The Queen's Handmaiden

Prince Richard Petyr Tyrell

It was a cold winter's day and the seventeen-year-old Prince Richard was heading for his appointment with Sir George Greywind, the kingdom’s chief of military, the prince’s dueling tutor.

The young boy had just been dismissed by his literature tutor and, without a break, needed to head straight to practice sword fighting. The poor prince had his life all mapped out for him. First class after breakfast, then straight to the library for more classes till lunch, along with dance, literature, sword-fighting, and many other lessons about the kingdom and how to run it.

Richard was crossing a courtyard to get to the training hall when he heard a laugh he hadn’t in more than a decade. A sweet, gentle laugh that seemed alien to the brooding person it belonged to. He stopped and turned to watch, to his astonishment, his mother, the queen, laughing at a pretty young girl, who looked like Richard’s age, sitting on the ground with her pretty brunette hair messed up with flowers, laughing at her own state along with all the maids, servants and children around her.

The girl was saying something and the queen had a smile on her face that reached her eyes and seemed to be wiping away tears of laughter. Richard was so shocked by the whole scene that his feet froze in the way. If it was the first and last time this was happening, he wanted to capture this memory of his mother’s laugh forever. He had almost forgotten how beautiful her smile was, with him being so young to even understand why his mother was going quiet and sad as he was growing up.

The girl was helped up and he saw her and his mother exchange a few words. The girl’s expression changed to surprise and then looked hesitant. The headmaid whom Richard had seen hassle around the Palace many times stepped in and exchanged words with the young girl, who then looked back at the queen, bowed, and gave one of the prettiest and truest smiles Richard had seen. The queen started moving and the girl followed as all the rest of the people went back to their jobs before the whole thing happened.

The queen noticed her son watching, smiled sadly at him, and headed in his direction. Without a word, she placed a motherly hand on his cheek and rubbed it gently with her thumb. This was her usual way of expressing her love for him, since she had stopped talking to everyone until absolutely necessary and even then had monosyllabic answers. He sighed, the magic was over, the moment was gone and the queen that he knew was back, sad and quiet.

She realized what was the reason behind her son’s sighs, but she never knew how to express her love for him when her own pain was unbearable. But the girl behind her sneezed rather loudly and apologized quickly, reminding the queen of her presence. To Richard’s surprise, his mother spoke.

“Richie, this is Jane-Anne. Jane meet my son, Richie.”

Richard now looked at the girl closely. She was wearing a maid’s uniform, a white corsetless dress with a brown apron and a brown bandana. She curtsied and greeted him.

“Your Highness.”

He simply nodded and his mother announced,

“I have appointed her as my new handmaiden.”

With this new knowledge, Richard looked at Jane again, this time with a bit more attention than before, and noticed a shine in her brown eyes that was uncommon in those of her stature.

Usually, the maids and servants were so busy with life and chores that the shine of wanting to live for the sake of life had left their eyes. They were all just surviving, except for this one. This one had the attitude of someone on a mission, someone sweet who knew her place but also looked smarter for her stature. When no one made any comment she ushered Richard to go wherever he was expected.

♕♕♕♕♕

That was the memory that replayed in his mind as he sat by the window of his room. He didn’t know why that particular memory, but he guessed it might’ve been because of the fact that he was going to see her again, that is, if his mother still kept her as the handmaiden.

His three years of academy training were over. The time to return to his Palace and relieve his father had arrived. He had packed his stuff and was waiting for the carriage to be ready to take him back.

The door knob moved and Richard rolled his eyes. He knew there was only one person to enter his room without permission. He sighed,

“Marcus, I hope you learn the concept of privacy when you get back.”

The young man named Marcus only smiled sinisterly and commented, “Don’t worry now, the lonely king is going to have a lot of privacy when he gets back home. After all, three years is enough to forget a useless-”

“Useless what?” Said another young man’s voice from behind Marcus, who rolled his eyes and smirked,

“Oh look, Tyrell, your pet’s here.”

“Says the five-year-old who doesn’t know when to grow up. Maybe you should stay a year or two more. It might help your brain to develop well.” replied the newcomer, enraging Marcus.

“Let it go, William, he’s not worth it,” Richard stated, bored, making Marcus look outraged.

Before either one could say more, a man-servant along with an aged professor came to announce that the carriages were ready to take the princes to the docks where the respective ships would take them towards their respective kingdoms from the island where the Regiim Academy stood.

The journey lasted a fortnight and all Richard thought about was the life that awaited him. He had spent the first half of his life learning how to be a king and would spend the rest of it being one. The only problem was, he didn’t want to lose himself on the way.

By the time he reached home, he could see his parents had left no stone unturned to make him feel welcomed and missed. His heart sank at the sight of various people in strange dresses, which meant that the guests from many kingdoms and states had arrived with their potential ladies hoping to become the next Queen of this huge kingdom after marrying Richard.

Marriage was something that he was dreading. Not that he wasn’t interested in women, he loved the attention and knew how to take it and keep it. Ladies would drool at the thought of him and he was alright with it, but to meet someone suddenly and be forced to choose them to spend the rest of their lives together in just seven days was nearly impossible. Of course, that was how his father had met his mother, but that was love at first sight. Richard doubted he would be able to fall in love with anyone in such a short duration.

The carriage stopped and the prince stepped out, quickly being enveloped by cheers and claps and flower showers of welcome from everyone in the Palace who was allowed to welcome the king-to-be. He went straight to his parents and bowed. The traditional professionalism prevented parents from hugging their only son after three years of separation in public. Richard formally presented the badge that he had earned as proof of his abilities that were tested at the academy and he excelled at everything.

Just like that, the prince went inside and greeted so many guests, noble ladies, and princesses, with their chaperones and important people from his own kingdom and Palace. Once the greetings were over, Richard was finally allowed to go to his room and rest to be able to attend the dinner and ball at night, in his honor, for his return and to mark the official start of The Seasonal festival – the seven-day traditional competition where worthy ladies would compete to ensnare eligible bachelors, hosted by the Queen at the Palace.

Richard entered his old chambers and found them just as he had left them three years ago, just as spotless. He locked the door to avoid disturbance and quickly removed his shirt and accessories. He was about to walk into the bathroom attached to his bed chambers when the door suddenly opened from the inside and revealed Jane-Anne, who shared the same look of surprise he had.