Bound To Kill

IX: Bound To Serve

Evangeline

"Evie, wake up." I hear Marguerite whispers closely to my ear as someone shakes me by my shoulder.

I was about to rise my upper body, but then the unexpected comfort of my coverless and matressless bed overpowers me. "Not now." I say in my morning voice.

"First thing to know in this castle: servants need to wake up before the crack of dawn." She says with a motherly tone.

The texture of her voice kind of reminds of my my Mum. It only becomes smooth when everything is so silent, like this kind of hour. I'm remembering my mother because I dreamt about her, probably was also the reason I overslept, especially with the fact that I went to sleep late with my hair nested with hay.

"You fell off the bed or something?" Asks Marguerite. "You look like a mess."

Still I don't bother to remain my eyes closed.

"Hmm. Something like that." I was too tired to say it aloud for her to hear.

"Evie?" Gretel comes in the room, panting for breath. "You should be up by now! Breakfast for the Royal Family will start in a few minutes."

Alexander used to be the one to wake me up when we were still training. He said it happened to be one of his hobbies, doing everything to wake me up. But he didn't do anything to wake me up from my incestuous feelings for him.

Still I love him relentlessly, no matter what Mentor had warned me or no matter the limits.

It was this very lazy moment that he was also the reason I accepted this mission and be forced to work as a poor handmaiden and be forced to lie in front of Royals.

"God, I'm confused of how you find your bed so comfortable." I hear Gretel adds with a sigh.

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Five minutes of changing from my sleepwear to my handmaiden dress later, the three of us, Marguerite, Gretel, and I come walking down the hallways of the castles with rush. I decided to add an apron in my outfit and a crown braid on my hair to enhance my girliness and my cheerfulness, making my Assassin side (dark and all) hidden.

"Go wake your Queen up, Evie, we'll be in the kitchen." Marguerite says as she and Gretel heads back to the opposite direction we just came from.

"Okay." I say happily as I ran towards the second floor, passing by other workers and some guards. I struggled and almost tripped for the whole trip to my childhood friend's bedroom because of my bosoms. This dress gives them more freedom, and I somehow find to hate them having freedom, like what a Templar would feel towards an Assassin.

Stopping in front of Mary's door, I take a long and heavy breath, wishing Francis wouldn't be inside. I knock first, just like an average and respectable person would do.

"Come in!" Mary calls from inside.

I smoothly step inside and glance at Her Majesty herself, who's calmly combing her long perfect hair while she sits in front of her dresser.

Now that we're alone and I never seen her after a decade, including the fact that she doesn't know it's me, the girl who was the first to befriend her back at the nunnery with the nuns, I suddenly feel insecure and feel no sign that she was once my friend.

"Good morning, my Queen!" I say with as much cheerfulness my disguise could muster. I walk closer to her in the dresser, staring at her reflection on the mirror. "You're beautiful as ever, Your Highness."

She scoffs, acting flattered. "Please, call me Mary."

"You must be the reigning Queen of Scotland."

"Please, call me Mary."

I smile at the memory I never knew that still exists in me, and the blurry faces of ourselves from it. She had always been so gifted with beauty, even though her one of her front tooth was loose.

"And what is your name?" Mary asks.

"Evie." It comes out like a lie.

Finally the Queen raises from her chair and comes to face me. "Have we met? You look familiar."

"Yes, we have. In this very minute."

"No, what I meant was you look familiar." She chuckles. "Have you ever been to a convent in Scotland?"

Yes, I have.

"No, I haven't. Let alone set foot on the grounds of the country, Your Highness."

"Oh. Perhaps I mistook you as one of my childhood best friends I grew up with in that convent."

You mistook none. 

Mary walks around me and begins to search for a gown to wear. I volunteered to help and chose one which captured my interest. Never in my life do I want to wear a gown, but this one has caught my attention.

The gown is simple but is made in all its glory to boost its wearer's posture and confidentiality.

"Will this work for you?" I raise the dress from its hanger and show it to her.

Her eyes glimmer and she plasters a soft smile. "Yes, it will. Thank you."

I nod at once and place the gown down to help her with her corset. Every pull I do to the strings and every grunt she hides was a lot bemusing than I expected.

She walks up behind to her room divider with the gown I chose for her, which turned out to be the first gown that caught my attention, and triggered a spark in my feminine side.

While she was busy changing, I walk around the room, trying to memorize every detail of it for something that may catch my eye, aside from the jewelries and gowns.

The windows have been vegetated with snow. God, winter is coming in with such hurry.

The door slides open and one of Mary's ladies-in-waiting enters. "Where's your Queen?" She asks. She must be the one Hansel often mentions about. She's Kenna, once was the King's whore. Although I'm glad she's not anymore, except for the fact that she is wed to the bastard I've been falling for.

"Behind the divider, miss. She's changing." I say, bowing my head down.

"You can leave now. I can take it from here."

And with that, I scurry away with a stone-hard scowl.

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