Back to the castle

After making it back to the castle, I was told to meet with Mrs.Bellings after work and sent back to continue preparations with Abby and Jeff. We got together and, although late, were able to get together a couple proposals for Lady Reference to look at. Not that she appreciated any of them.

"Give up a custom dress? Are you joking? You think that the King is going to notice a dress made for some other third-rate noble?" She argued.

"If we keep the dress, then I strongly suggest we decrease the amount of orderves you want. Maybe a meal will do-"

"We're setting up in a garden! A meal in the middle of a rose maze? Do you want me to be seen like a fool? We'll be walking around and having a conversation. Eating a full meal would just ruin the flow I would have spent the entire day making," she argued.

"My lady," I stepped in.

"I agree that having a meal would stop the flow of a more light meeting and afternoon. So why don't we settle for a ready-made dress? You're beautiful enough to make just about any dress stand out, whether it was made last week, month, or yesterday. The king isn't going to notice whether the dress was custom made or not, just how you look wearing it." I said. She seemed to think over my words, still hesitant and not wanting to give in just yet.

"Plus," I continued, "we already have a representative coming from a shop in the capital tomorrow. If you like any of the dresses they have, then let's just go with it. If you don't, then we can re-evaluate our budget then."

The lady mulled it over for a moment more.

"Fine. I'll wait till tomorrow to decide whether I want a custom-made dress or not. However, I'm not switching the orderves," She said.

"Yes, m'lady," we all replied.

Shortly after we were dismissed, allowing us to go back to our jobs of reworking the budgets with any of the other decisions we had gotten. The floral shop and market for goods had been chosen, so we were able to make somewhat of a better range for a final price estimate.

"This is still a ridiculous amount of money," Jeff said.

"Who knows, maybe the King doesn't actually care how much they spend. Maybe that's just one of the grading criteria for the candidates," Abby said.

"They still probably have a limit," Jeff continued.

"Especially, since the ball cost a lot of money apparently," I mentioned.

"Well it's not like it's our head on the line. If it gets rejected, it's not like it would be our fault," I continued.

"Even if it wasn't, I wouldn't be surprised if the lady made it seem that way to get out of losing," She said.

"I doubt the King would buy it. In fact, he'd probably just say that the candidate should've been prepared for any situation," I replied, tapping all the papers together, setting them down on the table we were working on. We all nodded, recognizing the King's cold nature.

"Let's just go to dinner for now," Jeff said.

"After dinner, we just have to help out with our regular chores right?" Abby asked.

"Yeah. Elena, you should probably report to Mrs.Belling instead," Jeff said.

"It's fine. She said to meet after work, so I can help out," I declined.

"Mrs.Bellings would probably want to see you sooner than later. She'll only get more tired as the day progresses," he said.

"...Alright, I'll go after dinner then," I said.

I ate dinner quickly, enjoying the fresh vegetables. The castle staff also had decent meals— probably close to the meals the blue or purple would get. After saying goodbye to Jeff and Abby, I walked to Mrs.Bellings office. It was near the more administrative portion of the building, where a lot of the offices and record storages were. I knocked on the wooden door, waiting to get permission before entering.

"Come in," I heard.

I opened the door, walking in and closing it behind me. Mrs.Bellings saw me and was already standing. She walked over grabbing me, looking me over.

"My goodness, Eleana, are you okay? You almost gave me a heart attack with that letter of yours. I can't believe I forgot to get you a temporary ID while you wait for the official one to be made," She expressed. I smiled, showing her I was fine.

"It was no problem at all. Thank you for sending the escorts. I should've worn my uniform in the end," I said.

"I should've told you. Maids are always supposed to wear their uniforms if they're out on official business. Usually, maids don't go out for at least a month after they're hired, so I have time to slowly introduce all the rules and everything," she said.

"Oh gosh. I should've guessed something so obvious. I'm sorry," I apologized.

Now that I think about it, it would have been a lot easier at the store if I was obviously wearing a maid uniform.

Mentally scolding myself, I reassured Mrs.Bellings that I wasn't hurt anywhere and that I would be fine to continue working tomorrow as well.

"Oh right," she started, "Has your candidate come up with a budget yet? She'll need to get approved soon if she wants to get the money available and order all the things she needs in time," She responded.

"We'll probably have done later tomorrow," I said, giving a rough estimate.

"Okay, then I'll hope to see it on my desk by then, "She said.

We said our goodnights and I went out, about to find Jeff and Abby but halted at the sight of Jacob in the doorway. He looked like he was just about to knock on the door.

"Lady Eleana!" He exclaimed. I looked at him surprised, him having a rather worried expression.

"Sir Jacob," I responded, "What are you-"

He rushed forward grabbing hold of me and examining me the same way Mrs.Bellings has just a moment ago.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Lady Sophia is worried sick about you!"

"What, why would she- wait, how do you even know? I only told Mrs.Bellings…"

"Word spreads fast," he said.

