Chapter 6

I stood in the center of the large bedroom, my eyes wandered over the lavish furnishing. The room was like a beautiful prison holding my eyes captive.

As I gazed around at the sumptuous decorations, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was all just a dream, it was not real. That I would soon wake up, back to my old life with father by my side, I miss him though.

Deep down, I knew it wasn't a dream, it was my reality now. I was a slave, a possession to the king of the West.

My mind wandered back to our dinner together, the way he looked at me with that unreadable expression. I really felt a shiver run through my spine, he stared like he was looking into my souls and hearing everything I was thinking.

I realized I was scared of him, scared of his power, his wealth and most of all, his presence. I was scared of what he would do to me. How he would treat me. Most importantly, I'm supposed to be his bride tomorrow, how is that even possible?

I took deep breaths to calm my racing heart, I had to be strong, I had to survive this new life no matter what layed ahead, it couldn't be worse than my previous owner, right? I will scale through.

But as I looked around the room once again, I felt this unsettling nervousness in the pit of my stomach. I was deeply afraid, I was new to this lifestyle. I was afraid of embarrassing the king tomorrow. He has warned me not to speak to anyone. I just have to work hard to keep my emotions in check.

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the large door. I didn't know how to respond so I walked over and opened it. Three maids dressed in neat, white uniforms walked in with quiet efficiency with trolleys filled with lots of jars and materials that I didn't understand.

"What..what's going on?", I stuttered feeling a sense of confusion wash over me.

One of the maids who looked like the eldest walked over with her head bowed down, her face looked kind as she spoke with a smile. "We're here to prepare you for bed my lady" , her voice was soft but very firm and professional.

"A bath will be drawn for you and we'll also be giving you a massage, manicure, pedicure and a facial to help you relax",

My eyes widened in shock. A bath? A massage? Manicure? Pedicure? What are those? Is it some special treatment? Why would they bath me? Only princesses gets bathed in the stories my father used to tell me when I was younger. What kind of slave gets treated this way?

"But..... But why?" This was all so sudden and I didn't understand it either. Pedicure and manicure were new terms I just heard and they sounded quite relaxing to me but I hadn't experienced it before.

Most importantly, I haven't been bathed by other people before since I was younger, it made my cheeks flush just thinking of this women seeing my nakedness. I get naked when I'm getting changed to dance with my age mates but not strangers who I haven't seen before. This was all too much to think about.

"It's the king's orders, he wants to make sure you're well taken care of for tomorrow, don't worry my lady, we're professionals and know how to do our job well", the woman smiled kindly.

It was all his doing? Why is he treating me like....royalty? I started having a hard time believing if this is true or not, is this real??

The maid guided me to the huge bathroom, as we entered I felt like I had just stepped into a luxurious oasis. The bathroom was a masterpiece of elegance, the walls were adorned with beautiful mosaic arts shimmering with colours that seemed to dance in the soft light produced by the small candles laying around to illuminate light.

The floor was made of polished marble, it was so shiny that it almost looked like it reflected my image like a mirror. The bathroom was masked with the sweet scent of roses as I followed the fragrance to the bathtub which contained a steaming bath waiting for me.

The water contained some bubbles with rose petals floating on top which created a breath taking sight.

I stood there in awe as I stared around the beautiful bathroom. The maids seemed to sense my wonder and just smiled as they begun to undress me slowly.

I felt so shy as they started to undress me revealing my nakedness, I was never comfortable being naked in front of people and the thought of this strangers seeing me without my clothes made my cheeks flush ever more.

I quickly put my hands over my chest as I felt very uncomfortable with their actions.

"Please, do I have to?", I whispered.

The maid smiled and gently took my hands away from my chest, "don't worry my lady, we'll be gentle, I promise, your skin is delicate and needs care right now",

I nodded but still felt embarrassed. I was abit relieved that she understood though.

I was gently guided into the bathtub, the warmth of the water was so comforting, it was the first time I was bathing with warm water in a very long time.

As the maids began to wash my hair, I felt my eyelids grow heavy, the gentle massage of the fingers in my scalp was like a warm hug enveloping me in comfort and relaxation. I've never felt so relaxed.

I closed my eyes, letting out a long sigh as they worked out the knots and tangled in my hair. The scent of the shampoo and body wash seemed to melt all my worries away leaving me feeling limp.

They rinsed my hair and started washing my body, they used different soaps for different parts of my body, each one released different intoxicating smells. The smell of roses and lavender seemed to air from my skin mixing with the sweet smell of the bath water.

As the maids worked their magic on my body, I felt my body feeling lighter and lighter while my eyelids felt heavier and heavier. Their gentle touches made my body powerless to respond, I was genuinely lost in a sea of satisfaction. It was too much to handle.