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"Can she do anything properly?"

Maud tries to stay quiet. Around her, birds chirp loudly, somewhat distracting her from the unnecessary and rude sounds she keeps hearing from outside her white royal tent. It rained the night and day before, and wet clothes hang around everywhere to dry. On trees, on rocks and against anything inside the tent. Now the air is warm and the sky is clear of clouds, as acres of yellow fields open up around them. They are quite close to her old home, Maud recognised the yellow wheat and wrinkly old houses from miles away. But the soldiers seem unbothered by anything that she feels or thinks, so none of it matters. It's early morning and they'll soon be on their way, excitement is in the air, but Maud is still in a bad mood.

Slowly her hands go up and down, as she works diligently on her embroidery. It's going to be a pink flower. She has never seen a truly pink flower, only yellow and blue ones that exist in the Blue Knight kingdom. But soon she'll see many tropical pink and red flowers, plants in all kinds of colors, and that's why she would like to embroider them first. To see if her imagination is as true as reality. To embroider she drags a string through the tightened white fabric in her lap, again and again, until it forms a pattern. It distracts her from her bad mood, especially when she makes a mistake and has to undo parts of the embroidery. Her maid is sitting opposite of her, separating thinner strings from the thicker yarn to make it easier for her to work.

"She's a woman. All they are good for is sewing and looking pretty"

Maud pricks her finger, once again losing focus. She curses silently under her breath, making her maid glance up at her nervously. The princess keeps trying to embroider, knowing that she is much worse at this than other princesses, having only a few weeks of practice. The pink flower seems to be coming along well, she can already see three petals in their vibrant color, and a green stem. She'll need a yellowish orange center and three more petals, as well as two green leaves growing from the stem to complete her work. That's before she'll even begin to think about the background. To be a good princess, she'll have to learn how to do ig wall embroideries that'll take years. This small flower on useless scrap fabric is nothing compared to that.

To be a woman, she'll have to know how to sew and be pretty. That's what they are saying, isn't it? They assume that's all that she's good at, but in reality that's one of the only things she's extremely bad at. Thankfully it's only her maid here to see her fail at embroidery, all the soldiers are outside of her tent. It's not proper for women to be among men like that, and now that she's a married princess she'll probably be kept extra hidden when not with her husband. Maud sits on a chair in her tent, a gentle white veil over her head, in a blue traveling dress while her maid is in a lighter black dress with a similar white veil. The two of them are the only women on this trip, so they are kept separate in a tent during rest, and hidden in a carriage during travel. Maud honestly doesn't care. In fact, she is thankful. It saves her from their judging eyes, and their mean words, which she can sadly still hear from beyond the thin tent wall.

"I don't expect her to be that good at that either, she's a northern woman. She even lacks in beauty"

Maud can't embroider anymore. Her hands practically freeze up. She lays the unfinished work on her lap as she stares towards the wall, where the sounds of the two soldiers talking are coming from. She hates this. Hates that as a woman she has no right to stop them from talking ill about her. Even as a princess she is slandered and treated like a lesser person. There is no escape from the eyes of men, there is no escape from their words and actions. Not even as a wife of the great crown prince Adelio. Her maid watches her intensely, waiting for her to make a move. But Maud stays still on her chair. She can't move, she can't say a thing. This marriage is still too unstable for her to act recklessly. The princess knows that she can't afford to act recklessly, not now and not ever.

"She's ugly too, isn't she? I don't know, maybe it's just her general feel. It's because she's a northern woman"

"Your highness-"

Her maid has suddenly grown angry. Maud is a bit surprised. Her maid is a woman from Red Lion, but she is quick to be offended when the women of this kingdom are insulted. With black hair and dark eyes, her maid called Penny is originally from the south, which is why she was chosen as Maud's personal maid. But even if she is of Red Lion blood, it seems like the slightly taller girl is much more connected with her Blue knight nationality than she is with her Red Lion ethnicity. Somehow that makes Maud feel relieved. Her maid is the only person she can trust now, and if they share a cultural bond, it would help them grow closer much faster. Penny is filled with emotion over the soldiers' mean words, directed at her princess. She looks up at Maud with hesitantly angry eyes. The brown haired princess thinks that she looks exactly how she herself feels.

