The rest of the day went a bit faster, as Lady Venus had nothing wrong with her and she left, making me have to deal with…

Dam, I wish she was more important…So that I could at least remember her name!

Weasel or second wife will have to continue to be it!

The second wife scolded me, and I bowed my head to her, making me look like an idiot!

Whatever! Quite a number of times now, if I just comply to her, she lets me go!

Man…It’s getting old though, I might have to start fighting back, just to gain some ground again! It was becoming more and more obvious to me that trying not to get attention, through bowing my head to the weasel, was not working anymore!

After she walked away in a huff, I thought I heard something rustle not too far away but when I looked, there was nothing there…

I had nothing else happen, except another dinner with the second wife and the Warmonger…

When he played a trick on me, to get me to end up feeding him, I felt like I lost some kind of battle…

Grudgingly, I tried to finish my meal faster, just so that I could go back to my quarters and pout!

It was the next day that I desperately wanted to do something!

I was stuck as the Princess for too long!

Making Diane to turn into me, we did our exchange, and I headed towards the main servants’ quarters, where I will work for a few hours somewhere.

Since I was an extra, and a maid of ‘no importance’, the Head Mistress sent me anywhere, not caring of who my master was for the day.

Most of the time it was fine, but I honestly didn’t want to work in the hands of the vixen, so I hoped I wouldn’t be placed with her.

Since I was an ‘extra’ maid, I wouldn’t do enormous jobs, as I was ‘told’ to return back to ‘My Princess’ before nightfall. The problem was, the extra jobs that I fulfilled, were normally jobs that took extra work!

It’s like they were silently picking on me!

So what if I’m supposed to be the abandoned Princess’s maid! Get over it!

But…It was something! And to be honest, I felt myself start to relax, now that I wasn’t the ‘Princess Consort’.

The weasel and vixen were going to be annoying and I had to start realizing that doing nothing might actually be worse than doing something!

For most of this time of being the Crowned Princess, I was left alone, but with the new edition of Lady, something or rather, it looked like the playing field had grown…My opponents weren’t just going to let me be!

Right!

Fight it is!

I will make sure Theo always has something to eat and drink upon the window from now on, so that he’ll be ready at any time!

***

To my satisfaction, I was given a job to serve someone else…Except…It was the Warmonger.

Today was the exception, I thought, as I went towards my residence once again happily. I will happily be the maid for the Warmonger, because no doubt it would be easier to be his maid, then hers!

Almost skipping, I went back to where I originally came from and found the head maid within this residence. Actually, she was the only one here, only having a second or third on the rare occasion. It looked like today, the Warmonger needed some extra attention!

She looked at me strangely, and stated, “You have to serve His Highness. Stay within the same room to make sure he has everything he needs.”

Sure!

It wasn’t the first time, so I did as I was told and before I knew it, I was told to get tea…Then some snacks, then lunch…

Ah, does this man ever stop eating!?

He drank all of the tea, ate all of the snacks and anything else that I had been ordered to put onto his plate at lunch!

Happily, the acting ‘Princess’ did not have to act out of sorts this day, like I usually had too, but I was tormented enough to start wishing that I had stayed as the Princess instead! I just felt like it may not have been as worth it as I thought, since now I was the maid of the Warmonger and having to put food onto his plate seemed like something that made him happy!

I put extra work into it, plopping the food down with force and desperately tried to stop myself from throwing it at his face instead!

Perhaps he knows that I’m the real Princess, even though I’m currently a ‘maid’ and wants to torment me! But if he knew…Nah…

It’s not the first time that he’s made me do this as a maid! Yet…

I couldn’t help but think that perhaps I’ve overlooked something or…Not looked into something enough…

I looked at Diane, that was playing my role as the Crowned Princess, in envy…She was now only sitting by the window, in the distance, and staring out into space…Sounded like fun!

Diane usually doesn’t do much when she has to play my part, sometimes she might sew or go for a walk but…She told me before that she feels like she would be found out if she leaves the quarters too often.

I suppose I can’t blame her, we had different personalities and she was shy and timid, while on the other hand I was more upfront and blunt…So, all I could do is agree with her and think that she looks after me very well!

Then, I changed my mind when it was time for dinner thinking that the Warmonger will probably do to her of what he normally does to me, but…

…Why didn’t the Warmonger tease her, uh!?

It was like he was completely ignoring me, which was Diane, but instead making me do all the work, just like I had at lunch!

He caught me glaring at him, but he only smirked back at me and looked away!

It wasn’t fair!

“Servant! Did you not hear me!”

I looked over at the second wife and waited.

“I asked you to pour tea for me.”

Oh…

I poured tea for her and then stood back again.

“Now pour more tea for me!”

More? Such a greedy lady! One cup isn’t enough!

I knew it though, even as a ‘maid’, I was an eyesore to her, and she just wanted to make things harder for me…But I poured tea rather good nowadays so she could only let me go.

