TER𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

XXX

.𖥔 ݁ ˖₊˚✩.𖥔 ݁ ˖๋ ࣭ᰔᩚ.ᰔᩚ ⭑. ݁ ˖₊˚✩.𖥔 ݁ ˖๋ ࣭ ⭑
Unraveling

“Did you not understand what I said?” With gritted teeth he spoke, his piercing gaze leveled at her. “Get rid of all of the annoying eyes.”

“Yes! I understand.”

“Instead,” he said in a cold tone, “you’ll have to make sure not even a single rat can enter the imperial villa.”

“O-of course.” This time she rushed to acquiesce, not wishing to incense him further.

This was his way of saying that he would certainly stand with her because they had a deal. The head maid briefly glanced at Viola. A glimmer of surprise could be seen on her perpetually poker face. Her eyes fell on the princess’s hands that were gripped in anxiety.

Viola too looked at the ring on her hand. She had thought it was a blue sapphire, but now that she saw it in the dark it seemed to be a ruby. No matter how little she knew about jewelry, she was confident she could tell a sapphire from a ruby … Interesting.

The head maid approached Viola as soon as Lune turned around to leave. She treated her so kindly that she wondered if it were the same person she had known.

“Please, come inside,” she said, politely.

“All right…”

The head maid lowered her eyes completely and quietly followed Viola. She called to her when she saw her heading towards her room. “Today on, you will use a different room from your maid,” she said.

Viola was taken aback. “What does that mean?”

“The date for the last hurdle will be moved up.”

The two women stared at each other for a moment. But it was the once haughty head maid that bowed her head first and very respectfully said, “The crown prince wants to see the Crown Princess Candidate as soon as possible.”

An addled Viola simply stared at the head maid. However, the latter refused to meet her gaze. No. Actually, her conduct had taken a drastic turn. It was not that she didn’t want to meet her eyes, but that she shouldn’t meet her eyes in the first place.

Viola had been waiting to be severely reprimanded for having snuck out by this stern woman, but to her surprise, she hadn’t said a word since she’d arrived. On the contrary, her attitude seemed more like a retainer now. It was quite hard to digest.

Soon, the head maid stopped before a different room. “In the future, this room will be used by the prospective crown princess. Rosha can use the room she’s using now.”

Saying so, inserted the key in her hand and the tightly closed door opened.

What greeted Viola was beyond her imagination. Eyes wide to their limits, she took in the spectacle before her. It was a plush room, nothing like the one she had lived in until now. It was spacious and tastefully adorned. The expensive furniture and precious embellishments seemed to have been brought over from across the continent and sea. The bed … the large bed, was covered in exquisite silk. The bedposts were made of solid gold, on it was a dragon rising to the sky- its scales meticulously etched, eyes studded with jewels … such superlative craftsmanship was not without an enormous price. Suffice it to say, this room befitted a sovereign.

“Oh, my God! I’ve never seen such a fancy room. I’d believe it’s the king’s chambers!” Rosha, who was silent throughout, finally bursted into an exclamation.

Viola was similarly awestruck. She thought the room would be filled with dust and abandon, seeing as it was sealed, and must have been unoccupied. Yet, there was not a speck of grime that tainted the splendor before her.  The head maid took her leave, bowing respectfully if it were any more possible.

The stunned Rosha regained her bearings in awhile. There was an even gnawing question at her mind. She turned to Viola, seemingly stuck in her own thoughts. “What did the head maid mean when she said, ‘the date for the last hurdle will be moved up?’”

“I suppose you also deserve to know the truth,” Viola sighed, weariness settling in her bones after today’s ordeal.

Rosha sat opposite Viola, her anxiety reflected in the latter’s eyes. Viola then began retelling the events that occurred, from the lecherous Concubine Palace to her precarious deal with Lune. After all was said, Rosha was dumbstruck.

She began, with more wisdom Viola had expected, “You are ignorant because you grew up sheltered…  but I tell you this, the world of the nobility—the real one, behind the regality that gleams, lies dark, perverse secrets … There’s no one who values purity anymore, rather they are lured to pleasure and desire, like a moth to a flame. You didn’t have to know that so soon … I feel miserable that my princess witnessed such a sight,” Rosha lamented.

“I am … destined to enter the harem even if I am abandoned by the crown prince. I would rather die than for that to happen, that’s why I made a deal with him.”

Viola was clearer than anyone about what her future held. She knew there was no escaping this hell. As she explained her circumstances and with it, her secret deal with Lune, even the simpleton Rosha wasn’t surprised at her choice. The little maid concurred with her mistress’s wise decision if it meant escaping the crown prince’s clutches.

“Then, won’t you have to see the crown prince at least once?” Rosha anxiously asked.

“I suppose so. I’d rather see him as soon as possible and be turned down. Rosha, you have to make me look like the ugliest woman ever on the day I meet him. So ugly that just looking at my face would make them hurl—”

“Yes! Trust me.”

Rosha burned with determination to make Viola look like the ugliest woman on the day she was to meet with the crown prince.

♛

The cold air wrapped around the head maid’s body as she came out into the hallway.

“Meow … meow …”

She thought she heard a cat and out of nowhere, then it did pop out. This was a black cat that the Crown Princess Candidate had secretly brought into the imperial villa. If it had been before, she would have thrown stones at it and threatened it to stop wandering around in the hallways. But now, she couldn’t.

The ugly girl from Koronis, after all, was no longer the ‘Crown Princess Candidate’ but the ‘Crown Princess’. How surprised was she at the sight of the Crown Prince’s ring on Viola’s hand …

The dark hallways seemed gloomier than usual. The head maid’s steps hastened. She went deeper and deeper into the old and narrow hallway until she reached a flight of stairs, then hurried up.

She couldn’t open the old iron gate for a long time. She could only open it after she let out a couple of fake coughs. As soon as she opened the door, magic stuck on to her skin making it sting. Inside the room was a strange floating mass, when it felt the entrant’s presence it transformed into a flat mirror.

“Your Imperial Majesty … A candidate who received Prince Lustian’s ring has appeared. Ple-please command me.”

In the mirror, a man who resembled Lustian appeared. He seemed surprised but soon after a satisfied smile laced his face.

“Was she worth the wait?” A low laugh echoed in the darkness. “All right, keep an eye on it.”