--Before the General's Arrival, The Castle - Left Wing, The Living Quarters--
"The General will arrive soon and until the General arrives, attend to Miss Katherina. Take her around the castle, most especially help her settle down." Lord Killian said to the maid that was assigned to take care of Miss Katherine.
Katherine stirred as she heard a familiar voice speak, her head was throbbing due to her bumping her head on the carriage door. It felt slightly better due to the ice around her forehead.
She could hear footsteps approach her but Katherine's futile attempts to pretend to be sleeping didn't fool the maid as the girl said, "Milady, I know you're awake,"
Katherine's eyes slowly swung open to see a young girl with dark brown eyes smiling at her. "My name is Lily, Lord Killian asked me to tend to your well being-,"
"Wait," Katherine said abruptly, interrupting the young maid. She began to feel bad at her sudden outburst so she smiled at the maid and began to speak, "Lily, is it? Where is Lord Killian if I may ask?"
"Uh, I'm not sure. He said he'd be back soon and that he was preparing for the arrival of the General and the Captain-" Lily started but Katherine interrupted her.
"Is he going to kidnap them too?" Katherine joked lightly.
Slowly Katherine's amusement died down, "Take me to Lord Killian," she stated.
Lily simply nodded and helped Katherine off the bed and led her to the courtyard that resided within the walls of the castle.
Not long after, the two girls saw Lord Killian and an old man having a conversation. Katherine quietly observed as Lily approached them to get Lord Killian's attention. Both Katherine and Lily greeted the men before Lily stepped back. She was a far enough distance that she couldn't hear what was being discussed.
Lord Killian gestured for Katherine to come forth and sit beside him. "Lord Killian, it would be honourably kind of you to return me home-"
"That cannot be done, milady," Lord Killian swiftly responded to the girl. Although he had his regrets for the situation surrounding her arrival, he couldn't take her back to the manor.
"Excuse me?" Katherine furrowed her eyebrows in frustration, truly because she felt as though her requests weren't being taken seriously.
Just as Killian was about to respond, the old man smiled at the girl before speaking, "I am Advisor Daniel,"
Katherine briefly assessed the man before raising an eyebrow to listen to what he had to say. "My dear, no one intends for you to be queen anytime soon, there is still time to get you accustomed." He stood up and slowly walked towards the exit of the courtyard, leaving Killian and Katherine to discuss.
Katherine remained silent as she was trying to process the immediate change her life was going under.
"There are people on here to help you," Killian said breaking the silence, Katherine looked up at the man and frowned at him silently.
"Look, I'm sorry about the other day I didn't mean to hurt you if I did," he smiled apologetically at the brunette who seemed to want to wring his neck.
Katherine looked away and stared off into the distance and briefly admired the beauty of the castle. The wind blew gently causing her long brown hair to dance along with the wind.
Killian chuckled, he had barely offended the girl and she refused to speak with him. "You clearly haven't met any of the royal assholes yet."
Katherine directed her attention back to Killian, "If you need anything just let me know, I'm mostly in the courtroom." He stood up and bowed his head at Katherine as Lily did the same to him from the tree she was standing beside.
Katherine had just noticed that Lily was far enough to still be in calling distance but not enough to hear the conversation they just had. She wondered if all the maids did this under the monarch's orders, maybe to avoid the spread of rumours.
The slight blush that appeared on Lily's cheeks wasn't hard to miss as Lord Killian passed by her. Katherine took notice of this but decided not to point it out as it wasn't her place to.
Throughout the rest of the day, Katherine had asked Lily to take her around the castle.
The gardens were almost like that of a maze to which it had four exits that led to different parts of the castle.
"How long have you worked here?" Katherine was curious as Lily seemed to know the castle like the back of her hand.
"I grew up here, my mother was Queen Orizelle's handmaiden, may she rest in peace. After spending all your life within the walls of this place, it becomes natural," She said while leading the way out of the garden.
Katherine noticed something unusual about the maid, "Are you human?" she asked the girl curiously.
"I am of werewolf descent but the gene must've skipped a generation," Katherine nodded in understanding as Lily answered her question. She quickly changed the topic to avoid making the maid feel uncomfortable.
They continued walking and were met with another dead end but luckily one of the gardeners kindly led them out.
Katherine was truly amazed at how breathtaking the fountain in the middle of the maze was. It made it easy to find one's way out of the maze as the sun would glisten against the water drops.
There was a lot of commotion about the arrival of the general and the captain. Katherine couldn't help but wonder what they were like, she turned and asked Lily about the general.
"The General is the son of Queen Orizelle, he was betrothed to Lady Victoria, the youngest sister of Lord Killian. I'm not sure what happened but he cancelled his engagement and travelled to the Cyrene Kingdom. While he was gone, his mother, the Queen, died." Lily sighed then continued speaking.
"That's all I've heard about the general, if you wish to know more, speak with Lord Killian."
"What about the Captain?" Katherine inquired while entering her assigned room.
"Well there's not much to say about him, he barely stays in the royal court let alone the castle," Lily replied. Soon after the noise outside magnified, it was a little past dusk as Katherine and Lily approached the room balcony to see what was happening.
Katherine was left speechless as a carriage made for royalty approached the royal court in the far distance. Two men stepped down from the carriage, although she could barely see their faces she could see the poise that emitted from their powerful aura.