Emigre : The King and a Kiss

Chapter 11: The King's proposition

Katarina:

"I wish he'll never return." I said to Pauline as she mentioned him to me.

There were lots of us who were shoveling the snow out of the pavement. Others such as myself and Pauline were cleaning the cobblestone near the entrance since it was covered now by snow. Our thin clothing didn't shield us from the freezing cold, it seemed that the castle didn't even consider a winter clothing for the maids. I'm just thankful that we have a fireplace in our room and some warm blankets. Pauline coughed a little.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"yes, it's just a cold." She sniffed.

"You can go now inside, we're almost done. I'll finish it up for you." I offered.

"no, its fine really."

Suddenly the heavy gates were opened and there came guards falling in line and there paraded the king and his men in horses and others in barefoot. His expression revealed that he was satisfied with his mission, maybe he had captured the prisoner again. The guards pushed us a little to give the king some space so we stepped back but as soon the king got off from his noble steed, I felt the coldness of the air and suddenly I sneezed in front of everyone. All of them looked at me even the king. I hide myself from the one in front of me but the temperature didn't help as my cheeks heated up. In an instant, the king and his men went inside the castle doors. I looked at the incoming troops and there I saw several men in chains. I was about to ask a guard standing near me but we were called by Madame Marion to go back inside to prepare for the king's food.

"the king surely must be tired." The tall-freckled maid said.

"I bet he wants to have someone who can warm up his bed." Another maid said.

My cheeks suddenly was flooded with color, I remembered that incident a few days ago. It made me nervous. What if the king remembers me? I will surely put up a fight!

"Katarina, Madame Marion wants to talk to you." Someone yelled.

"Are you in some kind of trouble again, Katarina?" The tall-freckled maid said. Her other friends giggled behind me.

"Oh no. maybe I am getting a promotion." I said with sarcasm.

I went to a room with Madame Marion and was surprised to see the butler, Pierre.

"Hello, Katarina. How are you?" Pierre talked first.

"I'm fine Sir."

"good, since I need someone like you assisting the king." He surprised me by his sentence.

"I-I don't understand."

"It means you're transferred to Pierre's responsibility. It is now your task to assist the king whenever he needs something." Madame Marion explained.

I was speechless. How could I be transferred? Does that mean I'll be seeing the king's face more often.

"This is ridiculous." I blurted out.

"Excuse me?" Madame Marion raised her eyebrows.

"Marion, see to it that she'll be ready to transfer to the other chamber maids upstairs within an hour." Pierre told Madame Marion.

"I expect you to be on the lobby within an hour." Pierre peeked through his glasses and went.

The room was filled with tension as Madame Marion observed me. She began circling me one foot at a time.