Waking up the very next morning after the fight, Lili felt awful. Not only was her head throbbing and body sore, but she felt really bad about having just hurt such a young girl.
She couldn't help but feel that her actions were so immature. Ever since reincarnating into this girlish body of hers, she felt that her behaviours and actions had become more childish and irrational compared to before. Especially after she started bleeding from her crotch once a month she had begun to notice big mood swings, heightened emotions, getting irritated for the smallest of things and sometimes feeling anxiety for no reason, but most of all she had started getting strange feelings around guys.
Luckily the elderly tree had somehow managed to stabilise her emotions and make her feel more pure, but still she, couldn't help but cover her face in shame. And through her mouth that was missing many teeth scream to the sky. "AHH, I'm such an idiot! Why did I have to do that! Damnit!" She wasn't a hundred percent sure, but she was guessing that it was getting closer to that time of the month again and that was why she was acting so rashly. Soon she was going to bleed again and as a result feel absolutely horrible for the next few days.
Well at least she wasn't dead yet and only under house arrest for wounding the princess, so that was at least good. It seemed that she might have dodged a bullet yet again.
"Knock knock knock." Came three knocks from the door, followed by the door opening and Grandma Linn stepping in with a tray of food in hand.
Seeing the old woman Lilis eyes immediately sparked up in happiness, the granny looked a lot better now than she had looked before. Although she did wonder why she was here so early in the morning as she asked. "Madam Linn, what are you doing here so early In the morning?"
Coming closer Linn placed the tray of food to a small night table next to the bed and sat next to Lili. She looked concerned as she pulled down the blankets a little revealing Lilis broken hand as she said. "Oh, I came to see how you were doing. Are you feeling better now?"
Hearing the words of care, Lili felt her little heart flutter with warmth. Her face turned into a bright, partially toothless smile as she said. "Yeah I'm ok. This is basically just a scratch compared to everything else I have been through." While not totally true, she had been shot in the past by bullets and died in a blaze of glory, so technically compared to that and everything else this was nothing.
Hearing her words Grandma Linn did not seem pleased. To Lilis surprise she was grabbed by her armpits, lifted out from under her covers and placed face down and butt pointing up onto Grandma Linn's lap.
"Huh?" Was all that Lili managed to say before she felt her morning dress being pulled up and around her arms, leaving her body naked and fully exposed to the old granny.
Lili could feel Grandma Linn's eyes roaming carefully over her body, clearly inspecting her. She didn't know why, but for whatever reason it didn't feel strange. It merely felt like a granny lioness was inspecting a little cub. Then she heard Linn say. "Hmm, I don't see any scars here? But I do see a bad girl."
Then a feeling of slight danger upon Lili, followed by a hard smack on her butt.
"Kyaahh!" Lili screamed in shock of the sudden slap as she questioned. "AHH, wa wa wa what are you doing?"
"I'm disciplining a naughty little girl."
"Smack!"
"AHH!"
"Shame on you Lili. How dare you leave class without telling me."
"Smack!"
"Ahh, I'm sorry Linn. It's just that.."
"Smack!"
"Ugh."
"No excuses. You as a bed maid are not to concern yourself with matters concerning war and violence, those things are only meant for the men and with an exception the princess, but not you. You only need to concern yourself with being a beautiful and humble girl, that is to do whatever it is that your master the prince wishes of you and nothing else. And to do that you need to follow my teachings and become a proper girl worthy of being the Princes bed maid."
Hearing this Lili felt a bit distressed, why couldn't she practice a little bit of war and sword fighting alongside her other lessons? But then again her job didn't really sound all that bad, especially since there was no Prince here for her to serve and so this was basically the easiest job ever.
Thinking of this Lili was about to talk, but then.
"Smack!"
"Iih!" Lili yelped in pain as her head tossed back, body stiffened from the hard smack on her butt.
"Nod if you understand."
Lili could feel a tier come to her eye as she frantically nodded her head just wanting this all to be over.
Grandma Linn merely smiled and then said. "Good, I'm happy to see that you agree with me on this. As a bed maid you need to learn to be compliant and submissive towards your superiors. You need to forget that independent and hotheaded mindset of yours. This castle is not a playground of yours where you can go wherever and do whatever. No, here there are rules and as a underling you are to follow those rules, ok?"
Hearing this Lili wanted to protest. Sure respecting your superiors was to be expected, but to be submissive just sounded wrong, plus what was up with all this talk about rules?
All this was sounding like a bit too much for her. After all hadn't she just escaped slavery in hopes of being a free person. She wanted to be free again to do whatever she wanted and to go wherever she wanted to go, but this wasn't sounding like it at all.
All this sounded like just another form of slavery to her. Why was she being held here in her workplace, sure she didn't really have a place to call home, but wasn't this just kidnapping. She wanted out, no she needed to get out of here, if it truly was going to be as she was starting to fear this to be. But she couldn't, she couldn't do or say anything against this old woman, as she was in no position to do so, she needed this job and so she submitted.
With shame, Lili nodded her head and lowered her gaze as she said. "Yes Madam Linn." Doing this Lili could just feel her sense of pride leaving her. This shit was not manly at all, but well at least she wasn't a man no more, so she had an excuse for it.
