Chapter 8 Slaves

PRINCESS NIEVA together with Daffodil and Deja went after Old Maiden Lola who was still annoyed by Prince Trey's decision especially that he accepted her as a slave. They were heading towards the vicinities of the palace to be observed, and known especially Prince Trey's vicinity wherein they were doing chores.

'Ha! Take that you, Old woman, who had a nasty demeanor. But because of her, I wouldn't meet and be saved by the handsome Prince Trey. I wonder what his birth order among his siblings?'

"Were you listening to what I'm saying? You were a mute, and not a deaf. But if you were too brainless, shame on you, because you deserved it," An annoying sarcastic voice of Old Maiden Lola brought her back in her reverie.

She nodded and smiled to mock Old Maiden Lola more. It made Old Maiden Lola sneer while rolling eyes on her, and continue to talk about the different vicinities around the palace while walking. Daffodil and Deja listened like obedient children while her mind was spacing out, and she didn't want to hear Old Maiden Lola's irritating voice who always spit some nasty remarks towards her.

'My ears really hurt whenever Old Maiden Lola talks. However, I love the way she sneered at me, because she was really annoyed at my presence. I know it was bad to disobey an elder, but the way she treated and insulted me a while ago. I wanted her to know what her misdemeanor was about loathing that much to an incapable person who wanted to earn for living.'

"You weren't allowed to stroll around like wanderers in every vicinity that weren't needed to. Remember that in your mind, especially you." Old Maiden Lola really gave her a lot of attention. "You were paid depending on your hard work, but since you were now slaves of Prince Trey, your wage ranged to one burlap pouch full of gold coins, but still it depends if you fulfilled your work properly, and it would be given by my apprentice."

Old Maiden Lola even manifested to them a burlap pouch with strings to the both sides. They nodded, and she was delighted that for the first time in her life she would earn from her hard work. The old woman's attention moved to her and whispered enough for her to hear. "You were worthy to have one copper coin, not this. You were fortunate that Prince Trey saved you, but I would love to see you dragged down to serve under my wing. I would definitely make your life miserable when that time comes."

She smiled and shook her head. It would be impossible that she would be under the wing of Old Maiden Lola, because she would serve Prince Trey which made the old woman huffed in annoyance, and continued blabbering. "Every descendant had their own group of slaves under my supervision, and each of them wore color coding dresses. Slaves were verboten to sneaked out from their quarter every night or to mingle with any warriors. I didn't tolerate slaves to have an affair with warriors and any delegates here in the palace too. I also didn't want a lazy slave here, thief and do nothing just to admire or seduce the descendants of King Thesaurus just to uplift their status was nothing but a pathetic dream. If anyone would violate the rules, she would automatically be thrown out from the palace, and verboten to go back to here."

Old Maiden Lola had a lot of rules, but she wouldn't take a risk to do that. She needed to be here in the palace until the Red Blood Moon appeared, but for the meantime she would be more vigilant especially to Old Maiden Lola who had bad blood towards her.

"Could we go to the town too or it was also verboten?" Daffodil asked.

"Yes, you could go to the town or any vicinity as long as it was your day to rest or unwind. Take note that you had only five days to be free, but since you were slaves under the wing of Prince Trey, you had only three days to rest in any day you might wanted or it could be lessened. If it was exceeded to the said days, you would be punished for disobeying the rule," Old Maiden Lola answered with a sinister smile.

"May I know what kind of punishment it would be when a slave disobeyed the rules of yours, Old Maiden Lola?" Deja asked curiously, and she was too.

"Hmm. . . Fifty lashes from the back and two nights of no eating would be the punishment of the slave that would disobey my rules," Old Maiden Lola answered, and looked at her mockingly. "How about you, did you get what I'm saying?"

She nodded and smiled that made Old Maiden sneer again.

