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"Is it good?" The princess asked, holding a glass of water with both her hands. Little Becky nodded her head as she chewed the lobster. "You're lying" countered the princess with a roll of her eyes. "It's absolutely bland with zero amount of spice and not enough salt. It's just plain lobster you're tasting." "But it tastes great like this" little Becky answered. "My tastebuds will lose functionality if i keep ordering bland, tasteless food just so you can eat." The princess sighed. "You didn't need to." Becky complained, mouth full of food, "I have plenty of food i can eat down in the pantry." "They don't make lobster for everyone, do they?" The princess facepalmed. "Oh, I thought-" "Becca, stop talking and chew properly." The princess slumped down on the wall just below the large window of her room that overlooked the beautiful full moon outside. The royal Princess and her little maid were sat on the carpeted floor of the princess's room. It was late in the night and the princess had called her maid in her room yet again to feed her the share of lobster she had snuck in for her little friend. Little Becky nodded cutely and obeyed the princess. "Good Becca" the princess said and watched with absolute delight as the little maid ate. She could argue that watching Becca eat was her absolute favourite thing to do. "What do you want to eat tomorrow?" Becky raised her pointer finger up and waited until she swallowed the food in ."Tuna sushi" she said. "Really? You want me to die?" Princess Sarocha asked feigning anger. Becky nodded an affirmative. The large room was filled with giggles and laughter as the princess now tackled her little friend on the floor in a fit of tickles-attack.
 

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Becky found herself awake earlier than normal. She could still not understand the onslaught of care and attention the princess showered her out of the blue. What did it all mean? Was she overthinking things or had the princess finally come to her senses? A weary smile tugged on her lips. It had been the closest to holding hands with the princess like the old times when she dragged her all the way to the physician's quarter. And it had also been the closest she had been after a long while to the princess when she leaned in to check the scratch on her upper chest. Becky absentmindedly grazed the scratch mark with her own finger, remembering how she had to hold her breath when the princess was inches away from her. She brought her hands up and felt her cheeks as could feel blood rushing up her face.

"Irin" Becky called out from her bed. She didn't think her friend was awake but she still called her.

"Yes?" Irin answered, taking Becky by surprise. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing. Just wondering why she decided to be kind to me when i was least expecting it." Becky said, slowly getting up and settling in a sitting position. "It's strange isn't it? She was giving me a hard time on purpose just the other day and every other day before that. I am just really confused. She's very difficult to understand." Becky could hear Irin shift her position on her bed.
 

"Becky, I don't know how close you were back then but I really think she still cares a little for you. It's no surprise though. She probably thinks its nice to bully people when she's bored. That's probably the reason she has been giving you a hard time." Irin sighed. "She's a mean one.But aren't you lucky, You have the prince on your side. I think the prince is smitten with you." Irin laughed.

"He's just a friend, Irin. We were friends before and we are now."

"yes, but even for a moment, don't you think it'll be nice if that friendship can turn into a little more?" Irin asked jokingly.

"Nope. Not at all. Irin, I told you i have someone who's waiting for me back there. I am only here because i asked him specifically to give me a year before we get married. He was my only ticket here."

"I cannot believe it unless you tell me who that person is" Irin sits up. "Surely, he has a name."

"He does have a name. But I cannot tell you now. You will know soon enough. One year goes by quickly." _____________________________________________
 

Becky kept herself busy. She was always there to help everybody around since she had very little to do.  She'd help Irin out, she would help in the kitchen and she would learn some gardening tips from Heng as she helped him. Some absolutely adored Becky but there were many envious of her. She was exceptionally pretty and the prince seemed to be very fond of her. This fact did not sit well with many people in the royal palace. And even though Prince Non specifically ordered the head maid to not task Becky, Becky wasn't going to sit around. She was in there for a reason and she would do anything to fulfil it. It was late afternoon and Becky remembered she had to go and mop the floor of the Princess's gallery. When she arrived, she was glad that she was the only one in it. Although she had to admit it kind of felt a little lonely. She did secretly enjoy the princess's presence even though the princess gave her a hard time. She looked around the gallery. She had the whole room to herself. There were wonderful paintings of different sizes all around the large room that resembled a hall. She could get used to this. At least there was no one to reprimand her when she wanted to take some rest in between. Halfway through, she was pleasantly surprised by Prince Non who showed up from the back door.