Pulling Lilis dress down Grandma Linn then dropped a verbal bomb on Lili by saying. "I talked with the Queen and princess Eadlin before coming here. And I can say that the Queen was quite understanding of what happened between you two, but quite horrified by what you did to her daughter and disappointed in you. But luckily she did give the princess the authority to be incharge of punishing you. And I say this because by some miracle the princess does not wish to take any further actions towards you."
Hearing her words Lili felt ashamed of herself. Had she just destroyed any and all good will the Queen might have had towards her? She couldn't help but feel bad about it all, but at least she could basically set this all right. Thanks to her powers she could maybe heal that hot headed princess and at least like to make their fight have no physical consequences for anyone.
Then Grandma Linn lifted Lili off of her lap as Lili asked. "So, can I go outside now?" If she could go outside then maybe she could meet up with the princesses and heal her, she hoped.
Hearing this Grandma Linn merely chuckled lightly at Lili as she stood up and said. "Of course not. You still have to stay in house arrest as a punishment, until princess Eadlin decides otherwise. But worry not I'll still come give you your daily lessons here, that is once you are all healed up and well again. But in the meantime if there is anything that you need, just say it to Sir Jack or the maids and they will make sure to bring it to you."
Left speechless Lili watched as Grandma Linn walked to the door, said her goodbyes and left leaving Lili completely alone in the room. For a while Lili merely stared at the door not knowing what to say or to do. What was she to do entrapped here as she was?
Hopping off of the bed Lili ran to the door and tried to open it. "Click click click." Was the only sound that was heard. The door was locked.
In despair Lili placed her hands and head against the door as she weakly fell to her knees. She felt angry at the world, the people in it, but mostly at her own stupidity. Tiers came to her eyes, she felt like crying.
"Click, click." Then came the sound and the door suddenly opened outwards, causing Lili to fall forward to the ground with a small tud.
"Ouch." Lili whimpered out as she went to push herself up with one hand holding onto her hurting head.
"Oh, Miss Lili. I'm sorry, are you ok?" Came the somewhat distressed voice of Jack as his arms reached downwards and grabbed Lili, lifting her into his firm embrace.
Like a knight carrying his princess Jack held Lili in his arms giving her a high wattage point to see all that was around her. And there standing at the sides of her door she could see two heavily armoured men watching her and Jack carefully.
Nodding her head Lili looked to the guards and then back at Jack as she questioned. "Why are there guards outside my door?"
To this Jack merely showed a bitter smile stepped Lili in his arms inside the room and closed the door as he said. "Oh don't worry about them. They are here merely to help me protect you from anything dangerous."
Pouting at Jack Lili said. "Liar, they are here to make sure that I stay in here aren't they? Come on Jack tell me the truth, what's going on?"
Carrying Lili to her bed Jack placed her down and nervously spoke. "I'm not lying. They are here to keep you safe, just like I am. It's just that the Queen doesn't trust me enough so she ordered them to stand guard as well. Mmm, and well we are also to keep you from leaving this room, so there is that as well."
Crossing her arms Lili looked poutingly at Jack. "Tell me Jack, just how long am I honestly going to be locked up here for?"
Lowering his head in humility towards Lili Jack said. "Honestly, that I do not know. It's just like the Duchess said. It's all up to the princess now, you could be here for days, weeks, months or even years, but worry not I'm sure she will let you out of here at some point."
Hearing the word year, Lili felt her heart sink. She couldn't be here for that long, she had things to do and people to save. The girls wouldn't be waiting for her forever. Grabbing a hold of Jack's arm, Lili pleaded to him.
"Jack I can't be trapped in here for that long, I need to see my mother. Please, you know of my power, just go and arrange a meeting between me and the princess. I will take it from there and set things right. Please Jack your my only hope."
With sadness Jack looked upon Lili as he said. "I will try, but I cannot promise you anything. The princess is under heavy guard and a stubborn person. She will most likely not listen to what I have to say, that is if I'm even allowed to get near inaf to her so that I can even speak to her. But don't worry Miss Lili, I'm sure you will get to see your mother again soon and in the meantime I can simply act as your messenger to her."
Disappointed by Jack's words Lili did not feel assured, she hung her head low in despair and asked. "Did you at least meet my mother last night? What did she say?"
Seemingly thinking back on it Jack scratched his Chen as he said. "Umm, well your mother didn't say much. She didn't even show her face to me and merely asked about your whereabouts, and after that she asked me to get her some supplies. Of course I did as she said, just like you requested. But after that she disappeared somewhere into the well and I couldn't hear or see her at all. Honestly she felt quite distrustful of me and I'm guessing that's why she didn't hardly say anything to me."
Hearing the answer Lili chuckled a little. Obviously it was to be expected of her mother to act like so towards a complete stranger, especially a stranger that was not of Lycan kind.
Well at least her mother was alright and that was all that she really cared about. Now she just needed to find a way to get some light stones delivered to her mom so that the underground could be made in habitable yet again.
Thinking of this a idea came to her. She looked up at Jack and confidently said. "Jack, get me a lot of stones. I think it's time I became an official stone collector."
Sure none of this was seemingly going like Lili had hoped for it all to go down, but it was like a wise man once said. "It ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It's about how you take those hits and turn them into opportunities. How you always take what you can get and make the most out of it. Or no wait that wasn't the right quote, well whatever." The point was that Lilis was going to keep on going no matter what and she was going to find the use and positivity amongst hardship and negativity.