An unexpected friend

"What are you still doing asleep by this time?! Ms Carlos has woken up." A voice jolted Melina up from the bed as she slowly opened her eyes, her blurry vision becoming clearer.

"Wake up and get dressed quickly, Melina. Ms Carlos would soon be in the hall. You'd be late!" the person's statement finally made sense to the girl and her eyes widened before she jumped up from the cold floor where she lay.

'Oh no...that was true. Ms Carlos asked them to be awake early.' she whispered in her head, panic running through her spine.

She looked over to the bed to see that Leanna and Nikita were nowhere to be found. They had probably left her to wake up late.

"What are you still waking for?" the alarming voice of the person resonated again and Melina finally gazed at the girl who had come to wake her up. It was none other than Cinna whom she worked with yesterday. She looked in haste as she signalled for Melina to do the needful before she ran out of the room.

Melina quickly nodded at the girl, picking her cloth from the wardrobe before dashing into the bathroom and coming out a few minutes later, properly dressed.

While she ran down the stairs, she felt her head throb again, feeling like she didn't have enough true sleep. While everyone slept peacefully, Melina's night had been horrible. she tried to fall asleep but kept having nightmares which were related to what happened the previous day. When she finally got the opportunity to sleep, it had been morning already.

Her head still throbbed from the continuous pain she felt everywhere and it seemed that she had caught a fever.

Fortunately for her, she was able to get to the hall where others were waiting before Ms Carlos did. She looked around and saw Leanna along with Nikita who had been standing there and when they saw her, they sent glares her way, piqued that despite their efforts to get her punished by Ms Carlos because of how she had made the guard whip them mercilessly that day. They were scared to make any conscious attempt to hurt her since they didn't know if they will be punished again.

"I am glad you are all awake because there is a lot to do today. You would clean the palace, attend to the guests, cook all the dishes they have asked for, serve them at the King's table and wash all their clothing..." Melina listened to the endless list of chores Ms Carlos outlined for them and a sweat pulled from her forehead. She still felt ill. How would she be able to perform her task for the day? This sudden stressful life for the past few weeks was slowly killing her, she put her hand on her forehead, disheartened.

"Melina, Cinna, Leanna and..." Ms Carlos called four other maids.

"You will be making all the dishes this morning before sending them to the guests."

Melina sighed, relieved that at least, she wouldn't be doing any hectic chores that would probably make her pass out with the way she was feeling.

"What are you still doing standing there?" she harshly spoke, making the seven girls she had given orders move as fast as possible to their place of work.

The sky was dark and the corridors were filled with absolute silence. They could hear the sound of birds chirping, indicating that it was still very early in the morning they had been awoke. It was only possible for them to see because they held a lantern and some torches had been lit to keep the place bright.

Regardless of her ailing condition, Melina strived to reach the Kitchen with her fellow maids. When she entered, she climbed a stool and placed the lantern on the upper part of a cupboard near the end of the kitchen so it would illuminate the entire Kitchen.

"Melina" A calm voice called her, causing her to whip her head in the direction of the person. The guard, Tynan stood at the edge of the door leading to the Kitchen, waiting for her after he had called her name.

She jumped down from the stool, walking over to stand in front of the guard before slightly bowing her head, "Yes?"

"Ms Carlos said I should give you this." he passed a scroll to her and watched her collect and open it before explaining.

"It is the list of dishes you are to cook for the guests. She wants them made before the day breaks and they should be set on the King's table before the guests arrive there." he looked at the girl as she glanced through the paper before nodding at him and sending a stiff smile.

But then, her smile faded when she saw him return the smile, this time with a genuine one.

"I would take my leave now." he bowed at her before departing from there, leaving Melina in a trance as she blinked repeatedly in surprise.

First of all, this guard... in fact, no guard had ever called her by her name before and in such a soothing voice...and then he was smiling at her...?

"Will you at least bring the list of what we are to prepare so we can start?" someone's voice pulled her from her trance and it was no other than Leanna, who glared at her with disdain.

"You can daydream about him later!" she rudely projected, since she had seen the small gesture Tynan had shown her. Melina was about to retort when another maid snatched the scroll from her, not ready to waste her time here.

