SERVING THE PRINCE

Isabelle met the head maid for Sky's chamber in the princes quarters. "The prince is an evening person. During the day, he's almost never here. He told me that you would be his new attending maid, so you will have to stay by his side when he works at night. Don't try anything funny, or the king will have your head" The head maid warned. "Anything funny? Like what?" Isabelle asked. "I mean don't try to please the prince more than necessary. Your company is not supposed to make him happy. Yours is only to run errands" The head maid said, hoping Isabelle understood what she was trying to convey indirectly. "Ah, yes ma'am. May I please know what work it is that he does?" Isabelle asked hesitantly, seeing the look of irritation on the madam's face. "In the evenings on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he studies his books. On Thursdays and Fridays, he practices with swords and arrows. He spars with his soldiers on Saturdays and Sundays and on those days, no one goes into his room" The head maid said. Isabelle nodded and they turned around to go their separate ways when Isabelle called out to the head maid again. "What!" She shouted. "I just wanted to know whether the prince has any allergies…well…" Isabelle began stammering. The head maid understood why and sighed. "The prince has no allergies. None that we know of. Anyway, good luck" The head maid said and left.

Prince Sky's room

Isabelle sat down waiting for the prince to return. It was  Tuesday evening, and she had already prepared everything on his table. She stood for a while but no one came around and it was getting darker. Isabelle began to get bored and sank into her thoughts. 'So he goes out of the palace on weekends for fun? Hmm, he doesn't sound responsible. I mean, he lies so easily, he's probably a flirt, that fool. He's just lucky he was born strong and into royalty, flaunting his status everywhere and bullying the weak. He was acting so weirdly yesterday, as if he cared but was literally holding a dagger to my throat. He just came to scare me….that power abusing jerk!' Isabelle mumbled and immediately, the door opened.

Isabelle stood upright and bowed to greet the prince. Sky glanced at her and let out a little laugh, as if mocking her. She furrowed her brows in disgust. "Come here" He said as he sat to read. Isabelle lazily went to stand beside him. "Can you sew?" He asked her. "I can" She said proudly. "Good, now take my clothes there. I want this pattern on it" Sky said and showed her a drawing of a thorn. "I thought you'd want me to mend a torn dress or something. What's this? I am a maid, if you want this, why not call an embroider?" Isabelle said, considering his request ridiculous. "You seem to be forgetting something, you are the maid, and I, I am the prince. You seem to be forgetting there will be consequences to your actions" Sky said. Isabelle fumed and went out of his room. Sky was left speechless at the disrespect she had shown him. He hit his bowl of ink in anger and it spilled all over his table.

He took the book with ink stains and kept reading. Suddenly, Isabelle came back in with an embroidery set, comprising of needles, threads, a wooden hoop, scissors, thimbles and a thread winder. She unpacked the set and got the clothes. Seeing her doing these, Sky was amused. She came to the table to take the design and saw the ink all over the table. She took out her napkin and began cleaning the table, without saying a word. While she was cleaning, he saw her hands tremble After she was done, she looked around, searching for the bathroom to wash her hands. "It's on your left" Sky said to her. She silently walked into the bathroom to wash her hands, after which she hung her napkin. She went back and sat down to embroider. Her fingers shook as she began the embroidery and she ended up piercing herself. "Ouch" she shouted and sucked on her finger to stop the blood, then she continued embroidering.

Hearing her, Sky lifted his head and saw her, still embroidering with shaking hands. "Why're your hands shaking so much?" Sky asked her, but she simply ignored him. "I'm asking because I don't want my clothes ruined" Sky said. Isabelle put down the dress and turned to face Sky. "I was whipped on my palms just yesterday so I haven't recovered yet, your highness" Isabelle said, as they stared at each other. Sky got off his seat and went to his bedside, where Isabelle was sitting. He walked around her and went into his drawer, pulling out a first aid kit. He put it down beside her and took her left hand which was swollen. She pulled her hand out of his but he didn't react. Seeing that he meant no harm, she slowly gave her hand to him, looking away. He rolled his eyes and cleaned her palm, then applied medicine on it. He took her other hand and did same. "You can finish the embroidery when your hands get better" Sky said and went back to his seat. He took a glance at her before going back to reading. "Thank you, but I'm here to work. My hands are swollen but I can still work" Isabelle said. "I doubt you can do anything useful in that condition. Just stay here until I go to sleep, when your shift is over. It's an order" Sky said and went back to reading. "Why is he acting as of he cares?" Isabelle murmured to herself. She sat down with nothing to do and eventually fell asleep due to boredom.