"Perhaps his highness could stop them from slandering you so?"

Maud doesn't have time to answer before the men continue.

"Prince Adelio should've married someone else, I can't even imagine laying in bed with a northern woman"

Maud stands up before she can even think about it. They've insulted her and they've insulted every woman in her kingdom. They are still her subjects at the end of the day. No matter what Adelio says, no matter what they say, no matter what her brothers say. She is still the princess of this country by blood, and even if she is now married to another kingdom, her blood will always belong to the people in the north. The women here especially, who are always blamed for anything yet always remain the most innocent. Maud can't allow her people to be slandered by a mere soldier. In fact, she can't allow them to slander her like this. If she doesn't stand up for herself now, against two mere soldiers, when will she do it?

Maud pats down her blue dress to make it straight, and rushes towards the tent opening. Her maid is quick to run after her, already concerned at where this is going, but fully supportive of what's happening. Maud already knows that her maid would much rather have Adelio handle this. A woman shouldn't get into conflict, and a woman shouldn't leave the tent that she has been assigned to. Calling for her husband would probably be the better call for Maud, at least that's what Penny is thinking right now. But Maud knows that it's different. She couldn't possibly bother her husband right now, she doesn't want to be a burden, nor does she want him to know what the soldiers are saying about her. She doesn't want him to be influenced by it, or even think about it at all. Adelio would just be irritated if she called for him for such a trivial matter such as this.

So instead the princess exits her tent for the first time since last night, when they arrived. Two guards stand outside her tent door, and they immediately look at her when she gets outside. Maud looks back at them. Her expression is deadly. She can't be forgiving, weak and kind as a future queen of an unfamiliar and unforgiving country. She has to be strong and stern, and can't let simple guards boss her around. They seem to glance at each other, not really knowing what to do. Usually princesses don't mind staying within the tent, and Maud understands that. She would also much rather be inside right now. But unfortunately she has business to attend to.

"Your highness, you shouldn't be-"

Maud shuts them up with a simple raise of her hand. She has learned finally, after months of being a princess, that words are not nearly as powerful as a gesture. Especially for someone as regal as her. She might argue with them by using words, but that would mean that they are allowed to fight back and respond. But if she shuts them up with a simple raise of her hand, they don't know if they are allowed to speak, and she comes off as very confident in her actions, making it hard to argue against. At the end of the day they are common soldiers and she is a princess. No matter their orders, her words go over theirs.

The guards don't fight back, just like she predicted. They only salut her after a moment of thinking, and return to their original posts by the door, not even looking at her anymore. That might've been an order from Adelio. An order to not look at his wife. Maud doesn't know if she minds that or not. So instead she just keeps walking, turning the corner towards where she knows the soldiers are still standing, Penny following after her as quickly as possible. She keeps a relatively calm pose and neutral face. And there they stand, two tall soldiers in full armor, still talking amongst each other. The taller one spots her first, and his mouth shuts. There is a hateful gaze in his eye but he pretends to show respect, bowing to the princess in front of him. That makes his friend turn around and bow too. But Maud can see then glance at each other, clearly mocking her already. The nerve that these two have. They should take after the other soldiers instead.

"What can we help you with, your highness?"

One of them smirks. His breath is disgusting, and his teeth look yellow. Maud frowns before she can stop herself, but then just rolls her eyes. Who is she to stop herself from acting disrespectful, when they have just been slandering her right in front of her tent? Maud knows that they know that she could hear them. Nobody is stupid enough to speak so loudly and not want to be heard. And their demeanor is so annoying too, the way they smile and pretend to be innocent.

"Shouldn't you be inside right now? I'm sure your husband would be unhappy that you're outside among all these men..."

