeing her.

"Miss Patricia" the princess called. "Please come and get the extra set of bed sheets from the cabinet."

"Yes, Your Highness" Becky wanted to know what the extra sheet was for.

"Oh, and I have my nightgowns on the other side. I'll need that as well and grab a couple of books from the shelf there"

Becky nodded and headed for the task in hand.

The princess went near the door of the room. She was growing impatient as she waited for the West Butler. Said Butler hastily arrived.

"How may I offer my assistance, Your Highness"

"I came across a couple of rooms at the end of the hallways with locks on them. May I know why exactly that is?" The princess enquired. Although she knew the answer to it.

"Your Highness, we were not able to fix the toilets in those rooms on time. That is the reason, Your Highness."

"I presume most of the royals that arrived late know of these rooms to be out of order"

"Yes, Your Highness. They have been informed. The latecomers stay in the other hallway as there are no more rooms available on this side."

"I want keys to one of those rooms immediately. And I am also to retain this room o am staying in. And I will ask you to keep this matter strictly confidential between us."

"Most certainly, your highness. I will lead the way."

It was not entirely uncommon for royals to ask for two rooms. Sometimes during their entire stay, some royals would entertain different partners in different rooms.

Princess Sarocha told her guards to grab the maid's belongings as well. Right then, Becky knew they were headed somewhere.

A locked door, several rooms down the hallway was opened. The candles and lanterns in the room were lit. It was not a bad room. In fact, it was not too different from the one the princess had been staying in, although a lot smaller.

Becky entered the room and quickly went to the bed to prepare the bed for the princess.

Becky settled on a sofa after putting out some of the candles in the room. The princess specifically asked her to keep the room only dimly lit. As far as Vecky was aware, no guards were outside their room. All were sent to the room the princess had been previously staying. No one was in that room, yet, the princess wanted the guards to remain there.

Since it was none of her business, sat on the sofa and waited for the princess to go to bed. It was getting late and she could faintly hear royals returning to their rooms. The princess went to bed. That was when Becky decided to go to sleep as well. She hurriedly changed into her nightgown and went under the blanket. She wanted to go to sleep but she knew she would not get much sleep.

Past midnight, Becky sat up on her sofa, mumbling curses under her breath. She had to urinate and she had been holding it in for a while. The toilet in this room was out of service and therefore locked. She was at a point where she would not be able to hold it in any longer. She stood and looked around the place. Why hadn't she gone and relieved herself when they were in the other room?

The room they were currently staying in had also been locked from the inside. And somewhere near the princess lay the keys to both the rooms. She had no guts to wake the princess up. She would rather disappear into a crack in the ground than wake the princess up.

She paced about the room, praying to Gods she knew and didn't know.

That had woken the princess up.

"What on earth are you doing at this time of night?" The princess's voice sounded a little harsh. She sounded annoyed and Becky could hear the sleepiness laced in the words.

Silence answered the princess. Becky also stopped pacing. She almost felt her pee go up.

"Miss Patricia?" The princess called out.

"Your Highness, I need to visit the lavatory downstairs." She meekly replied. She was equal parts embarrassed and proud that she was able to still produce some sound.

The princess wordlessly got up. All sleep chased away. She was now very awake. Was the girl trying to run away?

Becky could hear the tinker of the keys as the princess got up and walked the distance to the door.

She put the key in and turned it, cracking the door open with as little noise as she could muster. "You needn't go downstairs. You can use the one in the other room."

"Th-thank you. I- I am sorry for inconveniencing you, Your Highness" Becky said, half expecting the princess to hand her the keys to the other room.

There was an awkward moment.

"Walk" the princess ordered.

Becky turned and started walking, closely followed by the princess.

No royal had ever followed a servant on their trip to the toilet room. It was always the other way around.

They walked past the guards guarding other royals' rooms.

When they finally reached, the room was not locked from the outside.

Becky thought the princess came with her to possibly unlock the door. She thought the princess didn't want her to have the key. Now, the door didn't need any key.

The princess and her maid walked into the room and oddly enough, the princess waited for her maid.

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Chapter is here! Okay, on a scale of 1 to 10, how jealous was the princess today? Lol

Leave some hate comments for our Prince Saint. 😂