Love Is Never Ugly

Chapter 10

"Are you alright my lady?" Niffty asked. "You went a little green there for a second."

"I'm...I'm fine." She answered in a tremble.

"Well really you have nothing to feel sick or upset about. The master confirmed to us all last night that from now on you are mistress of the castle and that we are to serve you as we serve him."

"Us? We? You mean you're not the only servant here?"

"Heavens no!" Niffty cried with shock. "Don't get me wrong, I'm great at my job but I can't do everything around here. I'm only one person."

"Who else is there?"

"Let's see there's Vagatha the steward and occasional defense system, Anthony the tailor and cobbler, Husk the butler, and Cherri the gardener. We've been told that we're excellent at our jobs...Most of the time but hey, no one's perfect."

"Will I ever see any of them?"

"Most likely. At the moment they're all doing their morning chores such as managing today's schedule, weaving and sewing new clothes for the household members, picking out a suitable wine for tonight's dinner, and weeding the garden. That sort of thing." She explained. "Speaking of which I'll have to get started on polishing the silver in about an hour so I better hurry on preparing that bath of yours."

She approached the marble basin of sparkling water and set to work on heating it to a proper temperature. Once she had accomplished that she added rose water to the bath along with a few other scented oils. Then she knocked on Arbutus tree wall closest to the basin and it opened up to reveal soap, some towels, and a robe.

"There we go." She said. "Now if you'll excuse me I have silver to polish."

"Wait." Charlotte blushed a little. "No one can see me bathe right?"

"Oh no, no, no. Absolutely not. Your room is the most private in all the castle and no one may enter without your permission. Not even the master himself."

"Really? So he won't...You know...Try anything."

"Good lord no!" The maid said horrified. "My master may have his faults but he would never stoop to something so low."

"Oh thank God." Charlotte let out a breath of relief. "So I'm not going to become his concubine?"

Niffty burst into a fit of laughter.

"A concubine?! Him take a concubine?! Why I have never heard anything so humorous in all my life!"

"You mean he doesn't plan to use me to fulfill his lustful desires?"

"My lady he doesn't even have lustful desires. Why the poor man won't even touch a corset let alone the skin of a naked woman."

"Well that's a huge relief on my part."

"Oh this is just too funny to keep to myself. I must tell Anthony of this. He'll laugh himself into his own web."

After another fit of laughter, Niffty bid good day to Charlotte and left the bed chamber. Alone again Charlotte finally began to dine of her breakfast. The buttered bread and bits of cheese were very tasty but her favorite thing to eat was the strawberries. It had been so long since she had enjoyed the sweet taste of the plump red fruit. She recalled how when she was younger her father would take her to the market every Summer to buy strawberries. Ah her dear father, how she missed him already.

"Oh Father I wish I could see you."

The very moment she spoke those words her vanity mirror started to glimmer. She got up from her bed and approached the mirror to watch her own reflection change into the image of her father sitting alone in their farm house, weeping bitterly.

"Oh Charlotte." He sobbed into his hands. "Oh how could you do this? How could you just give your life up for my mistake? Now I have lost you just as I have lost your mother!"

It hurt Charlotte to see her father in pain like this but she knew that she had done the right thing. If she had let him go to die then she would have spent the rest of her life hating herself for it while her sister would lose any chance she had at finding a husband or any means of support.

When she reached out to her father the image of him faded and she saw nothing in the mirror save for her reflection. She turned from the vanity and approached the bath that waited for her. She undressed herself and stepped into the water, just like with her dinner last night the water remained hot despite being left out for so long and it felt even more relaxing than she had suspected. It soothed the cricks in her neck and back that had been caused by the many years of slaving away to her sister and the scent of roses, lavender, and other fragrances were very pleasing. She washed her hair, her face, and her body, and the water still remained sparkling and clean. As if any dirt or filth that was on her vanished as soon as it made contact with the water.

When she was done bathing she rinsed herself off, donned her robe, and went to pick out a gown from her wardrobe. She chose the spring green gown trimmed with gold and short sleeves that were puffy but not too puffy. For her slippers she chose a matching pair with little gold ribbon bows on the front. She brushed her blonde hair and pinned it up with a comb studded with emeralds. Now normally Charlotte would have worn something more plain or humble but there was nothing plain or humble to be worn anywhere in her wardrobe so she figured that if she had to dress elegantly then she could at the very least look her best.

"I don't understand why he's keeping me here if he's not going to kill me or violate me." She thought to herself as she finished up with her hair. "Maybe he intends to make me another one of his servants? To work off some debt for the rose? Seems like a more reasonable penalty than death. No, if that were true then he wouldn't have given me all these gifts and have his staff serve me. But what other reason could there be?"

She just couldn't put her finger on any reason why she had been spared. But she intended to find out one way or another.