The Search for Cinderella

Chapter 15

"You need to chop off your hair," Dimitri's voice bled through the haze of exhaustion that was decimating Jade's mind.

"What? Why?" The girl panted as she doubled over with her hands on her knees. She was winded up once again after an early morning training session with her old friend. Thankfully no one else was present to witness her brutal defeat at his hands.

"When we fight I am always mindful of the wig on your head but a proper foe would not be so obliging. You need to cut if off before you're discovered," The trainer explained, looking perfectly calm and settled as if he had not been physically exerting himself.

"Bugger it. Can't I keep one part of feminity without it being a danger to my livelihood?" Jade grunted in an unladylike manner.

"You can regrow it again after a while. It's not like long hair is out of fashion for men. Prince Luke favours the style," Dimitri sat down on a vacant bench with a solemn, steady stare.

"But if I keep it long I look too feminine. I did check to see if I could carry it off but alas no luck. I would be found out in a second," Jade grumbled as she took a seat next to her friend. She could feel beads of sweat lingering on her head.

"Yes, you already look a bit too dainty to be a convincing man. I do wonder why no one but I can see that you're clearly a woman," Dimitri looked very confused.

"Because you already know it's me. You've seen me dressed as a girl and can't perceive me in any other way," Jade explained away her good luck at convincing her employers of her gender, "People are easy to fool if they accept everything they're told and don't use their senses."

"Don't get too confident, Jade. You will not always get away with it. Mark my words," The brown haired man warned, kindly.

"Alright, alright, harbinger of doom and destruction. But you need to do the job for not only am I abysmal at chopping off hair but I also don't know how men's hair is cut," The girl tried to keep a pleasant mein regardless of the unsettling feeling brewing in her heart.

"As if you know how a woman's hair is done either. You were spoiled rotten by your father," Dimitri uttered with a brief smile.

Jade rolled her eyes with aplomb having no counter to his argument. He was correct but she had learnt the hardness of life after her father had no longer been in the world to shelter her. She could no longer be accused of having everything in the world at her feet now that she had to survive in the world on her own.

After Jade took her leave she decided it would be a good idea to briefly pause at the library for it was nearly time for Emma to make her daily appearance. Once there, the tall girl noticed her friend had deviated from routine and was not present. Jade scanned the library to make sure her assumption was correct when she found herself viewing another familiar face.

"Harry! What brings you here?" The tall girl hurried to the table where her former competitor sat.

The dark haired young man fumbled with his leather bound notebook as Jade's loud exclaimation broke his concentration. The librarian looked put out to see the familiar looking distruptive boy making a ruckus once again.

"Oh!" The prim and proper man squeaked. He stood up and bowed displaying his pleasing manners, "Good morning Mr. Ward. It's a delight to run into you. You'll be pleased to know that you're not the only one who found employment in the royal household. Richard, Francis, most of us received an employment letter with an offer within days of your departure from our rooms. It was a pleasant surprise."

"Well, that relieves me of my guilt," The tall girl muttered under her breath.

"Why would you feel guilty?" Harry's sharp ears caught the sentence, "You won the spot fair and square although there was some grousing..."