"You are mopping earlier than schedule." The Prince spoke.

"Yeah. I had nothing else to do so i figured I'd finish mopping early."
"Do you want to go out of the palace for a ride?" The Prince proposed.

"I'd love to. But I have to finish this up first." Prince Non took the mop handle from Becky.

"Here, let me help. Let's take turns mopping." Becky chuckled.
"Give it back. You don't even know how to mop the floor. You'll just make a mess and make my job harder"

"Relax, I have seen it many times. Of course it cannot be that hard." Prince Non laughed as he tried his best.

"So, where exactly are we going? Do you have a location planned?" Becky enquired.

"Oh. We have the general location planned. You see, we do this many times a year. Like last year, we made at least six different trips like this."

"I am so confused. What trips? Who's we?" Becky enquired.

"It's just a secret strategy we implement. My sister and I, along with the royal guards and a couple of officials; we'd change into normal clothes and basically go incognito and go places around our kingdom, just one at a time, and see for ourselves how everything is. You know, its a chance to mingle with our people and get to know what opinions they have of us and all."
"Oh" Becky replied. "So, usually we'd bring along a maid of my sister's choice to tend to her needs. But I really wanted to you to come. So I went and made some arrangements,"

"What if the princess gets mad and tell me off?"

"Don't worry. Just stay close to me. I'll take care of everything."

"Let me take over. You really are making a mess and look at your shoes all wet. You're clearly not made for this." Becky said as she proceeds to take the mop back.

Prince Non was in the middle of explaining one of the paintings on the wall while Becky mopped the floor when the princess walked into the gallery. The prince abruptly stopped talking and Becky bowed a little in a hurry. It felt like the temperature in the room dropped several degrees. The princess didn't say a single word but stared daggers at the two other occupants in the room. Becky was feeling very uncomfortable. The princess, however didn't stay long. She took out her pocket watch and briefly looked at it before leaving the room altogether.

"I don't want to go." Becky declared, several seconds after the princess left. She knew for sure the princess wouldn't like her tagging along.

"Oh, you must." Prince Non insisted. "Don't worry about my sister. She'll mind her own business we will mind ours. We'll be fine. I promise we'll have lots of fun." ______________________________________________
 

Several minutes later, the prince was in front of the maids' chamber waiting for Becky. "He's here." Irin announced, coming inside the room. "Have fun," she winked. Becky couldn't help roll her eyes as she exited the their room.
 

"Did you pack a change of clothes and your toiletries?" Prince Non asked pointing at the satchel Becky had with her. Becky simply nodded. It was very easy for Becky to talk to Non. He was just like a regular person to her than a prince.

"I'll hold it for you" He extended his hands to take her satchel.

"I am the maid here. I am more than capable to hold this." Becky lifted said satchel up in the air to make a point, "and its not heavy."

It was approaching dusk. Becky rode the chariot with the prince. She hadn't seen the princess at all. "You said you will be wearing normal civilian clothings" Becky started, looking at the prince as the chariot started moving.
 

"Yes, and we cannot bring the chariots also. That will raise suspicion." Becky nodded. "So," The prince continued. "We will stoop somewhere and change into normal clothes and we will be taking some rented horses."

"Aaahh, makes sense." Becky nodded again. Not long after, they arrived at the said location. When Becky and the prince entered the dully lit hall, they were greeted head on by none other than the princess. She was wearing all black within, another black cloak with a hood covered her back, head and her sides, half of her face covered with a translucent veil. One could definitely make out the shape of her face  behind the veil but not entirely. All that was visible was the part of her pale face up her mid nose and her hauntingly beautiful eyes. She was absolutely stunning in normal boring clothes, Becky admitted to herself.

