3- Befriended
1524 Words
'Ah, s**t!'
Marcel has been working in the stables for 2 weeks now. He was transferred from a guards position to basically a slave position. After the little incident with the King and Princess, Marcel got an earful from his father of how he should be careful of the things he does while working here. Especially when it comes to the Princess.
Elites are very particular of their Littles and a small mistake can land a middle-class vampire like himself in a lot of trouble. In this case, the King was very generous in his punishment as the mistake he made was enough to land him in the dungeons. But due to the close relations his father had with the royal family, he was given a huge pardon to only sweep manure in the stables and feed the animals twice a day.
Marcel was walking over to the sink to wash off the manure that he got from one of the horses on his shoes when his father walked into the barn.
'Has Blaze been fed yet, Marcel.' he wasted no time in ensuring his son is doing his job properly this time to avoid any more problems. Paul isn't very experienced with doing the works in the stables since as a butler he often gives out duties to the maids rather than doing them himself. His job is to serve only the king and to ensure the castle is running smoothly. But since Marcel is his son he has taken the liberty of coming down once a week to help him out.
'Yeah, and he gave me a gift for that too.' he replied while showing his dad his dirty boots. Blaze was the King's personal horse and a royal pain at that.
Since Marcel started working in the stables the horse has soiled every one of his shoes. It frustrates him to no end but it was his punishment after all.
'Ah stop complaining. Just be glad you aren't behind bars. Now stop wasting time and fill that bucket up would you.'
Paul was pretty disappointed at his son for the stunt he pulled with the royals. Due to his many years working in the mansion, he too has gained a sort of professionalism that all the other staff uphold. He stands with good posture and isn't much of a jokester, and he expected just as much from his son.
Marcel sighed loudly and took the bucket from the corner that was meant to feed the pigs. He filled it up halfway with chopped up fruits that looked good enough for a human to eat. Even the animals are treated like royalty here.
'Psst'
Marcel froze at that little noise he heard. He turned to his father who was still chattering on about how he should have taught his son better.
'Hi.' a tiny voice sounded from above, almost too small to hear. But with how much Marcel is trying to block his father's voice out he was able to hear the whisper.
His gaze followed in the direction of the sound and landed on pink ribbons hanging loose from the roof rafters. It was out of the sunlight so he couldn't quite make out the figure but he knows that only one person in this whole castle wears beautiful satin ribbons.
'How'd you get up there?' he whispered almost to himself.
'You said something?' Paul asked Marcel when he heard his small whisper.
'Huh? No...no I was listening attentively to what you were telling me.' Marcel quickly denied. He knew that Princess was up there because she was hiding and he didn't want to be the one to give her spot away. So he pretended like he didn't hear a thing.
'You know I don't even know why I try with you. Should have brought your little brother to work here he would have done a better job.' he said shaking his head while helping Marcel fill up the bucket for the pigs.
'Hey Dad, I think I can manage for now. You should get back to your duties. Don't want both of us to get demoted now do we.' Marcel reasoned with his father to try and get him to leave.
'Are you sure, son. I don't want any more prob-'
'Yes father I understand now please I can do this myself.' he said pushing the older man out and back towards the castle.
Once the Butler is gone from the sight of the barn Marcel quickly ran back into the stables to see Princess standing on a stool to pet Blaze, who of course in the presence of someone familiar behaved like a gentle unicorn.
'Marcel!' once the princess saw Marcel walk back into the barn she ran to him and hugged his waist. She comes up to only his waist since vampires generally are larger than humans. At her behavior, Marcel laughed and hugged her back but quickly pulled her arms off of him and bent down to her height.
'Princess, what are you doing here?'
'I found you! Where were you? I went back to daddy's study and it was a different man there. I've been looking for you for 2 weeks!' Princess explained to him.
Had she really been so grateful for the chocolate that she remembered him? Marcel was almost touched at that. Princess comes across as a spoilt little or rather that she is a spoilt little but he didn't expect her to be so invested in a lowly staff like himself.
'Aww, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, sweetie. I moved here so I could be the guardian of the animals' he said while sugarcoating most of the story so the little won't get upset.
'But I wanted you to play with me.'
'Oh, I'm sorry, Princess.'
'I made you this drawing!' The Little was immediately happy again as she took out a folded piece of paper tucked in her waist ribbon and gave it to him.
Marcel gently took the drawing from her and unfold it to reveal a drawing of her and him with what looks like a chocolate bar in her hands. He was wearing his guards uniform and she had on the blue dress like the one she wore the day they met.
This made Marcel's heart swell up as a smile formed on his face. He wasn't expecting that his first-ever friend in this castle was going to be the same person who cost him his job.
'Wow, love. You're very good at this. I love it so much.' He couldn't help to want to pull her into a hug but Joe's words stuck in his head. Don't touch her, Marcel.
'I colored it with my new drawing set Daddy got me. There are 56 colors in it and it comes with a lot of brushes! It even has its own mixing plate that has little sparkles and my name on it!' Princess bragged about her new item to Marcel which he didn't mind since the little is only behaving as she was taught to behave.
'That's awesome, how do you choose all the colors if there's so many?' he pretended to be interested in her while neatly folding the drawing and keeping it in his back pocket before continuing his job.
'Daddy helps me sometimes but I usually just pick whatever I see.' she said while she walked with Marcel to the bucket of fruits that he was going to feed the pigs with.
'So, Princess. What are you doing here in the barn?'
'Daddy is in a meeting. I usually walk around my house and play until I fall asleep in one of the rooms and Martha finds me.' she said, playing with Blaze's hair.
She didn't really answer Marcel's question but he decided to just let it be as it wasn't really that important.
'So, won't your daddy be angry at you if he can't find you anywhere? A barn is not a place for a princess, sweetheart. You might get your pretty dress dirty.'
'Daddy will buy me a new one.' she simply stated still distracted by the horse's beautiful main.
But from the little time that Marcel has spent with the Princess, he did notice a pattern. She only talks about her daddy. Every topic they talk about includes her daddy somehow. Which is not a surprise to him. He has heard about the rule where the staff was not allowed to hold a conversation with the princess as an order by the King.
So it only makes sense that the king is the only companion that Princess has. He wanted to comfort her almost. It doesn't seem fair to keep a little from having any playmates. From the small knowledge he knows, humans are very social creatures. This is why daycare centers like his neighbors are so important to provide a good environment for the Littles. But Princess doesn't have that. She was given all the luxury in life except friendship.
With that thought, Marcel decided that he would be a friend to the king's little.
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