"Whatever do you mean, your grace?" Mary put on her purest voice
'he doesn't know what he's talking about, there's no possible way'.
''Maybe I mean calling her a slut to her friends to try to make Valerie leave the castle."
"Try? No no, see, I succeeded in that." Mary said without thinking. Seconds later she realized what she said and tried to fix it. "Why don't we stop talking about that brat, I'm sure you think me calling your name is much more entertaining," Mary said as she walked closer to his bed.
"Hm... It is more entertaining to hear you calling my name" his highness flipped around on his bed to face Mary ''begging for forgiveness, and wishing to not be beheaded."
What he said made Mary back up a bit out of fear.
"You will work in the stables for the next week with a thick winter jacket on, you may not eat lunch or dinner, you will be paid nothing next month, and you must give the dresses I bought for you back to me. Understand? Leave now, before the punishment gets worse."
Mary left his highness' room fuming 'This is that dumb maid's fault, I shall have her inner meat for dinner and her blood to wash it down with'.
Her teething were grinning together so hard, she chipped a tooth. Then stopped after she realized she could break her teeth doing that.
Then she thought about it, 'At least she is gone, so she will no longer stand in the way. That was just telling me to be more careful with my planning'.
The horrible wretch was out of the way. Valerie had the role that Mary wished she had, she was able to steal the King and use him without being noticed because of how love-sick he was.
...That was it! All she had to do was become, Valerie. 'Wait, no, what am I speaking? Only a mad man would want to become someone as ugly as that double-faced rat'.
Mary walked past Valerie's room door. Valerie paid no mind to it because she thought it was the butler.
Her work for the day was finished, or maybe it wasn't. His highness told her she could leave whenever she wanted after it turned dark. She had agreed to go on a double date with Dorthy that night so she decided to leave work early today, and work late tomorrow to make up for it.
She put on one of the dresses the King had bought her when she first arrived, it was the prettiest she had got, though all of them were pretty.
It was dark blue, without a cage on the bottom unlike the other dresses she got, and it had puffy sleeves that stopped halfway at her arm, and it had a little cut in the back so that her bareback could be seen.
She slipped on some black heels she got before Oscar's shop closed, and a necklace.
She took a small handbag that held 60 coins in it so she could pay for her branch of the meal, the ride there and back, and possibly Oscar's branch of the meal.
She had to pass Malphus' room in order to leave the castle, and when Malphus heard the clicking of shoes that sounded like heels, the first thing he thought was that Lilly had come back. He knew she never came back before the month was over, and if he was having a visit to the castle he would have known about it, they wouldn't be walking near his room anyway.
The only other thing he could think of was, Valerie. Valerie? In heels? That must mean-.
His highness jumped out of bed, without his shirt, and ran to his door, only to find a dressed up Valerie that looked like she was headed somewhere important.
"Well, look at this lovely night flower. And where might she be headed?" Malphus said as he leaned against the frame of his door.
Valerie didn't answer and instead had turned pink, she was blushing because his highness didn't have a shirt on, his abs were bare for her to see.
When Malphus realized she was looking at his abs and it made her blush, he broke out in a mischievous smile. He took her by her chin and tilted her face upward, he moved a little closer to her face and said "Would you like to see more than just the abs?".
This made Valerie turn red, and brought her back to reality to answer his previous question.
"I, uh, I'm going on a double date with Dorthy and Edwin."
"Oh? So you think you can leave the castle to go on a date with two other men?"
"Well- no I-" Malphus didn't want to hear it, he despised anyone who Valerie would dress up for other than him, or herself.
He grabbed her hand and yanked her closer to him so he could say "You won't be going anywhere with anyone who isn't me. Go back to your room and rest, we have things to do tomorrow.".
Valerie did as Malphus said and left the man standing there, she rushed back to her room with a bright pink face.
'Jealous? The lord was jealous that I dressed up for someone who wasn't him nor me. I made the lord jealous!' This is what Valerie thought the whole time she was getting undressed and ready for bed. She didn't know Malphus as a mean man, but one who liked to tease a lot.
Maybe that's what he was doing? Teasing her? Maybe he knew something she didn't and was trying to protect her? Maybe it was best to stay in the castle that night? Valerie couldn't figure out why she had to stay but didn't mind it. She hated heels, they always made her feet hurt and it was hard to step on the unstable ground while walking into stores and such.