"I wished you would be punished in the future, and that would definitely be a lovely sight for me. You weren't worthy to be here, and it made me irritated by your existence." Old Maiden Lola whispered, but she heard it. She suppressed herself not to laugh or else her facade would turn to nothing.

'In your dreams, Old Maiden Lola. I would definitely punish you for belittling others. She couldn't move on that Prince Trey made a decision to accept me as his slave.'

"Alright. We would proceed to the quarters of the slaves of Prince Trey," Old Maiden Lola stated, and immediately walked towards the pathway of the quarters.

While they were walking towards there, some of the slaves looked at their direction, and seem curious about them. She sighed, and familiarized herself to the surroundings. They stopped in front of a brown painted vicinity and above it was a symbol of dark blue color. Old Maiden Lola opened the wooden door. A fair lady who had a flower design ornament on her head that wore a dark blue long sleeve dress with sleeves. Her hair was in a high ponytail with two hair ornaments.

The lady bowed to Old Maiden Lola, and smiled "Greetings for you beloved Old Maiden Lola. How may I help you?"

The lady's voice was very soft, and really suited to its innocent face.

'Who was she?'

"Muriel, I had new slaves for Prince Trey. The Highness requested them to be here. These three were siblings named Daffodil, Deja and Eva," Old Maiden Lola stated while pointing at them, so that the lady in front of them would know, and then looked at them. "Her name was Muriel, but you need to address her as Lady Muriel, because she was the most trustee slave of Prince Trey for too long. She could also mandate the three of you while I'm away in this vicinity. No one should disobey her, and she the rights to discipline the slaves under the wing of Prince Trey."

She stared at Lady Muriel who had an innocent face.

"Don't worry, I would take care of them while they were here in this vicinity, and upskill them in their obligations to Prince Trey, Old Maiden Lola," Lady Muriel softly said.

Old Maiden Lola nodded. "Alright. I believed in you as always. Anyways, I would leave now, and monitor the other slaves."

Lady Muriel bowed a little while Old Maiden Lola looked at her, and sneered before leaving. Daffodil and Deja just sighed. She knew for sure that they perceived the way Old Maiden Lola treated her.

'I guess that I would have some dose of Old Maiden Lola's sneer whenever I would cross-paths with her.'

Lady Muriel smiled at them. "I knew that all of you knew the rules here to be obeyed by the slaves by Old Maiden Lola. I wanted to give the three of you a greeting for being the new slaves under the wing of Prince Trey. All of you may come inside, and I would usher the three of you to your rooms."

Daffodil nodded. "Thank you, Lady Muriel. I'm Daffodil, and she was my youngest sibling, Deja. Also, I would like to tell you that my sibling, Eva, couldn't speak, so you wouldn't be confused."

Lady Muriel's face became worried. "I would keep that in my mind. It was difficult to not express your opinions, but you would be alright here being Prince Trey's slave, because he was very genuine to us."

'I agreed to what she said. Prince Trey was really genuine and kind hearted to other people. He was really suited to become a king.'

There were some slaves that were busy doing some ornaments, and sewing something through silk fabrics that had blue hues.

"The other slaves of Prince Trey were making curtains in his vicinity," Lady Muriel explained that enlightened her.

"Was dark blue Prince Trey's best-loved color?" Deja curiously asked, which made Lady Muriel softly chuckled.

"It represents the element of Prince Trey which was water. He was powerful when he was in water, and a skilled warrior too. He was the first born of King Thesaurus and Late Queen Allarisette. His siblings also had different abilities, so their slaves were distinguished based on their element or expertized," Lady Muriel answered, and then opened a wooden door that revealed a room with three beds. "This room would be occupied by the three of you, since you all were siblings. The attires that you would wear were inside the wardrobe cabinets, mirror, shoes and hair ornaments. Also, in this room you would have a washroom for personal use.

'Wow! I couldn't believe that Prince Trey's element was water. I think water and ice were a compatible match. But I wonder what were the elements of his siblings too. I wondered what kind of curses they had? Also, their room was really cozy and complete with things that they needed.'

