Cleanse me ...

Morning.

Outside, the day dawned neat and clear. Bright clouds floated in the pale blue sky as faint chirping of birds could be heard.

At this time, inside one of the majestic rooms seated on the upper floor of the castle's interior, glittering sun rays forced its yellow hue into this bedroom space brilliantly.

The radiance was only a little restrained by the delicate lilac drapes leading to the bedroom balcony. These curtains danced beautifully in the direction of the crispy morning air.

Present in the large bedroom space were two castle maids chatting about something…

"… what should the time be by now? Look how the morning sun is out already and she is still sleeping unrestrained," said the one maid to the other in a low tone.

The other maid concurred with her fellow and nodded her head slightly.

"I wonder why a young girl would sleep so… carelessly."

"Hush! Your words were too bold just now… What if she was awake partially and had heard you say that last word?" The first maid scolded the second.

"And so? Is she not like the rest of us? Even worse off because I heard that she was put away at the…"

Just then, the body before them glided over to one side causing them both to become alerted.

"You see how you would have gotten us both in trouble?" the one maid whispered purposefully to her second.

―—

Waking up, the sound of muffled voices before her was hard for Elizabeth to work out any meaningful sentence. In addition to that struggle, her heavy eyelids smothered her vision dimly. All she could see at first were two maiden-like silhouettes watching over where she lay.

'Who are tho-'

"Oh my god…! The castle… I am still at the castle right?" asked Beth to the maids whose form she could see clearly now. By now she had managed to sit herself up.

They took her question as a rhetorical one, wondering how a few hours of comfortable sleep could have granted her a temporary loss of memory… at least they hoped the memory loss should be a temporary one.

These maidens were unfamiliar faces that Beth was seeing for the very first time.

"Milady, we are glad you are finally awake. Now we can proceed to render our services."

The words of this castle maid resonated within Elizabeth as she found it difficult to grasp the "render our services" part.

'What services? There must be a mistake here.'

"I think you both got things all wrong… I — it… I have to set out at once!"

She said and stood up completely to the astonishment of the maids before her and walked about clumsily as if to locate the exit from that glorified prison.

"Milady, milady, please be still. These are directives from the king. We mustn't slack."

"Yes, milady… it would be unfair to us if we lost our heads because of this." The other one said.

Turning herself about, Beth set her gaze on them both.

"Nonsense! No one is losing her head or anything of the sorts and for what reason? Look, this is all a misconception because the kind master Ezekiel told me I had to spend the night here to ensure my safety as an act of the king's kindness. I should have woken up earlier to start on my journey." Said Elizabeth whose sentences were a bit jumbled up.

"Milady, nobody informed us about your leaving here. Even so... it is not in our place to know so much."

The royal maid who had just spoken had managed to pick up Beth's final words at least.

"What is your name?" Beth asked her.

"Me?" she replied, looking surprised to know the reason why.

"Yes, you…"

Beth then turned to the other royal maid.

"And you too, what is your name?"

"I am Oletha." The first one said without waiting for her partner to speak.

"… and I am Mirelinda."

"Okay. Oletha and Linda, please kindly show me my way out and thank the king and the kind master Ezekiel for both their kindnesses."

"We are sorry, milady but we can't show you the way out until we have helped you have your bath and gotten you into a more noble fabric."

It was Mirelinda who spoke.

"Yes milady, we have to-"

"Don't address me with so much respect please… the both of you. I am just a nobody. Call me Elizabeth," she cried.

Oletha was confused about Elizabeth's behaviour because anyone else in her shoes right now, would be far more appreciative of getting a royal treatment. Yet, here she was, so eager to run away from all of it.

"Milady, the court lady Sigrid instructed us not to make a noise to disturb your sleep time otherwise you should have been up a long time ago to bathe and have breakfast." Oletha informed her in the calmest voice.

"Wait! The court lady… Sigrid knows about this?" asked Elizabeth with a curious stare.

"Yes, we can take you to her to better explain things to you once we are done. So please milady… permit us to take you to the two other maidens by your washing area to get things started already." Mirelinda added.

After much deliberation, Elizabeth finally succumbed to be led away.

'I actually do need a clean bath to cleanse me of that prison's memories,' thought Beth as she walked behind them both.

The time had just struck ten 'o' clock that morning…