NIGHTS OF HALLOW

The second hand of the clock continued to tick as the day went by together with the weather that was slowly changing from the clear blue sky where there was no sign of the snow earlier in the morning, to the dark clouds that now moved slowly as it brought with it, a chilly wind that blew very cold air in the kingdom as it neared the time of noon.

The snow that had given people in the kingdom the day before as a day break from the snow and cold, resumed its work as it started falling in gentle drops accompanied by the cold it brought with it.

By the time Sthena finished speaking with Daemon in the guest room of the castle, Perdita was still struggling with the maids about who should bathe her.

It was almost a tug-of-war between Perdita and the maids in the bathroom. Each time the hands of the maids touched her, she would slap their hands away.

How could the people of high society be comfortable allowing others to touch their body in the name of bathing them?! Perdita would question herself and dramatically puff her shoulders with a huff.

After Sthena had left the room, the maids had led Perdita into the bathroom which made her jaw drop open in utter surprise for the second time that day.

Was this really a bathroom or a pool built inside a house? She had questioned herself when they walked further inside.

The bathroom was enormous. The white marble floor was sparkling with the reflection of the water which took a great amount of space in the room. It was a big tub. No, this was no tub. Perdita thought. This should be called a pool because that was what it is.

Her gaze went around the room and she saw how everything was well arranged. The towel stand stood almost near the bathing pool. And there was the human-sized mirror that was attached to the left-hand side wall of the bathroom.

’Wow,’ Perdita mouthed to herself trying to be low lest the maids thought she was lusting over the things in the castle or possibly report her to the King and then accuse her of trying to steal something. And because of it, the easily angered and evil king will be furious and kill her.

No, she wouldn’t allow that. Perdita thought and stopped looking at things in the room. But her hungry eyes still peeked around the room.

The maids unknown to them that the thoughts of Perdita had gone miles away from where they were, sightly bowed their heads, which of course, with the exception of Theresa who had her head as high as she could keep it.

”Come on, Emily and Maria, get on with your work,” Theresa commanded the two maids who were quick to go behind Perdita to help her remove her dress.

Theresa was knowingly showing her authority and power as the head maid over the two maids to prove to the unknown woman that she was the one in power.

Meanwhile, Perdita cared less about the way she was ordering the maids. What she was more interested in and at the same time annoyed with were the maids whose hands were already behind her back opening the zip of her dress.

Before her dress could slip down her body, Perdita quickly held it in her hands.

Emily the gentle maid said, ”Please allow us to help you out of the dress, My Lady.”

Perdita ignored her and continued to hold her dress with a grumpy look on her face. ”Step away from me. I can undress myself.” ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Emily and Maria obeyed and stepped away from her and waited for her to completely remove her dress which she didn’t still do. She further shocked them by suddenly saying,

”Leave the room. I can take care of myself and bathe myself. Alone.”

”W...we cannot do that, My Lady. We will be punished.” Emily said with her head bowed, fear evident in her eyes.

Punish? Who will punish them? And why would they be punished? Perdita internally questioned herself in confusion. She was just a guest who she was sure the king and other royal family members didn’t know of yet.

She was not one of the royal family members nor was she a Duke’s daughter that would warrant them to be punished if they failed to take care of her.

She was just a village woman who was still scared of the whole ’you and your brother will stay here. The king is a very good friend of mine so you shouldn’t worry’ speech of Sthena was telling her. Her stay here could lead to her death and these maids were talking about being punished? What a joke.

”No one will punish you. Leave the room. I don’t want to be assisted.” Perdita unaware of the castle rules refused the maid’s pleas. She wanted to scream into their ears that she too could be punished or worst be killed for staying in the castle and using its facilities without the order of the king.

”In as much as I want to leave you to bathe yourself, unfortunately, we can’t. So please, if you have some kindness in you, you should let us do our work.” Theresa walked forward and intervened with her head high in arrogance. Her words were laced with venom she wanted to unleash on Perdita who was getting on her nerves by not allowing them to do their work.

