"How are you even supposed to know. If he had, he would keep it hidden, from even the highly ranked. I mean no offense." She said, then looked ahead. "Maybe she is that friend he talked about, I can't remember everything he had said about her, or maybe she is not, but I'm sure of something, she is a person of high status." She sighed heavily, "a competition."
Elyesa gulped, looking away.
"Do you think he is mighty in love with her."
"I---"
She huffed, "why do I keep disturbing you with these questions," then she flung up to her feet. "Of course he would be attracted to her, and affectionate towards her but not really in love with her. Right? There is a chance that I can love him into loving me, right?"
"I don't--- I don't know, Princess." She answered sincerely.
She really hoped that there would be no chance of that. The thought of losing the Prince's heart and love to someone else was terrifying.
In fact, this conversation was starting to be unbearably painful.
"Maybe I should find out who this lover is. So that I can know how much of a competition she is."
Elyesa heart jumped in her chest and her hands tightened around her apron.
It suddenly felt hot and her palms were sweaty.
"I shouldn't be doing this." The Princess sighed, leaning against the wall. "I'm already married, why should I compete with a lover? Bihishma told me this might happen but how was I to know that the Prince would have someone. He hadn't been declared married or engaged or--? I have no fault here, right? And it shouldn't be in my place to compete, right?"
She stared at Elyesa who immediately tensed up at being put on a spot.
"I---"
"Nevermind," she waved her hand dismissively in the air. "I'm sure he had just had her to pass time. She is not all that much of a competition, she is no competition at all." She sat down on the bed, smiling widely like as if she had just realized something that leveled up the whole situation. "Not when I have such a big help by my side."
"A big help, my Princess?"
"You, of course," she threw a friendly arm around her shoulders. "I won't have to find out who the lover is. I won't do that, I won't break my work heart."
"So what will you do, Princess?" She asked carefully, her voice a little shaky at the fear of what the pRobcess had in mind. The Princess hadn't noticed that though, being too lost in the plan that was forming in her head.
"Love him into loving me, of course!" Then she turned to her, looking right at Elyesa. "Promise me."
"Th-that what?"
Her heart was racing. Wildly. Pounding so loudly, it was all she could hear.
She suddenly felt fear crawl over her, she felt absolutely stuck, suffocated.
She needed to breathe.
This was too much, way too much.
"That you'll help me with this." She held her hand. "You are the only friend I have in the palace. The only person I trust."
"You trust me?" She asked slowly, feeling the burden weighing down on her shoulders at the Princess's declaration.
"I do. I know you don't have eyes on the Prince. You have someone you love, who you are ready to fight for. Besides that, I can feel that you are a great friend," she smiled, "that we'll be great friend.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
No, this was too painful.
"You are so-- Don't cry," the Princess wrapped her rams around her, hugging her and allowing her head to rest against her shoulder. She patted her back, while Elyesa sobbed because of how complicated everything was and how it felt like she was getting more and more drawn into a difficult situation that would have no way out for her and her Prince. The Princess thought Elyesa was just crying because of how overwhelmed and grateful she was that she was her only friend in the palace and that she trusted her.
After a while, she pulled away.
"Do you promise?"
Caught in a tight spot, Elyesa could do nothing but nod.
"I knew I could count on you." The Princess squealed and got down to business. "So tell me, how long have you served in the palace?"
"Since I was a little girl," her voice was still recovering from the tears she had just shed and the one she was still trying to suppress, thereby sounding a bit strained.
"That means you must know a lot about the Princess. In the sense of how much a maid can know, of course."
When Elyesa didn't reply, the Princess pressured.
"Right?"
She nodded like something had gotten stuck in her neck.
The Princess clapped in excitement like a little girl.
"Fantastic! I couldn't have asked for a better friend."
Then, she pull her up.
"I want to make a surprise for his Highness. I want it to be something that he would like. Will you help me?"
The pleading smile on the Princess face made Elyesa's heart ache. What was it that she had done wrong in the past that was making her hurt like this?
This was too much.
Shs had to find a way to escape this immediately.
"I want to," shs forced herself to speak, "but I don't know if I have any duties in--"
"Don't worry, I'll clear out your day. I'll tell the King or Queen or whoseover I must speak to that you are with me.
The truth was that, the Queen had already ordered that Elyesa's duties for today be given to someone else while she stayed with the Princess as a way to punish her.
"With me, you won't even have to work. Now that I am here, things will be very different."
Elyesa gaze shifted to the ground.
If only she knew how different her presence had made things already. How difficult it had made her life already.
Then the Princess started leading her to the door.
"First I want to decorate this place. Tell me what types of flowers he might like, or maybe not that, just tell me anything he will like that you at least have an idea about. I know that this might be farfetched but if you know anything, anything at all, please share it with me. I'll greatly appreciate it."
The Princess pushed the door open and the both stepped out. While they walked down the hallway, they across some servants who paid their respect to the Princess and gave Elyesa the subtle look of mockery that only her would notice.
It felt like their looks were burning her from within.
She looked away from them, her gaze set on the ground one again.
"Well..." The Princess pressured in reference to the question she had asked before.
Elyesa's tongue had never felt so heavy in her life. She made an attempt to speak but, thankfully, the Princess stoped her.
"Wait! I just realized that we haven't even exchanged our names," the Princess grinned, suppressing a squeal of excitement. "And we have already clicked so much. We must be soulmates!"
Elyesa forced a smile.
"My name is Nikita."
"Elyesa."
"Your name is beautiful."
"So is yours, Princess."
Shs giggled, "flattery, flattery. I like you."
Shs pulled her in roughly in a playful manner and Elyesa groaned lowly in pain.
"Your cuts!" Nikita exclaimed, frowning. "We should go back, I'll treat it for you. My father taught me how to."
"N-no," Elyesa shook her head vehemently. "I'm fine. H-how is your palm."
Nikita waved it in front of her.
"Better! Benefits of having someone wonderful treat my wounds. Oh the wonderful things we'll do together."
They had approached a stair now, and they took it.
"Now, about the Prince..."
The Princess's voice became more and more quiet as she asked her many questions to Elyesa who listened, then replied once in a while, as her heart bled.