The King's Obsession

22

C106 - Time on scaffold- Part 1

When morning arrived, Lisa was filled with nothing but the angst of what was going to happen in the next couple of hours. She was worried for the servant man who had not been released because of the lack of evidence they had in favour of him when it came to his innocence, he would be made to walk up the scaffold. She was unhappy with the unfairness and even though she had known the servant for just a day, she had tried to do her best in finding out the culprit, but for a person who had been in the castle barely for five days, this was all she could do.      

She had fallen asleep late in the night, which had resulted in her waking up late. Right now, she stood with her hands, holding one of the bedposts tightly as her corset was being pulled with the laces by the head maid.      

Lisa flinched because of the tightness, and she wondered if the maid was trying to suffocate her to death, "I need to breathe," she reminded the maid because it looked like the head maid, Nicola, was trying to fit her into the corset.     

"We need to get you fit into the dress, milady. As you will be going out with the King, it is only right that you look presentable," by choking her? Asked Lisa to herself on the head maid's words, "Please hold in your breath."     

"The village we are going to is my hometown. I don't think they would think any less of me if I don't shape well with the dress," Lisa said, her head turning to the side to find the shadow of the girl on the ground without looking right at her face.      

The head maid was a brunette. A lady who was lean with less womanly curves than what Lisa had. Her hands were thin and so were her eyebrows that were arched up, "It is not about you but about the reputation of the King. Every lady who accompanies the King needs to follow protocols on how to behave and how to appear next to him. Anything less would be nothing but demeaning. It would help if you remembered that you are not a village girl anymore." So stop acting like one, thought the maid to herself, rolling her eyes.      

"Where are you from?" asked Lisa when the maid again asked to hold in her breath.     

"I am from Beriweness," answered Nicola.      

Lisa flinched when the maid pulled one last time before tying the strings of the corset. She finally turned to look at the maid who had a lighter shade of red eyes compared to the King, "You are from the village too. By your words, I thought you were from the town."     

Nicola stared at the human who had subtly taunted her. Lisa didn't realise that there were times when she quietly spoke words that had the ability to turn a person stunned, "I might have come from the village, but I have lived here for years now. I have been serving the King for some time, and as the head maid, I know what he prefers. It is my duty to follow what stays in the King's interest, and I hope you can do it too," came the clipped voice of the head maid.      

The girls and women who the King brought to the castle to entertain himself always tended to be sweet and polite with their words. Even Lady Somi, who was the King's cousin, was polite when it came to speaking to her as she wasn't a lowly servant but someone who had been promoted to the position of a head maid.      

"Don't let the favour of power get into your head, milady. It hurts quite a lot when you realise you don't have the favour of the King," advised Nicola, her eyes looking at the girl's neck that was slender. It would take less than one second to snap the human's neck or to break it by falling from the stairs.      

Lisa turned herself to look at the head maid who now picked up the skirt and helped her to wear it, "Are you speaking by experience?" she asked Nicola who stared back into her brown eyes.