The princess's room was as luxurious as one would expect the room of royalty to be with a plush white carpet lying at the foot of a massive bed, an expensive dresser carved of rosewood holding glass jars of perfume, silk drapes pulled open to allow sunlight to stream in through large windows, and maids hard at work cleaning. A certain maid was hard at work mopping the bookshelves and dusting the windows. It was clear that just a few minutes earlier she had swept the furniture and wiped the floors. She had obviously no idea what she was doing, but at least she was trying
As if all that wasn't enough to prove the maid was clueless and useless, there was also the fact that she hadn't even turned at the youthful, dramatic entrance that screamed showbiz of the one and only Princess Auricularis, unlike every other maid who had stopped, turned, and stared.
The princess was truly a sight to behold with long locks of ridiculously pink hair and bright aquamarine eyes set on a fair face. Her ankle length green dress with embroidered flowers made her look like the picture of spring, the total opposite of the maid with her plain brown hair and plain black and white maid uniform.
Staring at the maid's back, the princess figured swinging the doors open with a bang loud enough to give birds in the neighboring kingdom a heart attack clearly wasn't enough, so she cleared her throat loudly (though it sounded more like she was hacking up a hairball). However, it did the trick. The maid turned and dropped her mop, which she had been holding by the yarn, like it was a hot potato and threw her hands up in the air with panicked eyes.
The significance of the gesture, which wasn't a norm in this world, wasn't lost on Auricularis. Perhaps at this point the maid realized how dubiously she had been behaving, because as she tried to explain herself, she did a funky flail that made her look kind of like a human windmill.
"I hit my head yesterday so I'm having some trouble remembering stuff." The maid nodded decisively while she spoke, and Auricularis couldn't shake the feeling the maid was trying to convince herself that what she said was true just as much as she was trying to convince the princess.
"Don't mind me, I'll just see myself out." The maid chuckled with shifting eyes, then made a mad dash for it at a pace that would put the speedy spread of COVID to shame.
If she were the male lead of a shoujo manga, Auricularis would have said "Interesting" and tried to find more about this strange young lass through inconvenient and indirect means. But Auricularis wasn't a shoujo manga male lead, she was far from it. She was a gym rat, a muscle maniac, a workout fanatic and that meant she worked out her problems… literally.
The princess with hair that could have easily passed for a long stick of hot pink bubblegum turned to one of the maids who had actually been cleaning properly and who had also had the decency to act as if they had totally not seen the other maid's misguided attempt at cleaning.
"Who was that?"
"That was Calorie, Your Highness. Please pardon her behavior, Your Highness. I don't know what came over her today. Usually she's an absolute model of a maid."
"Oh really? Could you go get her for me? I want to talk to her for a minute. Just the two of us." Auricularis smiled sweetly at the maid as if the girl before her was a friend and not a servant who had no choice but to follow her every order. Like Calorie, Auricularis hadn't been her usual self lately but because of her status, that issue stayed an elephant in the room.
The maid's eyes widened and she nodded hurriedly. Other maids in the room cast glances at each other and Auricularis could practically hear them begging her to leave the room so they could start gossiping. However, this was her room they were cleaning, and she sure as she sure wasn't a piece of bread wasn't about to get kicked out of her own place.
"The rest of you are dismissed," said Auricularis with a wave of her hand and an over-9000-watt-grin. "When you find Calorie, please tell her to come here. Thanks!"
The maids shuffled out, and moments later, the maid that the princess had spoken to was back with Calorie in tow.
"Thanks a bunch," called Auricularis to the maid as she left.
"Of course, Your Highness." With a deep curtsy, the maid was gone and the door was shut behind her.
The two stood in the center of the princess's room with the heavy blanket of an awkward silence weighing over them. Since she was the one that had summoned her and all, Auricularis decided to make the first move.
"So what's up?" Auricularis asked the girl before her in a tone that couldn't have been more casual.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Your Highness."
Calorie's hazel hair was pulled in the same braided bun that every other maid wore, but hers was noticeably messier. Not only were there strands of loose hair poking out, but the braid itself was uneven. Auricularis wasn't a hundred percent sure yet, but she had a feeling Calorie was who she had been looking for.
"I'm pretty sure you do," huffed the princess. She wanted to be tactful with how she went about popping the million dollar question, but being indirect had never been her strong suit.
"I think you and I are in the same situation, ya feel?" tried Auricularis.
"No?"
"Are you sure? Are you really, really sure? Totally sure?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
With a frustrated sigh Auricularis ran a hand through her hair, as if that would stir up an idea or two. It didn't. Calorie looked increasingly agitated and had begun to twiddle her thumbs.
"I know you know," huffed Auricularis firmly with brows that were sloping further and further downwards by the second.
"But I don't," protested Calorie, though weakly. Even if it was more than a little obvious she had no idea what she was doing as a maid, she at least had the sense to know that maids typically did not protest against princesses.
"Are-" began the princess. "Did you- were you-"
The princess wasn't ready to risk being wrong. Best case scenario, Calorie would just be confused and keep the incident to herself after being dismissed. Worst case scenario, Calorie would run her mouth and by the end of the day the whole palace would be wondering if their princess had lost her marbles. But if she was right, she would finally have somebody to talk to. It was close, but for Auricularis, the pros out-weighed the cons, so she bit the bullet.
"You're not from this world, right?"
One look at Calorie's eyes told Auricularis all she needed to know and she could have cried real tears right then and there.
"How did you know?" Calorie gasped as if her shoddy attempts at doing maid work hadn't raised any suspicion.
"Neither am I."