Chapter 9 Reflection

PRINCESS NIEVA fluttered her eyes open, and felt at ease while still laying her body to the coziness of her bed. She gazed at the ceiling of the room that she was occupying with Daffodil and Deja that was painted in blue hues. She was fortunate that she was here in the Kingdom of Cervantez as a slave, and treated not worst, because they were under the wing of Prince Trey instead of Old Maiden Lola. She couldn't believe that this would be a blessing in disguise that Prince Trey personally saved her from being rejected by Old Maiden Lola by just her incapability which was only her facade.

He even chided Old Maiden Lola's decision around their eyes.

She bit her lip to hide her smile on how kind-hearted and brave Prince Trey was while he accepted her wholeheartedly regardless of her incapability in his wing to be his slaves. Her heart leaped rapidly while she reminisced his genuine smile that gave reassurance that everything would be alright. Through her eyes, he became more dashing.

'Oh no, I felt like another person inside my own body. Why did I always reminisce about Prince Trey's smile and even compliment him like he was the apple of my eye?'

She knew that her face was blushing in extreme fondness towards him. It was her first time to get attracted to a man, and that was Prince Trey.

'I think I'm out of my mind right now. Did I need to seek a healer for this matter?'

"Oh, what were you thinking? Hmm. . . Your face has a tint that resembles your lips, and even when you were awake your mind was flying somewhere. I think it was aimed at someone who looked dashing and indeed a savior especially to you," Deja teased her with a smile.

She suddenly felt coy, because Deja caught her. She couldn't help but to hide her face with her hands, but Deja moved closer to her, and kept teasing her while giggling.

"For the first time, you seem to have been attracted to a man. Oh, I wished he was your mate in reality, because the both of you could be a perfect match to each other," Deja whispered with pure bliss.

"Who wouldn't get attracted to Prince Trey? I bet he had tons of admirers in and out of Kingdom Cervantez. He was indeed a dashing prince who could tame anyone to kneel in their knees just to worship him," Daffodil uttered, and sat beside her. "Did you rest well? It was also night time right now."

She pouted her lips, and nodded. Thinking of Prince Trey had tons of admirers of alluring ladies made her belittle herself.

'Why? Because she didn't know how to be romantically affectionate towards a man. She lived pampered, but upskilled in brawling and somehow had knowledge in doing chores too. She didn't forget to value and appreciate others' efforts. Also, I'm crownless right now and my beloved kingdom has diminished. Would he be proud to choose someone like me among them?'

She couldn't help but to sighed.

"Oh, don't think too much. We had lots of time to be near him, because after all we were his slaves. Also, I could see even though you were in that ordinary form, your beauty outshined among them," Deja cheered her up. "Indeed, Prince Trey was such a fortunate man, because you got attracted to him."

Their conversation was interrupted, because of a knock at the wooden door of their room. Daffodil immediately went there to open it, and it revealed a lady holding a huge tray that was wearing a dark blue long dress, but with white pinafore, and her hair had a white bandana.

"I brought all of your meals for tonight. I'm Jessie, the Quarter Cook of Prince Trey's slaves. It was nice to meet the three of you, and I personally delivered these meals that I had prepared for tonight," the lady introduced to them.

"Thank you, Quarter Cook Jessie. The meals you brought smelled delicious. I'm Daffodil, and they were my siblings, Eva and Deja," Daffodil said while pointing at her and Deja, which made Quarter Cook Jessie smile.

Deja immediately stood up to get the tray to Quarter Cook Jessie, and placed it at the corner where the table was. She inhaled the delicious scent of the meals, and she immediately stood up to look at it. Her mouth watered with the sight of the meals cooked by Quarter Cook Jessie.

Quarter Cook Jessie chuckled. "Every day you would taste my meals that I would prepare, and I hope you would all appreciate it."

"Oh, that would be spectacular. I would definitely get a lot of zeal to do the chores for Prince Trey, because of these delicious meals," Deja exclaimed that made Quarter Cook Jessie beamed in happiness.

"Your praise definitely made my spirit boost to cook more," Quarter Cook Jessie exclaimed, and she couldn't help but to smile and clap her hands in pure delight.