"That was indeed impressive. A water element was a powerful element to handle, and he deserves to be the next king of Kingdom Cervantez" Deja praised, and she agreed with it.

Lady Muriel smiled. "I agree with that, because Prince Trey was the best. He had the traits of being the great king at the right time. But for now, you could all take a rest, and then eat. The food would be served later by the representatives in the kitchen in each room in every vicinity here in the palace."

They nodded, and Lady Muriel left their room. Daffodil closed it to have their own privacy. She sat on the bed that was soft, and she removed her cloak that revealed her simple inner dress. She couldn't help but to lay down herself on the bed while sprawling her black hair to the soft mattress, and couldn't help but to moan in delight. Her body was now stretched and satisfied in this position, and she remembered that she was in the previous while they were seated all the time in the old wagon Helena, Helmar and Hestia possessed.

'How were they now? I bet they were now at home safely.'

She smiled, and felt appeased on her bed and room too. She touched the fire amulet in her necklace that was entangled around her neck that concealed her true self.

"We could sleep better from now on. The slaves here were well-pampered by Prince Trey, and I felt cozy here. All of the things were complete, and we wouldn't mind anything, but to do our tasks. We could also save some money, and buy what we wanted," Daffodil mumbled.

Deja and her nodded in agreement on what Daffodil said. She gazed at the room designated to the three of them. It wasn't small and big, just exactly for the three of them to be fit and comfortable for. There were three single sized beds, and at the corner was a table, mirror and chairs. Also, she wanted to buy things from her hard work. It would be her first time to do that, and it made her more excited to serve at Prince Trey. She needed to play her facade very well, so that no one could notice who she really was.

"But he wasn't like a cursed prince for me, because we all saw him as a very normal prince with a kind heart. I thought that a cursed person would be a monster," Deja said.

"Hmm. . . I don't know. But we could cross paths with them as time goes by, so there would be a lot of possibility that we could become familiarized with them, especially Prince Trey," Daffodil replied. "Let's take some rest, especially you Eva."

She couldn't help but to smile, because Daffodil was emphasizing her pseudonym. It could be difficult to stop her from talking, and giving her opinion, but she needed to do that or else they would be in danger when the foes knew that she was still alive. However when the night that the Red Blood Moon would appear in the sky, that was the right time she would untangle the necklace with a fire amulet entangling around her neck. She would unconcealed herself for that time, because that was the prophecy stated.

"We would have a long day after this. Let's keep ourselves alert, because we don't know what would happen next. After All, the people around us were complete strangers, and don't trust too much easily," Daffodil warned.

"I would always be at your back to protect you especially at your state," Deja added, which made her heart at ease. She couldn't talk, especially in her facade.

Daffodil sighed. "I wonder who among the descendant princes of King Thesaurus would be your mate. You couldn't pinpoint who he was, because of the necklace that had a fire amulet that was blessed by the deity, and you could only conceal yourself when the moon turned red as blood. But I wished your mate could be Prince Trey, because he was genuine, and he protects you from Old Maiden Lola's annoying decision. Also, my patience was tested by that old woman. She was disgusted by you when she learned that you weren't talking, and she wanted to throw you out of the palace."

"Yeah, I wanted to strangle her neck. How dare she belittle you like that in front of many people here in the palace. She didn't know anything, so she needed to shut off her mouth," Deja snorted, and moved beside her to comb her hair like what her mother did to her before. She closed her eyes, and loneliness invaded her.

"Everything would be alright as long as we were by your side. No worries should feel inside of you. Close your eyes, let your mind and heart unwind with your dreams that eventually would happen in the right time. . ." Deja whispered that made her smile eventually until she drifted her to sleep.

'My dreams would go on as I closed my eyes, and I knew in the right time it would happen. My hopes and gallantry would light up the darkness around me.'