As Prince George sat at the dining table with the Emperor and his family that afternoon for lunch, his eyes secretly following the one who made his heart skip a beat when he arrived earlier. Who was this woman and how did she manage to make his heart skip a beat? He wondered.
"I think a lot of things has changed since the last time I came here. I just keep seeing new faces around," Prince George said, hoping that someone could talk about this woman whom he found difficult to take his eyes off.
"Oh yes, we hired some new staff around the Palace," the emperor said.
"She must be one of them. I don't think I have ever seen her since I have been coming to visit," Prince George said nodding his head towards the woman.
"That is Elena. She's my new handmaiden and she's really good in performing her duties," Princess Natalie replied.
Elena.
She even had a name as beautiful as her, the Prince thought. Prince George immediately shook his head after realizing what he had just said in his mind. He couldn't believe he was admiring a handmaiden. But despite that, he still felt the same way he felt when he first set his eyes on Elena. He spent the rest of lunch trying to avoid looking at her, which he successfully accomplished.
But right after he was done having lunch with the emperor and his family, he found himself looking for Elena, who had d left the room with other mates after they were done serving the food. After the lunch, he thanked Emperor Atlas and The Empress for the warm gesture and excused himself to return back to his room as he was still feeling tired from his trip.
"Do you want me to maybe come back with you? We could talk about one or two things. I could keep you company," Princess Natalie said.
Prince George gave a polite smile and said,
"As nice as that sounded, I think I would love to be alone to rest."
Princess Natalie's face fell on hearing this but she quickly put a smile back up on her face and said,
"Well, that's no problem. We still have so much time together before and after we get married."
Still with the polite smile on his face, Prince George replied with a "yeah" and walked out of the dining room. His men, who had been waiting outside the dining room, escorted him back to his room. On getting back to his Chambers, he gave his guards and personal assistant the rest of the day off to get some rest.
As he entered into his chambers and climbed up his bed, he couldn't sleep even when he tried to force himself to. His mind was occupied with thoughts of Elena. He still remembered the beautiful smile on her face as she served at the dining table. What is going on with me? He wondered. Suddenly he sat up from his bed when a sudden thought popped into his head.
Is it possible that…
Oh no! My father would kill me if he found out that I have fallen for a mere maid.
He grunted in frustration and got up from the bed. Since he could not get some sleep, he decided to take a stroll in the garden to clear his head about the whole Elena obsession. He walked out of his chambers and made his way to the garden. He had been there a couple of times, mostly because of Princess Natalie who always wanted to hang out with him.
As he was walking about in the garden, there again he saw the very person he was trying to get off his mind: Elena. She hadn't noticed his presence because her back was against him. Elena was handpicking flowers for Princess Natalie as instructed. He wanted to look away but his eyes felt glued to her so he decided to watch her for a bit. He took in her every feature: her honey brown hair that swayed with the gentle breeze, her slender but curvaceous body and…
"Good evening, Your Majesty," Elena's voice rotten out of his world of thoughts.
He jerked a little in surprise as he had not expected that she would turn around and notice him. Her head was bowed so he couldn't see her face.
"Go… good evening," he stammered.
With that, Elena began to walk away with the flowers in her hands but Prince George stopped her in her tracks.
"You're Princess Natalie's handmaidens, am I right?" He asked.
"Yes, your Majesty," Elena replied, still looking down at her feet.
"Please just call me Prince George. Your Majesty is what you call my father and Emperor Atlas because they're old," Prince George said with a smile and Elena chuckled unconsciously.
Immediately she realized what she had done, she apologized.
"You did nothing wrong so there's nothing to apologize for. And please stop looking at the floor when I, who is speaking to you is standing in front of you," Prince George said.
"But you're royalty and I'm…" Elena was saying before Prince George cut her short.
"We're both ordinary humans. We're just different by status but that doesn't mean we don't have the same blood flowing through our veins. So I insist that you look at me," he said.
As Elena raised her head to look at him, Prince George almost gasped when her warm brown eyes pierced into his. He felt his heart flip a couple of times. He knew what this meant. Suddenly, Elena remembered that she had to get back to Princess Natalie.
"I have to go, Prince George. Princess Natalie's waiting," she said and scurried off after Prince George permitted her to leave.
Prince George immediately went back to his chambers and sent for his assistant.
"You sent for me?" The assistant asked.
"I need your help," Prince George said.
"I'm at your service."