2

As I said before, being the daughter of a man such as my father, I got everything I had ever wanted on a silver platter, literally, every precious stone I could think of, and a few more, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, they were so much that at a time I thought my father was God himself.

I had tutors for everything, etiquette, dance, history, horse riding, music, I was a proper lady, and the piano was my favorite instrument, even though it was one difficult nut to crack.

The palace had more than enough rooms for my father's many wives and concubines, and he made sure that they were all comfortable even though he was just one man, and no, I'm not a princess, good guess by the way.

Even though my father had all the wealth of a prince, a king even, for some reason he never claimed the title, I on the other hand loved how everything fell in place around me, life couldn't have been better.

Then I grew up, and things started changing, my step brothers and sisters became more devious and jealous of one another, they played dirty pranks on each other every single day, and when they were bored with one another, they played pranks on the servants.

They turned wild as their minds were soon opened to even more perverted thoughts, and I could see their actions weighing down on father.

But then suddenly one day, I noticed the pranks had stopped, they played less and hardly troubled the servants anymore.

This continued for days, at first I thought they were only pretending, and probably had even worse things planned, but I was wrong. They didn't have anything planned, in fact I could almost see worry on their faces all the time, something wasn't right, but like mother always said, " what you don't know can never kill you " so I tried to stay out of it as much as possible.

Mother had travelled for some days now, she said she had a little something to take care of at home, and would be back in a short while, I didn't relate well with my siblings so I never even tried be a part of their vicious cycle, but anyway, that's what Jenna and Florence are for, two of my favorite maids that I had come to love and respect as sisters.

They were by far older than I was, while I was seventeen, Jenna was already twenty five, and Florence was a few days away from twenty seven, I could say they were the only ones aside from my mother that I had a relationship with. I shared almost everything with them, and treated them as equals to myself, even though they sometimes felt uncomfortable because of our closeness.

They were always scared of father or someone else walking in on our girl's night, but that never stopped me, as a matter of fact that's where we are now.

As soon as Jenna and Florence finished work for the day, I had invited them to my room for our girl's evening just like we planned, or rather, just like I planned, they still looked as nervous as always.

" My lady, I don't think this is a good idea, someone could walk in on us " Jenna cautioned, she was most afraid of getting caught.

Despite being a maid, Jenna was a beauty, I'm not saying she had flawless skin or anything, she wasn't a silver Nightingale, the maids were always made to work, so they mostly had tired hands, chipped nails, dry skin and short hair, it was unacceptable for a maid to keep her hair long, other than the fact that they would not be able to take proper care of it and the thing might make them look like a bunch of witches, it was too ... lady like for them, at least that was how they explained it.

So stop thinking I'm going to paint her as a princess, or tell you just how lovely she looked every single day, because she didn't look anything extraordinary, what I meant when I called her a beauty was her heart, yes, she was a maid, but Jenna had always been the one with the big heart, she was one of the most selfless people I could think of, which had made me wonder what she could have done if she has been in my shoes.

Speaking of my shoes, I had handed a few to Florence to try on. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not planning to give it to her or anything, besides, that would be suicide, she would be beheaded before she would be able to walk outside with it, and frankly I don't think I was ever planning to let go of this particular pair, I wasn't all that selfless.

It made me laugh the way she staggered when she tried to walk with them, I had only wanted to see just how they looked from someone else's angle, and right now Florence was making my day.

Unlike Jenna, Florence had a brave heart, I had heard once how she had stolen food for a prisoner who was on trial for looking at a lady funny, but I never dared tell father, he would have punished her if I did, that was water under the bridge now.

I couldn't hold in the laugh anymore, Florence was trying so hard not to fall, it made her stagger even more, what was I even thinking asking this of her ?

" My lady, I'm sorry but, these shoes are obviously too good for me " Florence said looking rather miserable trying to keep her stance.

" I'm afraid you're right dear Florence, they do seem a tad bit too much, you can take them off now, I have seen what I wanted to see "

Florence took the shoes off gently, leaning on a table to keep her from falling, she dropped them in a corner, and then walked towards the bed where I had dropped a set of gowns I planned to have them try on, just for fun.

" These are really beautiful, my lady, " she said, holding the gowns to delicately as if they would break otherwise.

" You like them ? " I asked

" I love them " she replied.

" Then try them on " I urged her.

I didn't need to look at Jenna to know her face had practically grown pale as soon as I asked Florence to try out the dress.

" But my lady, we can't try on your dresses, we're not even supposed to be here in the first place, what if someone catches us ? " Jenna panicked.

Jenna always knew how to worry, I couldn't blame her, had I been in her place I probably would've done the same thing.

" Jenna ! " I called in the most gentle tone, standing up from the chair I sat on, I walked towards her, " whose room is this ? " I asked.

I could tell my question got her a little confused by the way she looked around nervously, before managing to respond.

" Yours "

" And who called you in here ? " I asked again.

I know you must be wondering why I was sounding this way, but I wanted to make a point, Jenna had to learn how to loosen up.

" You did... my lady " Jenna looked even more nervous now, barely able to keep eye contact.

" And who am I ? " she had already started sweating.

" You're my mistress, and the lord's daughter, my lady " she responded in almost a whisper, with her head down.

" No Jenna, " I said, dropping my hands on her shoulders " I am not your mistress " this time she really looked confused " I'm your friend, and as your friend,... " I leaned closer to her " I won't let anything happen to you, not even if someone finds you in my room "

She looked a little more at ease after what I said, and even had the smile to prove it.

" You disappoint me Jenna, I thought by now you'd have more faith in me, but its okay, besides, you don't have to be scared "

I backed away from her, " no one enters my room without permission as you know, no one except for mother and father, and father won't be returning until tomorrow, so....

I walked back to the bed, sat on it, and crossed my leg.

" Relax " I finished my sentence.

She managed to widen her smile after what I said, and loosened up a bit, Florence had already tried on the gown, and Jenna was about to help her with the fastening, when a knock on the door took all of us unawares.