"What is she doing here? And where is my maid?" Princess Sarocha asked, eying Becky with what looked like a hint of duly subdued disgust. She looked around and asked where the maid was again. Everyone stood in absolute silence, looking down on the floor. Becky just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Prince Non, who was standing right beside her,did nothing to help.

A middle aged man, who was one of the officials, walked a little closer to the princess and spoke in his deep voice. "Your highness, Prince Non decided to take her instead as the other maid came down with a high fever in the last minute."

"What nonsense." The princess exclaimed, as she exited the door, finally giving room for Becky to breathe again.
 

"I don't think this is a good idea." Becky sighed. "Well, its too late to go back now" the prince joked. "Wait here, I will go and change. I will be back in one minute."

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The troop was ready. The princess had mounted on a horse a little far away from everyone else. Some royal officials and guards, all disguised as commoners had each mounted on a horse. Becky looked down at her olive dress in the quickly darkening evening. She was possibly the only one who hadn't changed her clothes. There was no way she could ride a horse wearing a dress. "Come, ride with me" Prince Non drove his horse closer to Becky and extended a hand. Becky hesitated for a while but having no other option, took the prince's hand who pulled her up quite easily. Now Becky was sitting on her side, facing left in front of the prince. He let out a small cry of victory. Right then, Becky's eyes landed on the princess's, who apparently had been looking at the exchange between her brother and the maid. Her eyes then landing on her brother's hand on Becky's waist as he tried to adjust Becky's position. The full moon was shining down on them and the lights from small shops nearby gave enough light to make their ride to the next village comfortable.

The princess had driven up faster than the rest. Becky's eyes trained the princess's figure, catching a glimpse of the rapier that hung to her right side when her cloak fluttered in the wind. It made sense, the princess was left handed, so she hung her rapier on her right side of her waist. Becky had never seen the princess use a rapier or any other sword for that matter. She could tell the princess would look total badass using the sword. She smiled a little at the thought.

"There was one time my sister and I had to play husband and wife" The Prince started, bringing Becky back to reality.

"What?" Becky coughed, "what did you just say?" She asked, not believing what she heard.

"Last year, we went down south and stayed in a village. We were out shopping the next day, mingling with people, getting as much information about the situation in the village as we usually do. So there was this particular jewellery shop we stopped by. I happened to stand close to my sister when she looked around for a cheap bracelet. The shopkeeper old lady looked at me and then at her and told me how lucky I am to have such a beautiful wife." Prince Non laughed out loud. "I played along and said, its more of a curse than a blessing. Which is true. Who would want to marry someone so spoiled like her?"

Becky adjusted her position atop the horse again before answering, "I heard She and the crown prince of the kingdom of Neftai will be getting engaged soon." Prince Non laughed some more.

"Yeah, he's going to regret it. I don't know what they see in each other."

Becky sighed, "For the record, your sister really is beautiful. Anyone would be lucky to have her."

"Yes. Only if she would grow up a little. Right?" Prince Non nudged Becky as if asking for an answer.
 

"True" Becky agreed reluctantly, giggling along with the prince. "We'd be dead if she heard us." ________________________________________________
 

It was about 8.30 when they finally decided on an inn to stay over at. It was a large inn, one of the grander ones in the village they were at. Becky got down to stretch a little as she had to ride the horse in a rather uncomfortable position for more than an hour. Some of their men came back to deliver information.

"There is only four rooms available. Should we look for another one, my lady?"

"No, its very late. We shall adjust", the princess answered.

Right then Becky noticed many of the soldiers they came with to be gone. There were only ten of them left. "Where is everybody?" She wondered out loud.

