9 Chapter 9: Numbers

Blair sat at the edge of the bed while examining the man in front of her. "You still haven't told me your name" she probed further.

The man in front of her said nothing and just stared at the ground. Blair could see a fragment of confusion on his face and she wondered what he was pondering about to be confused. Though, she found it rude for him to not respond to her, she didn't say anything.

This man was weird, everything about him seem off. She hadn't met someone like him, who would be in a daze for almost an hour.

Sighing in frustration, the princess stood up from the bed and walked towards him, circling around him like he was her prey, then she came to settle right in front of him and whispered, "Should I call you six?" she asked while batting her eyelids.

He frowned at her, six? Come on! Who would name someone a number?

Blair saw that he was displeased, she thought he was going to oppose her or at least say something but he was just looking. Seriously, she was tired of speaking to a statue.

"What about ten?" she proposed. Looks like the princess didn't have a better name for him other than numbers, so he'll just go with the number ten. For the main time, till he found out who he was, his name and where he belonged.

"Hmmm" he hummed and she smiled at him. He saw her raised her hands to clap, with just three claps, few maids rushed into the room.

"Your highness, you asked for us?" Helen questioned.

"Ah, yes" she responded with a smile, "Please prepare the bath for me and have some of your maids prepare a bed in front of mine. Also, bring in another closet" she trailed off as she looked around the room, she pointed at the left side, "This place should be enough for the closet"

Helen's face contoured with confusion but she quickly hid it, "For who, if I may ask, your highness?"

"Him" She answered honestly.

Several gaps resonated around the room and Blair glanced at her maids, wondering why they were so surprised. She thought they were always calm and composed, finally today, she was able to get a reaction from them. She almost giggled if the matter at hand wasn't profound.

"Yes, your highness" Helen bowed, she couldn't question the princess anymore. Anything she ordered should be carried out by them.

In no time, Helen had distributed the works amongst the ladies and they had started doing their job.

"And... Get me some male clothes at the market, I hope you can do that for me" Blair started, she brought out some golden bars from her pocket. They looked quite heavy and Zephyr wondered how it was able to fit in her dress without bulging out, the princess didn't even feel like she was carrying anything.

"Sure your highness, you can count on me"

Smiling, she replied, "Good. And if there's any change left, you can save it for your future use"

"Thank you for your generosity, your highness" Helen squealed excitedly as she clenched the golden bars. The princess had been so nice to her since she had started working in the castle, she was unlike any other person. Though she could be stern sometimes, she always was humble and friendly, and because of her, Helen was able to gather some money to buy a machine for sewing cloth that she sold in the market- as her side job.

The tremendous profit she made was sent to her family at home and she shared the rest with her colleagues in the castle.

As if realizing something, Blair told Helen to halt when she was about to dash out. "Your highness?"

"His measurement, I forgot to take his measurement" She said, more to herself than to Helen. Just then, she closed the gap between her and zephyr. She hugged him.

Zephyr who was lost in thoughts was startled when the princess's body touched his, a frown was etched on his face and he was about to push her away when he suddenly felt her hands on his waist. What was she doing?...

The other maids were equally surprised, even Helen was astounded. Her princess had never exhibited such manners before and she was doing this to a total stranger... The heck?!

Blair's hands went downward and she placed it on his hips, this time, Zephyr was furious at her. What a mad woman! She was their princess? No way was this woman a princess!. princesses were meant to be modest and not perverted like her!

Her hands now touched his thighs and he lost it, he took a long step away from her, thereby extending the gap between them.

"Done" Blair winked at him. She hurried to the drawer and pulled it open, brought out a paper and scribbled something on it. She paddled her feet towards Helen and she handed the paper to her maid.

Helen looked down at it and nodded, "Oh" she said in her mind, so this was what the princess was doing?. After reading and understanding it, she left the room with the paper.

"You have a great body, even better than sebastian's " she mumbled the last part inwardly, although she wasn't sure why she was comparing the two now. The man in front of her was very attractive, gorgeous, yummy.... What else could she describe him with. He was extraordinary, his build was different from the others, he got this sturdy chest. White and Firm skin, his face was the most perfect. In fact, if she were to describe this man's features in a book, she would exhaust the pages and still need more books.

While Sebastian... Well, he was second to him.

Zephyr raised his eyebrows at her, "should he be thanking her for praising his body?" He asked himself.

"No! She harassed me a while ago, what a mad woman" He mused.

"Did you say something?" Blair turned her attention to him. Just like before, he didn't answer and just stared at her. "Fine" she rolled her eyes at him.

"Go take a bath in there, when you're done, I'll apply ointments to your injury so they could heal up faster" she grinned at him.

Zephyr didn't know what happened but he found his legs moving toward the bathroom. No! he shouldn't be doing this, he shouldn't be listening to her. She was everyone's princess except for him and he shouldn't be adhering to her commands. His legs kept taking him towards the washroom.

He stood before a large pool, statues of wolves pouring out water from their mouth were on the right and left. Rose petals on the water and the place smelled of fresh flowers. The place was looking neat and tidy, he found out that he was the only dirty thing in there.

Maybe he should listen to her and take a bath. Zephyr removed whatever piece of cloth that was on his body and plunged into the warm water.

***

The maids were done with their assigned tasks and they exited the area. Blair was the only one in the room, waiting for Zephyr to come out of the water because he had been in there since the past forty-five minutes.

"Ten? Is anything wrong?" she asked in concern, wanting to rush to the bathroom and take a peek of what was going on. She hoped that he hadn't drowned yet. The moment she stood up from the bed and turned to face the bathroom, she saw him coming out in a large robe. Drops of water touched the marble floor.

Blair couldn't direct her eyes away from him, why was he looking so much better than before?

"Your highness.... This is the cloth you asked for.... Oooh" Helen rushed into the room to be greeted with the sight of Zephyr, she too couldn't hide the astonishment she felt. Both the princess's cheeks and Helen's reddened.