Chapter Seven

After the royal family finished their dinner. Elara assisted Lady Celestia in preparing for rest—drawing a bath and aiding in the bedtime routine.

As the warm water enveloped Lady Celestia , she reclined in the tub, contemplated the idea of commissioning skilled tailors to make garments for Elara.

" Make sure you have dinner and tomorrow I'll let the tailors make new clothes for you" she said with a smile.Elara bowed and appreciated her kind gesture.

Lady Celestia wrapped herself a luxurious robe and sat on the chair facing the mirror as she began to dry her hair.

" You can leave. I'll do the rest myself"

Elara bowed again and bade her Lady goodnight.

She headed over to the kitchen and washed her hands before getting her meal. She took a seat close to Lilian who seems to be so excited about what happened today.

"Dinner is so tasty today or is it because I'm so excited " she giggled.

I smiled in return and watched her eat her food in happiness

" In the coming months I can see myself as a poetess just like Lady Amara " Lilian added.

" I don't think it will take months for you to be as good as her but definitely you will be good"

We continued eating as Lilian chatted through out the entire meal.

After dinner Elara met up with Anna.

" Auntie, i missed you so much " Elara said before she gave Anna a hug. Anna rolled her eyes before she laughed.

" Its not up to 24 hours yet and you will be seeing more of this everyday"

" I know but I will miss you regardless. I wanted to get promoted but not at the cost of not seeing you regularly anymore" Elara responded slowly as Anna held her hands

" How did today go?"

" Well nothing much except accompany her for tea with the other ladies and she also said I'll get new clothes tomorrow"

" You should, you're now the maid of a Lady. You can't be wearing the old clothes"

Anna smiled and rubbed Elara cheeks before saying, " Good night. I will see you tomorrow"

" Good night Auntie" Elara responded before heading back to her new room.

Elara went into her room and locked the door. She loosely braided her hair and took the ink and the brush she got from Anna as a gift for her promotion.

She placed a small lamp on the floor and sat down with a piece of parchment. This parchment came from the royal court, where they threw away many useless ones each week. Elara got hers from the back of the kitchen. She picked the ones that had a blank side so she could use them.

Elara began to write poems on them. She didn't remember where she learnt how to read or write as maids didn't have the privilege of learning that, she just knew she loved doing that. After writing a few lines, Elara decided to go for a walk before falling asleep.

She walked through the corridors in quiet steps, she wasn't supposed to be out as everyone had already retired to bed . The torches in the corridors that were already burning dimmed which made the corridors darker .

The night became windy as she decided to return back to her room after a few minutes. As she was returning she caught something moving, Elara thought she was paranoid as it was dark so her eyes could be deceiving her.

She turned and her eyes fell on the Prince , Lucius Silverthrone.

Elara wondered what he was doing out her by this and was curious to see what he wanted to do. A part of her told her to go back to her room but curiosity got the best of her. As she moved closer to where she saw him, she stopped because she realized her heart rate had increased and decided to go back.

She gasped as she noticed something move in the shadows which made her halt in her steps and her entire body went cold.

She became frightened as she tried to move only for her to lose her balance and fall. The person emerged from the shadows, her eyes widened on seeing Lucius.

Elara could hear her heart beating in her ears. She had never expected to fall under this man's eyes, and it was because if there was any person in this palace that the maids avoided, it was Prince Lucius.    

She hoped that she didn't disrespect him, for the fact that he was a Prince and his mothers maid

She quickly bowed from where she was sitting on the floor, placing both her hands on the cold marble floor.

"What are you doing roaming the corridors at this hour?" Lucius demanded.

Elara racked her brain to look for a perfect excuse to give. Saying that you wanted to enjoy the night air didn't sound like a logical reason.

" I was on my way to the kitchen to get water…" Elara stammered as she trembled in fear.Fear started to trickle down her spine at the thought of getting caught for lying and being punished.

Lucius watched her tremble in fear. He wanted to get the night air and didn't expect to see anyone in the corridor.

" Raise your head"

The moonlight reflected on the maids face and he looked at her as she continued to shake in fear. Lucius thought she looked familiar but couldn't pinpoint where she saw her. There were so many maids in the palace but for the fact he remembered her he was so unsure.

" Leave " he ordered as Elara bowed at him and walked backwards till she reached the end of the corridor and he was out of her sights she ran into her room and locked the door.