CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CRESTLAND?
WRITER'S POV
Stephanie went to queen Ruth's quarters and she met an elderly woman on her way "greetings to you my lady how may I be of help to you" the woman said after she greeted her, slightly blocking her way. "are you queen Ruth's chief maid" she asked the elderly woman she hadn't seen before "yes and I assume you are Stephanie so what are you doing here" she said with an annoyed look on her face "have you come here to leech onto the queen" she fired again and for a minute Stephanie assumed that today was not a good day for her in the palace but she decided not to waste anymore time so that she could leave quickly and avoid her father "I am not here for such thing, I came here to deliver the clothes the queen bought from Mrs Aria" she said nonchalantly "oh you're the delivery girl I see, didn't expect a Duke's daughter to do such cheap work" the woman said with a smirk "I can see you seek trouble but you should know your place, you either take the chest and sign the book or you take me to the queen herself since she is the one that usually sign them" Stephanie retorted annoyed "I will sign them you can't visit the queen" the maid said glaring at her "say that again and I will find my way to where she is and you can't stop me or are you afraid of punishment since you aren't afraid of me" Stephanie asked the woman whose expression turned sore "I didn't say so …you.. you don't have to see the queen because you will be stressing yourself" the woman said as she stuttered, queen Ruth was not the type to take disobedience or disrespect lightly and if she should report her she would be punished for disrespecting a lady talk more of the daughter of a Duke and even if she didn't believe the rumors about her she still didn't want to try her luck "better now sign them and next time know your place and you should also try to act as matured as you look" Stephanie said as the woman rushed to collect the paper and sign them then gave them back to her and hurriedly carried the chest and walked off.
Stephanie left after giving the chest to the queen's chief maid she hurriedly walked down the hall trying to avoid her father because she overhead him telling his mistress that he would be reporting the affairs of the east to the king today,
but it seems like she wasn't that lucky just as she reached at the end of the hall she met the king and two of his duke, of which one was her father and the other has a striking resemblance with Alice so she guessed he might be the northern Duke
"greetings to your Majesty may you live long, greetings to you my lords" she bowed and looked anywhere but her father's side
"And you are?" the king asked, staring right into her eyes "my name is Stephanie your majesty" she paused, unsure if to say whose daughter she is since she could feel her father's intense stares.
The king stared at her face, to hair and with an oh he said "young lady you are Rudolph's daughter judging from your hair right?" " yes your majesty" she answered "but I don't think the rumors did justice to you as they didn't mention how beautiful you're and those beautiful deep blue eyes and white hair which are rare, they make you look ethereal like the beauties of Crestland " he said with a smile,
Stephanie wondered where the Crestland was but she decided to think about it later, she had heard the king was handsome and she couldn't help but agree to that and she felt like there was more to him as she stared at his black eyes which matched his hair,he is said to be wise and a good king who takes good care of his people and he seems to be in the same age as her father.
"thank you for your compliment your majesty" she said with a smile, the king noticed her aura which was like a calm ocean which he knew can turbulent as well and something else that was in contrast to the ocean, it draws people's attention towards her, no wonder she was hated by many because they don't want that which they know nothing of. 'Is she the one', the king asked himself
"Stephanie has your father told you that you would be coming here in my palace for lectures everyday along with other maidens" the king asked, seeing how clueless she was he realized that the heartless Duke of his didn't relay his message to his daughter
"I can see that your father didn't do so, well you won't be going home early today you will join the other maidens that has arrived and queen Lucy would be the one in charge of your welfares and if you need anything go to her" he stated, and the girl's eyes widened a bit "yes your majesty but I would like to plead with you to permit me to go home and inform my mother about it so that she won't get worried as it won't be good for her since she is sick your majesty" she said with a pleading look
"as you wish Stephanie, you can go home and come back next week, use those days to stay with her before coming back to the palace" he said,
"Thank you, your majesty, thank you so much for your kindness and may the gods be with you. I would have to take my leave, your majesty," she said with a bright smile full of gratitude bowing deeply.
She left immediately but the king's eyes tailed her till she was out of sight, the king narrowed his eyes in deep thoughts 'in as much as I might be right but the person isn't like this right, only him can tell us because he is the only one who knows her very well and the bond as well' he shook the thoughts off.