Chapter 22

After realizing his strange thoughts, he shook his head trying to escape them. He could not believe his own mind. He could swear he had just lost his mind, but he still did not want to pull away from her.

Buhle let go of The Prince's wrist when they got to his palace, and she turned her head as she asked; "Where is the bathroom?"

The Prince hesitated before pointing it out for her. He was in a daze. Buhle disappeared into the bathroom.

Prince Abasi returned to his thoughts. He held up his wrist and stared at it. His other hand held onto his chest, which paced aloud. He drifted into the memory of himself dusting flour off of Buhle's clothes. He remembered his hands moving from her shoulders to her arms. And then almost to her chest. He immediately got himself out of his thoughts. He shook his head again as if shaking off naughty thoughts.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Buhle took off her clothes and flapped them to remove the flour. She also ruffled her hair and got off most of the flour.

"Ugg!", went Buhle out of frustration. "This will take days to wash off."

The Prince grasped that Buhle might need a cloth to wipe the flour off of her skin. He walked into the bathroom. There, he found Buhle in only her undergarments. Startled, he jumped back, catching Buhle's attention. Buhle responded by covering her top half with her arms. The Prince quickly went out and shut the door.

"What is it with you?!", Buhle yelled.

Remorsefully and ashamed, The Prince spoke aloud behind the door; "I was not thinking. I am sorry."

He then paused for a while before explaining; "I wanted to bring you a washcloth… There is my bath water in the tub in there. It was meant for me but I had gone for a walk first earlier. Please use it. And I will leave the washcloth here at the door."

Buhle looked and saw the bath tub. It was a huge hole dug into the ground and plastered with clay. The tub had been filled by pouring warm water in it, bucket by bucket. The room was nicely lit. And it was well decorated. It was beautiful.

Buhle wondered if she should indeed dare wash up in a prince's tub. She gave it a thought for a while and decided to go ahead and enjoy that luxury.

"It could fit 10 people, comfortably", Buhle said to herself, marvelling at the tub.

Buhle submerged herself into the water after closing her eyes. The warmth of the water comforted and hugged her bones, so she felt. Her muscles loosened. Her mind drifted to The Prince dusting off flour from her clothes. She quickly shut down that thought.

"Why am I thinking about that?", she wondered.

Anyway, the day progressed. It was lunch time. Lebo, Letho and Sana were displeased to see Buhle at the pergola, clean and not upset at all. Little did they know that Buhle had just had a bath in a royal tub. And The Prince had anointed her with his floral favourite perfume. She smelled amazing.

Buhle smiled and blushed to herself, with her head bowed to her plate. She fiddled with her food. Her constant blushing was thanks to her thinking back on The Prince as he anointed her. Buhle's thoughts…

.........…..

Buhle finished her bath and came out of the bathroom. She was fully dressed back into her dusted clothes. In The Prince's private lounge, she found The Prince seated with a few perfumes on the table in front of him. He heard her footsteps and looked. The Prince ushered her to a seat right next to him.

"It seems you did not use the lotions in the bathroom. I am not catching any of their scent from you. If it so happens that any of this happens again, feel free to use the lotions. Ok?", he spoke.

Buhle gave no response. She kept her head bowed.

"What happened outside? Who poured flour on you?", The Prince wanted to know.

Buhle kept quiet.

He sighed.

"Fine. It seems you do not want to tell me", said The Prince.

He took a perfume and asked; "Which one do you like?"

Buhle still kept quiet. Her sudden coyness made the Prince wonder in his mind; 'She was bold not so long ago. She even glared at me.'

"You will use my favourite one then", he put back the perfume he had and picked up another one. "I use it when I go on special occasions."

The Prince applied the perfume on Buhle's neck and tapped it in, just like how he once secretly saw the King apply perfume on The Queen. The Prince also applied it on Buhle's wrists.

"I hope this will make you forget about whoever is bullying you here at the palace", he said gently, not trying to seduce her at all.

But Buhle was already feeling tinlges in her stomach and pressure in her abdomen. He was too close. And he was touching her, again. His hands were also warm. He had a strong build, but he manipulated his hands to give her a gentle treatment.

"And I hope it gives you courage to come tell me who it is", The Prince continued talking.

Buhle lifted her head once to steal a look at The Prince, who focused on caressing the perfume onto her wrist. She thought he was handsome. A part of her wondered what would have happened if she had attended his Bridal Selection day.

.............

In the present, at the pergola… Lebo asked Letho and Sana, who were sitting beside her; "What is she smiling about?"

