Wicked Chase

♚ Chapter Thirteen

She blinked a couple of times like she couldn't really believe what I had just said. "You're not what I expected," she blurted and instantly she looked to the ground. She must have thought that she was embarrassing herself but I found her cute and maybe a little inexperienced when it came to teasing.

Intrigued, I tilted my head the slightest bit and asked out of genuine curiosity, "what did you expect me to be like?"

Her eyes widened yet again and she looked like a small, innocent deer caught in the headlights. I couldn't fight the urge to smile. This girl, Bronia, was quite something. I made out from our short conversation that she got easily flustered in my presence and I knew well that it was solely the fact that I belonged to Royalty.

When I was a mere child I'd dream about Kings and Queens, Princesses and Princes, and I would let the false hope of all those little television cartoons and animation movies whisk me away into wonderland. I wished to be Royalty. The pretense that the television provided made me yearn to be part of Royalty. If my kid self was told that she was a Crown Princess then she would be delighted. But now, having Bronia stand before me and absolutely flustered and worried in my presence amused me but it also made me feel out of place.

I was never used to attention.

"Well," she started, keeping those eccentric brown eyes of her trained on the floor which was tiled and smooth, a rich colour of milky white with delicate wisps of faint brown adorning it in a random pattern. "I expected to you to be, uh, a little more..." she trailed off, words failing her at that moment. Or maybe she didn't want to say those words out loud because they'd only lead her to further embarrassment so I decided to help her out.

"Sophisticated? Elegant?" I supplied, "rude?" I never knew teasing could be fun. I always thought teasing was rather mean but seeing Bronia all flustered showed me just how much she valued her job so I opted out of teasing her and offered her a kind smile.

"You don't have to worry about anything, Bronia," I said, sincerity lacing itself around my voice, "just act like I'm a normal person. Like I'm a maid like you are."

She gaped, her brown eyes wide with surprise. By her features I could tell that was older than me, maybe by a few years. "But you're the Princess," she sputtered, "it would be an insult if I didn't treat you as such."

I couldn't help but smile at that. I was actually enjoying the conversation that I was having with her and I would have loved to continue it but she was here to aid me, to be a servant, a maid, and someone as me, I didn't grow up with such facilities because my mother's allowance could not allow it, I felt uncomfortable to have someone do some mere chores for me. I didn't need a maid. I was fairing perfectly fine all these years without one. "Bronia, you're lovely. And it would be great if we could be friends," I started and I could see in those warm brown eyes of hers that she knew exactly where I was taking the new turn of conversation to. "But I don't need a maid. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself-"

"If I can interrupt, my lady, I must say that things work a little differently around here. Servants and maids aren't all that bad. Some actually do enjoy their jobs and the King is very fair. He treats us well and even offers us accommodation in the castle if we cannot provide for our own. And I cannot disobey Ronan. He is my King, after all, and he had instructed Alastair Ignacio to choose a maid for you-"

"Alastair chose a maid for me?" I asked, my curious voice laced with slight confusion. Alastair, no doubt, knew the circumstances that I had grown up with. Did he really think that I'd accept having a maid? Then more curious as another thought entered my buzzing mind, I asked, "why did Alastair choose you?"

After I voiced my dubious thoughts I felt stupid. I should have worded it differently but Bronia didn't show that she felt the slightest bit offended by my words if she felt so. Instead she smiled, a sad but hopeful smile - like she was remembering a brief but joyful memory - and said, her voice soft and laced with a tone so bittersweet, all nervousness and worry gone, "I used to be Alastair's older brother's best friend."