Haha, find fault in my perfect ways, I dare ya!

I sighed, feeling like the Warmonger was also acting strange with this weasel! He wants me to hover over him, nearly to the point of feeding him directly, while the wife by his side was eyeing me with a gaze that sent shivers down my spine!

I poured tea for the Warmonger as well and then stood back once again.

“Your Highness, will you be visiting my living quarters again tonight?”

I didn’t care much for the conversation, so I looked out the window. This question was also one that came out often over dinner. The weasel seems to like showing her superiority over me, but again, woman, I don’t care! You win!

Mmm…I wonder if I should send Theo out again tomorrow…Nah, I think I need him close by for now…Now that I’ve decided to fight back, instead of taking whatever’s been thrown at me…

“…Tonight.”

“…What!?” The weasel’s slight screech made me cringe…What was going on now!?

“Your Highness!”

I turned back to the strange occurrence before me and wondered what was going on.

Strangely, the Warmonger was looking at me…

I just did what I was supposed to do, being the maid and all…I bobbed my head and said, “Your Highness.”

If I don’t ‘act’ like I was listening and understanding why he was looking at me, I would have never come this far as a maid!

…But I had no idea on what was going on!

I felt it…Again…I knew when he narrowed his eyes at me!

Dammit, what did I do wrong this time!?

After the dinner, and my own quick dinner, I become the Crowned Princess once again. Having some time to think, I had already come up with another letter for my father, for when Theo does go out to search for him next.

The letter had changed…Several times…Yet, it hadn’t mattered all this time because he had never received any of them!

Now, I got a brand new, small piece of paper and wrote a few words and rolled it up in a small cylinder, ready to put onto Theo.

At first, I head written, “Father, are you ill? I have come to see that something isn’t right and ask you, what is going on!?”

I decided that the second letter should be written better. “Father, I send Theo to see you and see that you are well, please write back to me!”

But to each and every letter, no letter had come from my father…

Where was he?

As I was daydreaming upon my writing desk, I had no idea upon whom had come invading into my study room, that was right next to my bed chambers…This room was normally where I would talk to people, if they ever came, but also the room that was allocated for me to write and study anything, like books or sewing. It wasn’t as big as my bed chamber, but it still held several places to sit and whatnot…Of course, there was one chair in particular that was meant for the highest status in the room…

“Princess…”

I turned in shock and found that the Warmonger had sat down on the highest chair in the room…Just like Lady Venus had!

They probably suit each other…

Getting up and walking out to be in front of him, I bop my body, and then say, “Your Highness.”

What are you doing here!?

It wasn’t often that he came to me after dinner!

It was, after all, something we had talked about earlier…

“What are you thinking so much about, that you didn’t even hear your own husband come into the room?”

I looked up and blinked…Was he teasing me again!?

His voice had that teasing note and my instincts felt it!

Ah, and the way he said it!

‘Your own husband’…

Why is he sounding proud of that fact these days, uh!?

“Just a…” Letter…

I should probably say something different though…He knows well that I have no friends here! He would ask who I was sending it too, and do I really want him asking me those questions!?

Before I knew it, the Warmonger was lazily walking closer to me and picked up my chin, and smiling said, “Are you writing a letter?”

Wow…

So close…

This warmonger was getting closer and closer by the day!

“Ah…It was just a poem…A poem…”

He caressed my cheek, making me loss focus, and said, “Then let’s hear it.”

Oh oh…

Biting my lip, I tried to think of a quick poem, and then smiled. “It is of no good for the…”

Warmonger…

Warmonger…

“For the…”

I was…Lost…

I hated it when I got tongued tied…

It only ever happened when this man got close to me…I just completely forget what I’m talking about!

Not only was he gently caressing my face, making me feel weird and different…Almost like I was in a daze, I then suddenly felt his lips upon mine!

Yes, as usual, I was shocked!

He put his hand to tilt my head back and bit my lower lip gently, and I swear that closing my eyes became involuntary!

After another kiss on the lips, I felt his tongue lightly touch my lips and even my teeth…

I still don’t understand why he kisses me like this, as I had seen it rarely in my live.

I had been a trader with my father, and that meant we were in public a lot and when we were at home, of course I had not seen it there either…But, this warmonger was showing me that kissing was strange. And at first, I had felt like it was dirty!

I had wiped my face afterwards and frowned, but…

It wasn’t the first time that he had kissed me…No…

He had kissed me a few times now! And it seemed that there was more to kissing then I had originally thought!

Upon one of our conversations, which I can’t quite remember, he had suddenly taken my lips then too!

I think I had been my usual self, not wanting to give in to him in the slightest, and I had no idea what had provoked him to kiss me!

It was a quick tap of both our lips and then he sighed and walked away, making me not only shocked but irritated as well!