"They have been scattered around the place. We cannot afford to raise suspicion." Princess Sarocha answered, successfully making Becky turn around and face her. Becky was not expecting the princess to answer her of all people. "And you, do not call me your highness here. I will punish you if you slip up and blow my cover." Becky stood up straight, she could hear her heart picking up speed.

"What do I c-call you then?" She enquired.

Silence answered her as the princess disregarded her question completely and proceeded riding the horse towards the inn in question. Becky helplessly looked at the prince, who leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. "Lady Freen. Call her Lady Freen." "Lady what?" Becky asked. "Lady Freen." The prince said again. "It's a lame name she came up with" he scoffed.

"Okay." Becky nodded. "What about you? What do I call you?"

"Anything you like. Let's see how creative you are."

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The inside of the inn was clearly big and well lit with candles and torches. It was a two storey, big inn. All kinds of travellers and local people loitered around the main lobby. Some drank away, others gambled, some sang in the corner. The place was busy and noisy. Princess Sarocha scanned the area as they entered. It was mostly filled with half-drunk people with beer bellies. All eyes seemed to befall on Becky as the group went further inside. No one was to blame. She was the only one wearing a feminine dress and she was unequivocally beautiful.  Princess Sarocha couldn't help but notice this. She grimaced at how old men, thrice their age, ogled at Becky. It was absolutely disgusting.

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They were settled for the night. Poor Becky found herself alone in a room with the princess. She was tired but she knew she was not going to have a very good night. A small part of her liked it, even though she would not admit. She liked being with the princess no matter how coldly the other woman treated her.
 

The princess had removed her cloak and was standing arms crossed near the bed. Becky could now see that the princess had her rapier on her right side and a pistol on her left. Her long luscious hair was down and she was staring right at the door with an expressionless face as if she was waiting for something.

If Becky wasn't feeling this awkward, she would have properly admired the princess. She downright looked like the queen of the underworld, a very fine looking one at that.

Becky stood a little away from the right side of the door. She could hear light footsteps that stopped right outside but she didn't think much of it. She was preoccupied wondering where she was going to sleep as there seemed to have only one bed in the room. The other three rooms they took were occupied by the remaining eight men they came with. There was no way she was going to sleep in the same room with the men. Now she felt all the more uncomfortable. She momentarily closed her eyes and remembered those old times. She never could have imagined there would come a day where she would feel so foreign and uncomfortable near the princess. When she was younger, she used to feel the safest near her best friend, her princess.

"Someone is at the door. Shall I come and open it?" The princess asked in a sweet yet sarcastic way, pulling Becky out of yet another one of her trance. She quickly shook her head and proceeded to open the door. One of the royal guards they came with was outside and he handed her what seemed to be a bedcover and a pillow cover. He reached out behind him and put in a futon inside the room.

"And this is my futon. You can sleep on it for the night. I am sorry we could not get a separate room for you." The man spoke solely, as if he was afraid the princess would hear him. He deeply bowed towards the princess before leaving.

Becky got on with her work. No wonder the princess would need a change of the beddings. A royal wouldn't just sleep on any bed sheet in some random inn. Now that Becky was done changing the beddings, she settled herself in the lone chair the room had which was placed a little further from the bed.

The princess had moved herself near the window. She had opened it and was staring at the full moon. Becky felt a little at ease now that the princess was not facing her anymore. She looked as if she was very consumed with the moon. Her hair softly ruffled as the breeze made contact. Right then, the princess looked very calm and harmless.

"Are you clearly deaf or are you ignoring it to piss me off?" The princess asked, slowly turning around and crossing her arms loosely. Becky stood up, confusedly looking at the princess and back at the door. "I am sorry, I'll get the door." Becky bowed and turned, scolding herself mentally for letting herself get carried away with thoughts again. She could swear she didn't not hear anyone at the door.

