𝕳𝖔𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖘𝖘 - (Ranboo)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒

She was beckoned to Venus's side, and so she listened. It was her paid job after all. Hertha shuffled over and trembled under the watchful gaze of Technoblade, finding herself staring back slightly as though she was going to be able to spare herself in case she got attacked. Venus and Technoblade bickered slightly, about whether it was the man's fault that Hertha was positively terrified, then both went into Venus's little personal library. Hertha was just about ready to go home, not sleep but cower under her covers for a moment. Then she heard Technoblade speak: "can we come in too?" He requested. Hertha had no intention of going into an even smaller, crowded room with that man, but it was charming how he involved her.

"Well I'll need your measurements. And Hertha can help with that." Hertha saw Venus do the same movement as Technoblade did when he mentioned her name, their movements were mirrored in each other. With a silent curse for choosing her job, Hertha followed behind Technoblade into the library, she closed the door behind her and hurried to where Venus was while the king looked around. He seemed to enjoy the little room. It was quite cute. Hertha's daze was ruined by Venus chiming in once more, "Hertha, if you could get Technoblade's height, waist and chest size? We can fix up the hips later." She dusted off the request like it was nothing. Hertha cursed the princess under her breath and shakily took the measuring tape, going over to the man.

"I-I'm sorry... could you... perhaps lift up your arms?" She asked him quietly and with a small voice. He did as told silently and raised his arms, letting her get the measurements of his chest, waist and hips with ease. Then it was height. She was a bit too short to reach the top of his head, he was surely over a foot taller than her, so she frowned at the thought.

"I'm 6'3"." He explained and she wrote it down. She nodded with a thank you and felt her guard go down - he hadn't killed her yet, and he was nice enough to give her his measurements. He couldn't be all that bad. All he wanted was fitting nightwear. Hertha gave the measurements to Venus, and soon after left them alone. She felt bad for leaving Venus in a room alone with a man of such reputation, but she deserved it after what she had put Hertha through. Hertha was a mere maid, she didn't sign up to mingle with emperors and kings. She wanted to clean the castle and live life peacefully.

Hertha closed the library door behind her and looked over to the sleeping boy in the bed. What Venus was doing with so many men was beyond Hertha's understanding, and the girl only shrugged as she walked out of the room and out of the castle.

The sun was beginning to lighten the horizon even if it still wasn't visible, a miniscule slither of light leached out of the blackness of the night sky. It was quite pretty. Hertha peacefully walked back to her home, looking around at the scenery and sighing at how bright it was. It wasn't fair, the kingdom was never truly asleep - everywhere was brightly lit and it led to the streets being somewhat more creepy. Not a sound, just functioning lights. Something about it unsettled Hertha. Maybe the fact that all the scary stories she had heard from others consisted of dark, empty places. That didn't mean the scares were limited to that sort of setting. She could imagine herself getting kidnapped in such empty streets. With a shudder, she sped up her walk until she made it to her house, feeling someone's eyes fall onto her and watch her from the ends of nowhere.

When she entered, her mother sat on a chair in the kitchen with a cup of tea, the woman was called Orphi. Her head whipped to the direction of the front door, where her daughter stood waving nervously and somewhat tiredly, "you're back quite late dear... are you okay? Did anyone keep you back? Maybe you should take a rest, go into your room and change, that is a lovely dress though," Orphi asked a range of questions suddenly, ushering the girl up to her room, "I'll be in the fields until evening today, so don't do anything brash. Will you be working today as well?" She began tidying away her teacup and pulled out a pair of gloves.