The princess indignantly sat down on her cushioned chair near the large window of her room. The head maid would be shortly joining her in her room. She was getting angrier by the passing moment. Her stupid brother had spoiled the maid rotten. But she was going to change all of that from now on.

She pondered on what job she could really assign the maid with. She could send the maid out to fetch supplies for the palace out in the town. "No", the princess spoke to herself. Sending Rebecca Patricia Armstrong  outside could spell disaster as she could attract too many unwanted attention as she could be annoyingly friendly. The princess couldn't really decide on any thing. A frustrated sigh left and right then, an idea struck her and her eyes landed on her large mirror with an intricately designed silver frame. She could make the girl clean that up often as those tend to acquire quite a bit of dust. She thought for a while and yet again, decided against it. Having the girl clean that would mean she would have to spend an extended amount of time in her room and she did not want that for some reason.

She wouldn't admit it to herself but the job criteria she had in mind for the girl was something along the lines of: the job should not be dangerous, it should not involve heavy lifting, sharp items, etc; the job also should not involve too many people. She didn't want Becky making new friends. Maids were not there to make new friends, she justified. Her slender fingers ran through her tresses as she jumped from one idea to another.

Why was she stressing over something so insignificant like this again?

 

 

Right then, the heavy door cracked open and in came the head maid.

"You asked for me, your highness?"

 

"Yes, Mami. It is not something really that important but we need to discuss it anyway. That kid," the princess paused a bit. "That stupid little maid has been kept for too long with not many things to do."

 

"Your highness, your bro-"

 

"My order Comes above his, Mami." The princess got up from her seat, clearly annoyed. To an onlooker, she would seem as calm as one could be.

 

"Yes, your highness."

 

"Find something suitable for her and let me know now." The princess added calmly.

 

 

"Your highness, I may have just the right job for her. We have begun cleaning the chandeliers in the grand hall and we will also be cleaning the ones in the ballroom. That should keep her busy for at least a couple of weeks."

 

The princess stared right at her Mami in disbelief, although she blinked a second later to mask her shock. "I am sure she cannot climb a ladder that high to clean some chandeliers on the wall. What if she- what if she f-falls or something... Any other idea?"

 

 

The head maid did pick up on the selective concerns the princess had for the maid she claimed she hated but she was in no position to question her.

 

"Your highness, the chandeliers are to be lowered by ropes by the men and all the cleaning will be done down on the floor." The head mead clarified.

 

 

"Then fine. You may leave."

 

 

"And mami," the the princess called the headmaid before she could exit the door.

"She can bring me my afternoon tea starting today."

 

 

"As you please, your highness."

 

 

 

__________________________________

 

 

"Becky!" Becky stopped in her tracks and turned towards the familiar voice.

 

"Hey"

 

An out of breath Heng stood bent over a little, panting away. "Haven't seen much of you lately." He said, eying the tray in Becky's hands. " You're here to deliver the tea, I see." He added standing up a bit.

 

 

"I am" Becky smiled, "I have been uh... busy" Becky couldn't tell the man she was specifically told not to befriend the gardener.

 

 

"The last time I saw you was when you were here with Prince Non" Heng spoke almost sounding sad.

 

 

"Yeah. I guess I will see you around. I have to go. The princess must be waiting."

 

 

"Right. Can't have her waiting now, can we" Heng giggled a little.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Remind me why we have to stand here in the sun and wait for the tea while we could be sitting there in the shade," Lady Nam asked, looking at her high headed cousin who was currently standing arms crossed and impatiently tapping her left foot on the ground.

 

"Vitamin D," the princess replied, now eying the maid approaching them with the tray in hand, walking in slow motion. It was almost funny.

 

Meanwhile, Becky was giving her all, laser focused on not tripping and falling because the tray was somewhat heavy and a single mistake could have the expensive tea pot and the cups broken and she could be thrown out.

 

When she looked up, she was met with the noble ladies outside the tulip garden. Her mind went overdrive. Was she late? She was pretty sure she left the kitchen on time.

 

"I am sorry if I made you wait, your Highness, Lady Nam" Becky blurted.

 

"Ah, we were just out here, baking in the sun just getting our daily dose of Vitamin D." Lady Nam replied with sarcasm to which the princess slightly rolled her eyes before proceeding to walk towards the elaborate garden hut.

 

 

This time Becky did not put any sugar into the princess's cup. "How many cubes should I put, Lady Nam" Becky enquired.

"Two. Just two." Nam replied. But before Becky could leave, lady Nam asked Becky to join them.

 

"Me?" Becky asked in disbelief.

 

"Yes. We have plenty of tea in the pot and an extra cup. And the tea is too good to be wasted."

