At the break of dawn,the rising sun cast an orange hue across the sky. It's golden shafts of light piercing through the clouds while it's heat slowly spread through the land and Evelyne who was at the backyard picking fruits basked to it's warmth.
With a small basket in her hands, she slowly moved from tree to tree while picking the ripened fruits and not long after, someone appeared into the backyard.
"Lyne."
She heard someone call her and turning around, her eyes met with Emily's grey ones.
"It is a beautiful morning. Isn't it nanny?" She inquired while turning towards the east side where the sun had almost fully emerged.
Unlike the previous day, she looked much better but still, the heaviness of her feelings could not be fully hidden but there was that light glow in her eyes that was enough to tell the woman that she was doing alright. 'Maybe she had started to embrace the harsh reality of life.' The woman thought and walking towards her while fully closing the existing distance between them, Emily said,
"About last night, what were you doing in the middle of the hallway alone." Seeing how Evelyne gave her a look that said that she had explained, she continued to say,
"You did not expect me to fall for that lie now did you?"
"To be honest, I did." She answered but with the stern look on the older woman's face, Evelyne became serious.
"I was with Javier. He had come to check whether I was doing okay."
"And that was all?"
Emily was not content with the answer that she had received. There was more to what she had just said because at the mention of the name Javier, her mood lightened. It was a subtle action but having watched her grow up, Emily knew her better.
"He was asking me if maybe I could go with him and then we can start a life together."
Before she had gotten out of the bed earlier in the morning she could not help but ponder on whether that was what she wanted and in as much as she did not like to be an impulsive woman, she did not see any reason why she could turn down the man who was not afraid of claiming his feelings for her.
"And what did you tell him?"
"I said that I would think about it." When she said that, she looked away from Emily's scrutinizing gaze to which she picked a banch of blueberries that were not far from where she stood.
Javier was not as rich as her family. And she did not care about any of that because growing up in wealth, she knew that some basic things would never be baught with money. Like life, health or love.
"And...-"
Her trail of thoughts were brought back to the present when she heard Emily trying to coax her to speak and gently tucking a strand of her unruly hair behind her ear, she replied,
"I think that is what I want. A family filled with love and happiness where I can be away from all these."
She had seen how Emily lived with her sons who also worked in the palace and although they never had much, they were always happy because they had each other. That unbreakable bond between them was something that she envied and admired at the same time.
"If you do like him, then I can't stop you and that is because I know that he is a good man. You have my blessings on this one dear." At the woman's words, Evelyne's lips tugged upwards into a smile. She could now feel that the decision that she made was a right one after hearing her nanny's words.
Once they had finished their morning conversation, the two headed to different places. Emily headed towards the attic while she walked back to the kitchen.
As she continued to walk while letting her thoughts to roam around, she did not notice someone who was walking towards the opposite direction as she was as busy looking at the basket filled with fruits but before they could bump into each other, the person spoke.
"If the fruits are that appealing, you should have taken your own time to admire them when you were in the garden."
It was a man's voice and when she heard it, she was quick to raise her head and noticing that it was a wrong thing to do, she quickly bowed. "My apologies." Those were the first words to come out of her mouth and in response, the man said nothing.
While she continued to lower her head, the other person quickly lost his interest in talking to a maid to which he walked past her and with him gone, Evelyne resumed back to walking.
Before getting into the kitchen, she met up with Camile whose jovial face looked serious as she asked,
"What was that?" It took her a moment before realizing what Camile was talking about and with a sheepish smile, Evelyne answered,
"I almost bumped into that man."
"He could have probably sent you to the disciplinary room. Prince Daceus is never forgiving."
Saying that, Camile left the place. "So, that was the so called prince Daceus!" She thought.
"I will definitely never bump into him." Muttering those words, she got inside so that she could continue with her chores.