02

I am sorry my Princess, I had to prepare another tea because-" she cut me off before I explained anything to her. 

"Don't give me any excuses Sage, you are late and I don't want it to happen again," she scoffed and rolled to the edge of the bed.

"Yes my princess, I promise it won't," I apologized once more and hoped she wasn't going to continue with the conversation. 

"See that it doesn't," she mumbled.

She sipped her tea slowly while I made arrangements for her to take a bath. She took a long  time but I was no one to complain about it, and since I was forbidden to sit unless asked to, I stood the whole time and waited for her. 

I was also forbidden to see the Princess in the shower so I had to wait outside the bathroom for her which was a good thing because I could have never imagined myself bathing a full-grown lady, also it was an opportunity for me to sit without being told to. 

She got out of the shower after a while and I helped her to dress up in a royal blue simple gown that covered her feet. I tied several straps to secure the dress from behind, and she left the room for the dining hall. 

Once she had gone, I was left behind, I cleaned and put the room in order. I changed her bedsheets every three days so I took out the present one there and replaced it with a new one.

Then I took the tray which I had used to serve her tea and walked out of the room and met Allesio who leaned on a wall near the Princess's room.

I wondered if he had waited for me the whole time. 

"I thought you were never going to get out of there," he said to me and I reacted with a smile, Allesio had no idea that I found that to be disturbing, there were times I tried to hide myself when I saw him. 

"So what is it you wanted?" I asked him and behaved like I was in a hurry to drop the tray in my hands.

He took a deep breath and responded

"You know the Princess's birthday is two days from now, I just wanted to know if you... "

He stammered and I waited for him to complete his statement even though I knew what he was getting at.

"I want to know, if you would like to dance with me, like be my escort," he added and I raised a brow.

He had said crazy things to me in the past but that was a huge demand. 

"Wouldn't you be on guard duty ?" I questioned him and hoped it was a good excuse to avoid the dance.

"I would, but I could still make time for it," he replied and my shoulders dropped in disappointment, I didn't want to do it nor did I want to be forced to. 

"I'm sorry Allesio, I don't think I can dance with you, I am the Princess's handmaid, and I doubt that I will have time for a dance," I uttered and was surprised that he walked away without saying another word. 

I wondered if my rejection hurt him that much, or if he tried to hide his feelings by walking away like he didn't care about what I said?

I sighed and turned around to get on with what I wanted to do, I thought about it and couldn't decide on a better way to make him feel less rejected, all I could think of at that moment was "why not Adriel?"

I dropped the tray in the kitchen and returned to pick up the dirty clothes from the Princess's room.

While I took the clothes out to be washed, I saw him at his usual spot, where he stood with a sword in his right hand and guarded the entrance to the throne room. I didn't walk away the moment our eyes Interlocked, I saw disappointment written all over his face owing to my rejection but what surprised me the most was that I couldn't walk away.

I tried to, but I felt immobilized, I wasn't feeling my feet and I wondered if staring at his broken spirit had anything to do with it. 

He suddenly looked away from me and I jerked back to reality and walked away as fast as I could. 

I couldn't believe how bad I felt but I didn't agree to it, I felt like my kindness was being taken advantage of, and I had no idea where it was going to lead us from there.

"I mean, if I agreed to dance with him, who knows what else he may ask me to do, what if everyone begins to think that we were a couple and he begins to treat me like one?" Those thoughts flashed through my mind and the harder I tried to stop thinking about it the more I thought of it. 

I got to the back of the palace, there were two wells from where I drew water and bottles of soap on a bench which was used by whoever came to do laundry.

I started with the Princess's dress. I massaged it with my hands and hummed the tone of my favorite song to stop me from thinking about Allesio, once I was done with her dress, I moved on to the bed sheets but before I deeped it into the water a voice called me from behind in a tone that exhibited nothing but anger.

I turned around and met a furious gaze from Samantha Rowan. She is Allesio's elder sister and the head of all the maids in the royal palace. I bowed my head in respect since she was of a higher authority. 

"Greetings mistress," I said to her with a worried expression due to how she had called my name.

"What is so good about the morning Sage? Just want to know what you think you are, like some precious egg that should be treated with care, or a precious Jewel that makes itself difficult to find?"

Her questions confused me and I wondered what I did that made her speak to me in such a manner.