Outside, two royal guards stood with a tray of food. A little further away stood Prince Non, who smiled and waved as soon as Becky looked at him. "Come out." He mouthed. The two guards reluctantly entered the room and proceeded to lay out the food on a small table for the princess. Becky had to wait until the princess looked at her to ask if she could leave the room for a while.

"Ten minutes" was what the princess said before Becky exited the room.

She had only ten minutes to eat her dinner. "Relax, she won't kill you if you take an extra two or three minutes." The prince told her. Becky managed a smile but she was anxious. She didn't want to distress the princess any further than she already had.

"Eat up, Becca. It's nice, don't you think?" The prince asked, gobbling up strips after strips of fried pork. Unfortunately, the food was a little too spicy for Becky. She didn't want an upset stomach later.

"I don't have too much appetite," She lied.

"I hope you did eat something before we came here?" Becky nodded. A little lie would only hurt herself. "I am leaving." Becky stood and said.

"It's not even ten minutes and besides, Lady Freen stays in the next room." They both laughed a little at the mention of the name.

"Goodnight, fake commoner" Becky joked and exited the room. The princess had already done eating as there was no sign of food on the table. Becky bowed a little and entered the room before locking the door behind her.

"Is there anything i can do for you, your highness?" Becky asked. She came as a maid. She knew surely she had tasks to fulfil as a maid otherwise what was the need of bringing along a maid.

"Do not call me that in front of other people." The princess warned. It was true that people get more angry when they were hungry. The princess hardly ate the food that was arranged for her. To her, the food was too low a quality of a royal to feast on. So, she had sent the food away any had chosen to starve herself till the morning where she could go out and possibly look for a nice place for breakfast.
"I need you to go and ask the inn keeper to send warm water here in this room at exactly 10 o clock."

"I'll go right away, your high-, I mean L-Lady Freen" Becky wanted to facepalm. It felt so awkward.

Something clicked in her as soon as Becky left the room and princess Sarocha hurriedly put on her cloak and followed after Becky.

As Becky descended down the flight of stairs, she sensed someone following her. She almost choked on her spit when she saw none other than the princess behind her. She prayed she did not do anything wrong this time.

Now the two of them were attracting a lot of unwanted attention. Even if half of the princess's face was covered with the hood of the cloak, the other half was out for all the eyes to gaze upon as she had taken off her mask earlier. As they made their way across the hallway, people seemed to follow them like ants to sugar, throwing lame pick up lines and some even whistling, typical cat calling. These people were akin to pigs and the princess thought they smelled like a mixture of sweat and alcohol. At least the princess was wearing a cloak and was armed. For Becky, she looked all the more vulnerable. Her dress was much too revealing for the occasion and she was very young, not to mention very pretty. The princess found herself tracing the hilt of her sword with her finger nervously.

"Are you a goddess?", asked a middle aged man to Becky, who kept walking, ignoring the man. "Because I've never seen a more beautiful lady before. I'm a rich landlord. I'll give you a cart full of gold if you'd warm my bed tonight, beautiful maide-"

The pointed tip of a rapier pressed against his neck severely limited the man's ability to finish his sentence. "Do you wish to die here, old man?"

Everything went quiet for a while. Everyone around stood unmoving. The old man was perspiring. He had gotten into various fistfights before but rarely had he ever been on the receiving end of a sword attack, that too from a beautiful woman.

"Please, have mercy. Please let me go. I am an old man." The man begged the princess.

The royal official, who happened to follow after the princess  had had enough. He knew he had to intervene before things went out of hand. He decided to walk up to the princess. "Please, I ask of you to take it easy." He spoke lowly for the princess to hear. "We don't want any ruckus here." He slowly, respectfully pushed the princess's rapier away from the man's neck.

The princess adamantly slid her rapier back into its sheath. "And you, " The princess turned to Becky, who stood frozen in place. "Go find the inn keeper, you idiot. You are good for nothing. You are much of a burden than help. Why must you inconvenience me, always?"

