The Prince's Mate

The Garden

They spent the rest of the morning there, and while Cecelia had said she had a lot of questions to ask Lifa in the end she asked not even a single one, and instead gave all of her attention to Keya, who she casually spoke to, this made Lifa antsy as she didn't know if Cecelia would eventually ask for another maid or not; for her, that was bad as it would imply she wasn't doing the one job she'd been assigned to and would reflect badly on her already tarnished records, and while she did have faith in her ability to survive outside of the castle she'd spent half her life there already and had gotten used to the castle life where she only had to wait on a single person and room instead of an entire house, children, and several people as would be the case if she was working outside.

In her reality, elves weren't very good at most physically demanding jobs because of their small stature and frail bodies, which was why they would seek servant jobs to earn a living or enlist their services in sketchy groups where they'd be taken advantage of, life wasn't easy outside of the castle walls, so she was now worried she might have taken the wrong approach with Cecelia.

When it was time for lunch, Lifa and Keya led Cecelia along the hall to the door where Keya remained behind to return to her door duty and Cecelia was led away by Lifa who was being overly cautious about how she acted now. "Why are you smiling like that?" One of the maids guarding the first doors looked at Keya confused. "This is your first day with her right?" She asked, and in contrast to Keya this woman looked like she was holding herself back from falling over, it might have been a glorified hall, but apparently, they were all being overworked, it made Cecelia wonder what the rest of the castle staff was like.

"Lady Cecelia; Prince Lucas's new lady... she is different from any I have ever guarded or been in charge of before," Keya responded as she took out a cookie from her sleeve and bit into it. "See?"

"You went into her quarters and stole food, is she an i***t then?" The woman asked shocked but Keya quickly shook her head in the negative. "What is she then?" She asked confused.

"She is quite strange, her hair is dark like night, and her eyes are like a clear sky, something I have never seen before, even her skin is different from ours, but she treated me like a friend instead of a slave as we are usually treated, she invited me inside of her quarters and offered me breakfast, and before we left she secretly snuck me more to keep throughout the day if she is like this all the time I might eventually get fat without exercise, she is also very kind and grounded, she speaks to me on a personal level as well, she even inquired my name." Keya excitedly leaned beside the maid and passed her a cookie as well. "I have never met a kinder soul in my life."

"She might not be." The maid bit into the cookie and hummed as the flavours melted on her tongue. "Apparently she is the one that crashed in the reception of prince Logan's wedding, and she had even been arrested I heard, I do not know what she intends to do in the future, but I would advise you to pay close attention to her, she might end up sabotaging prince Lucas, or worse making an attempt at the king,"

"Impossible." Keya shook her head as she moved the left bang that covered her eye revealing that eye to be slightly reddish in colour. "I think I was assigned for that same reason as I am usually used for overseas guests and nobles, if she had any kind of bad intention I would have found something, but my eye found nothing, if anything, that woman is always worried about someone, that is all I could find after searching her, she is harmless, kind, gentle, and …afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"I have no idea," Keya responded and then stood straight as she finished her cookie, folding her hands before herself and hiding her palms. "We can talk more at dinner, I have to get back to my post now." She bowed at the woman and then quickly left.

"What am I really going to be doing here?" Cecelia asked as they approached a garden where she could hear countless women chatting and laughing.

"You may think of it as a welcoming party, though it was scheduled before your arrival," Lifa explained with her eyes closed while still walking slowly at Cecelia's side. "Do you remember what I taught you, the courtesy for different individuals of power, and the proper way to eat and such?" She asked, but Cecelia looked over at her and scoffed.

"Of course not, I'm going to remember when the occasion arises, I don't have the memory to be constantly thinking of all that garbage, what I'm more concerned about is Dylan." She admitted as they reached the edge of a large gated garden overseeing a pond. Cecelia froze and her jaws almost went slack as she saw ducks the size of people walk by her, and butterflies as big as cars in the air, and glowing swallow-tailed birds even, it was like she'd fallen into the dreams of her childhood self where all the cute animals were huge. "What the frack," Cecelia whispered when Lifa took her by her hand and began guiding her, the garden was massive and had all sorts of creatures, but what stole her breath were the hares that flew with small glowing wings, they were normal sized but their eyes had intelligence she hadn't ever seen in an animal before.

"The ladies are beyond that wall of flowers before u-" Lifa paused and looked around when she realized Cecelia was not in her grasp anymore. "Lady Cecelia?" She called, but heard giggles as a reply from behind her, and looking around she grabbed her chest and stepped back as she saw Cecelia hugging the face of a tiger.

"Lady Cecelia!" She snapped afraid to go any closer, this tiger was twice the size of any Cecelia had ever seen, and it too had smart eyes as it had approached her, but more than that it had wings folded on its back as well as six legs instead of four, she didn't know why she felt so comfortable touching something she knew was dangerous, but she felt no fear toward the beast.

"You're adorable," Cecelia played with the Tiger's cheeks and fluffed them as he pressed his forehead against her abdomen and purred causing her to burst out laughing.

"By the heavens!" Someone shouted, and both she and the tiger looked around as Lifa now had several dozen women behind her watching in horror. Seeing the women the tiger stopped purring and just stood there while Cecelia had her hand on his forehead unconsciously rubbing it to calm him. "Get away from him do you not value your life?" A woman with straight brown hair reaching her hips and dressed in a tall yellow sundress almost bit her nails as she called to Cecelia, and Cecelia saw Lifa spin around and courtesy to them before flashing back around to her.