Quarter Cook Jessie's attention was caught by her. "Hello, Lady Muriel told me about you. I wished that you would be comfortable here, and also enjoy my meals. Prince Trey really monitors his slaves under his wing to be cared, and always eating meals at the right time. Also, he was very generous in paying his slaves wage, so that anyone could earn. He might be different from his other siblings for being kind-hearted and humble, but when he saved and defended someone under his wing until the end."

Anything about Prince Trey made her really dumbfounded. She agreed on what Quarter Cook Jessie said. But what caught her attention was Prince Trey was different among his siblings. Suddenly Hestia's words crossed her mind that she needed to be aware of the cursed descendants of King Thesaurus, especially Princess Tabitha. She could contradict that Prince Trey was an exemption from her guard.

"I'm really admired by Prince Trey, because he helped us to be slaves here in the palace. Old Maiden Lola wanted my sister, Eva, to be thrown-out just because she couldn't speak," Deja said.

Quarter Cook Jessie gasped, and then frowned looking annoyed. "Old Maiden Lola was really strict and cold-hearted. Beware of her, especially you, Eva. And don't be felt serious about her criticisms, many slaves were been devastated of her treatment even before until they suddenly left the palace without any farewell. She was just envious of your beauty, since she was now wrinkled that could be eaten by the worms under the ground."

She wanted to chuckle, but she stopped herself, and instead smiled. She was grateful for Quarter Cook Jessie being concerned towards, and also reminded her to be more vigilant towards Old Maiden Lola as always.

"Thank you for the reminder for our sister, Quarter Cook Jessie." Daffodil gave gratitude, and Deja bowed her head a little while smiling.

"I don't want anyone to leave the palace, because of Old Maiden Lola's nasty attitude. There was indeed a lot of opportunity here, but be vigilant on who you trust the most here," Quarter Cook Jessie uttered. "Anyways, I would leave now, and it was nice to meet the three of you."

Daffodil ushered Quarter Cook Jessie at their door. When Quarter Cook Jessie left, Daffodil closed the wooden door. Deja guided her to sit down on a wooden chair, and she whispered with gratitude.

Her attention was now focused on the meals above the table, she couldn't help herself to grab the spoon to dig in, and when the spoonful of an unknown dish for her, but it contained meat was inside of her mouth. She moaned, and dug another spoonful of her meal and ate with relish. Daffodil and Deja were also seated on their own wooden chairs, and started eating their meals too, and their eyes shone in pure bliss that mirrored hers.

Later on, the meals on the plates were now empty, and they felt satisfied. She sighed with contentment. She really enjoyed the meals that Quarter Cook Jessie cooked for tonight. She was indeed looking forward to the next meals that Quarter Cook Jessie would serve to them.

"You could also take a bath now, and we would prepare your clothes," Daffodil said.

She looked and noticed that Daffodil and Deja were wearing dark blue long dresses with sleeves. She must not have caught sight that the two were now wearing the clothes given by them.

Deja giggled, and leaned forward to tease her. "She didn't notice that we already changed our clothes, because her mind was occupied by a dashing prince."

Her face blushed, and felt guilty. Daffodil and Deja knew her, and she couldn't keep a secret around them.

Daffodil sighed. "Stop teasing her, Deja. Let's just help her to clean herself up. I heard that there would be a gathering later, so we needed to be there."

She nodded, and stood up. She needed to freshen up, and wore the color-coded dress for the slaves under Prince Trey. Daffodil ushered her to a small washroom that could occupy only one or two persons. She went inside once she closed the wooden door, and started to take a nice bath that made her relaxed and fresh.

HILARITY was flaunted in Princess Nieva's face while staring at her reflection in front of the mirror. Daffodil and Deja fixed her hair, and styled it in a high ponytail with ornaments and band. Her fire amulet necklace showed around her neck, and she hid it under the top part of her dress.

"Wow! You were such a beauty as always even though you were wearing the fire amulet necklace," Deja praised her, and that made her smile.

"I agreed. This dark blue color matched the color of your eyes too. Were you comfortable in your clothes and shoes?" Daffodil said.