The second one adds to his friend's words, making Maud nauseous. He smirks as he says it, slowly moving forwards. All that talk about not wanting to sleep with a woman like her, and here he is teasing her about it. It just proves that men don't force them,she's onto women out of lust, they do it for power. Maud has always known this, and she won't let herself be fooled. They are trying to intimidate her, but she won't fall for it, nor will she let them hold power over her. Penny shifts uncomfortably behind her, whilst Maud is somehow stone faced.

"Actually, you can help. Wash yourselves properly tomorrow morning. Your breaths aren't the only disgusting thing coming out of your mouths"

Their smiles drop. Maud continues to glare, not caring about their anger. They might think that a simple frown is intimidating to her, because they have been taught that they are superior over women, and that women fear them. But Maud is a princess, and she surely doesn't fear these two pitiful souls.

"You've got some nerve-"

The soldier is brave, he raises his hand and gets ready to hit her, even when she is a princess. But his words and actions are cut off by a sudden deep voice coming from behind them.

"What's going on over here?"

Maud, who saw the prince coming several seconds ago, didn't even flinch at the soldier's raised hand. She only stares, still stoned faced, at the three men now standing in front of her and her maid. Adelio towers over the two soldiers like a dark shadow, dressed in his dark regal clothes from the day before, holding a sword loosely in his hand. The two soldiers freeze immediately, recognising the voice of their leader and prince, and turn around slowly to meet him. Even when he speaks, Adelio's eyes are locked on Maud's, and she feels just a bit more nervous. She knows that he's probably more angry about her leaving than he is about what's happening right now.

"Your highness!"

They quickly bow to him, Penny doing the same. Maud follows them after a second, only bowing with her head, much slower than the others. She doesn't need to show as much respect as they do. Not only is she a princess, but she is also his wife. These things are quite easy to learn. Adelio finally removes his gaze from her and glares down at his two soldiers, both of them still bowing out of fear.

"We were only trying to take the princess back, your highness!"

Maud wants to laugh. They are quick to lie when being questioned. This is probably not their first time getting caught doing something that they were not supposed to do. Maud isn't worried though. The soldier's hand was quite clearly raised, so even if he has some sort of stupid excuse, he has still committed a crime against her. A soldier should never raise a hand against a princess. Adelio will take it as a personal offense. The prince doesn't look convinced. His eyes are dark and soulless, Maud can tell that he is very unforgiving. That only crushes her hope about him being okay with the fact that she left her tent, when he clearly told her not to just the day before.

"You"

Adelio is suddenly pointing at Penny, Maud surprised at her maid being singled out. His eyes are cold and bored. Penny quickly averts her eyes and bows, very intimidated by Maud's husband.

"You tell me what happened"

Maud doesn't even need to look at her maid. She knows that she will speak the truth, because she is too nervous to lie. And since the truth is in her favor, she isn't too worried. Adelio knows that too, that's why he chose her to speak. Penny could never lie to a royal. She's worked as a maid for the royal family for her entire life.

"Her highness heard these two soldiers talking ill of her from the tent. She left to go investigate the situation, however they lacked remorse for their actions, so the situation developed from there"

The two soldiers glare at Penny, but it's already too late. Adelio lifts his sword, but there is not a single change in his expression. He looks down at his own soldiers, eyes not leaving them, while he still speaks to his wife.

"Go back to the tent"

Maud hesitates for a moment. She realizes what he is about to do, sword raised and everything. All over petty insults? But there is nothing she can do. Adelio's eyes snap over to her, and there is a hint of anger within him.

"Now!"

Maud averts her gaze. Together with Penny, they quickly leave the scene, just like Adelio told them to. Once within the tent, she lifts up her hands over her ears, and instructs her maid to do the same. Whatever sounds that are coming from outside, aren't worth hearing.

Maud just hopes that he will feel a bit less angry once he is finished.

That's not too much to ask, right?

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