Chapter 26: I'll tell you my secrets

"Those two? Why, I hear they've barely spent time together, even when they were small!" A veteran maid told Rishe.

Rishe was at the washhouse, doing laundry in her maid disguise. Now that she'd donned a pair of spectacles and a brisk manner, no one was any wiser.

"Really?" Rishe responded casually, sorting the laundry. "Even though they live in the same palace?"

A gaggle of maids around Rishe's mother's age chimed in.

"That's right. According to the footmen who serve during meals, the family never eats together. It's got to be true based on how much they complain about getting the dining hall ready."

"I heard that the princes won't even greet each other in the halls!"

"That's just a rumor, though," another added. "They're both so handsome, surely they'd be a picture stood together."

The women giggled among themselves, the confidence of a decade's service putting them at ease.

"Why are they so distant if they're family?" Rishe asked, feigning idle curiosity.

The women cocked their own heads in puzzlement.

"That's a good question. Prince Theodore does seem to have some fondness for his older brother."

"Oh?"

"Just between you and me, I've heard he covets Prince Arnold's Imperial Guards as his own."

Rishe paused.

"Little brothers always want to copy their big brothers, down to studying the same things, even. Prince Theodore does seem to love the crown prince."

Is that why he wanted to talk to me? To copy Arnold? That doesn't make sense.

"As for the four princesses—they don't even live in the imperial capital. The next time they'll see each other will be at Prince Arnold's wedding."

"Speaking of," a maid said. "That fiancée of his sure is something. Right, new girl?"

Rishe looked up. "Huh? Whatever do you mean?"

"I haven't seen you before, so you must be a maid from her palace. I was worried when I heard she'd only taken on new girls, but all seems to be well. I think it's great that those newbies are learning the ropes so quickly."

"I agree!" Rishe was always happy to hear her maids praised. "Miss Diana and the others are great teachers. We've been learning so much. It's quite amazing how they have devised a system that could only work in that style of detached wing."

Rishe had only overseen things for the first few days. The inexperienced maids were focused and dedicated, thriving in their new positions, and Diana's squad was performing well in their roles as teachers. Instead of mocking mistakes, they took it as a challenge to figure out a better teaching method for the future. When the girls were done with their work for the day, they focused on studying.

Each maid-turned-teacher was figuring out her own individual style to be proud of. One excelled at detailed explanation, while another had a talent for drawings and diagrams. The inventive ones—good at scolding or praising—came up with new methods to encourage their students to follow in their footsteps.

Rishe instructed the maids on their work for about two hours a day now, but soon she'd be able to hand the reins over to Diana completely. And once the cleaning up of the detached palace was finished, Arnold would be joining her. Rishe didn't know how she felt about that.

"Speaking of the detached palace, have you heard?" One of the maids asked Rishe.

"Heard what?"

"Prince Arnold went to call on Lady Rishe just last night."

Rishe jumped with such a start that she nearly dropped her laundry. The maids' intelligence network was unparalleled, which was why she had come here for information in the first place, but she hadn't expected this.

"You work at the detached palace right, new girl? Do you know about that?"

"L-Lady Rishe went to bed early, she wasn't feeling well," Rishe stammered. "I d-don't think the prince would have gone to see her if she was ill."

"Oh, how boring."

"Well, let us know if you hear anything. My daughters badger me every night for the latest gossip."

"To think Prince Arnold will finally be wed. All the young girls in the city are talking about it."

"But it's not just the young girls either, is it? We're talking about them too!"

All the maids laughed at that.

Rishe focused on keeping her face marble-smooth as she washed, determined not to let the chatty maids discover who she really was.

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After gathering sufficient information during her recon laundry duty, Rishe returned to her room by way of the rope still hanging down into the courtyard.

Once inside, she changed her clothes and left her chambers. She proceeded to her garden, escorted by her guards. She'd once again tilled the ground Theodore had flattened with her trusty hoe, and today she was finally going to plant her seeds.

Rishe pressed a finger into the moist earth up to her second joint, dropping two seeds into each hole she made. She then gently covered them with dirt and dampened the surface. She figured she should see sprouts within the next few days with the current weather.

Daydreaming about a lovely future lush with herbs, Rishe allowed her guards to escort her back to her chambers. She moved sedately, as a crown princess ought, but on the inside, she was twisting with mounting anxiety.

It's so late already. I have to scrub off this mud in the bath and come up with a deal for Mr. Tully. I hear there's a library in the imperial palace—perhaps I can learn something about the populace there. The gender ratio, age brackets, number of shops… And I can gather information about Prince Theodore while I'm at it.

She piled more and more things onto her to-do list.

Diana asked me to take a look at the new teaching materials she's come up with. Also, I need to start planning the wedding and putting some strategies in place for dealing with guests from abroad. And then—

"Lady Rishe? Are you quite well?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

Rishe's eyes had gone glassy and faraway as they climbed the stairs to her chambers, but she was determined to conquer her obligations.

I can't wait to have an empty schedule! I'm going to be lazy and sleep in until noon every day so I can live a long life. All this scheming is to ensure I finally live past twenty.

She looked at the floor as she walked.

Before she knew it, they had reached her chambers. She glanced up to see guards flanking the door.

"We shall stand guard here for you, my lady. Please, be at ease."

"Thank you. I'll—" Rishe opened the door and stopped short.

An envelope crinkled under her feet. Someone must have slid it underneath the door.

"Is something the matter, my lady?"

"No." She thought for a moment, then shook her head and stepped inside in a way that kept the curious item hidden from their view.

Alone at last, she picked it up. It bore the seal of the Galkhein imperial family, pressed into red wax. Inside she found a card. Written in a beautiful hand were the words: I'll tell you my secrets. Meet me in the chapel at nine o'clock tonight. —Arnold Hein

In silence, Rishe put the letter back into its envelope. She then summoned Elsie to help her prepare.

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