Chapter 17
Her Decision
Ara raised her head to look at them. They were staring at her like she was a piece of meat. All of them were waiting for her response; what was she saying next? Vladimir was attentively waiting for her answer too; what if she chose to go with him instead of staying here?
It seems like this girl doesn't care that he is her mate; she's not making any move to talk to him or just making any effort to get in touch. That makes him curious about her; almost all of the girls he knew throw themselves to him, but this one? She almost doesn't want to look at him.
That's really odd.
"Well?" He asked when she was taking too long to give her answer. Isn't that hard to choose? Ara's expression turned blank as she stated her decision.
"I'll stay, your majesty." Of course, she'll stay. Her mission was here. Vladimir was pleased by her answer; he looked at the royal knight commander, who was looking at Ara with a smug smirk playing on his lips. It looks like he's not giving up on her after hearing her decision.
"You heard her answer, Rogers." William looked at him and nodded. "I respect her answer; okay then, the lady wanted to stay and be under Mrs. O'Neil's protection; I don't have anything to do with that." Cattie, Maddie and Mrs O'Neil let out a sigh of relief; they were glad Ara was out of danger now.
"Okay, it settles then," he looked at the maids, "next time, don't make any mistake."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Vladimir looked around, "Ladies and gentlemen, please resume eating." he announced and sat properly. "She's the one I investigated? Damn, I didn't know she looked like this," Nicolas said in his mind. He looked at him, "So?" Was even his second-in-command interested in her now?
Nicolas shook his head, "Nothing, bro, you're looking at me now like you wanted to kill me." he said in amusement, but Vladimir just blankly stared at him. "Alright, alright, I'm just kidding, you know. But seriously, bro, she looked great to be just a maid. Don't you want her to be your concubine?" That caught his attention.
His concubine, his mate to be his concubine. The king's mate was bound to be the Queen, but there were rare situations in which the king was the one who would select the queen, who would be called the chosen Queen.
"No, and she's not that beautiful." Nicolas looked at him suspiciously. Is he blind? he called the beautiful girl not that pretty. Anyway, every person has a different perception and taste. Nicolas looked at the young girl; Ara heard what the king had said.
'Not that beautiful,' her mate said how to pity. She knows that she can't please everyone, and she doesn't have fucking care about it, but coming that from her very own mate hits differently. It hurts as hell, cut deeper like a knife.
He hates her, huh? Okay, fine. That's what he wants; she doesn't need a soulmate anyway, not even him. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes lightly; clear your mind, Ara, focus. she said to herself.
The luncheon ended peacefully, and she didn't even move to her place. She's just standing like a statue while staring at the ground. The king and the guest had already left, and they were left in the dining room to clean and arrange the area.
"Clean the whole place; this is your punishment for defying me and creating trouble." Mrs. O'Neil coldly instructed them, and the three nodded their heads. They knew she was mad, very mad.
"Just be glad the king seems to be in a good mood; he spares the three of you." She continued. Cattie looked up, "Sorry for what happened, Mrs O'Neil; we promise we won't do it anymore." She apologised sincerely, but the woman just looked at her seriously, so she looked down again.
"I don't know how I will show my gratitude to you, Mrs. O'Neil, but I'm really thankful for what you did. We know that you're mad at us for involving you in that trouble; we don't expect you to forgive us easily, but we are really sorry." Ara apologised, too.
"Me too, Mrs. O'Neil. I'm really sorry; sometimes I can't help but talk. We promise we will talk less now." A small smile slowly crept into the woman's lips; amusingly, these three girls were admitting their mistakes.
Paulita isn't that cold; she knows how to forgive. She playfully hit their heads using the rolled paper she was holding. Cattie whimpered, but it actually didn't hurt. "Silly girls, you learned your lessons now. Next time, follow my instruction if you want to stay alive here, Ara; I don't know why the Royal Knight Commander wanted you, but rest assured now, he can't touch you because you're under my protection now." Ara nodded her head and looked at her.
Mrs. O'Neil is a great woman; she's a kind and understanding person. "I won't forget this, Madam, thank you." Paulita nodded. "Okay, let's move on. Start working now. I still have unfinished business to do. I'll be right back here later to check if it's already clean. After cleaning, you three can have your meal."
Maddie and Cat smiled widely; they knew Paulita couldn't stay mad for so long. "Got it, Mrs. Paulita," Cattie answered back and laughed. The woman glared at her and hit her twice with the rolled paper. Cattie acted like she was hurt and caressed her head.
"Stop calling me Paulita if you don't want to extend your time working on the ground floor." She warned her, but Cattie just smiled. "Come on, Mrs. O'Neil, you're no fun." The woman hit her again. That made Ara smile slowly, and then the tension was over.
"Stop teasing her, Cattie. She won't hesitate to make you work overtime and miss completely your lunch." Maddie told her that amusement could be heard in her voice too.
"Okay, okay, sorry, Mrs. O'Neil." she apologised.
"It's fine now, back to work. I'm leaving." As she said that, she left.
Now, the three of them were left in the room. They looked into each other and to the dining table. It was quite messy and a lot of work to do.
"This will be time-consuming and tiring; let's start now?" Maddie said while staring at the plates. Ara was thinking the same; this would be indeed tiring.
"Yeah, we should. Maybe after this, we can finally have our super late breakfast and lunch." Cattie said and tapped her tummy. It's already making a weird sound. Clearly, she's starving.
"Let's get started now, then; we should put the dishes in the kitchen. I'll be the one who will wash them, and then the both of you will clean the table, chairs and the ground." Ara instructed them. The two girls looked at her.
"You'll wash all of that alone?' Cattie asked while pointing to the dishes. Ara smiled, "Nah, come over in the kitchen sink and after you guys clean the place." She answered. They nodded their head in understanding.
"Oh, got it. We will help you to transfer the dishes first to the kitchen. Let's go." Maddie said and started moving towards the table.