“Greetings Your Highness” she bowed dramatically.
“I was waiting for you for the past hour” She said. I mentally rolled my eyes. Like b***h did I told you to wait for me?? You are here because you want something.
“Why are you here Andrea??” I asked straight going to the point.
“Why are you so rude sister? You didn’t even greet me.”
“Good evening Andrea. I hope you are fine??” I said dramatically with my hands.
“Now will you please tell me, why are you here?” Bitch
“I heard that Lord Henry came back and brought gifts for you. So I am here to see them.” The audacity of this b***h.
“I still have to open them. Come back later”
“Then why don’t we open them together sister”
“No. You are excused”
“But sister….”
“I said you are excused. Now go”
She grumbled under her breath but went back. I just hate this b***h. I still remember those days when I naively loved her as my little sister but then that incident happened and I got to know the reality of this b***h.
*flashback*
“Come sister, let's go, nobody will know about this” Twelve-year-old Andrea said.
“No, we shouldn’t go to the town without guards. If father came to know about this we will be punished” I said
“Oh don’t be a coward sister. Now, let's go” Ah how can I deny my cute little sister.
“What do you want?” I asked the man who was looking like their head.
“Oh little girl, you shouldn’t roam around the town with all this jewellery, you could be attacked” He said with a look that sends chills down my spine.
“Give that jewellery to us. We will take care of it”
“Step back you old man before I attack you”
“So you, a little girl, will attack me. Nice joke.”
He took a step forward and tried to touch my hand. I quickly twisted his hands.
“Ahhh…. You b***h. You dare twist my hand. Now I will show you.”
“Boss stop. See how beautiful they are. We can use them before killing.” One of them said.
“Now when I look at them, I think you are right” He said with a sinister smile.
“You stay away from us or else I will kill you” I said.
“Oh, so it's like this, then let's fight. I will enjoy breaking you” He said laughing.
“Andrea stay behind me” I said to her while pushing her back.
“We started fighting. As they saw I was defeating their boss, one of them tried to stab me but then Josh came and stopped the blade with his hands.
Suddenly many soldiers are surrounding us. That’s when General Gu came into view.
“Are all right princesses??” He asked.
“Take those men to the dungeons. I will handle them later” He ordered the soldiers.
“Princess let's hurry back. His Highness is really furious” We sat in the carriage and head back to the palace. No words exchanged between me and Andrea.
“Long Live your Highness” We said as we stood in front of the father.
“Dismiss” As father said everyone walked out except me and Andrea. She hasn’t said a word till now. She must be afraid.
“Nina I am so disappointed in you. I haven’t expected this from you. How can you be so careless? You are fourteen years old but you did this. Is that how you will become a queen one day. By taking senseless decisions. You left without any soldier and you even took your sister with you” he scolded me. As I was about to say that it was Andrea’s idea and ask for forgiveness,
“Father…..” she beat me to it.
“Father I told sister it was a bad idea but she was amendment. So I agreed. I am so sorry father. I shouldn’t have agreed. I disappointed you.” she said crying.
What the hell?? She just blamed me for her mistake and now she is acting like I am the one at fault.
“See Nina, she is talking more sense than you. I am not happy and for this mistake, you deserve punishment. You will be cleaning stables for a week and will live with the maids who work there.”
“And you, Andrea dear, go back to your mother. She must be worried”
He didn’t even ask for my side of explanation. He just believed whatever she said.
“Yes, Your Highness” I am hurt. I don’t want to call him my father right now.
I went out and saw Josh there. A ripped clothe around wrapped around his wound. A bit of blood seeping from it.
“Are you alright Princess? Are you hurt anywhere? Should I call the royal doctor??”
He is bleeding and is still thinking of me. How loyal can this person be.
“Yes Josh call the royal doctor” a look came into a face as if he is asking, ‘where am I hurt?’, “not for me but you. Your palm is bleeding and you still didn’t get it cleaned”
“Princess it's nothing. Your well being is more important than this small cut. I will get it cleaned later”
“No you will get it cleaned right now and for one week I am going to live in the servants quarter. It's my punishment. You need to know since you are my personal guard” and I walked away from there towards Andrea’s room.
She must be afraid, that’s why she lied. I will talk to her. Punishment is nothing.
When I entered her chamber, I heard her and her mother talking, so I hid behind the wall.
“Mom I did as you told, I took her outside and to the place where those thugs were but at the end time Josh saved her and then royal guards came”
“That b****y Josh always saves her from dying. We have to do something about him.”
“You are right mother. Why don’t we frame him for stealing some kind of stuff? As that Nina is going to work in the stables. He will not be with her all the time. We can say that he stole while she was away” As I heard all those words coming from my sister's mouth, my heart broke.
I ran to the gardens and as I reached my spot, I started crying.
After some time, Josh came there. He panicked when he saw me crying.
“Princess, what happened? Why are you crying? Are you hurt” he asked while crouching.
I leapt towards him and hugged him. I started crying and he just sat there with me, without speaking anything.
After some time, I stopped and looked at him and said,
“Josh you are going to live in the servants quarter with me”
“Yes princess” he said without hesitation.
“But princess, can I ask something?”
“Go on”
“Why were you crying earlier? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to”
“Josh you are like the Big Brother that I never have. So I am going to tell you as I consider you as my brother.”
“It's my honour Princess” Then I told him what I heard.
“And that’s why you are going to live in the servants quarter with me. I will tell them to arrange a room right next to my room for you. Ok. Now let's go. I have a punishment to complete”
*Flashback ends*
From then on I never showed any affection to my so-called sister and never fell into the trap that she or her mother set up.
Well if I think about it now, it was good that those things happened to me. It helped me in many ways.
First I got to see the real face of that b***h and her mother. I won the trust and affection of all the servants while completing my punishment and I learnt something new from those different traps, they set up every time.
“Greetings Your Highness.” I nod at her to continue, “It's going to be dinners time soon. I am here to get you ready” Liliac said.
Ahh, I hate this dinner time with my so-called family and with the way I have send Andrea back today, she is definitely going to create drama.