 

"But" Becky started, looking for any sign of anger in the princess, who was currently sipping her tea. She clearly looked disinterested in whatever was going on.

 

"I have many questions for you. So sit down" Lady Nam practically grabbed Becky's arm and sat her down.

 

And now that Becky had actually taken a sip of the golden, aromatic liquid from the expensive cup, she was convinced whatever tea this was had to be the most magical tea. She wondered if it was the cup that was adding to the flavour.

The princess also seemed to love to drink from cups that costed a fortune. Becky reckoned the palace had many different tea sets exclusively for the princess. Back in prince Chen's place, Becky did not remember the prince having this beautiful and elaborately designed sets. And Becky knew, Prince Chen's kingdom was also a very wealthy one. Another odd thought struck her. Now that she had used the cup, did that mean she could have it? She was sure the princess wouldn't use this tea set again.

 

 

"So, how is everything going on between you and Prince Non. I want all the details." Lady Nam pressed, causing Becky  to stop her trail of thoughts.

 

Becky and the princess simultaneously looked at Nam in disbelief.

 

"What? No. I mean, there is nothing going on between Prince Non and I." Becky denied profusely, her face turning red in embarrassment.

 

"Don't be shy. You can talk to me. I will help you. Is he nice to you?" Lady Nam asked, smiling mischievously.

 

"He is nice to everyone but there's nothing going on with us" Becky replied, her heart racing. Was Lady Nam out of her mind because clearly, the sister of the man in question was sitting right across from them and Becky was pretty sure the princess did not approve.

 

 

 

Lady Nam darter her eyes to the princess and back to Becky again. She was assuming the girl was uncomfortable because of the princess's presence. If her cousin really got angry, she could get away by simply saying she was teasing Becky. But Lady Nam wanted to know whatever there was to know between the prince and the maid.

 

"How about we go someplace and talk about this? Just you and me?" Lady Nam whispered, leaning a little closer to Becky's ear.

 

"But I-I have to get back to cleaning the chandelier. Maybe we can talk some other time." Becky replied meekly.

 

"Oh god, this kid is no fun." Lady Nam dramatically exclaimed. "Come to my room when you are done. I can really give you some good advice. You do not want to miss it."

 

Unsure of what to say, Becky nodded. She didn't want to sound rude by flat out declining.

 

 

 

About 10 minutes of Lady Nam rambling away, they were finally done with the tea. Becky cleaned up without wasting any time and she excused herself and left with the tray feeling absolutely exhausted.

She got to admit, Lady Nam could be annoying. On top of that, sitting right across the princess did not help either. The princess didn't pay much attention to her but still it was unnerving having to sit for more than ten minutes in her presence. In all truth, Becky felt more than just a little sad. But she still wouldn't admit the fact that she enjoyed when the princess gave her a little attention, whether it was just a simple eye contact or insults. At this rate she would take anything coming from the princess.

She felt almost pathetic. She did not know what was happening to her. A part of her wanted to run away but a larger part of her longed for a fraction of attention from the older woman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Why are you sulking?" Lady Nam asked. "You know I was just kidding"

 

Princess Sarocha didn't say a word as she got up to go.

 

"You don't care about your brother anyway" Lady Nam added as she also got up. "But don't you think they are cute together though?"

 

 

"I don't think they are cute and I don't care." The princess replied with an air of nonchalance as she proceeded walking ahead of her cousin.

 

"Really. With how humble your brother is, I really do think he will end up with a commoner rather than a royal. I never notice him pay special attention to any noble women."

 

 

"My brother can go get himself a chimpanzee from the jungle to marry for all I care. Now please stop talking."

 

 

"Oh god, some older sibling you are" Lady Nam rolled her eyes. "Then again, that maid is so much prettier than many princesses I know. Your brother is going all for the looks, that dork."

 

The princess abruptly turned around, silencing Nam immediately.

 

"Speaking of the maids. Stop being too friendly with my maids."

 

"What? I can't help it. I am naturally too friendly." Nam shrugged her shoulders.

 

 

"In that case, I'll ask you to leave my palace in a couple of days."

 

 

"Are you being serious right now?" Lady Nam complained. "I do not like you very much right now."

 

 

 

_______________________________________

 

 

Princess Sarocha sighed a little as she finished wax-sealing the envelope she had just put a letter into. She took off her reading glasses, gracefully folding said glasses before putting it down onto her table.

 

"Fancy going out for a little evening walk?" She spoke.

 

Several metres away, Lady Nam could be heard sighing loudly. "Your room is really large and has plenty of space to walk to and fro."

 

The princess just raised the letter envelop she had in her hand for Nam to see.

