Alisa continued on with her innane task of helping the Lady Leena, Lord Keith's daughter get ready for her meeting with the Duke's son and the future Duke himself, Lord Jasper.
The Lady Leena was indeed very beautiful, with her golden locks and bright sky-blue eyes. If Alisa was asked, she could clearly see why Lord Jasper and King Maxim wanted to marry her.
Well, marry her for a supposed revenge on King Maxim's part, but still.
Internally, she scoffed. Sure, she Lady Leena was very beautiful, but her personality was equally rotten.
"You IMBECILE! I want my toasts buttered on inside with marmalade, and butter on the side. NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND!"
She smacked the tray containing her toasts, along with the juice and ham out of a young terrified maid's hands and onto the floor. Alisa pursed her lips when she saw the scene.
"ALook at me when I speak, you toad!"
When Leena took a brutal hold of the girl's chin, forcing the terrified and crying girl to meet her eyes, Alisa decided to intervene.
"My lady, please calm yourself. It isn't good for your nerves." She quickly sidled up to the two women, tapping the younger maid on her arm slightly to get her attention and motioning her to leave. The girl took the out gratefully, quickly bowing and dashing away.
"Your are meeting with Lord Jasper today."
The woman in question looked critically at her handmaid, but obliged. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then another. Opening them, she looked at her maid consideringly.ย
"Hmm. The meet must go perfectly."
She threw her hair back and walked away to the vanity.
Alisa went back to her tasks. She laid the dress the Lady would be wearing when meeting the Lord. It was light blue, and she was sure it would look heavenly on the envious figure of The lady.
Lord Jasper would surely fall for her.
Reluctantly, she admitted. It was all going according to plan.
She remembered that day in the alley-
"๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฆ?"
๐๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ด ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ.
'๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต?'
"๐๐ฉ๐ข-?"
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ท๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ฌ.
"๐๐ด ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ? ๐๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ?"
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ข ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ?
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต.
'๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ!'
"๐๐ฎ, ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต, ๐ถ๐ฎ, ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ, ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ด?" ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ.ย
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ?" ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฌ๐ข๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ.
"๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ?"
๐๐ฉ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ง ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ.
๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ข!
๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข.
"๐๐ฐ, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต, ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ฌ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ." ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ.
Now, while preparing the Lady Leena, she made sure that she looked her best. Her best clothes, flawless makeup, good mood and most importantly that Lady Leena was completely prepared to charm Lord Jasper.
Alisa had made the Lady go through all the materials that the Kings's guard had provided her with, regarding the tastes of Lord Jasper.
"๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ," He had said, "๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ."ย
She had resisted her urge to ask him what it was about. She did not have enough information on her to do that right then.
After that, when she had first seen Leena after waking up, she was wondering if Maxim had decided to ruin the life of Jasper by entangling him with such a despicable wife. Divorces were very much not an option in this land.
'King Maxim, you dolt and Lord Jasper. And Lady Leena. Remember to use the titles. Won't want anybody to hear you.'
"You have been acting different, Alisa." Her head whipped around to meet the eyes of her Lady, as she looked at Alisa from the mirror. Their eyes met, and the handmaid could see the brain working behind them.
She suppressed a shiver.
Leena- Lady Leena- was clever. Very clever. Alisa needed to be careful around her. Unfortunately for her, she had no clue how the the real Alisa acted.
She smiled, suddenly unsure. She needed to get out.
"I...uh...the plate! I will clear the shards, my Lady. Don't want you getting hurt."
Without waiting for an answer, she quickly swooped down, and cleared the pieces up, taking them in her hands along with the shards of the glass and butter jar, scooping what she could of the food and put them on a tray.
Curtsying, she left from the door with a "I will bring you your evening snack, my Lady."
The doors closed behind her, and she quickly walked to the kitchen to ask the cook to make another snack.
After giving the instructions, and taking a moment to calm down, she decided to go back and continue with getting Lady Leena ready. Perhaps she could also squeeze in another lesson about Lord Jasper's favourite desserts.
She left the living room behind, and walked towards her destination. She decided to take a shortcut through the study, turning a corner swiftly-
-Smack!-
-and ran face first into another person.ย
Everything happened too fast to stop it.
"Aaah!"
"Uff!"
She yelped, off balance, as she whirled backwards from the force. Alisa tried raising her hands to protect her head from the fall she knew was inevitable, when she felt a pair of hands on her arms.
The person she had smacked into, unable to stop her fall took a hold of her, falling with her. He twisted her as they fell, and all too soon, they landed on the floor.
Alisa slowly opened her eyes from where she had closed them. She was unhurt.
"Argh..."
She froze at the sound.ย
Her eyes trailed upwards at the groan she heard underneath her, only to land on the pair of ebony coloured eyes looking down at her.
"Lord Jasper!"