❝𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐔𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫❞ 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭

❝𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐚 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬❞

A loud crash woke you with a start, you shot up in bed. It was still dark out, but well past the time you were meant to wake up. You took a few deep breaths to assure yourself you were safe before getting out of bed. Leaving the servants quarters and entering the kitchen, you had no time to wake yourself up because the royal sibling you were assigned to was here. Princess Columbina, third in line for the throne. You inhaled sharply and hurried to get your uniform, hoping to escape her notice.

"Halt." 'Shit.' You turned slowly, looking up at the woman who had called out. "Your name, maid?"

"U-Uh, Y/n, your highness." She nodded thoughtfully, scanning your figure.

"Is there a particular reason for being late out of bed, Ms Y/n?" You looked away, your face growing red.

"N-No, your highness. I apologise." She waved her hand dismissively.

"No matter. See that it doesn't happen again." She turned to address the crowded room of servants. "My dear sister Rosalyne is returning today. See that she is received with an appropriate level of hospitality."

"Geez, are they always so formal about their family?" You choked on a breath as someone beside you whispered in your ear. "Gah! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! The head maid asked me to find you when the Princess dismissed us, but I heard your name so I came over!" The girl beside you whisper-yelped, looking flustered. You shushed her quickly and pulled her away into the changing rooms.

"Who the hell are you?" You hung a towel over the hooks on the wall, letting you get changed privately.

"My name's Katya, I'm new. The head maid wanted you to show me the ropes. I'm yet to discover if she meant that literally." You snorted, pulling a plain white dress on and fixing your hair in a bun.

"She probably didn't, I don't work anywhere there could be ropes. You're new.. to the castle?" She shook her head.

"To the nation. I'm from Mondstadt." Your eyes lit up.

"Mondstadt? Oh, I've always wanted to go there! You'll have to tell me about it tonight. Righto, if you're in the same division as me, we deal with whatever our Princess desires. Today, it's welcoming her sister, tomorrow, it could be getting her horse ready for a trail ride. Who knows." You led her back into the kitchen. "Hmmm. The schedule says I'm on cooking today, so you can join. C'mon, the Fair Lady likes Sweet Madames." You hurried Katya along.

"The Fair Lady? Who's that?" You glanced back at her.

"What- Oh, right. The Royals have heaps of titles, only they can call each other by their names." She wrinkled her nose. She opened her mouth to say something but you stopped her, the Head Maid approaching.

"Ms Y/n, Ms Katya. I've reassigned you, you'll be setting up for the Luncheon in the great hall. There are already a few others out there. Y/n, I trust you'll help Katya settle in?" You nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yes Ma'am. We'll do our best." She dropped the professional leader act and smiled warmly at you both.

"I just know you'll make me proud." She hurried off to speak to the princess. You grabbed Katya's hand and continued, heading into the Great Hall.

"That's Head Maid Alexis. She's like a mother to most of us. Which makes all of us siblings." You gestured at the people bustling around the ballroom, setting up tables and smoothing out tablecloths. "Just so you know, the servants usually eat after we're dismissed, which could be at the same time the royals eat or not until way after the event." Katya frowned, nodding.

"Tell me about the Royals? There's eleven thrones, which seems like too many." I nodded with a smile. 

"Sure, but start bringing out chairs while we talk.

"About ten years ago, the King, or the Tsar as it was called back then, ruled with his wife, the Tsarina. He was a good ruler, but a terrible wife, having children with almost every woman that sauntered into the palace. He thought he had hidden it well, but the Tsarina knew about all of it. One night, they both vanished without a trace.

"The Tsar's council handled ruling until they could find a suitable heir. A short while after, one of the Tsar's mistresses arrived at the Palace, claiming to be his one true love, showing the son of the presumably deceased king.  But, as it turned out, three other women had arrived with similar claims.

"The council used old belongings of the king to perform a DNA test on each child and pregnant woman in the nation, and came out with eleven children of the Tsar. They were taken from their homes and raised in the Palace, where they now rule together." 

You sighed with relief as you placed the last chair, Katya stopping beside you and doing the same. "Yikes. The Tsar sounds like a dick." You laughed, nodding in agreement. "Oh! There's people coming in!" You glanced towards the entrances and smiled.

"Yeah, that's the guests. We can just hang around the back until the Royals arrive. C'mon! I know a place with a good view, I'll tell you more about the Eleven!"

𝘞𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘩𝘰𝘰! 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘖𝘯𝘦!! 𝘐𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘢 (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭) 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 :𝘰

 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦!