Bound To Kill

IV: Bound To Blend In

Evangeline

"You said you want to work around here, Evie?" The Queen asks. She's walking me to my quarters and I suspect I'll be sleeping in a pigsty for the rest of my stay here since we were passing by halls connected to the barn.

I already know she's just doing this to know if I was telling lies back at my interview.

She's not to be trusted, no one in here is. Not even Mary, who was once my friend.

"Yes, Your Majesty." I respond, keeping up with her pace. My feet found my new shoes a little uncomfortable. They make me feel insecure that I prefer wearing my boots. My boots were made for never ending walking and climbing nevertheless.

"Is something wrong, my dear? You seem to be uncomfortable with your footsteps."

Fortunately she didn't faced me nor stopped walking.

"I-I'm just having one of those days, my Queen." Another awful lie.

"Well, your other roommates can help you with that when we arrive in your quarters."

We finally stopped. The room is built behind the barn, probably the worst place on earth to sleep at since the pigsty is just a room away.

The women inside the room stands up once the Queen and I come in.

Sigh, the floor is full of hay and the walls are barely covering for privacy. Right, I am really beginning to regret disguising myself as a poor peasant girl. Perhaps, I should have had disguised as a nobleman's daughter to earn much more respect.

But the more discreet I am, the less I will be sooner to be caught once I begin my mission.

"Hello girls. Evie here is new so kindly accept her to sleep with you for her whole service here in the castle." The Queen says.

We all bow respectfully as she makes her leave. A second after the door closes, the girls return to whatever business or conversation they were having.

So much for being a newbie.

I walk towards an empty wooden bed. It has no mattress nor covers, let alone a pillow. Ugh. And dear God, how can a person sleep in such a room with a pig's manure smell lingering around the place?

"How the heck can you sleep in here?" I ask the girl who's sitting at a neighboring bed. The girl has redhead pigtails resting on her shoulder. She looks at me questionably with raised brows.

"She's mute." Spoke a girl with dirty blonde hair. She splits from her group and stands beside me. "You must be new."

"Haven't you heard?" I scoffed.

"No. Do you really think a girl like you storming in unexpectedly would become a the latest rumor around here?" She hisses. "Or did you expect yourself to be treated nicely by the Royals? Psh, in your dreams."

"Neither. But aren't we all?"

Her gorgeous blue eyes narrow at me in interest. "My name's Gretel. Yours?"

She seem to have liked my attitude. I shrug, "Evie."

"You don't look like an Evie to me."

"It's only short for Evangeline."

"Let me guess. Your father's name is Evan and your mother's is Angeline."

"Was. But good guess."

"Was?"

"They died... Because our town was burned by the English, which is also the reason I am here. To start over again, I suppose."

"I understand. My father died from a forest fire many years back even before I became a toddler." Hansel states, a regretting expression passing by her face. "But welcome to the club. Apologies for the decorations and your bed. It seemed you were too late to get covers and pillows." She glances hopelessly at my bed.

"It's alright. I only need four hours of sleep anyway since I'm used to it back home."

"Who the heck sleeps four hours a day without getting an ugly face?" Another girl with a dark brown complexion chimes in. The group begins to huddle towards me, which is quite nice.

"This is Marguerite." Hansel introduces. "And Elise," to the beautiful Rapunzel lookalike. "And Rosalind whose father was once a Spanish nobleman." She glances at the mute girl.

"Nice to meet you, Evie." Elise greets, smiling warmly at me. A rosy pink flower rests on the side of her hair.

The girls were much more nicer than whom I have seen earlier. Gretel apologized for the rude impression she gave me earlier. She said none of them were used to meeting a fellow kindhearted lass once in a while. Every other girl in the castle is far more irking than the pigsty smell, she said.

"Excluding Queen Mary and her ladies-in-waiting." Adds Elise with her signature warm smile. "They are really fun to hang out with, trust me."

"I can agree. They even invited me to a sleepover not long ago before she married Prince Francis." Marguerite says.

The mute girl, Rosalind, remains speechless. But I can't help but felt glad how she's smiling like she's as normal as everyone of us.

"Prince Francis is so handsome." The redhead sighs dreamily. "I wish I were the one who married him."

"Me either." Gretel joins her.

"But what about the other prince? Sebastian was his name, if I'm correct? Isn't he handsome as well?"

Without expecting, they all burst into laughter and looked at me as though I have slurred the funniest joke alive.

"You got to be kidding me." Marguerite says, shaking her head.

And Hazel groans. "You can't be serious, Evie."

I tip my head and raise my shoulders in confusion. "What?"

"Sebastian is the King's bastard for God's sake." She explains. "He's a man of poor title without properties nor inheritance. Though I must say, he is quite dreamy, especially he's a lot more talented and more skilled than Francis."

"If only his mother wasn't such a whore and he wasn't a bastard, I'd hit him." The three girls laughed again at Elise's comment.

Suddenly I feel bad for Sebastian. I barely know him but I feel pity. Imagine his days of growing up, forcing to hear negativity because of a title he never wanted.

"I'd still hit him." I murmur, but the girls' muffled gossips minimize into nothing but silence.

"Is love in the air again?" Teases Elise. "Oh, you must be careful Evie, for Sebastian's heart already belongs to another."

"To whom?"

Marguerite is the one to answer, "to Queen Mary Of Scotland."

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