"You both can fight later. We have more pressing things to do," she uttered before going through the scroll as well. From the way she spoke, she seemed to be the oldest amongst them and seemingly more mature.

"Let us start with the pies and bacon, it's more important to the elites," she suggested and the rest agreed before getting to work.

While they were all occupied, everyone engaged in something, Melina struggled to pull the vegetables that had been tied out. It was almost like they had been tied to a point of no return.

"Let me help you," She heard Cinna offer before coming forward with a sharp knife. Placing it between the leaves and the yarn, she pulled the knife up, tearing the yarn that had been used to tie it.

"Impressive. Thank you." she commended Cinna's smart action.

"You're welcome." A small smile showed on Cinna's face, glad that someone had for once acknowledged her skills.

"And thanks for earlier too" Melina added, referring to the time she had come to wake her up.

"It was nothing," she replied, the smile on her face widening.

"Oh, it meant a lot. At least, to me. And I appreciate it," her words were like a melody to Cinna's ears, already feeling the warmth of speaking with this newfound friend.

"Hmm." was the only reply she could form.

Melina picked the vegetables, shrewdly slicing them while Cinna placed a tray of fruits she had decorated. It would be the first thing the guests would snack on so it was only wise to attend to them first.

"Sorry about what Lady Jordyn said last night. You do have pretty hands, you've just done a lot of labour in your life so do not listen to what people have to say about it." Melina suddenly spoke, startling the girl who had just gazed at her in surprise.

"Of course, I am not worried. It just made me a bit embarrassed yesterday," she explained, a bit flushed at the memory of what Lady Jordyn had said.

Melina smiled at her explanation. Even though she knew the young girl was worried about it, she decided not to push too much and stopped there.

"By the way, how do you have such pretty hands? They're rare." Cinna tried to question, curious to know why Melina's hands were so smooth. If not for some of the injuries and clothing she usually wore, one would think she was a princess.

However, Melina did not even have an answer to the question herself. She remembered Aunt Paloma used to smuggle some of the expensive oils she had gotten from the Queen while serving the royals to rub on her. But she doubted that was the only reason as other trainers too did do it for their trainees but none of them looked as tender as hers.

"I don't know. Maybe they haven't worked long enough yet, they'd become rugged soon," she tried to reason out.

"I pray they don't. It suits you perfectly. Just be careful around those elite women. They can easily be jealous about everything and even try to harm others to get what they want," she warned and Melina reminisced how Lady Jordyn had tried to dig her nails into her hands. So it was out of jealousy...it now became clearer to her

"I will. Thanks for the advice,"

"You seem like a very grateful person," Cinna remarked, noting how she had thanked her up to four times already.

"Forgive me, that was how I was taught," Melina laughed and she wasn't wrong. It was what Aunt Paloma had always reminded her to do and now, she didn't even realise when she would say it.

The maids spent some more hours in the hot room, making the different dishes and when they were finally done, they placed the food on the cart, pulling it to the King's Chamber where the King's table was located.

By now, the day was bright and the sun had risen, providing light in the entire court. As they arranged, Melina went to stand where the torches were lit, still limping a bit as her knee injury wasn't gone yet, Having no use for them anymore, she systematically put each torch off, progressing further to the other corridor, not aware that someone was coming from the passageway.

"Melina," Cinna tried to call her attention but the girl was too focused on the task that her hearing went blank for a moment. She was already entering the next passageway when she finally heard the low voice that called her.

"Melina, come back," she swayed her head to look at Cinna and as she did, the person coming from the other corridor bumped hard against her, causing her feet to wobble. It happened so fast that Melina could not even process what exactly took place and just felt her legs slip, panic smeared on her face but before she could fall, a strong arm pulled her into his embrace, bringing her back to stability and her head pressed on the person's firm chest.

When Melina saw the expensive silk her head had hit and the subtle scent that oozed from this person, she quickly shifted herself away from him and adjusted herself back, realizing it was an elite. She bowed her head, ready to apologize when she heard the voice,

"Maybe I should pull out your eyes since they are of no use," Leon said and she raised her head to see who it was, her eyes widened when she saw it was the prince.

"My Prince..." her voice was a whimper only she could hear because she was at a loss for words.

It was the last person she expected to be here at the moment.