Lune is sure that she just saw Chilve among the crowd.
Yet right now her eyes which are scanning through can't see the familiar silhouette anymore. Disappointed that she can't find something that can comfort her through the unfamiliar situation, her head hangs a bit lower, and it's then Sol suddenly nudges her to get her attention, whispering low enough so their father can't heard him, "don't lower your head, you will get nagged on it later."
She never thought that it would be this exhausting just to look good in front of a crowd. Finally reaching her own chambers after her public appearance, she lies on her bed face first, ignoring the possibility that her dress will be wrinkled. While she is clearing her head, someone knocks on her door and she groans, "don't come in."
"But your highness! You're needed to check on the maids' quarters-"
"Just do what you girls usually do."
"Your highness, there are some issues that requires your attent-" Lune groans once more before sitting up, and shouts back, "enter."
Once the head maid enters and closes the door, she approaches the princess and she asks, "So what's the issue?"
"We need the palace to check and improve the hygiene of the maids' quarters."
'Hygiene? Do they have low hygiene or something?' Now this piques Lune's interest, as she has only seen a royalty's life and the forest, but she never really seen the daily life of a help. The head maid seems to have noticed how the princess's face lightens up, and she smiles, "lead the way, I'm going to do a routine check."
Once the door to the servants quarters is opened, Lune almost can't believe her own eyes while taking in the surroundings. The beds are pretty much broken, full of holes made by, possibly, mites. Some parts of the roof are leaking, and a few broken buckets are placed to capture any water drops. When she checks the bathroom, it seems like there's only a hole for doing business, and a few buckets of water, "where do you get the water from?"
"Ah, we draw the water ourselves from the well."
'Looks like no matter what kind of world I'm in, history will always repeat itself when it comes to convenience.' Sighing, she takes a mental note on what to improve and when some of the maids that enter the chambers at that time bows at her, she realizes something, "hold on, how old are they?"
"Both of the maids earlier are 12 years old," the head maid looks puzzled when Lune's mouth hangs open, and she suddenly exclaims, "how old is the youngest then?"
"If I remember correctly, we normally recruit servants as young as 10 at least every year."
'Child labor… But I can't really say that in this world that still has backward civilization.'
Thus, the moment Lune gets back to her own bedroom, she starts taking out a few parchments, ink, and queall, then she starts writing what comes to her mind, making a long list of what improvements she can do for the servants. It's already sad that most of the maids do not have their family with them, where they send their meager wage back home after all the hard work, but to have no proper convenience? This is outrageous! The roof needs to be fixed. The beds should be replaced and maintained. Bathrooms should be given, or at least getting better and larger water pail to lessen the trip to the well.
By the time her hands stop moving, the parchment is packed with ink, and she goes through again to make sure she doesn't leave anything out. Once satisfied with it, she keeps it carefully to address the issues to the court once the king departs tomorrow dusk.
Night approaches and Lune has trouble sleeping, toss and turn in her bed trying to look for the comfortable position to snooze off, but frustrated when she just can't seem to have the luxury for some sleep tonight. 'I have to wake early tomorrow to send off the king, and I have matters to attend to regarding the issues of the servants. I-' someone, or rather a face, comes into her mind, and she wonders if he has fallen asleep or he can still hear her if she calls right now. Shifting her comforter, she gets down from her bed and walks towards her windows, opening it carefully to make sure no one else is around, and putting both her hands on her mouth, she calls his name a little soft, yet loud enough for him to pick it up, or so she hopes, "Chilve!"
Nothing.
She tries again, a little louder this time, "Chilve!"
Still nothing.
"Heh, as if he will be able to come anytime I call him. What am I, a child for trusting another child's words?" She enters back her bedroom, closes the window, and decides to do some reading, hoping passages of words will make her eyes close.
Somewhere in town, a chest has been pried open and the contents missing.