After reading for a long time, Sky got up to head to sleep. He saw Isabelle laying on the floor. He took a bed sheet and pillow, set it on the floor and rolled Isabelle onto it. He placed extra pillows under her palms, and then went to his bed to sleep, without sufficient pillows. Isabelle woke up the next morning after the morning bell sounded. She got up and stretched. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the room that still had far too many lights on. She jumped up, realizing it wasn't her room, her thoughts were scattered on what she was going to do. She turned around and saw Sky wasn't on his bed. She quickly got the bedsheets and pillows off the floor and laid them on the bed, then snuck out quietly, before those on morning duty came. On her way out, she ran into the head maid. "What're you doing here?" The head maid asked her. "I…um…" Isabelle stammered. "You truly are an irresponsible maid. The prince told me you'd take care of his chamber this morning too but look at what you're doing out here, sneaking away from your work. Get back to work!" The head maid shouted at her. "Yes? Yes ma'am" Isabelle said and went back to the Prince's chamber. "What is going on?" Isabelle asked herself as she began to clean the prince's room.

'The Rhydderc case' Isabelle read on a book as she was cleaning his study table. "Rhydderc? What kind of name is that?" Isabelle asked herself and put the book down. After doing everything, she sat for a while. "Did he really make me a bed yesterday? But why? Or is he preying on me? What if he's just a genuinely good person…he's not" Isabelle said to herself and went back to cleaning. In the evening, she came back and this time, Sky was already there. She greeted him and took a seat while Sky was reading. "You know what? Since I'll just be sitting here doing nothing for a few days, could you please get me some interesting story books when you're coming back tomorrow to keep me busy so I don't end up falling asleep?" Isabelle asked. "I need to focus so please be quiet" Sky said, his eyes glued to his book. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb, go on" Isabelle said. After a while, the prince instructed Isabelle to get him a glass of milk.

On her way back, Isabelle ran into Oscar, one of the princes, and spilled milk on him. "I'm sorry" Isabelle said and bowed apologetically, but Oscar didn't say a word as Isabelle went on her knees to pick up the cup. She felt a hand ran through her hair and immediately got up to her feet. She quickly began to walk past him but he called out to her. "Stop maid!" He shouted. Isabelle came to a halt and turned around then bowed to him again. "How can I help you, your highness?" Isabelle asked Oscar. "Who do you serve?" He asked as he approached her. She took a few steps backwards, looking at the guards stationed there but none of them moved a muscle. "Prince Sky, your highness" Isabelle said. "Sky? Since when does Sky have young and pretty maids around him? Come with me for now" Oscar said but Isabelle was hesitant. "I'm sorry your highness, I have to bring milk to prince Sky" Isabelle said. "How dare you, you…" Oscar raised his hand to hit her but was held back by someone else, William.

Seeing William, Oscar rolled his eyes and walked away. Isabelle immediately turned around and left, not wanting another encounter with William. "And where do you think you're going? Come with me" William said sternly and turned away. Isabelle quickly followed, realizing that if even Sky couldn't afford to offend him, she couldn't either. William went with her to a room.

Prince William's study

"Come in" William said as he went into the room. Isabelle had no idea where she was going. She stepped inside. Seeing it was only a study, she sighed in relief. "Take a seat" William said and sat opposite her. He took a piece of cloth and tied it around her eyes. "Ethan, come in" William said and his right hand man walked in. Ethan was about the same age as William. "Miss. Isabelle Salo, standing behind you is Ethan, my right hand man. He's served in the military for ten years and has been involved in many wars. He's been raised to be merciless and loyal. He's killed all sorts of criminals, both old and young, and right now, he's standing behind you with a sword in his hand, ready to act at my command" William said. Isabelle placed her hand on her chest, to check if she was still breathing. "Your highness…I…what have I done?" Isabelle asked, on the verge of tears. "Just answer my questions honestly and not a single strand of your hair will be touched" William said. Isabelle nodded aggressively.

