𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 - 𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐨𝐧

(four)

As soon as I step foot out of my room, I hear the two youngest Princesses screaming.

The youngest crashes into my legs and cowers behind me. "Hide me, Bora!" She pleads, tears streaming down her round face. "Yubin is chasing me with a bug!" True to her word, Princess Yubin comes barreling down the hallway toward us with a stick outstretched in front of her. On the end, there is a little brown caterpillar, clinging onto the stick for dear life.

"Princess Yubin." She stops in front of me. "How about we take our little friend out to the garden so he can eat?" She nods, and I hold out a hand. Each of the Princesses holds one of my hands as I guide them outside. Princess Yubin's hand still clutches the stick, her eyes firmly trained on the caterpillar. Princess Gahyeon has her thumb in her mouth and tears still on her face as she occasionally glances past me to ensure the bug is far from her.

When we get to the garden, I ask Princess Yubin if I can see the caterpillar. She hands me the stick, and I pluck a few leaves from the bush beside me. "Hold out your hands," I instruct her. She does as she's told, and I pile the leaves in her palms, setting the caterpillar on top of them. Immediately it begins to eat, and Princess Yubin stares in awe. Princess Gahyeon peers over her sister's shoulder and watches the bug with wide eyes. "See, Princess? Nothing to be afraid of at all," I reassure her, "Just a hungry little guy. I'm going to get you two some lunch. Whenever you're done playing with the caterpillar, please put him back in the plants so he can go home. Then wash your hands and you can eat."

I stand up and brush off my pants. As I reach the palace doors, I find a frantic pair of servants. "Have you seen the Princesses?" They ask me.

"They're in the garden by the fountain playing with bugs. Where did you two disappear to? I haven't seen you all day."

Yoohyeon shrugs and Minji answers, "We've just been really busy. Thanks, Bora!"

They both run off in the direction of the Princesses. They're so young that they're not really supposed to be left unattended, but with the amount of energy they have they're hard to keep up with, and they're both very small and like to hide. It's a miracle neither of them has fallen down the laundry chute playing 'hide and seek' yet. Speaking of which, I need to do Princess Siyeon's laundry today.

I run up the stairs to her room and pile her dirty clothes into a basket. She changes outfits multiple times a day, so there is never a shortage of laundry from her. On my way back down the stairs, I feel my shoe catch a lump in the carpet, and before I know it I'm flying through the air and hitting the ground hard, tumbling down the last few steps and tearing up the palms of my hands trying to catch myself. I hear a scoff and look up. Above me stands Princess Siyeon, staring down disdainfully at me and my conveniently timed disaster.

She walks away before I can apologise, so I get back to the task at hand, once more gathering the clothes now strewn across the hallway, and marching down to the basement to wash them.