Three

Lilian woke up feeling aches all over her body. Her head was spinning and her body was as if she just finished crying and had a headache like a migraine.

She placed her hands on her forehead to feel her body temperature, it was high, very high. It was high as if she had just been brought out from boiling oil.

She was sick all over. She wasn't feeling right as if she just woke up from the wrong side or even under the bed.

She is usually happy whenever she wakes up from sleep, even if the previous day was so bad and tiring.

Today, she just can't feel her usual self, this is not how her morning is.

No, something is wrong somewhere. Maybe, it was because she was going to be sick or something.

She shrugged at the thought of it and pouted at the same time.

She began yawning and stretching at the same when her eyes caught something unusual, her room wall was looking as if it was punched.

Then suddenly, her eyes became wide open as if they were going to roll out of their sockets, she just remembered last night.

She quickly knelt on her bed to peek through her window. The day was fully bright as people had begun their daily activities with children running around and shouting while playing.

It will soon be noon.

She quickly sat down back on her bed to fully remember and replay what happened in her room last night.

Her migraine couldn't allow her to think straight and properly. All she could remember about last night was her begging her Fiance, but she couldn't remember why.

Yeah, he suddenly punched her when he forcefully dragged her to himself and laid her down.

She was so lost in her thought, that she started shaking her head vigorously and with a breaking voice said,

"I hope it's not what I am thinking."

She quickly got out of her bed to go and confront the Prince when she felt the long sheet that was loosely wrapped around her body suddenly came fully loose and slid down to the floor.

She bent to pick it up and realized it was her bedsheet, she was going to pick it up anyways, but then she realized she was completely naked.

"How come?"

"But....." She said as she tried to remember why she was naked.

"But I slept with my clothes on." She said as she remembered being punched and thrown into unconsciousness by Prince Alasdair.

"Did he..." She paused as she quickly sat down on her bed again to examine her body.

She saw some traces of dried blood on her thighs.

"But I have seen my menstruation for this month. Why is this here?" She asked herself as her fingers continued to go inside her body until her hands felt something.

There is now a space where there shouldn't be in her body.

It was spacious enough that three of her fingers could easily penetrate her body.

"No, this can't be." She said as she bent her head over to see for herself.

"No. This can't be." She said as she remembered that the Prince was heavily drunk last night and he must have done something to her.

She quickly withdrew her hands from her body, as she found out that her hymen had been broken.

Her hands became shaky, she raised it to her lips as cold rolled down her spine.

She started sweating profusely, as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"He raped me." She muttered to herself.

"Abomination." She said as she stood up, breathing with heaves.

"No." She said as she sat down on her bed again, pulled her knees to herself, wrapped her arms around her legs and gently placed her head on her knee, and began to sob.

"What is the need if we are going to get married soon?"

"It's less than six months to our wedding."

"What will I do if people find out that I am no longer pure."

" Who would believe me that my Fiance, the crowned Prince of the human world raped me, a mere maid."

She continued sobbing and talking to herself until a knock on her fragile wooden door made her stop and asked at the top of her voice.

"Who is that?"

"It's me." The person standing outside her door replied.

"You who?" Lilian asked as she stood up to walk closer to her door, dragging the cloth that was loosely wrapped around her chest along.

"Nancy." The voice replied to her.

"Wait. I am coming. I just woke up. You woke me. How rude of you." Lilian said, pretending to be mad at Nancy.

"I am sorry. It was an order from the Queen." Nancy said with a shaky voice.

"Nancy of all the maidens. That bad omen. Now, I will have a bad day. Why is she the first person I had to speak to today?" Lilian murmured and kissed her teeth as she quickly returned to her bed and quickly wore her working clothes.

Nancy is another girl that was brought into the Palace by the King himself when she was just twelve years old.

According to rumours, Nancy's family died from homemade food poisoning.

Her mother had punished her for not doing her chores that day.

She was so mad at her parents. Nancy had blamed her father for not begging her and her brother for mocking her.

She sneaked into their kitchen and sprinkled the homemade food poison that was made for poisonous rodents.

She refused to eat when her mother served her dinner.

Her mother didn't bother to force her to eat since she thinks her daughter is still mad at her for punishing her.

The next morning after that night, she was the only one that woke up and decided to run away from home and went into hiding. She was scared of being caught and questioned.

The King almost killed her during his hunt that early morning mistaking her for an animal.

It was when he saw that his target was not running that he decided to walk closer and that was how he found her and brought her into the Palace.

She is said to bring bad luck to whoever gets too close to her.

She is the most hated maiden in the Palace. No one ever talks with her except if the royal family asks for it.

Lilian used to speak and play with her when she was younger since they were age mates but stopped when she started noticing some changes in Nancy.