The Heart's Desire

Chapter 4

Emma woke up bright and early the next morning. She put on a simple blue-gray cotton dress and pulled her hair back.

She left her room, and tried to make her way to the kitchen. She hadn't realized how large the château truly was. When she followed Robin around yesterday it didn't seem so complicated. Now she would be lucky to find her way back to her room. Eventually she saw a servant girl walking down the hall.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" Emma called out to the blonde headed servant. The blonde servant girl stopped and Emma asked her, "Can you help me? I need to get to the kitchen, and I'm pretty msure I've been down this hallway three times."

The girl answered, "No problem, I'm on my way there. My name is Margot, by the way."

"My name is Emma. I'm supposed to meet a Regina, in the kitchen."

"Regina is my mother, she's in charge of most of the servants. She'll tell you what needs to be done and where to go."

Shortly thereafter Margot and Emma made it to the kitchen.

Margot walked up to her mother, Regina, to introduce her to Emma. "Mother this is Emma, the new servant."

Emma stretched out her hand to shake Regina's hand, but all Regina said was, "What can you do?"

"Excuse me?" Emma asked confused.

"Can you iron?" Regina asked.

"No."

"Embroidered?"

"Not really."

"Cook?"

"A little."

"So, what am I supposed to do with a servant, that knows how to do nothing?" Regina said.

Emma felt embarrassed and self conscious, she thought she could be of some help, if given a chance.

"I'm a fast learner, just give me a chore to do." Emma said.

"Like, what?" Regina asked.

"Well, there is always the cellar." The dark haired girl had said, clearly listening in on their conversation.

"Good idea, Drizella." Said Regina, "Follow me." She said to Emma

Emma followed Regina and Drizella down to the cellar. The cellar was filled dust, old baskets, and various other objects.

"The Lord wants this all cleaned up, before the harvest." Regina said.

"Which is when?" Emma asked.

"Tomorrow." Drizella said with a smug smile on her face.

Then Drizella and Regina left Emma, to do her work.

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Killian woke up staring at the ceiling. Another day, another random woman in his bed. Killian checked to make sure his mask was still on his face. Ever since the fire, he swore never to take off his mask when he took a woman to bed. The only woman ever to see him without his mask on, was his sister-in-law, Gothel.

He got out of bed, looked for his shirt and pants that were somewhere among the various items of clothing, thrown along the room. As he got dressed, he looked out the window, and down below he saw his latest servant, Emma, with a wheelbarrow, near the stables, to keep it steady.

After a couple of steps, she lost control of the wheelbarrow completely, and it fell over. She showed no sign of aggravation or anger. Just started picking up the items that fell from the wheelbarrow.