Castle Thief {A Momojiro Tale}

Chapter 5

I had never felt so clean.

In the past hour with Arisu—the servant woman who'd greeted me earlier— I'd been scrubbed, soaked and dressed in the plain garments of servants for the day of training, though I felt all but ready for the day ahead of me, my ribs still aches and my knees were still red and raw from the cobbled road I'd skinned them on.

It was clear that Arisu-san had better things to do than stuck training me, but she didn't complain. Just threw herself into the role of teacher with a vivacity that could only be compared to that of a wild hog tearing through a garden.

I wouldn't even get to see the princess until I was fully ready to serve her.

First I had to be taught how to clean linens, help with dressing and wait on royalty hand and foot.

I already knew most of the chores she gave me from my time at the orphanage and hopping from jobs, so we got through that pretty quickly.

But that was just the beginning though I had to be taught how to properly curtsy to royalty, and when—practically all the time—keep my head down, don't speak until spoken to and never make direct eye contact. The etiquette.

I thought the royals had to be quite sensitive if they had to constantly be assured of their power. When I mentioned this to Arisu-san she quickly shushed me but I thought I saw a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

"Arisu-san?" I asked,
"What is it child?" We were on a lunch break right now, and while Arisu didn't like be disturbed when she was eating there wasn't a better time to really talk.
"How did you get here?"
She quirked a thick eyebrow at me, "How do you mean child, as a servant?"
"Yeah." I prodded the carrots across my plate, watching them roll into the potatoes slowly.

"My story is very different from yours if that's why you're asking, and look at me when I'm talking to you." I resisted rolling my eyes at her, she was very old fashioned in that sense. "My father wasn't a very responsible man. He was a gambler, always getting fights too." she grumbled. "All of my family's money was gone one night, they took out saving and our house.

"Mother was furious, of course so she left and took me and my brother." It's considered unlawful to be separated once you're married, "she left her job behind and fell into debt, just like my father. This time with the crown, they raised taxes on the land and she couldn't pay for it. She sent me to the castle as a servant to work off her debts, and I've been here ever since."

"Arisu-san," I lowered my voice, "That's awful."
She smiled at me gently but I could tell she was sad, "We all give up things for our family, I'm just glad that I can help my family, and it's not so bad here anyways. You'll learn to like it."

I didn't want to learn to like it. I wanted to be back in my little shack, playing my lute to the birds. I missed how free I felt, but if I ran away with some coin in my pocket and food in my stomach I would just be proving the king right, that I'm just some lowly street rat who can't stay anywhere for too long.

Even if it is true.

—

The rest of the day went by quickly. I scrubbed floors and dusted row after row of seemingly unneeded decorative wall fixtures, avoiding the servants and upper class wandering the halls until it was time for dinner then bed.

Dinner was simple—just bread and a soft cut of cheese—and the bedroom was small, but both were a great improvement from what I had been living in and eating before.

Still, it took a while for me to even consider sleeping. I watched the ceiling instead, tomorrow was when I would supposedly meet the princess. She seemed kind enough, but most royalty I'd seen before were snobby and acted like they're so much better than you because they live in a castle and wear a crown.

I'd seen royals in parade after parade in the villages I'd been in, whose only purpose seemed to be flaunting their wealth in front of the people who couldn't do anything other than bow or risk being thrown in the prison. Which was something I'd seen before. An old drunkard refuses to kneel when the procession passed him by, a guard approached him, and the man spat at his feet. Rambling on about the cruelty and unfairness of the crown. He was never seen in that town again after being dragged off by several armed soldiers.

He was right, it isn't fair. But the rest of us knew better than to speak up.