Mauve yawned, rubbing her eyes as she woke up. She could hear the maids calling to her, they were literally screaming in her ears. "For goodness's sake, I'm awake." She blurted out, sitting upright.

She opened her eyes to find her two maids in waiting just inches from her face, neither of them hid their disdain. She almost laughed, why did they look so jealous, she would gladly trade places in a jiffy.

Her eyes felt heavy, she had issues falling asleep on time and it was barely up to an hour that she finally did. Why in the goddess's name was this happening in the middle of the night? Even though she knew why she still thought it was ridiculous. She yawned again and rubbed her eyes. It felt like pieces of pebbles had found their way into her eyes.

"Your bath is ready, my princess," The fatter maid said. She said princess like it was a curse. Mauve knew better than to remember names, she did not want to miss anyone. Well, it wasn't like there was anyone worth missing in the first place.

"Thank you," she replied as politely as possible.

They held her hands and helped her out of the bed, and into the bath. It smelt so good and felt so warm against her skin that she wished she could lie there forever but she knew this was not to be.

The maids carefully began to wash her arms and Mauve let her thoughts drift. They should have at least let her enjoy being a princess for a few more months, just four weeks was a little too brutal. Four weeks of luxury for an entire life of suffering, she didn't think it was even the least bit fair.

She lifted her legs out of the water a little to give the maids access to them as they scrubbed her clean. "Ow! She yelled out as the slimmer maid scrubbed hard on her skin, her name was Vae if she remembered correctly. She stared at the spot, it was bright red.

"I am so sorry princess." The maid apologized, bringing her head to touch the ground as she pleaded for her life.

Mauve almost laughed, in as much as they could be a little rude they wouldn't dare do anything outrightly wrong to her. She smiled, she would have liked to enjoy this more.

"Don't waste your time Vae, I'll be out of your hair sooner than you know and the faster you can get me ready, the better." This was as exhausting for her as it was for them.

"Yes, my princess," Vae murmured, lifting herself off the ground and resuming her task.

The rest of the bath was done in complete silence. The only sounds that could be heard were the splashing of water and grunts from the maids as they worked. None of them said a word as they washed her hair and even when she sat by the dresser in nothing but her robes which hung by the sides exposing her bosom, she still said nothing.

They went to work on her face, brushing her brows and applying makeup which mostly included powder, lipstick, and a little blush. Of course, her eyes were painted too, a little bit here and there, blended well enough to bring out the color of her eyes.

When they were done, she inspected the outcome as they brushed her hair, deciding what hairdo was best. She wouldn't say she hated the figure that looked back but she would have preferred to do this in the simplest way ever.

It wasn't like she had a say in the matter. If she did, she wouldn't be here. She tried not to sigh, to show her displeasure was the same as saying they had won. She would go through this with the brightest smile ever like a bride should be.

The brush came down on her hair again and Mauve closed her eyes, feeling nothing but the brush. It was better this way, the number she was, the better she would be able to go through this. She felt a slight pain as her hair was tied up, pins shoved into it. She didn't flinch, just kept her eyes closed with a blank expression on her face.

"Princess," a maid called, pulling her out of the dream state.

She opened her eyes to look at the mirror and the figure that looked back was almost unrecognizable. The hair pulled at her scalp as it hung up but she couldn't deny the maids did a great job. She moved her lips into a smile and the reflection smiled back but it didn't reach her eyes.

She stood to her feet and the robe fell. The maids took over immediately. Dressing her up as fast as they possibly could. She was on the measly side so the corset didn't do much damage to her torso as they pulled at the ropes to make it tight and in place.

She didn't think she needed it but if she had a say, well one could guess. She then stepped into the dress which was placed at her feet, the color a slight pink that was drawing closer to cream. Her wedding dress, she almost scoffed. Prison dress sounded more like it.

The sad part was she had no idea what lay in wait for her in this union that she wanted no part in. She could only guess that it would be the most horrendous thing she had ever been through and she had been through quite a lot.

The maid pulled the dress to her shoulders, her bust poked at the top, revealing a little cleavage. Vae quickly put a necklace around her neck as the other maid wore her earrings. 

The jewelry was courtesy of the Queen. She didn't need to know anything about jewelry to know this was one of the Queen's personal sets. She had seen this particular jewelry in the Queen's jewelry box before now.

As if her thoughts had triggered it, the door suddenly pushed open to reveal the Queen. "Your highness," Mauve muttered as she went down to her knees, the maids already beating her to it.

"No need for that princess, we don't want to ruin your wedding dress now. Do we? " the Queen said, walking up to her. "You look so beautiful," she touched Mauve's cheeks as she spoke. The Queen's face however said something entirely different.