Becky nodded, willing her tears back as she rapidly blinked her eyes. She absolute couldn't cry. It'd be humiliating. The inn keeper, who also happened to witness the dire exchange, cooperated and Becky was back to where princess stood, waiting for her. When they headed back upstairs, no one bothered them. ______________________________________________
 

The warm water arrived right on time. The princess took her time in the restroom, cleaning herself of the grime that had been collected on her skin on their way to that godforshaken inn. By that time, Becky had laid out her futon on the floor a little further from the princess's bed. She hated the fact that the room was not big enough. She wanted to stay as far away from the princess as possible but the cramped dimension of the room wouldn't allow for her to sleep far away. She was tired, sad and hungry and she doubted she would get any rest that night. She laid down on her makeshift bed, closed her eyes and regulated her breathing a little in hopes of ridding the fatigue a little and she actually ended up falling asleep.

The princess stepped out of the restroom and slipped into her night dress. She inwardly grimaced looking at how Becky chose to sleep without even cleaning herself. She had even saved enough hot water for Becky to clean herself. The room itself was lit with multiple candles and she didn't blow them out before climbing onto the lone bed in the room. She sat on the bed for a long time looking out the open window, listening to the occasional barks of dog outside. When she was done looking out, she directed her gaze at her maid, softly snoring. Her gaze softening ever so slightly. She knew the futon was far from comfortable. She herself couldn't fathom sleeping there. How could someone just happily sleep on the floor? She did realise that low status people do this all the time but for some reason, she could not handle "Becky" and "sleeping on the floor" in the same sentence.
 

At that moment, she felt revulsion, she felt pity, but above all, she felt guilty. She had no idea how the younger girl spent all those thirteen years. Was her living conditions that hostile that she no longer minded sleeping on the floor on a piece of cloth? How did she spend all those years because clearly, she found out later that her grandmother, the queen mother had been lying to her that Becky went away with her father across the seas to a far off land. It was never the case. Becky's father, one of the crew members of a merchant ship that frequently traded with the few kingdoms lying close to the seas had died a few years after Becky was born. The princess traced the figure of the younger girl. Only now did she realise how thin Becky was. Even though she thought others would argue and say that Becky's figure was the ideal perfect figure. Her gaze lingered on Becky's peaceful, sleeping face. was a little agape and she was softly snoring away like she was not sleeping anywhere close to the feared, infamous princess of Aries: Sarocha Chankimha.
 

The light of the candles in the room afforded more than enough light for Becky's face to be clearly offering a clear view  from where the princess sat on her bed. The princess could only stare in silence. Becky had grown so big. Even though her facial features remained the same. The princess had to agree that her little maid, whom she considered a little sister and her dearest friend back then, had grown up to be a very beautiful young lady. Then her thought took a dark turn as she recalled the incident that happened just a little while ago. She knew that pretty girls with low statuses didn't survive well anywhere. There were enough hungry old men that would buy them off of their parents. The only pretty women that we're safe were those of noble birth. Others wouldn't last twenty years. Now, she was beginning to wonder if Becky had been under the care of some wealthy old man like the one from before. The thought bothered her to no end and she had to visit the restroom to wash her face again. She decided she didn't care. Why would she care for a perfect stranger? Yes, to her, Becky was a perfect stranger. She only ever knew the girl for two short years before the girl left her. She had sacrificed her life to save a mere peasant child. She could have died. Her life was precious. She was the princess and the heiress of the crown of Aries. Her life was precious.

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Update here. Let me clarify some things. Freen's kingdom is called Kingdom of Aries (sorry, I was not creative. Aries is my zodiac sign so yeah) And Freen is said to be allergic to tuna. She is left handed for real and about the futon, I know that people in Thailand used to sleep on floor mats all throughout history so it is not uncommon. But bear with me. Let's pretend this is not Thailand, okay? 😂 we should draw a new map. Let me know if you enjoyed. Updates will become more frequent once I gather enough readers. Really only 10 people read my story 😌😍 thank you