Princess of Ayden

Chapter 3

Pretty

True to her name, Pretty was drop dead gorgeous, although she would be the last to say so. As a black woman whose ancestors bravely fought against the Ayden regime, her Social Score was built on weak foundations. Yet her hard work at school allowed for her to achieve the sixty-one that landed her a job at the palace. She had just graduated high school the week before the prince's birthday and was hired to be a handmaiden for the competition less than twenty-four hours later.
Her mother, who worked as a maid in the household of one of the wealthier families in Ayden, was proud that her daughter was considered intelligent, skilful and pretty enough to be a maid in the royal household. She had always believed that her daughter was destined for great things. But this did not make it any easier for her to say goodbye when it finally came time for Pretty to go to the palace.
Pretty took the train to the palace at five-thirty on the morning before the servants were to go to their new mistresses' houses. She could have come in the next day but she was so excited to get working on assembling the wardrobe of her new mistress that she arrived at the palace the day before she needed to.
In her mind, she saw that if she did a good job, and the girl she was tending to was chosen to be queen, that she could one day be handmaiden to the queen, one of the most prestigious positions to hold as a member of staff in the palace. For her girl to be the successful candidate, she believed she needed the perfect wardrobe. Luckily for Pretty, Sybil's measurements had been sent ahead of time.
Hence, Pretty spent the whole day altering dresses she chose, for the girl she now knew to be twenty-one-year-old Sybil Black. At around two-thirty in the evening, the door to Ms Black's future room opened and a girl tentatively stepped in. She had her natural hair fashionably styled in cornrows.
"Hi," the new girl smiled shyly. "I'm Tandi, the other hand maid for Ms Sybil Black. They told me you were already up here making alterations."
"Hi Tandi, I'm Pretty." She smiled back at Tandi. "You sure are!" exclaimed Tandi with a wink. Both the girls giggled at that.
"You know; I get that a lot." Pretty confessed.
"I can see why. You're stunning!" She made Pretty blush. Pretty then handed Tandi a dress and a sewing needle with thread.
"Instead of flattering me, why don't you make yourself useful," She could see the two of them getting along just fine.
"Isn't it amazing that we might be serving the future queen of Ayden?" Said Tandi. Pretty let out a dreamy sigh and declared, "It truly is. I'm sure that between the two of us, we can create a winner!"
They set about working and before long Pretty finished the alterations on the blue dress she had been working on and moved on to a red outfit. "Do you have any red thread?" She frowned, searching through her sewing basket.
"None that will match that shade, unfortunately," Tandi confessed.
"That's ok, I'll just head down to the servants' hall and see what some of the other maids have."
"Just make sure you're back fast; we have to be finished with these alterations by five, when Lady Barnette is going to brief us on how to serve the ladies coming tomorrow."
Pretty nodded in response and she rushed through the door and around a corner. "Oh!" She heard a low male voice call out after she had crashed into its owner. Great, now she'd assaulted a guard on her first day at the palace.
"I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going and" she stumbled to a halt when she looked up and registered the face of exactly who she had run into. The face belonged to none other than the crown prince of Ayden; Prince Charles. She wouldn't have believed it if someone had told her that she would come face-to-face with the prince on her very first day at the palace, but here she was. She took in his distinctive appearance. Every feature exactly that of any girl's ideal image of a prince. There was no mistaking it. He was the prince.
"Hello." He greeted her with a smile. "I know most of our usual staff around here, and I'm sure I've never seen you around before. You must be here to serve one of the competitors." It wasn't a question, but she still replied with a quiet 'yes'. "I'm Prince Charles, but everyone just calls me Charlie. Who did you say you were?"
"I didn't, Charlie" she replied and gained a chuckle from the prince, "But I'm Pretty."
"You're telling me."
Pretty would usually have rolled her eyes but he somehow pulled of the tired line.
"So… where are you headed off to?" he asked.
"Off to find some thread for the alterations I'm making for your future bride's dress." This seemed to snap the prince out of some sort of daze. He stood up straight as a pole and his smile completely vanished off his face.
"Oh, right. That." He said.
"Well, I won't keep you from your job. It was nice meeting you," She held out her hand, expecting a handshake but was quite shocked when Charlie took her hand and pressed it to his lips. "Until we meet again," he stated and was on his way to wherever he was headed.
So that was the prince. Huh. He was a lot nicer than Pretty though he would be. And all that about her calling him 'Charlie'? definitely not befitting of a prince-servant relationship.
She tried to clear her meeting with the prince from her mind as she made her way down the servants' hall. Once she went through the door she was met with an onslaught of activity. Maids were rushing around all over the place making sure everything was perfect for the arrival of their new mistresses.
Pretty managed to get a peek at the old clock hanging opposite the door. "Damn it!" It was five to five. She wouldn't be able to complete the dress before Ms Sybil's arrival at the palace. Her chat with the prince cost her any chance of that. Still, she couldn't bring herself to regret it. Sybil would only need the dresses they had already altered for the first week of her stay so there would be plenty of time to finish that dress. Still, she hated being behind on work.
"Pretty!" Tandi burst through the door and slapped her playfully. "What took you so long?"
"Umm…" Thankfully Pretty was cut off by the entrance of Lady Barnette.
"Ladies, gather round!" All the maids who would be serving in the coming months of the competition all scurried to the front of the servants' hall. "As you know, we will be graced by the presence in this palace of not one, but thirty-seven ladies eligible to win the heart of the crown prince of our country. Your task is to make sure these candidates are skilfully cared for. This means you, the most privileged of all the servants in this castle, are to be on call twenty-four seven!" She announced. "In previous years, all queens who have entered the palace trough this competition process have chosen to keep their competition maids as their maids when they were chosen to be queen. Take this as incentive for you to do your jobs properly."
Pretty sighed. The lady's maid of a queen! Wouldn't that be something? And if Ms Sybil was half as nice as the prince, she would be more than a pleasure to work for.
"Now get back to work and make sure that everything is perfect for your respective ladies' arrival." Lady Barnette went on. "and get some sleep. Some of your flights leave as early as five o' clock tomorrow!" Tandi and Pretty exchanged a look. Luckily, their flight was only leaving at nine.

Pretty awoke to a sharp knock on her door. "Six o' clock!" a voice shouted from the other side of the door. It took Pretty a moment to orientate herself. She was as the palace, and needed to get ready immediately if she was going to catch her flight.
Pretty met Tandi at the servants' entrance at seven on the dot. They were joined by a member of staff that would act as Ms Sybil's handler as well as a few other officials from the palace who would be going over some of the paperwork with Ms Sybil and her family. They were actually signing away her entire life. Pretty doubted if she would be able to do it if she were in Sybil's shoes. But what other choice did the girl have? Refuse to compete and be put to death anyway? There was no way out. She was property of the royal family now.
Pretty couldn't believe her eyes looking at the private plane they would be traveling in. How can something so heavy and rigid be able to fly? She had never flown anywhere in her life. She had never been outside of the province at all. And here she was, about to fly in the most luxurious way possible to perhaps meet the new princess of Ayden. It was more than she could have dreamt about.
As the plane took off, Pretty noticed that it seemed to make the same noise as her mother's washing machine back home. She sighed at the thought and closed her eyes for a few moment's rest before meeting her new boss. She promised herself that she would make Sybil Black's life as comfortable as possible while she was under her care.