Sitting on my bed, I thought that all I wanted was to run away and never see them again.
I thought well about it all night and realized that I would need help. I wouldn't be able to do this alone.
At that very moment, my thoughts were interrupted by Brielle, who entered my chamber carrying fresh water and towels to wash. But of course! Brielle! But how did I miss that? Brielle was the only person who was really close to me and who really loved me selflessly. A pure human being without a trace of evil inside her, although she was a little naive. But that was no reason to love her less.
I smiled when I saw her, and a wave of remembrance stirred in my mind and brought to the surface memories from years ago.
Brielle was born and raised in the castle, like me. She was two years older than me, and I still had vague memories of the two of us playing in the garden. My father had no problem with Brielle being the daughter of a maid.
The years passed, we had grown up, and I had to deal with my education and everything else a princess had to learn about. Every day teachers came in and out of the castle with the sole purpose of passing on their knowledge to me.
This daily preoccupation of mine with all these lessons resulted in us getting lost with Brielle. We were no longer spending time together. There was no longer as much time as when we were little girls, and we ran into the labyrinth of the garden, which was made of low bushes, and there was no way we could get lost in it.
I will never forget how beautiful a time we had back then. Brielle filled the void of the siblings I didn't have most happily and pleasantly. And for that, I would always be grateful to her.
So, after I had first obtained my father's consent, when the teacher taught me to read and write, after finishing the lesson with me, he would go to the small room where Brielle was staying with her mother and teaching her to read and write.
I knew Brielle wanted it because I remembered that in a conversation we had when we were younger, she had mentioned it to me.
In this way, I felt that I repaid her some of the good she had done to me with her company when we were little girls.
Brielle's mother, Grace, belonged to the castle staff as a maid. She was engaged with everything and managed everything exceptionally well. She was a strong woman to arms, but mainly in the soul. She cared for and loved her daughter more than anything in the world, even though the young man Grace loved then, as she had told my parents, had deceived her, left her pregnant, and when Grace happily announced to him the great news, he disappeared from her life without a word.
When she arrived at the castle searching for work, her pregnancy was already advanced, but that didn't stop my father from accepting her on his staff, and as it turned out later, he had made a perfect decision.
Unfortunately for all of us, Grace died two years ago of pneumonia. Two years after my father's death.
She had gone out in the torrential rain to find a cow that had not returned with the others after grazing. The cow was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, and Grace was worried about what had happened. She did find it and brought it back. After that night, Grace caught a bad cold that eventually turned into pneumonia. We called a doctor, applied treatment, and left various medicines for the patient, but in the end, nothing could be done to save her. She let out her last breath in her bed with Brielle on her headrest.
It's been two years since then. Brielle had withered by her mother's absence, and I requested my mother to promote her as mine chambermaid, and she accepted my request.
My idea turned out to be excellent. Her contact with me helped her a lot to start overcoming the loss of her mother, and two years later, she has become again the girl I knew and loved.
After yesterday's complete rejection by my mother, I realized that Brielle and I were now orphans.
"Good morning, my princess," she said, looking at me more carefully, focusing her attention mainly on my eyes. They would probably be red and swollen from crying all night.
"Kira!" she said in pain in his voice and came hurriedly to me. She sat next to me on the bed.
"What happened to you? Did anything happen?" she touched my hands softly.
I told her everything. Everything that happened with my stepfather and everything that happened with my mother afterward. By the time I finished my story, Brielle was left staring at me with her eyes wide open and her mouth dropped open.
I touched her gently on the shoulder to bring her back to reality. She blinked her eyes and then asked me, "And now?"
"I decided to run away, Brielle. Run away and never coming back. But I will need your help. Will you help me?"
Brielle pursed her lips as she usually did when she was under severe thinking and then announced to me, "I will come with you!"
Her statement upset me: "No, Brielle, I can't do that to you. This is your home. Here you will have food and a bed to sleep. You may not have either with me."
She shook her head sharply. "I don't care. For me it's enough to know that we will be together. I remained into the castle just for you, if you leave I will also leave. So I will have nothing anyway."
"No, Brielle! You must not do that."
Brielle buried her head into her handfuls and began to cry. "Please, Kira. Take me with you. Please. I don't want to lose you either. You are everything that had left for me," she begged me through her tears.
Her reaction broke my heart. I hugged her. "Okay. You can come with me. Come and be hungry with me."
"Oh, really?!" she yelled excitedly and hugged me back. "Yes, let's be hungry together, I don't care. All I care about is being together," she replied and began to laugh happily with her slightly squeaky laugh.
After a while and after she had finished with the manifestations of her joy, she asked me:
"How will we be able to leave without anyone seeing us?"
"I have to think of a way. It must be some way, but I have to find it. However, one thing is for sure. We must be gone before the two weeks expired."
I looked at Brielle, and she agreed with a nod.
"Shall I go get you your breakfast?"
"Yes, you can go." I agreed and left immediately. I have been eating alone in my room for several years now, ever since the mother stopped coming out of her chamber.
Grace would come and bring me food in my room. She would sit with me until I finished and then take the tray, kiss me on the hair and leave.
I got out of bed, washed my hands and face, and I went and sat in the armchair by the window until Brielle returned.
My chamber had a view of the beautiful harbor of the valley. It was not very big, but it was as big as to meet the needs of the kingdom. I was looking at the moored ships, and then an idea flashed through my mind and made me get up abruptly from my seat.
"Yes! That's it! We will run away by ship. On foot they would catch up with us very quickly. But with a ship there are more chances to succeed."
My heart started pounding with excitement, and I started walking up and down to the space of my room, anxiously waiting for Brielle to tell her the idea I had come up with.
Brielle was not long in coming. As soon as she came in, I ran and took the tray from her hands.
"What happened? I have been missing only for a few minutes," she mumbled, confused.
Without answering, I leaned the tray on the small table and approached the window.
"Come here to see something," I told her, waving my hand to come near me.
Brielle approached, and I showed her the port with the ships.
"We will run away with one of this." I announced to her.
"A ship?"
"Yes. What do you think of the idea? "
"It is fine, I suppose. But what if someone recognize you?" Saying this, Brielle turned and looked at me. "Don't forget you are the princess. Everyone know you."
Only then did I realize that, indeed, everyone in the valley knew me and would recognize me.
A new obstacle suddenly emerged but had to be solved.
"What if you dressed up like a boy?" she asked suddenly but then continued with bitterness in her voice. "But you will force to cut your beautiful blonde hair."
"This is not the only obstacle. It would also be difficult to hide these," I declared and showed her my breasts, which were much bigger than other girls of my age.
She smiled, "Yes, you are right. So you will remain a girl."
She thought for a while and kept talking in wonder. "What about me? Will I stay in the same way I am or will I have to change too?"
I turned and looked at her, astonished. "What did you say Brielle?"
"I asked if I would…."
"I know what you asked. Brielle you gave me an amazing idea!" I told her, exhilarated.
I grabbed her by the shoulders, gazed her in the eyes, and announced to her, "You will become me and I will become you! Not precisely. I will explain to you. Listen."