"Apparently."

"Anyway," I continued, "I'm fine. Nothing happened. I was just locked in a room for a bit while I waited for Mrs.Bellings to get my letter and confirm my identity."

"You have to come with me to see Lady Sophia. She won't believe me, even if I say you're fine. You have to see her yourself," he explained.

"I'll go after my work day ends, tell her-"

"No need," Mrs.Bellings cut in.

"You can have the rest of the evening off. You at least deserve that," She said.

Nothing even happened. Do nobles usually take the day off when anything remotely worrisome happens? Well, never say no to an evening off.

"Thank you, Mrs.Bellings" I said. Without missing a beat, Jacob pulled me away and started escorting me down the hall.

"Goodness, Jacob. What's the rush?" I asked. He turned, looking at my expression before letting go.

"Sorry, Lady Sophia and I were just worried. I was going to Mrs.Belling's office to actually see if I could request you visit Lady Sophia as well."

"Well thank you for being worried about me, but I promise I'm fine." I reassured. We walked to Lady Sophia's room, me feeling quite nostalgic as I knocked on the familiar door. It had only been a few days but it felt way too long.

"Elena!" I heard. Sophia glomped me in a hug squeezing me tightly. I hugged her back laughing.

"Sophia," I called back.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" She asked.

The amount of times I've been asked that today…

"I'm fine," I emphasized.

"Are you sure? If they did something, don't keep it to yourself. I'll kick their butt for you. Just tell me," she continued.

"I promise they didn't do anything besides some rough handling-"

"They what?!" Jacob cut in.

"You didn't say anything about rough handling, you just said they locked you in a room-"

"They locked you in a room?! Did they do anything to you when you were in there?!"

"What? No, no, no. Calm down, you two. Nothing serious happened," I said looking between both of them.

"Obviously not if they rough handled you and locked you in a room. Those are serious crimes y'know!"

"If they're done to a noble, maybe. Listen, if they actually hurt me then I would have reported it to the guards that escorted me."

"Tell me everything. From start to finish." Sophia said.

"Okay, okay. Why don't we sit down first," I said.

Following my instructions they sat down and let me talk through the event step by step. I had to stop them from freaking out every few minutes or so. They seemingly thought that I was way too calm about the situation. They finally gave it up after I said, "Look. I'm never going to see those guys again. There's no need to draw the incident out by making a big deal out of it when I could just forget about it and move on. Especially since I don't really think too much of it anyway."

We left it there and went on to talk about the other topics like the meetings they've had during lunch and dinner.

"I wish you were a candidate, Eleana. I have no one to talk to anymore. They don't have anyone to assign to my room, and meals are usually just the same small talk every time," she pouted.

"Well things should still be interesting with the next test coming up," I returned.

"Please. I just put in for the bare minimum so I'll get eliminated the next round."

"What?!" I responded. "This is a perfect opportunity!"

"I don't want to be queen," She argued.

"No, no, no. Not for that," I waved, "You can make a budget for whatever it is you want to do! Its out of the castle's pocket, so just use this chance to do and eat something you wouldn't have a chance to do otherwise."

Her eyes lit up.

"Oh my goodness, why didn't I think of that? Not only will I get eliminated, but I'll get to have all the fun I want."

"Exactly," I said.

"I already submitted a budget though…" she said.

"You could probably send in a revised one. If it's for the same amount of money, they probably won't mind as much. It's worth a try anyway," I encouraged.

"True. I'll see what I can do tomorrow. I really want lobster. It's expensive, but I can just use all my budget for food and not bother with the rest," She said.

"Are you sure you're gonna be able to pig out in front of the king?" Jacob intervened.

"...Good point… Maybe we could put a curtain between us or just eat in separate rooms?"

"Lady Sophia, at least put in a little effort. The King might kill you regardless if you offend him," He warned. She winced a little.

"Yeah, that's also true. But I don't want to sit through an awkward dinner unable to eat or say anything," She said.

"I'm sure you can find some common ground somewhere," I said.

"Yeah right. I'm a baron''s daughter with nothing to my name but a title," She pouted once again.

"And? I'm a commoner, but I had plenty to talk about. Don't worry. If anything, the King will continue the conversation if he wants to,"

"Are you kidding? Have you seen him during meal times? 'Talk amongst yourselves'. I haven't had a single conversation with the King up until this point," She stated.

"Good. You'll be able to have all the typical first-time-meeting conversations then." I said.

"Hmmmmm," She whined, "Eleana, can't you come with me. I feel like you can handle the king better than I can."

"I can't. I have to help my lady prepare for her meeting. Think about things to say over the next couple days. You have time to prepare. Try to think of the food you'll get to eat more than any conversation you'll have with the King," I reassured.

She nodded, "Okay."

With that, we started to say our goodbyes, and I made my way back to my room, where I rested for the last of my break.