Escaping Her Curse—Completed

Chapter Twelve

The two made it down the hallway, into another long hallway, and then further still into the heart of the castle. The kitchen was close to the housing section in order to ensure that everyone had access to it. The hallways could feel maze-like within the castle, but all one had to do was follow their nose as they drew closer to find it.

Oliver barged into the kitchen, through the double swinging doors, causing the entire scene to come to an awkward halt. One of the maids was quick on her feet to curtsy, which then led to everyone else following suit.

“What can I do for you, m’lord?” she asked in a slightly trembling voice.

“You can answer me a question,” he replied gleefully.

She, along with the rest of the kitchen staff, looked confused.

“What do you eat for your meals?” Oliver stated.

The maid turned to look at a smaller, plump woman standing more or less in the middle of the kitchen.

The woman cleared her throat. “Highness,” she began. “I’m head chef, Irla. It’s, uh, a pleasure to have ya in my kitch’n. But, uh, if ya don’t mind me askin’ why ya wants to know what we be eatin’ for our meals?”

Oliver returned her nervousness with a gentle smile. “Well, I’m sure you’re all well aware that my new assistant here, Ms. Jessie, came from being a maid. And, as we were enjoying your delicious meal, provided by Ms. Alice, it occurred to me that I had no idea what it is the servants here eat for their meals. I guess you can just call me curious.”

“We eat what His Majesty provides in the budget,” Irla responded slowly and carefully.

It was clear that she chose each word specifically.

Oliver folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head to the side ever so slightly. “Okay,” he drew out. “But what do you eat? What are the menu items? Do you eat the same thing every day? Do you get to change it up? Do you only eat meat on the holidays like my assistant said she did?”

Jessie felt everyone’s eyes on her a second later. It felt like she had just broken an unwritten rule in disclosing what the staff ate compared to their employers. Jessie felt extremely uncomfortable. What had been a thoughtful gesture now seemed like a horrible idea.

“We, uh, sir, eat well enough,” Irla said with obvious hesitation.

Sighing, Oliver let his arms fall to his side and began walking about the kitchen, looking around. “I’m not trying to trap you, Irla. I’m not here to reprimand you or catch you in something. I’m not here from the king trying to test you about staff habits. I am genuinely interested in your well-being as staff. What Jessie said to me was concerning, so I wanted to check in on you here to see if you were receiving the same treatment. You all may be staff, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t important.”

“Sir?” the timid maid who had spoken first said.

“Yes?”

Playing with her fingers nervously, she barely spoke above a whisper. “If we were to say that our meals weren’t up to your standards, which I’m not saying they aren’t, I’m just… What would you do?”

Oliver grinned at her. “I’d fix it.”

“How?” Irla asked.

“Well,” he shrugged. “Aren’t you guys in charge of the kitchen? I’d increase your budget so that your meals were up to my standards. It’d be as simple as that.”

Irla frowned. “Can ya, uh, do that? Sir? I, uh, mean no disrespect, sir. But, chya not the king yet.”

Letting out a hearty laugh, Oliver nodded. “That is very accurate, Irla. However, I’m sure our dear king wants nothing but happy staff and happy subordinates. If a little extra money goes towards making sure you are all well fed, then it is money well spent.”

For the first time, Irla smiled. “Well, sir, I think I can get behind that typa idea.”

“Do you think you could draw up a new budget?” Jessie chimed in.

Irla nodded happily. “Absolutely! I’ll have it on ya desk by the end of the week.”

Clapping his hands together, Oliver replied, “That sounds great. I can’t promise that it’ll take effect immediately, but I’ll do my best to push it through to my father’s desk as soon as I can.”

There were a few hollers of excitement and the kitchen staff broke out into clapping and cheers. Oliver marveled at how simply changing their meals could have such a great effect on his staff. Though, he did wonder how badly the food was that they had to eat that they would react in such a manner. He felt like he had promised them a month of paid vacation, even though it was just a few changes to their diet.

“Until then, keep up the great work. The palace appreciates you and sees you,” Oliver said as the two made their way out of the kitchen.

Oliver was on cloud nine.

“You really did just do that,” Jessie giggled.

Giving her side eye and a smile, Oliver replied, “You didn’t think I would?”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t sure, to be honest. I mean, with the way you reacted to me telling you about what I used to eat alone, suggested you were out of touch with the people, so–”

Oliver grabbed her arm and brought them both to a stop suddenly. Jessie turned to look over at him.

