“Prince Waron, is lady Valyne here with you?” It was Milna’s voice outside the door. Waron was somewhat relieved after he heard Milna. The intensity of that knock made him think it was someone else.

“Yes she is. What do you want?” His sword was still placed in front of Fate’s chest, ready to cut open her dress.

“She needs to eat something and rest. The king has ordered me to take her to her room and attend to her needs. Please let her out.”

“She has told me that she is not hungry right now and about her rest, you don’t have to worry. I will leave her in her room after we finish up in here.” A smirk played on his face as he looked at Fate’s shivering figure. His intention of slowly breaking her was working.

“Open the door Waron.” Waron’s eyes widened hearing the male voice this time. He kept the sword back in a hurry and almost ran towards the door and opened it with a smiling face.

“Father, you didn’t have to come here. I would have sent her to the room myself. Milna stood behind the king and didn’t make any eye contact with Waron. No wonder that knock sounded nothing like Milna’s.

“If you were going to do that, you should have already done that. Why did you bring the girl here? What were you doing inside?”

“I… just brought her here to meet Martis and Leanor. They wanted to meet her.” Waron stood aside giving his father a clear view of the scene inside. Martis and Leanor bowed before him and Jarred acknowledged with a nod.

“This all could have been done later as well. Don’t you three understand that she will be tired after travelling the whole night? You should have taken her to her room first.” Jarred was slowly getting angrier and all that was coming out on Waron.

“Milna, take the girl with you and make sure she stays in her room as long as she is ready to come out.” With Jarred’s orders Milna walked inside the room and got Fate out of there without any barrier.

Fate’s body was still shaking and she couldn’t believe she had just barely avoided getting herself naked in front of three strangers. She was very thankful to Jarred and Milna but she couldn’t bring herself to lift her head and look into her eyes. Fate was sure that Milna would be able to see her tearful red eyes and then she had to explain to her what happened inside the room. She didn’t have any energy left for that.

Milna opened the door to a room and Fate entered inside after her. “You wait here my lady, I’ll be back.” Fate didn’t want to stay alone in any room right now but Milna had kept the door half open and that was kind of a consolation.

Fate finally lifted her head and let herself sniffle without fear of anyone hearing. She looked around the room. It was huge and filled with things. A king sized golden bed topped with white mattress, white pillow and a white comforter at one end. There was a dressing table at one corner that attached a waist length mirror. One whole length of the room on one side was covered with cupboards.

The widow to her left which will be right in front of the bed were opened and let the dawn light through the white, flower patterned curtains. Fate rubbed her eyes and started to walk towards the window when she heard footsteps behind her.

She turned to find Milna along with one more girl standing by the door. “My lady, this is Caris. She will be your personal maid from now and will attend to all your daily needs. Of course, you can ask for more maids and change her if she didn’t please you.”

“That won’t be necessary. She will be fine, thank you.” Fate’s voice came out a little hoarse and she feared that Milna will take a hint but fortunately that didn’t happen and Milna gave her a smile and left the room leaving Caris there.

The girl in front of Fate wore the same peach and white gown as Milna and had her brown hair tied up in a bun. “How old are you?” Fate started a conversation because she wanted a distraction.

“I am twenty years old my lady.” Caris’s youthful voice proved that she was telling the truth. Fate’s curiosity kicked in and she wanted to know more about her. “How long have you been working here?”

“I am in the palace since nine years my lady.”

Fate was surprised at her answer. They start working from such a young age here. At Panalov the maids are generally chosen after the girl has touched eighteen. She is then trained for two years and then officially starts her work.

Caris helped Fate out of her dress and accessories and arranged a warm bath for her to relax. By the time Fate was done with her bath Caris had brought a plate of food for her which she ate while continuing to talk with Caris.

Even if Caris was a year older than her, Fate felt a certain relief in talking with her. She laughed freely and her mood was now brighter.

Caris left when Fate asked her to telling that now she would like to get some sleep and hence there was no need for her to stay in the room anymore. In her night gown which was just an ankle length, super smooth and comfortable, sleeveless gown Fate felt a little exposed but she didn’t care. It did have a white full sleeved over coat but she didn’t feel like wearing it. After turning the bedside lamp off she let her body lie down and closed her eyes trying not to think about the recent events.

In a few moments she sat up straight with a loud gasp when the door suddenly opened. Her fear returned when she saw Waron standing at the door with an evil smirk that made his intentions almost clear.