I didn’t understand if he conceded to me or was punishing me…But after that, I don’t think we talked about whatever we talked about again, because I had forgotten all about it!

But no…I did not forget that kiss!

His lips had been soft…Just like now…They were soft…

Another time had been in a rush, I had just bowed my head to the weasel, and sighed when she walked away, and suddenly the Warmonger came out of nowhere and kissed me!

That time it wasn’t just a quick peck on the lips like the first one, he moved his lips on top of mine and that was when I found how ‘dirty’ it was and had wiped my lips afterwards!

Wetness and tongues, it was…Strange!

A third time was when I had been arguing with him at breakfast, having said that I hadn’t completely woken up and that he shouldn’t vex me so early…After I had walked away, he had kissed me like he was still hungry and mischievously stated that ‘I should be awake now’, before he had left…

That was a kiss that had taken me by surprise, and he claimed me before I knew it!

It wasn’t as long as the second kiss, but he had driven straight in, mixing his tongue with mine and before I could bite him, he was gone!

Now…It was like the same, I was just being my usual self and it seemed that I had done something wrong!

Was he punishing me!?

Feeling his tongue inside my mouth, and feeling him push me into him, I had rarely been this close to him and I found myself a little scared…

Mostly scared because I had started to move my tongue a little and even my lips as well in return! It may have been ‘dirty’ a while back, it may be wet, but for some reason I felt myself returning what he was doing to me now…

Feeling that this kiss was actually my first one instead, just because I was kissing him back, I could hardly believe that I suddenly liked it!

His taste was interesting, almost like he had just recently brushed his teeth and I liked it. I also started to realize I was getting blown away by not just his lips, but his gentle hands too, one was now cradling my head and the other was around my waist…

Feeling that hand around my waist rise slightly higher, nearer to my breast, that was when I started to realize what I was doing!

Shouldn’t I be biting him instead?

If this keeps going…

I had already made my choice of staying away from him, I can’t let my body keep getting carried away like this!

Putting my hands to his chest, to push him away, I feel ourselves separate and I tried to glare at him but failed terribly.

Realizing that I was nearly out of breath, I tried to make that a reason to never repeat this again!

Wanting to not except the truth of how exciting and nice it was, I went into denial and tried to make myself believe that kissing was yucky and wrong instead!

I know this man…And I knew that I should do something right now, so that this wouldn’t get repeated again!

Looking at him from a step or two away, I couldn’t help but glare properly now…Wasn’t he starting to overstep the boundaries that we had put up a long time ago!?

“Princess…”

Oh my…

I lost my glare, just because of his voice, and blankly stared at him instead…

Why stare at me like that…I’m not food…No, it’s not just a type of hunger, it was also…

Dammit…It was like he was somewhat desperate, and I felt like I could really give in to it!

This handsome devil will be the end of me, I just know it!

“Your real Princess is across…Across the…” His stare stopped me in my tracks…Not only did he look upset, but also mad.

…What!?

“Did you not hear that tonight I had come here for you?” He took a step towards me once again and I could clearly hear him chuckle…

Uh?

I felt my heart start to beat faster and faster and I found myself unable to look at him in the eyes. The way he had said that made me feel a bit frantic and honestly, even if I wanted him to stay, what would I do!?

I never knew what a husband and wife did, my father hadn’t told me…But it wasn’t entirely his fault, as I had also never asked him either!

Do they sit and talk, do they hold hands?

I wish I hadn’t played around so much, just so that I had an idea, but really…

Shaking my head out of these thoughts, I felt myself blush and knew that I had to remember what we talked about after we had married…

Calm down, calm down…He’s not staying here, so there’s no reason for you to get carried away with what happens if he would!

…I had already told myself that I can’t get close to this man! Why am I failing now!?

He walked the one more step towards me and took me into his arms again, and I started to really panic.

Did I have the strength to push him away a second time…Especially when he felt nice and warm and cuddly…I hadn’t gotten hugs from anyone else besides him, since my father, and to be honest, I always wanted to make the best of them…

Over the two years I’d been with him, he had only started with slight caresses, but now it was kisses and hugs and it was slowly getting more and more often!

Was he bored? Did he not see that I’m trying to keep a distance…If he did this too often, I might want it all the time!

Come on, I have to think rationally! I’m not staying in the palace…So…

…Should I somehow find another partner for him!?

I stiffened in his arms to my question, getting mad but not accepting the reason why…Then I felt his lips to my neck…His breath…

I nearly let out a sigh…I also quickly stopped myself from embracing him back!

He was way too close to me! Yet, all the time I had been thinking, I was vaguely aware of how I felt in his arms. It was nice…No…It was not nice!

“Olivia…”

Never…Never have I heard him say my name like that! I felt my eyes want to close and my body relaxing to my name…That sweet voice hummed slowly into my head and repeated itself. ‘Olivia’, ‘Olivia’.

Had I turned into mush?