Stuck

I paced around the small room, banging my head against the wall a little.

Think, think, think.

I tried to manifest a solution out of my currently out-of-service brain.

"I don't even get it. How do I keep getting mistaken for a noble? Do I really look that much like it? Is it how I talk?" I mumbled to myself. I plopped down on a small wooden chair, the sole piece of furniture occupying the room. I groaned in frustration.

I need to get back to the palace to make that report…

I sat up suddenly thinking of an idea. Rushing to the door, I banged on it furiously.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Give me some paper! I wanna send a letter to a person I know in the palace. They can verify my identity!"

I didn't hear anything from the outside. I decided to play the childish way out and banged on the door incessantly. My hand started to hurt, but eventually the door opened with a very annoyed mercenary behind it.

"Let me send a letter. I can prove I'm a maid from a palace with it," I stated firmly.

"Little girl, we aren't falling for your little tricks," he stated.

"It's not a trick! Just let me send a letter. If I'm lying, then you just won't receive a reply. If I'm telling the truth, then you'll be wasting your time waiting for a noble family to put out a search party for me," I persuaded. They examined my expression for a moment before giving in.

"Fine. one letter," he said, pulling out some paper and a pencil out of his utility belt.

I burst out into a grin, happy to have finally gotten somewhere.

"Thank you!" I said quickly grabbing the papers, turning around and setting the supplies on the floor. I quickly wrote a letter to Mrs.Bellings explaining my situation and asking for her to quickly send someone. I gave it back to the mercenary who was a little put off by my expectant face.

"Make sure to tell them it's urgent," I reminded them.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," they said, closing and locking the door again. I huffed, feeling a little better that at least the letter was sent. I heard the man give the letter to another man, making sure not to leave his post outside my door. I looked around the room in boredom.

Why is there even a random room attached to the alley? It doesn't look like it connects anywhere else either…

I sent a suspicious stare the door's way, obviously not liking how odd the situation felt.

What if they were just lying and plan on selling me off to the slave market?... No, the King strictly beheads and tortures anyone involved in the business. They don't look sneaky enough to get away with something like that.

I looked at the floor and considered laying down and just taking a nap, but the obvious dirt that caked the cement was not appealing. I didn't feel like sitting in the chair for the next hour or two either. After about hour of pacing around humming, I finally decided to sit on the chair. When I heard some voices talking outside, I perked up thinking that maybe they received a reply from my letter. I stood up hearing the lock click but my face fell at the site of a stranger. They wore a cloak that did nothing to hide their obviously built figure. His red hair was mainly hidden by his hood, but his facial features stood out clear as day. I backed up a little as he walked in, getting a little nervous from the intimidating stride of his walk.

Is he here to bring me back to the castle? He doesn't look like a guard.

"You," they said, their voice surprisingly nice.

"I don't have all day to wait for your family to send for you or for you to give up and tell us your family name, so," he started before starting to unsheath his sword. My body moved on it's own and sped around, picking up the wooden chair and holding it out like it was going to defend me. It was a little heavy, but I kept it up. He paused at my sudden movement watching the whole fiasco. He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not a noble," I stated, backing up a bit, in case he tried anything.

He remained silent.

"I'm a maid at the palace. I just sent one of the mercenaries to give a letter to someone at the palace who can verify my identity," I informed.

His head tilted looking me up and down again.

"Most castle maids are nobles, y'know," he said, "It would be easier for you to argue you're a noble who's a maid at the palace. Although that wouldn't really explain your clothes."

"That's because I'm not a noble. I'm a commoner who just got a job as a maid. I wore these clothes because I was just going into town, but if I knew it was going to be such a problem then I would've kept the uniform on. I thought it would cause more trouble to wear the uniform and be confused as a noble without an escort and then risk getting robbed," I explained, slightly bitter.

He hummed and sheathed his sword that was still slightly taken out. I let out a sigh of relief before putting down the chair, standing upright. In a blink of an eye, his sword was out and pointed at me again. I flinched.

"Are you really telling the-"

"Sir!" We heard. A mercenary came in.

"Castle guards are here," they said. He gave me a look while I held my hands up in surrender.

"We're here to escort Miss Eleana Allenvure back to the castle at the request of Mrs.Bellings and the miss herself," they stated. He looked at me again before sheathing his sword.

"It seems that my men made a mistake. Although you do look like you do, you were telling the truth," he admitted.

"Yes, I was," I glared slightly. I quickly walked over to the door.

"And you!" I exclaimed, pointing to the man who started the whole thing.

"What are you going to do if I get a bruise from your rough handling? Hmm? How are you gonna compensate me? I told you a million times that I wasn't a noble and you still didn't believe me. Next time you better listen to someone when they're telling you the truth," I scolded.

"Uh- Y-yes, Miss," he stuttered, not really knowing how to respond.

"Good. I bid you all farewell," I said, looking around to all of the mercenaries before huffing and following the guards.

"She really does look like a noble though," I heard them mumble behind me. I paid it no attention and continued with the castle guards, chatting along the way until we made it back to the palace.