How angry she was that she wanted to push her into the bathing pool and drown her there. But she couldn’t do that. At least not now.

The two maids cowered back at the voice of Theresa which Perdita noticed and she scoffed. Seems like this maid was feared among the others. She thought and watched the maid acting all high and mighty signal to the ones she called Emily and Maria to proceed with what they were doing.

What Theresa didn’t know was that the Lady she was dealing with was not the type that would cower away in fear and obey her words like the castle maids did when she spoke.

Perdita stared into the eyes of Theresa with a warning look. She was not the type to bow at anyone. At least not to some lowly maid working in the castle. She threatened, ”If you don’t do as I’ve said, prepare yourself to be punished then.” She took the privilege of their fear to be punished to threaten them.

Theresa’s eyes widened a bit before she regained her composure and Perdita saw this to know her little threat was working

She continued, ”Imagine what your punishment will be if I told the K...” Perdita paused as she almost called the King’s name to use and threaten the maids. What if the king got to know about it, that she used his name to threaten maids in the castle? That was an instant invitation to death!

Perdita coughed and shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t want to reveal who she wanted to call and said, ”—well, you know...that you refused to listen to me and disobeyed my orders? You wouldn’t want that right?”

Emily and Maria’s eyes turned wide with fear and their shaking legs were enough to prove that they were scared. Even Theresa moved uncomfortably in her standing position. She didn’t know why, but this green-eyed Lady looked like she would really do what she said. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought about the punishment.

Perdita heard the change in the beating of Theresa’s heart and felt satisfied that her threat worked.

Theresa didn’t know what to do. To go ahead with the King’s order or go against his order to bathe the Lady who refused to be bathed by them?

Either way, they would be punished if they also disobeyed the green-eyed lady because she would rattle against them to the king.

After much contemplation, Theresa decided to give in. She was still a maid and obviously, the king will favor the unknown woman. It was better she kept her cool.

”Alright, we will leave you to bathe,” Theresa said in a tight tone and signaled Emily and Maria to follow her.

”Stop,” Just before they could leave through the door, Perdita stopped them.

She stared at the head maid and asked, ”What is your name?”

Emily and Maria exchanged a quick frightened glance with each other before averting their gaze to the floor.

They knew what was going to happen next. It was always how it was done. The green-eyed Lady still wanted to punish the head maid. That was why she asked for her name. What they didn’t know was that Perdita cared less about the head maid’s name. It was something she always does in case any problem came up where she would be asked to provide the name of her opponent.

Theresa clenched her hands behind her back and answered in the same tight voice as before, ”Theresa,”

Perdita smiled, but this smile that didn’t look like a lovely smile in the eyes of the maid. She said, ”Very well then, Theresa. Don’t forget to close the door behind you.”

The maids bowed and left the room. Perdita walked to the door to make sure it was properly locked before proceeding to undress.

”That was a big hassle trying to get those maids out of here,” Perdita said to herself with a sigh. She then entered the huge bathing pool to have a bath and cool her throbbing head the maids had made to ache more than it was before.

Done bathing, Perdita used one of the packaged and unused white towels placed on the stool near the bathing pool to dry her body, feeling refreshed and energized. She tied the towel around her body before walking out of the bathroom to be greeted with the angry and worried looks of the maids who were still in the bedroom.

Didn’t she tell them to leave her alone? Perdita questioned herself and approached them.

”We will help you get dressed,” Theresa trying to be polite spoke immediately after she saw Perdita come out of the bathroom. They had already failed to comply with one of the orders of the king and they didn’t want to fail with this one lest their punishment doubled if the green-eyed woman eventually reported them.

Perdita didn’t respond to the maid as her eyes were glued to the gorgeous dress that was placed on the bed.

Who were they planning to put that on? Me or was there someone else in the room? Who were they planning to kill?!