"It was implied. I'm sweating and I stink." Calder said with out remorse. "Unbelievable." Rutley sighed. "Well you better be by her side when she wakes up so you can apologize to her!" Rutley lectured. "Yes. That seems like the right thing to do but it will have to be after my shower. I stink." Calder said before walking away.
After Calder showered at the training grounds he made his way to the Lady Britille's room. He was in an awful mood and wanted to strangle Rutley. He brought Calder a change of clothes and left him an utterly insufferable outfit. He was dressed to the nines in a light grey, high waist trousers, a black, double breasted vest with gold foliage embroidery, a periwinkle coloured cravat tie and dark grey coat.
Along with the new clothes was a massive picnic basket stuffed with goodies. Calder was unimpressed. He was told that Rutley couldn't hep him yet he prepared so much. "Bastard, if you were going to help me you should have helped me smooth things over with Lady Syria." Calder grumbled under his breath as his face turned murderous.
The servants in the halls started to run away when they saw his face. Calder looked like a ticking time bomb and no one wanted to be near him. When Calder finally reached Lady Britille's door he knocked softly. The moment he did he remembered Lady Syria's door and how he forgot to ask Rutley if he was able to complete the favour.
The door opened a little bit and Lady Britille's handmaid peeked out. "Ah! Your highness!" The handmaid shrieked. Calder nodded and tried to bring his thoughts back to the present. "Has Lady Britille woken up?" He asked as he looked down on the handmaid. The handmaid's eyes darted back as she trembled slightly. "No your highness. She is still asleep." She said weakly.
Calder frowned. He calculated how long it took him to shower, dress and walk down here. It had been well over an hour and it was now lunch time. Lady Britille not waking up from her fainting spell was concerning. "Should we call Doctor Landis?" Calder asked and the handmaid practically jumped out of her skin. "Not necessary. She was already looked at. She should be walking up any minute so if you like, please come in and wait." The handmaid said as she reached out and grabbed Calder's arm.
Calder dropped his gaze to the handmaid's hands and stared. The handmaid yelled as she removed her hands. "Forgive me your highness!" She yelled as she dropped to her knees. Calder sighed and stretched out his hand for the handmaid to use. The handmaid scooted back so fast that Calder didn't have a chance to react.
Suddenly a small noise was heard inside. "My Lady!" The handmaid yelled as she crawled to Lady Britille's bedside. Calder pushed open the door and walked in. Lady Britille slowly rose from her bed as he got closer. "You okay?" He asked Lady Britille courtly. "Y-yes... Thank you." Lady Britille replied as she batted her long eyelashes to Calder.
Calder said nothing. He had no idea what to do next. With servants Calder could give orders so conversations were easy while young ladies were something else entirely. So for a few moments there was nothing but silence. "Your highness, is that a picnic basket?" The handmaid asked as she averted her gaze. "Yes." Calder replied courtly causing the awkward silence to rise again. Suddenly Calder's stomach growled. Lady Britille's eyes widened and she tried her best to suppress a laugh.
Calder furrowed his brows further as his ears turned a light red. "Your highness how did you know I was hungry?" Lady Britille asked as she smiled brightly. Calder calmed down and looked at the basket. He looked back up at Lady Britille and gulped. "P-picnic... with me?" He asked.
Lady Britille smiled even brighter causing Calder to look away. "Yes just give me a few minutes to get changed." She said happily. Calder nodded his head then left the room. He closed the door and leaned against the wall. "Thank G*d she wasn't a man in disguise." Calder whispered to himself as a wave of relief washed over him.
.....
Calder was sitting on top of a light blue blanket outside in the inner most garden. He looked around nervously as he shoved food into his mouth. When Lady Britille asked where they were having the picnic Calder really didn't have an opinion. So when Lady Britille lead him to the inner garden he broke out into a cold sweat. Regret hit him hard.
"Are you alright your highness?" Lady Britille asked as she smiled at Calder. He quickly nodded his head yes without saying a word but in truth he wasn't. He had come to the inner garden earlier and plucked the prettiest and biggest white roses he could find. Naturally he did it without the gardeners knowledge and feared their wrath. Mainly because they had nothing to lose other then their precious garden.
There were only a few people Calder knew to instinctively fear. His big brother Esai, his sword teacher Wystan and the gardeners. They've all been with him since he was young and whooped his butt when it was needed. So fear was ingrained into him and he really wanted to leave.
'W-what is a butterfly run?" Lady Britille asked breaking Calder from his reminiscing. "It's not a hard run but it is one meant to bring up your endurance. Wystan will just have them drink four cups of water." Calder explained as he secretly thanked Lady Britille for the distraction.
"O-oh that doesn't sound too bad." Lady Britille said happily. "After you drink the water you start doing jumping jacks for half an hour. Then drink six glasses of water and then do 80 single leg squats. Then they drink another 8 glasses of water and do butt kick for 20 kilometers. Not once can they take a break, they have to finish the 20 kilometers in 95 minutes. If they can't then they have to drink 2 more cups of water and do 100 squats. Once that's done they can finally relieve themselves." Calder explained matter-of-factly.
Lady Britille paled. "Oh." She said softly. "What happens if you relieve yourself earlier?" She then asked. "You're on laundry duty." Calder replied. "B-but?" Lady Britille asked cautiously. "But? You're on laundry duty and everyone knows why. You wet yourself and then punished by having to do everyone's laundry." Calder replied courtly. He couldn't understand why she thought doing laundry wasn't punishment enough.
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