My heart raced knowing that the Princess was going to punish me that morning, I had woken up late and was in a rush to deliver her morning tea.

I held a tray of dandelion tea, alongside a tea cup and a spoon,and my body shook in fear because I was certain that I was going to get in a lot of trouble with the royal family. 

It wasn't my fault because I was awake halfway through the previous night, creating a list the King had instructed me to concerning her upcoming birthday but the Princess never listened to excuses.

As my feet moved with the rhythm of my fearful heartbeat, I bumped into a man who walked out of the bend by my left. 

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the hot liquid spilled all over his armor and I was scared to raise my head and meet his gaze only because his clothing looked familiar. 

"I am sorry," I apologized shortly and kept my eyes on my feet the whole time.

"Why not wake up earlier fool than to be in such a rush, this is the Princess's tea I suppose?" he asked and pointed at his armor and I didn't find the words to say.

He was Adriel Santos, leader of the Aeradonian's undefeated warriors and no doubt the most handsome man I ever met, his bodybuilding was stupendous, and his jawline and facial hair gave him an extraordinary masculine look.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized again and picked up the cup which had fallen over.

As if he knew that I avoided his face, he lifted my chin so that I looked into his icy cold eyes, and I shivered at his touch.

"The next time you do this, I wouldn't hesitate to break the cup on you, is that clear?" his harsh tone resounded over again in my ears while I nodded my head.

"Good," He uttered before he walked away.

I admired him for several reasons, his physical appearance alone was attractive enough for me to stare at all day without growing tired of it.

My heart raced towards him while he spoke, and I never took my ears off whenever I heard stories about him, although he never noticed me or maybe he did but always ignored me. He acted like he found me repulsive and I always wondered why I still loved him with all that behavior.

 I looked at the spilled tea all over the floor, I was forced to cry, because I was already late and making another tea was going to double my punishment. 

When I turned to leave another voice called me from behind, I recognized that voice from anywhere and that wasn't a time when I would have agreed to stop and listen.

The voice in question was that of Allesio Rowan, a palace guard who sought my attention. He found me attractive both physically and beyond, and he liked my diligence and total dedication to my work without knowing how exhausting I found it to be.

Most of the time to avoid being rude, I waited and listened to all he had to say but not at that moment, his tendency to keep me in an unnecessary conversation for hours was the last thing I needed at that point.

"Sage!" he called out several times that it became harder to ignore him so I turned around to speak.

"Please Allesio, I have to deliver the tea to the Princess as soon as possible, I don't have time for this."

" Well I know a shortcut," he uttered and I stopped abruptly.

"Follow me," he Instructed and since I was desperate to beat time as much as I could I followed submissively and he led me toward a painting.

I was tempted to complain but held my tongue to see what he had to do. I watched him push the painting to the side and revealed a long tunnel illuminated by torches of burning wood.

It surprised me how the tunnel wasn't filled with smoke and even if it was, I had no other choice than to go through it.

"It leads you to the passageway near the kitchen, reducing your walk by half," he mentioned.

"Thank you," I said to him. 

"Don't tell anyone about this, do you hear me? not even your best friend should know that I took you past here," he instructed me and I nodded before I left him and headed for the end of the tunnel.

I moved another painting at the end and the kitchen was ahead of me, I dashed into the kitchen and made another tea in a hurry and ignored the eyes of the other maids that peered at me in disbelief.

I followed the same secret route, and I was back to the same spot I had left Allesio and was surprised to see that he still stood there. I thanked him once again and since he knew that I was in a hurry, he chose not to bother me.

Allesio was handsome, his sense of humor was one of a kind, very nice and jovial but unlike Adriel, I didn't feel attracted to Allesio, I just cared about him like I did to every other person but he didn't get that, he came around to see me every afternoon and never forgot to say goodnight before he went to bed.

I always wished Adriel was like him. As I got to the Princess's chamber, I hesitated to walk inside like I normally did, I believed that she was already awake and was probably ready to strike me dead once she set her eyes on me. 

I took a deep breath before I placed my hand on the doorknob and twisted it to open after I had made up my mind to take whatever punishment I was going to receive.

But I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw a figure on the bed covered by a white blanket.I walked as quietly as possible and place the tray on her side table. 

"You are late," her voice startled me and I froze up like a statue unable to move my feet.