"He is harmless though," Cecelia chuckled as the tiger scoffed and turned his head away before eventually shaking her hand off his side and walking away. "Isn't it rude to speak of someone like that when they're very clearly understanding what you're saying?" She folded her arms and leaned her head before seeing the expression on Lifa's face and quickly adjusting her posture. "Sorry," She quickly apologised and curtseyed at the same time then walked until she was face to face with them.

"Honoured ladies, I present you Cecelia Holland... Prince Lucas's first-"

"Yes, yes, we already know all that elf, would you kindly remove yourself low-breed." The same sundress woman waved her hand at Lifa for her to shoo, and without complaint, she bowed and spun to leave but Cecelia took her by her hand and held her there. "What are you doing?" The woman asked, and watched as Cecelia while still fascinated by everything she saw looked around the garden until she found a group of other women standing away from the crowd, and among them were several elves.

"Why should she leave, is there a rule that demands she not be a part of whatever the hell this is?" Cecelia asked, causing several gasps from the crowd as well as the waiters and gardeners around them.

She found that almost all of the women who stood before her looked at Lifa as if she was a piece of turd on their feet and it pissed her off, as someone from mixed cultures she found it disgusting how they were behaving toward someone of a different race and wanted no part of it.

"Lady Cecelia, this is a gathering to welcome the three princes, they will arrive within the hour please do not be so... You," Lifa tried to pull her hand away but Cecelia held on to her and clicked her tongue.

"If we're gonna wait anyway then I can do it around a less stuck-up group of ladies can't I?" She asked and pulled Lifa away from them. "Pardon my rudeness but you lot aren't my type of crowd at all," She said as she made her way over.

"Cecelia Holland eh?" An old gardener woman chuckled as she went back to work smiling and humming. "Different indeed,"

As Cecelia was on her way over she heard laughter, and then running footsteps, she'd gotten so used to it that she knew for a fact, she released Lifa halfway and turned around just in time to catch Dylan as he jumped at her and then hugged him tightly and laughed as he hugged her back. "Dylan!" Cecelia laughed as she spun with him and then placed him back to stand.

"Have you already been introduced to the others?" Adel came and stopped before them with a smile directed at Cecelia, but frowned when she thought about it and realized that Cecelia was actually on her way to the servants rather than sticking with the concubines. "What happened here before I arrived?" She asked, and everyone went silent and gave her a bow instead.

"They're assholes," Cecelia spoke up as Dylan latched on to her arm.

"Ass-holes?" Adel slowly repeated before a smile came across her face and she chuckled and walked away from them as well. "I see, you saw through them right away then," She commented and sighed. "Do you intend on skipping the lunch, apparently Lucas had no intention of attending and being around them thinking you would not be here either considering how yesterday was..." She explained and Cecelia felt a knot in her stomach, she felt it every time someone mentioned his name, just the mention of him was enough to cause her to feel nauseous as she thought about the fact that he owned her and was going to take her to bed whether she was ready or not, it made her uneasy, Adel noticed this as well when she gestured toward a secluded section of the garden. "If you would so kindly accompany me this way,"

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Cecelia said as soon as they were outside of everyone's hearing, Adel looked at Lifa at her side and then back at her understanding that she would have told the one person never allowed to leave her company and sighed again.

"Everything happens for a reason you know." Adel folded her arms behind her and looked at the distant land of green and creatures. "Even you I suppose were sent here for a reason, and on that topic; you are to meet Flock later today for tests, he has many questions about your world and that horseless carriage you arrived here in, as well as that infernal little magical flat box with a cracked glass surface that keeps making loud rackets with blinking lights, she said, and Cecelia thought immediately she must have been talking about her phone.

"What are you?" Dylan asked loudly as he stood staring at Lifa. "Are you a fairy?" He asked looking at her ears, and eyes. "Cecelia she's a fairy!" He looked around.

"What did you just call me?" Cecelia looked at him shocked and Adel cleared her throat.

"We visited the wizard this morning, he has placed a harmless curse on him so should he try calling you mother, he will instead refer to you by your name or as his older sibling, like big sister, sis, and so on... He also gave him a potion to calm him down, he is quite the lively one."

"He is only seven years old, of course, he's going to be active." Cecelia smiled as she placed her hand on his head and drew his attention. "Dylan, her name is Lifa, and she is an elf, a real elf, can you believe that?"

"An elf like Santa's helpers?" He asked, and Cecelia chuckled while the others stood there confused. "That's amazing, why isn't she making toys?"

"No kid she's more like the elves from that movie you like," She chuckled again as Dylan reached out to Lifa's dress. "Don't treat her like a toy she's a real person." Cecelia stood as Dylan hugged Lifa.

"What do I do?" Lifa asked as she held out her hands. "He squeezes like a snake!"

"Hi Lifa, I'm Dylan and I never saw an elf before!" He hugged her as she began panicking.

"Dylan that's enough," Cecelia called to him and watched him slowly let her go before they all froze when another joined their company.

"Cecelia, I was not expecting to see you outside so soon."

"Lucas... I mean y-your highness!" Cecelia held out her hand for a shake as she panicked, and that caused a multitude of gasps as they became the centre of attention again.

"Who does she think she is extending her hand to a Prince of Jakhar?"