Sana scoffed and replied; "It think she is blushing. And it seems she is not just putting on an act for us. She is really blushing about something."

Letho looked on.

On the following day, the teasing continued. The girls planned to get Buhle locked out of the palace.

"Some of the kitchen staff will be going to the market tomorrow to pick up a few items. Mostly spices and herbs. I am sure Buhle will be sent along since she is new", said Letho.

The two girls listened on.

"Therefore, I think that we should put her on head-maid Kamva's bad books", added Letho.

"Wait. You do not mean we have to lock her out all night, right?", asked the concerned Sana.

"What?", Lebo said to Sana. "You want to be a bully and a messiah at the same time?"

"No. But it is dangerous outside", Sana defended herself.

Letho intervened; "No, Lebo. That would indeed be dangerous. We are not leaving her out all night. We will go get her right after the inspection. The head-maid only needs to see that she is not in the room on time. And therefore, declare her a rebel."

Lebo rolled her eyes, she did not like that they were concerned about Buhle. Sana sighed, she appreciated that they were considerate of Buhle's safety, at least.

The day went well for Buhle. She had been expecting them and was prepared to stop them or even fight them if her roommates dared to taunt her on that day. She swept the yard and said loudly;

"Whew! I am done cleaning this yard! Even the gods will be pleased to set foot here!"

By saying that, Buhle was hoping to get the kitchen supervisor's attention, and she was trying not to be obvious about it. The kitchen supervisor came to see, she too was trying not to be obvious. The kitchen supervisor made it seem like she was just coming out to enjoy the fresh air and look at the sky, gauging the time.

Mission accomplished! Buhle knew that the kitchen supervisor saw her work. And thus, if there was going to be any mess since then, the kitchen supervisor would realize that the mess was new and would yell at any other maid to clean it up.

Buhle's next task was to go pick some leafy vegetables and red chili pepper. When she got to the garden, she looked around to see if the girls were there. It seemed they were not. She picked the vegetables and red chili peppers, she stood up to look around after each pick. Buhle managed to pick the things she was sent. The next thing was to return to the kitchen unscathed. She made it.

The day was going smoothly, too smoothly, Buhle began to worry. A part of her wanted to think that she had successfully dogged all the bullets. But an unwavering part of her insisted that she should be expecting the worst.

In the kitchen, the chef picked out some maids and some manservants to go to the market. Buhle was not picked. Letho, who had been picked, did not like that at all. She came up with an excuse;

"Supervisor, I am not feeling well. I can continue to work here but I do not think that I can go all the way to the market."

She walked towards Buhle and gave Buhle a friendly back hug. Letho prompted;

"I think Buhle should go. I mean, she is new. And she has not gone to the market on this side of the kingdom. Letting her go might help her adapt to this environment much better and healthier."

Buhle stood wondering why Letho was suddenly being nice to her. She suspected that Letho might be up to something. But Buhle also wanted to finally burry the hedge, and make friends. Buhle let herself believe that maybe Letho was taking the first step towards mending their relationship.

The chef gave it thought and agreed immediately. Straight after that, Buhle left with the other selected maids and manservants.

Letho watched Buhle leave as she thought back on the plan that she had with Lebo and Sana.

The plan was that, while Letho made sure that Buhle goes to the market place, the other girls would make sure that Buhle does not return to the palace with the group she was sent out with. To do that, Lebo would have to snick out of the palace to keep Buhle away from the palace. And Sana would have to snick out of her shift and distract the guards as Lebo returns from outside, after keeping Buhle away.

...........…..

Fast forward to the evening. The palace gates were closed. The King had ordered that the gates should be shut and guards should be on standby. Apparently, there was a group of dangerous bandits on the loose. And some palace guards were out on a hunt for the bandits. Everyone else in kingdom was ordered to lock themselves in doors, while the palace guards battle the bandits.

On the other hand, the servants in The Prince's group of staff were lamenting the missing Buhle. It was reported that the last time she was sighted was at the market place in the late afternoon. It was well known that during a combat with bandits, stray arrows and other weapons took the lives of innocent civilians. That fact put the three girls; Lebo, Letho and Sana, in great panic.

"No. It was never meant to turn out like this", whispered Sana to Lebo and Letho.

Letho whispered back; "Apparently, The Prince has gone out to look for her. I am sure he will find her."

Lebo said; "But he has been gone for too long. Do you think she might be already be dead? Or both of them could be dead."