I thought I was dying, until I felt something warm trickle into my undergarment. I mentally counted dates in my head and realized my menstrual flow was due. I stood up and checked the back of my dress in the mirror. There was a bright red blotch. I facepalmed myself. The things paranoia could cause.
I checked the bedsheets and I felt relieved that it wasn't stained in anyway. How was I supposed to go about this now?
The butler! He must able to help. But I couldn't wait till the butler came around to ask him for what I needed. I ran to the door and twisted the knob. Like magic, it clicked open. Just as the door opened, a tall figure came and stood before me. He must be a royal guard.
"Excuse me. Can you get word across to the butler. I am in need of fresh cloth for erm...my womanly needs." I said hurriedly. The faster I got the message across, the faster the butler could get what I wanted.
At first the guard did not understand what I was referring to and he stood there looking all confused. Realization flashed through his eyes and I saw his cheeks stained with a tinge of pink.
"Yes. Right away." He replied and quickly stalked away. There was another guard at the door. He gave me a little bow and I bowed back awkwardly before retreating into the room. I smiled at the first guard's behavior. Obviously he had no wife nor sisters, else he wouldn't be so flustered.
Not very long after, there was a knock on the door.
"Milady, it's Gilbert. May I come in?"
"Yes."
He pushed the door and came into the room holding a tray of fresh white cloth. I immediately felt bad that I was going to soil them with menstrual blood.
He gave me the tray. "The cloth you asked for."
I gratefully took the cloth from him.
"I shall ask a maid to run a bath for you to wash up." And with that he disappeared before I could even protest. I was more than capable of running my own bath. I really needed one. Back at home, I would get water from the spring and wash up in the bath basin. I kept staring at the soft white cloth the butler had brought when I heard another knock on the door.
"Your bath, milady." The same high pitched voice from earlier called. I opened the door and let in the girl who managed to balance two pails of water on her shoulders quite easily.
She came in and filled the bath tub with water, and then she poured some soap into the water until it formed a froth. She gestured for me to get into the bath and I shook my head.
What was she trying to do? Bathe me? Did she think I was a kid? I don't know what the butler instructed her to do, but I was not going to let it happen.
"No, I'll do it myself." I told her
"...but Mr Gilbert said..." She tried to protest.
"Mr Gilbert says nothing. I'll do it myself. Thank you." I flashed her a smile she couldn't refute.
She seemed to respect my decision and she let the issue be.
"Mr Gilbert asked that you change into some clean clothes too." She walked over to the closet and pulled out a simple floral dress with sleeves.
I took a good look at the minimalist dress but I knew that it had more quality and was more expensive than all my dresses put together.
The maid bowed lightly and left the room. I was able to heave a sigh of relief after that. I went over and inspected the dress. The fabric was so smooth and silky. The dress was just the right size and length. It was perfect. There was no way I was wearing it.
I took off my old dress and put it into the frothy water, washing off the sweat, grime, menstrual blood and ...Papa's blood. I had gotten it on me when I went to lift up his body from the floor. My tears fell into the tub of water in small droplets causing the still water to ripple.
After crying a good bunch, I realized crying wouldn't help to bring Papa back to life. He had been the one to tell me whenever I mourned too much for a patient that as a physician, if I was too depressed over the loss of one patient, I wouldn't be able to take care of another one which could lead to another loss.
I wringed my now clean dress of excess water and hanged it on the window to dry. I managed to get a good look at the castle estate from the window's view.
From what I could see, the castle was huge. The courtyard had a large manicured lawn with a magnificent water fountain at the middle of it. I had never seen anything as beautiful.
I saw servants and guards moving from place to places. Carriages were coming in and out from a grand gate. The castle sure was a busy place.
Then it hit me. How high up was I actually? I counted the number of windows I could see and found out that I was on the fourth floor. Why was I all the way up here when I wasn't a princess? The ground was so far below and I was scared of heights. My head began to spin.
Just when I thought my life couldn't get any worse, the wind blew strongly and my dress went off with it before I could catch it.
I facepalmed myself. Of course it was a dumb idea to dry my dress that was as light as that on the window. Why hadn't I chosen the changing screen instead?
I watched the wind take my dress till my eyes couldn't see it anymore. Great, now I have no choice but to wear the dress the butler wanted me to wear.
* * *
Five days passed with me repeating the same routine all day long. Yes I know I was one to repeat routines back in the village, but at least then I wasn't confined to one room the entire day.
Sleeping, waking, eating, bathing, dressing up like nobility in opulent fibers when I was actually a nobody. I was sick of it. When was the Dark Lord going to see me?
Was I going to keep waiting for him when he never showed? Each time I asked Gilbert the butler, he told me the same old thing that I memorized it. The Dark Lord was busy with the affairs of the kingdom. He will see you soon.
What if he had forgotten that I was even here? If he did, was I going to keep living my life in the confines of this room? No way. I was a busy woman. My late father's infirmary was now in my hands and I couldn't leave it empty. It was Papa's wish that I would run it after him.
If the Dark Lord thinks he can keep me here to rot then he got another think coming. I'm going to find my way out of here...