She nodded, and that made Daffodil and Deja smile in full satisfaction. She also noticed that Daffodil and Deja changed their hairstyle and did the similar style with slaves. The three of them had the same color of eyes, but different rings around it. Since she was wearing the fire amulet necklace, her eyes were still blue but the gold rings around it were hidden. When they were all set, they started to leave their room, and walked towards where slaves going through. Until Lady Muriel saw them, and immediately signaled them to come closer.

Lady Muriel gazed at them with a smile. "You all looked stunning, especially you, Eva. You looked like a goddess in that dark blue long dress. I'm relieved that your clothes suited well."

She smiled, and bowed her head a little for her gratitude.

"You were also very coy too. Come on, let's go inside, and others were inside the room wherein we had assembly. I wanted you to meet them, and get along too," Lady Muriel added.

They went inside the room, and slaves under the wing of Prince Trey were all seated in the wooden chairs. There were only a few of them, and it could be counted by the number of all her fingers who gazed at their direction with much curiosity in their eyes. When they were all seated at the wooden chairs, Lady Muriel went in front and bowed her head a little.

"Ladies, I'm here in front of you to informed you that from now on we would be ten in total to be slaves that would serve to our beloved Prince Trey."

Gasps and murmurs were heard around the corners of the room while looking at their direction. She didn't know if they were speaking with each other good or bad towards them, because the three of them were after all new.

"Our new companions here were Daffodil, Eva and Deja who were siblings. I wanted all of you to have respect for each other, especially that Eva was a mute, and I would love it if you all would be nice to her or else a rude action towards to co-slaves would have a punishment from Prince Trey. We wouldn't want our beloved Prince Trey to get mad with this unwanted behavior, so please bear it all what I said in your minds," Lady Muriel added.

"Yes, Lady Muriel." All of the slaves who were much served longer exclaimed.

A knock immediately interrupted what was happening inside the room, and the wooden door suddenly opened then Prince Trey walked inside looking dashing with his clothes which were long sleeves that had dark blue with gold embellishments in every corner while his trousers were colored black that was partnered with white boots while being tailed by his personal companion who wore a simple dark blue long sleeves with dark brown trousers and brown boots, and along with him was weapon that she bet was a sword. All of the slaves including Lady Muriel bowed their head, and she also did the same.

"You may all raise your heads," Prince Trey's hoarse voice invaded her ears. All of them raised their heads, and sat properly including Lady Muriel. His voice really made her smile. He stared at each one of them, until his eyes stopped to her, and that made her cheeks blush when he smiled at her, which made her heart leap in pure bliss. "I hope all of you would get along, since everyone was under my wing. I prohibited treating others with misbehavior or else would get a punishment, and kindly bear in mind to respect others all the time. Also, if you wanted to take a rest, just let me know or Muriel, so that you could go out from the palace to meet your loved ones or to the town market."

"Accept our overwhelming gratitude, Prince Trey!" All of the slaves exclaimed delightedly.

That made Prince Trey's smile wider that made him more dashing through her eyes. Her heart was really leaping fast while she was staring at him.

"I know all of you saw my element's ability, but I wanted to show it to my newly recruited ladies, so they would be familiarized with me," he said. "Dieter."

With that his personal companion named Dieter immediately kicked the jar which was on top of the table in the air that made the water inside of it cascade from it. She gasped, because Lady Muriel would be drenched in water if she didn't move. However, in a blink of an eye, Prince Trey's hand swayed, and made the water dance with the rhythm around his hands, and immediately went above him to form some enchanting figures. He even made some water balls and threw them in the air, and it immediately went back to around hands. He clapped his hands to slow its movement from the air that sparkled in the lights. He was really magnificent in the element of water.

'I wonder how he would be in brawling with his foes? Would he also be nice on a battlefield or not?'

She was brought back from her reverie when she felt something above her head that made her eyes widened, because all of the people surrounding her were looking at her with pure fascination. She didn't know what happened, until a large amount of water that formed as a mirror stood in front of her. She stared at her own reflection wherein Prince Trey put a flower crown made of water above her head. She didn't feel that her hair was drenched by the water. She couldn't let herself but to gaze at Prince Trey who was smiling at her. Her heart leaped fast, and a sweet smile crept in her lips while looking at him.

'His smile and gaze were very peculiar, but a sudden gentle wave of comfort gushed in me. I'm fortunate to be saved by him. He was my savior.'