Zenora

Emily’s point of view:

After several episodes of crying, being angry, crying again and throwing up the contents of my stomach into the bucket next to my bed, I continued with even more shameful scenes. After that I cried some more when I realized what I did to my dad and then Natalya came into the room.

I made a note in my head to tell my dad about toilets and water taps, because now Natalya had to clean up the mess I made, while I could’ve just flushed it. Not sure if I would be able to at this moment, but still. Natalya didn’t say a word and got me a bowl of hot water to clean my face, and when I sat straight up again in my bed with a huge headache, she giggled.

“What? Why are you laughing?” I asked her with my eyes closed.

“I’m sorry miss Emily, I know how much you drank and ate at dinner and I’m actually surprised that only so little of it just came out now.” She said with a smirk on her face.

Could you blame me that I ate that much? I didn’t have anything to eat during the day besides my breakfast. I guess my dad wanted to arrange for something after showing me the training fields, but we all know what happened there. So, I never got the chance to eat something until dinner, when I was just famished and thirsty apparently. I guess those two or three wines, must have been at least six or seven and the alcohol in them must have been strong too because at this moment I felt like a truck had run over me, stopped and went back again.

“How would you know how much I drank and ate at dinner?” I said a bit annoyed now.

“Well, us slaves tend to talk to each other about everything that goes on, in and around the castle.” Natalya said, clearly emphasizing the ‘slaves’ part and she was still smiling.

Fuck! I guess the whole castle knows by now that I called the servants, slaves, just as they don’t get paid any money. I hope the servants don’t get hurt now, by my dad in any way, just to make them sure to not keep up their hopes of ever getting paid.

Oh no, here we go again! Another episode of fresh vomit with a slight pinch of shame, coming right up! Ugh, I felt so sick that I’m even starting to get sarcastic in my mind now. Natalya saw my face practically turning green and quickly grabbed a clean bucket and held it beneath my face. This time I really thought that not only the remaining contents of whatever I ate and drank came out but also my complete stomach. My body was just using all of its muscles to throw out everything I got in at dinner.

When I finally was able to speak again without vomiting halfway through my sentences, I wondered if my apparently drunk behaviour got me into any more trouble.

“Well, besides the fact that the King gave the General his consent to have a relationship with you, I don’t have any other information because no servants were allowed during the next conversation with the financial counsellor.” Natalya said while giving me a pill for nausea.

“There are pills, but no toilets?” I asked Natalya, just simply forgetting what she said and focusing on the pill.

“No toilets? There are, they are just not in your room. At the end of the hallway is a room with toilets and showers as well.” Natalya said.

Showers?? Then why did I have a bath then, here in my room? Not that I particularly hated it but a shower must be easier for the servants to clean after, instead of walking at least twenty times to fill and twenty times more to empty a bath. Hmm, I might just want to get a shower, now that my belly is emptied into a bucket. I feel dirty and I don’t smell that good either.

“Could you help me to the showers, please?” I asked her and she gathered soap and towels and a sleeping gown and we went to the bathroom. Not so easy though because I felt a bit weak in my legs, so she had to support my arms every now and then.

When we got there, I was truly amazed. There were four bathrooms which were quite big and in them were a toilet and a shower. Of course, it didn’t look like anything I was used to on earth but it looked nice and everything seemed to be working. The toilet was a wooden box with a hole on the top and some sort of chair made above it. I looked in it and luckily it was not some sort of sceptic tank, but there were stone pipes leading down. I did my business and on the side of the toilet, there was a small faucet with a tube on it to rinse the insides of the toilet.

“Why did you let me use the chamber pot and not the toilets?” I asked her, still feeling a bit wobbly but I got stronger by the minute.

She told me that it wasn’t her place to remind the Princess of anything, she was afraid I might have become angry at her. Then she said she had the feeling I might think she didn’t want to work and was lazy to empty the chamber pot. I was shocked by what she said because I had thought to make myself clear about my intentions and the way I would treat her. Besides, I gave her breakfast and we had been talking a lot about our personal lives… Well, I guess I can’t change her habits that easily. I made a mental note to make her understand that she is a person as well and that she should be treated as one.

While taking off my clothes I looked around the bathroom. Next to the toilet stood a small bench attached to a low wall to separate the room, as behind it there was the shower. There were white tiles on the floor and light blueish tiles on the walls. A drain in the middle of the floor and the hot and cold faucets on the wall underneath the showerhead and reminded me of the showers back on Earth. So odd that even though Zenora and Earth were two completely different worlds, some things still remained the same.

While taking a nice hot shower I noticed that this bathroom was quite large and the showerhead was big enough for two people to stand under. I started to imagine standing here with Brock, the water slowly trailing down on his hard chest and… Wow! I must have been feeling much better already to think like that!

Rinsing off with cold water to calm the slight arousal of my thoughts, I brushed my teeth and Natalya helped me to get dry and put on my nightgown. Normally I just sleep naked but considering I had to walk down the hallway to get to my room, it might be better just to wear something. The gown was of white thin silk and hung loosely around my body, it felt soft to the touch which I liked very much.

“O, by the way, Natalya, what did you say earlier about the King giving his consent? What was that about?” I suddenly remembered her saying something about that.

“Are you sure you want me to repeat what I said? You might not like it and I kind of hoped you forgot.” She softly said.

“Just tell me, please.”

Natalya told me again about the King giving his consent to the General about his relationship with me and how Brock actually was blushing and was so relieved that my father didn’t get angry about it. I clearly couldn’t understand why he even had to give his permission about it, I was twenty-one now and old enough to make my own decisions, especially about who I wanted to be with.

Natalya just nodded at what I said but then asked me if she could speak freely.

“Why are you asking me that? I already told you to call me by my name instead of my title, so, please don’t hold back anything you want to say.” At this point, I started to hate how servants are being treated here. “You should know by now, that I don’t like the way servants are treated, knowing you heard what I had to say during dinner.” I said with a firm voice to Natalya.

“Yes, Miss Emily, I am really happy to be your maid and for the way you are treating me. But please accept my way of life in the castle. I have grown used to it and I don’t want any other servant to think about how easy my job is with you.” She said and bowed her head. “That said, I wanted to explain why the King has to give his permission. You are the King’s daughter and thus a Princess, waiting to be our next Queen when the time comes. So please be glad that the King is fond of his General and you can be with him, instead of having an arranged marriage to a man you don’t know or love, just for some political reasons.” Again, she bowed her head and turned around to gather the things we brought here.

I never looked at it that way, up until now, but Natalya is very smart and wise for her age since she is only sixteen. She is very determined about her way of life and doesn’t want to change that anytime soon. Besides eating breakfast with me that is. So, for now, I just let her be and didn’t want to discuss this any further. I decided that I wouldn’t want to be angry at my father about the permission thing, so I followed Natalya as we walked to the door and she held it open for me to go to my room.

A/n: Are you still with me? Let me know your thoughts! Thank you! 💛