"First question", William said. "What's your relationship with prince Sky" William asked. Immediately, she could feel a sword at her throat. William signaled for Ethan to take away the sword. Isabelle narrated everything about herself and Sky to the prince, trying to establish that she had no relationship at all with Sky. "Do you know what Sky did outside the palace?" William asked. "No, your highness" Isabelle answered and William took off her blindfold. 'Did I say too much?' Isabelle thought to herself. "Isabelle, can I trust you?" William asked her. "Yes, your highness" Isabelle said. "I need you to keep an eye on prince Sky on my behalf. Ethan will introduce you to the maid you will be reporting to everyday. You will not tell prince Sky about any of this. I will reward you very well if you do" William said and took Isabelle's hand. She pulled her hand away because it hurt. "Sorry" William said as he felt her hand was swollen, so he took her hand again, this time, he softly held the back of her hand.

When Isabelle got out, William turned to Ethan, who was still standing behind the chair Isabelle had sat on. "This sure is interesting" William said and sat down, and signaled Ethan to sit too. "It is. I wonder why he's so interested in her. You think she lied?" Ethan asked. "It's likely she didn't, but you can never know. However, it's obvious she didn't lie. Either that or she's an extremely good actress. I think it's more likely that Sky is interested in her" William said. "I don't think so your highness. I think he still likes Desperalda" Ethan said. "Desperalda…you make a point. Maybe he's no longer interested in her. Isabelle is beautiful, but there's more to Desperalda than just beauty. Beauty is one thing, but class, manners and attitude that comes with nobility is different. Isabelle is wild, so is Sky. I wouldn't be surprised if he's interested in her. He always likes to have his way" William said. "Isn't that a good thing for you then? That means you don't have anymore competition in winning over Desperalda" Ethan said and William got up to pace around.

"Oh, Ethan, you are so narrow minded. Women crave attention. They want to feel wanted, desired, but why am I telling you all these? I'm so much more curious about Sky now, haha. Sky, who hasn't trusted anyone ever since his mentor, Sir. Hansley died, is suddenly so interested in a new maid. Maybe you're right, and she lied. Where does Sky go to really? This is getting so interesting" William said.

Isabelle ran into Sky on her way back. "Where have you been?" Sky asked her, looking worried. "I…I got lost. I mean I spilled the milk at first and went back to get another and got lost" Isabelle said. "You got lost? At this age? Don't you know how dangerous this place can be?" Sky asked, upset. "You'd think I'd be safer within the walls of the palace but no, predators are everywhere" Isabelle said, rolling her eyes. "Let's go back" Sky said and left.

When they got back, Isabelle saw Hans in Sky's room. "So she's the one who poisoned my Iris?" Hans asked. "I'm sorry your highness" Isabelle said. "Don't worry, if princess Iris doesn't hold a grudge, who am I to?" Hans said. "You may excuse us" Sky said to Isabelle. Sky sat with Hans. "Why did you take her as your maid?" Hans asked Sky. "Like I told you, it's because I'm interested in her. She is really beautiful, isn't she?" Sky said, but Hans knew all to well that there was definitely an ulterior motive behind Sky's actions. "You're not going to tell me?" Hans asked. "Not yet. Not until I'm sure of what I'm doing. I hope 'everyone's' fine? I haven't been out in a while, been busy with preparing for my time with the military. I have a lot to do before that so I'm very busy this time around" Sky said. "And Isabelle, what's going to happen to her after you leave? I'm pretty sure literally no one but you wants her around here. At this rate, she just might ran away from the palace" Hans said but Sky didn't give him an answer.

When Isabelle got back to her room, Nadia came up to her, revealing herself as the one sent by William. Isabelle told Nadia everything.