 

"Oh my God, cannot you just call someone like you normally do? What is up with you and wanting to get some air all day everyday?"

 

 

"Follow me" The princess ordered as she got up.

 

 

 

The princess made sure she purposely passed through the grand hall. She was pretty content with what she saw. None of the servants and maids cleaning the chandeliers were talking to each other. It was quiet, just how she liked it. What she didn't know was that the workers there were silent only because she was present.

It wasn't hard for her to find Becky. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun and she seemed too engrossed in getting the dirt off the glass crystals. It almost seemed too cute.

 

 

 

 

 

As the princess and Lady Nam arrived at the area in the palace where the royal mails were sorted, a guard greeted them. "Your highness, may I help you?"

 

"No. You may not. I know my way around." The princess replied, humming a little. She was in a significantly better mood. She went in and placed her letter in place. She quite often wrote to her to-be fiancé. She didn't have many friends. She knew a lot of people but most of them, she tolerated, many of them either hated or was envious of her. Therefore, her fiancé was one of the only people she wrote to often.

 

 

 

 

The two cousins exited the chamber and entered the one adjacent to it where the letters and parcels of the officials and other important members as well as some of the guards and maids' were off loaded. The princess was simply looking around but as soon as she was about to leave, a very unique envelope caught her eye. She could just not ignore it since it looked oddly out of place. She went and picked it up. The envelope paper was thick and she observed the elaborate design on the big wax seal. There was also a red thread tied making it look sort of regal. The thread also kind of gave the feeling of more security. The princess thought it was quaint. She legit thought it was sent to one of the nobles here in her palace. But before she placed it back, she happened to flip it backwards one time and when she did, she froze in her place. She had to read the name a couple of times to make sure she wasn't reading it wrong. But there was no way Rebecca Armstrong could be another person living in her palace apart from the one she knew.

 

She felt her stomach drop and for a second, she felt absolutely sick. She hurriedly exited the room and walked as fast as her legs allowed her all the way to her room, the letter gripped tight in her hand. She did not even wait for her cousin to catch up.

 

On the way, the head maid saw the princess, Concerned, she followed the princess to her room.

 

The princess threw the letter on her large wooden table.   She was not ready to process what she was witnessing at the moment.

 

"Your highness? Is something the matter?" The head maid enquired.

 

 

"Call in the palace mailmen right this instance"

 

 

Did all this mean the girl was literate? She could read and write this whole time?

Her breath was coming in short. It was like the onset of a panic attack. The realisation came down to her like a ton of bricks and all her pent up emotions and anger flowed out as if the flood gates were opened.

 

All this time, the girl knew where she lived and did not care to write her one time.

She walked to her door and locked it shut. She would never want anyone seeing her in such a state. She actually had to take the help of her door to support herself a little as she stood.

 

All those years ago, she remembered having suffered greatly when she lost her little friend. When Becky went away, all she could do was wait and believe in the lies her mother had told her.

It felt like the biggest betrayal to her because she knew if she was Becky, she would have reached out through letters no matter how far away she was staying.

She felt like she had been wronged.

 

 

"Your Highness, they are here." Called out the head maid.

 

It took her a while to calm down and compose herself.

 

She calmly opened the door, hoping the messengers would tell her that Becky could not read or write by herself. That she actually took help from others to read the letters sent to her.

 

Some mailmen came in and stood in line, looking down on the floor. They were dreading a meltdown from the princess for something they don't remember doing.

 

"Go fetch the letter on my table", She ordered the headmaid who complied immediately.

 

"Have any of you seen letters like this come in before?" The princess asked.

 

 

"Y-Yes, your highness. I think I-i may have seen it once before. It is for one of the new maids here, Miss Rebecca, I believe." One of the younger mail man spoke up.

 

 

"Tell me now." The princess got closer to the poor man. "Have you seen Miss Rebecca send out a letter?"

 

"O-Once, yes"The man replied.

 

"I see." The princess said. "Do you think she can read?" Literacy really was not very common especially for peasants servants. And the princess prayed it was true for this case because she did not know how to handle betrayal.

 

 

The man gulped. "Your highness, she comes by the mail offload chamber sometimes to check on new letters addressed to her." He took a second to catch his breath. "I think she can read, she reads all the names of other letter recipients and she-she sometimes takes letters from the room to deliver to her friends in-in the palace, your highness."

 

 

There was silence after.

 

"Your highness, may i know if we have done anything wrong?"

 

"Silence" The princess hissed, looking down at the little man like she was looking at some filth.

 

"Tell me where the letter came from?" The princess demanded. The letter conveniently did not have any information on the sender's location.

 

 

 

"I-I do not know, you highness"

 

 

"Find out and get lost now"

 

 

 

 

The head maid, along with the men came out of the princess's room.