“What is it?” she asked, concerned.

“You’re right.”

“About what?”

“I am out of touch. We all are.”

Oliver started walking down the hallway again, clearly lost in thought.

“Well, I mean, I didn’t, uh…” Jessie stammered, trying to back track her previous comment.

“Don’t apologize. I didn’t really realize how badly I needed you, but here it is, plain as day,” Oliver began, turning on his heel to meet Jessie face-to-face. “We are going to do amazing things together. You’re going to help me be an amazing prince and an even better king.”

Jessie laughed awkwardly, trying to shrug it off. She was overly aware of just how close they were and that his hand was still on her arm,

“I didn’t do much. It was all you. You’re the one who’s going to get the king to sign off on it,” she deflected.

“But it was your insight. The entire palace is out of touch with the outside world. Neither my father nor I know what it’s like for the commoners or even the nobles outside of these walls! The nobles are given so much free reign to do as they please. They only need to make an appearance when called upon or when they want something from the crown. We hardly ever come into contact with the commoners. We need to change that. We need to be more accessible to the people. We supposedly serve them, don’t we? And we are throwing ourselves lavish parties and totally forgetting that our wealth and power comes from their hard work.”

Jessie could only smile at the prince. She was mesmerized by his words, his face, his lips.

“Don’t you agree?”

“Of course I do, Ollie,” she replied.

His eyes snapped to hers. “What did you just call me?”

Jessie’s eyes grew wide, realizing her mistake. “I’m so sorry, Your Highness. Just seemed like a natural nickname, but I had no place to say such an intimate name. I beg your forgiveness.”

Oliver let go of her arm and studied her for a moment. “It’s fine,” he said quietly. “I just,” he shook his head a second later. “Someone I used to know gave me that nickname. It, uh, brought back painful memories.”

“I’m so sorry. I won’t make that mistake again, especially if it’s hard for you,” Jessie replied, feeling her heart drop.

Clearing his throat, Oliver turned and began once more down the hallway towards his office. “It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t mean anything to me anymore.”

Jessie barely caught his words and felt a stab of guilt. But, she reasoned to herself, Jessie wouldn’t feel guilty for anything. Jessie didn’t do anything. Jessie is just a maid, now turned assistant to the prince that she’d never met before her encounter at the Laroche estate. Jessie didn’t mean anything to the prince.

Once the two made it back to Oliver’s office, they met a familiar figure leaning against the prince’s desk.

“Well, well, well,” Simon grinned at them. “What do we have here? Where did the likes of you two run off to without even inviting me?”

“Business,” Oliver shot back.

“Business?” Simon said back, feigning shock. “Since when does the prince do business?”

Sitting behind his desk, Oliver began flipping through papers. “Since I found an amazing assistant full of good ideas.”

“Oh? Such as?”

“Such as feeding our staff real meals. Happy staff make for better results and better performances.”

Simon brought his brows together in a curious, though confused, expression. “And how did this all come about? Seems rather random to me.”

“Well, as someone who has never had to think twice about their meals being cooked for them, let alone about the quality of ingredients and deliciousness of the food prepared for them, I’d say that you really don’t have any steak in the game,” Jessie stated, giving Simon a bored look.

Oliver’s head shot up and made eye contact with Simon. In the split second it took for Jessie to regret opening her mouth, the boys burst into laughter. Oliver made a few jibes at the duke himself.

“That was amazing, Jessie!” Oliver chuckled. “Even threw a pun in there to really seal the shame.”

Tears pressed out of his eyes as he went over to clap Simon on the back. The duke was likewise doubled over in laughter.

“I haven’t been made the butt of a joke in so long. That was a great one.”

Jessie looked between the two baffled but unable to keep her own smile off her lips. It felt good to make them laugh, especially at Simon's expense. Her years spent at the Laroche duchy were very lonely, and she cherished the moment of friendship between the three of them.

Once the laughter subsided, the two men talked shop before Oliver dismissed Jessie for the rest of the afternoon until their dinner plans. He told her to explore and to get familiar with the palace, since she’d need to know the place well in order to excel at her job.

Jessie left the office and knew exactly where she was going to go first. Her favorite spot.