Outside, Lady nam pulled the head maid to the side. "What is going on? What letter was it?"

 

"I do not know what is going on. You can ask her once she calms down. But please leave her alone for now. She's not in a good mood right now."

 

 

 

 

 

It was one bad luck after the other for the princess.n as soon as the head maid and lady Nam reached the stairs, a very pale looking court official came up followed by a couple of guards.

 

"We have bad news" He stated, dread in his eyes. "And I need to deliver this news to her highness, the princess, before i could tell the king."

 

 

"What is it?" The head maid asked.

 

The courtier wearily looked at Lady Nam and the headmaid understood what was not spoken.

"Lady Nam, could you please excuse us for a minute."

 

 

"I'll be going then" Lady Nam said, and walked down. She was starting to get a very bad feeling.

 

 

 

 

After a couple of minute's deliberation, the head maid and the court official decided to go onto the princess's room together.

 

 

The two were standing right in front of the princess but none of them had the guts deliver the news.

 

 

"Speak" The princess ordered.

 

 

"Your highness, your brother..."

 

 

"What of my brother? Is he dead?" She asked calmly.

 

 

"No, your highness. "He may have freed the newly purchased slaves from the port itself"

 

 

The princess was now red with anger.

 

"What did you just say? May have freed?"

 

 

"He, Your brother has freed the new batch of slaves. He paid the vessel to bring the servants back home. The slaves have already left port Celeste."

 

"How dare he? Where the hell is that idiot? Bring him to me right now!"

 

The maid and the courtier flinched, startled by the princess suddenly shouting.

 

"He has not come back, your highness."

 

 

"How did this happen? That fool dares disobey me. How did it happen? Why did not anyone stop him?"

 

 

"Your highness, we tried. He said he was doing the right thing. He told us his new friend has opened his eyes and has given him strength to finally do the right thing and that he is not afraid of consequences"

 

 

"Not afraid of consequences and he hides from me? Such spineless coward!" "Tell me who instigated him into this madness? What friend is he talking about? Is it Anurak?"

 

 

"N-No, your highness. It isnt him."

 

"Then Who is It?"

 

The man remained tight-lipped.

 

"Tell me right now or I'll send you straight to the torture chamber."

 

The courtier knew the prince would not appreciate it if he told the name. He was in a dilemma.

 

"I think it is the new maid, your highness." The head maid supplied.

 

The courtier looked pleadingly at the head maid. They really could have lied and said it was a new friend the prince met on the spot but it was too late.

 

"The new maid who? What are you talking about?" The princess knew where this was going but she was in denial.

 

"That child, Rebecca-"

 

"Guards" The princess called. "Get that ungrateful imbecile girl here!"

 

 

 

 

When the courtier tried to defend the poor girl, the princess silenced him. She was pacing back and forth as she awaited the girl's arrival.

 

 

Meanwhile, poor Becky was escorted from the grand hallway.

 

 

"Why does the princess want me to come?" She enquired. The guards were literally pushing her to walk faster.

 

"All I know is that you are in serious trouble,"

 

When she reached the princess's room, she understood the gravity of the situation from the way the princess's hostile eyes were set on hers.

 

 

"Did you actually persuade my brother to do all he did?"

 

 

"I don't understand what this is about, your-your highness."

 

 

"My brother has gone against me and now we have lost men that were brought to work here."

 

 

Now, the puzzle came together and Becky understood right at that moment that Prince Non might have freed the slave labours Aries hat bought."

 

The look of confusion in Becky's eyes were quickly replaced by that of fear once the realisation had set in and the princess did not miss the transition.

 

"Answer me"

 

"Your highness, I never persuaded him to do anything."

 

"Do not lie to me."

 

"All i said was it was wrong to acquire Slav-"

 

"Guards" The princess's voice echoed through the hallway. "Take is low-life to the dungeon. Three days!"

 

 

Becky was utterly shocked, she couldn't move anymore.

 

The princess turned around. She did not want to see the hurt in the younger girl's eyes when she was so overwhelmed with rage.

 

 

 

 

How dare a low-life plot against her wishes? It was anger, but it was mostly the pain that had resurfaced that got the princess overwhelmed.

Ungrateful and insensitive. That was the definition of Rebecca Patricia Armstrong to her. She had saved her life, risking her own. She had cried day and night waiting for her. And the girl did not even consider reaching out to her for an entire decade. The girl was probably back here again for personal gains. Rebecca Patricia Armstrong always brought bad luck to her. The queen mother had been right all along.

 

 

"Non, you fool" The princess mumbled.

"Get some men. We will go find my brother."

 

 

__________________

Next chap underway. :D thank you for waiting.