The Royal Letter
TO say she was surprised and mesmerized was an understatement, she was more than surprised and shocked as well.
Be a personal maid to the Prince? The almighty Prince? Hmm, could she actually do this?
She looked at Prag, she was smiling and munching on the candy in her mouth, watching her uneasiness, hmm, it seems she likes it.
She didn’t even know what to reply, she just kept mute her mind wandering away.
“Isn’t it a welcome news?” Prag asked.
She was about to reply when they heard footsteps descending the stairs with which Prag had come and they both turned.
It was a young, heavily built looking man, tall and huge. He finally came down the stairs and walked up to them.
He stopped and looked at Rina, her eyes twitched, she was uncomfortable.
“Anything Zoya?” Prag asked and he swiftly shifted his attention to her.
He brought his mouth closer to her ears whispering some words to her, Rina stood watching them.
Prag nodded and he walked away, taking the stairs.
She turned to Rina and sighed.
“Well Rina, I think you should be happy now”, she said and Rina looked at her inquiringly.
“What do you mean Miss?” She asked.
“I saw your nervousness when I said you are going to be a personal maid to the Prince, well, information just reached me now that His Grace, the Prince wants no personal maid”, she said.
“Ohh”, Rina exhaled deeply. She was more than thankful to God at that moment.
“I see you like that?”
“Of course, very much”, she replied nodding, her eyes widened.
Prag laughed.
“You are different actually, this is an opportunity most maids are praying for”.
“Well others, not me”, she spread out her arms in demonstration.
“I see. Now your duties”, she cracked her throat and looked into her jotter.
Rina immediately stood properly, putting her arms behind her.
“Since you aren’t gonna be a personal maid anymore, you are gonna join the maids in the general duties’ department.
“Since you were only just employed, you are gonna be called upon anytime for your work, and you are to do them without complaining and without ado.
“Like I said earlier it’s called general duties. Doing the laundry, cleaning the rooms of the Prince and Princess, watering and trimming the flowers on the pavements, doing the dishes, assisting the chef maids in the cooking”, she concluded and looked up from the jotter.
“So, any questions?” She asked.
Rina kept mute, thinking. Jeez! Was she really gonna enter the rooms of the Prince and Princess? Wash their clothes? Oh my gee!
“Umm, I don’t have any questions Miss,” she said.
“The name is Prag please”, she smiled.
“Cleaning the rooms, assisting in the cooking and doing the dishes isn’t really your job, it’s the jobs of the janitors’ and cooks’ department. You can be called upon to do them though, when the work becomes tedious for the workers”, she licked her lips.
Rina nodded.
“Alright Miss… sorry Prag”, they both smiled.
“I hope you get used to it, I can see you are very respectful”, she said.
“I don’t know”, she shook her head, “thanks anyway”.
“Having known your duties, please I don’t want you in any way to get into problems with the other maids, try being friendly and avoid whatever is gonna bring quarrels, we don’t tolerate that here”.
“Noted”, she nodded.
“Secondly, do not enter wherever is prohibited for you to enter, know your boundaries and maintain your lane. Try not to be disrespectful to your masters, simply put, be as obedient as a mule”.
Rina laughed slightly.
“I will”.
“Your uniforms would be sent to you later in the evening, you will be told how and when to put them on at the point of you receiving them”.
“Okay”.
“Good. Now pick up your bags and follow me, let me show you to your room”, she said and walked away.
Rina rolled her two boxes following, then they took the stairs which Prag and Zoya had taken.
They continued climbing until they got to a hallway, and Prag stopped.
She turned to Rina and found her getting it difficult to pull up her bags, and she helped her out.
“Thanks Miss”, Rina said.
Prag smiled, nodding. She had said Miss again and didn’t correct herself, she must have said it unknowingly.
Well, that was aside.
“This is one of the maids’ lodges”, Prag said and Rina looked round.
The hallway was well lit and long, she couldn’t see its end from where she stood, and on each side were doors to rooms. She just couldn’t count them, they were many.
She looked up and that was when she saw a placard hanging down from the ceiling. Some words were written on it and she read within her.
‘Maids Lodge 4’, was written on the placard in bold Italian letters.
“Oh”, she mouthed.
Getting out two keys from her uniform’s pocket, Prag handed them to her.
“That’s your room key, room number 15. Just walk down this hallway straight, keep checking out the numbers on the door, you will find yours by the left”, she explained.
Rina nodded, collecting the key.
“Okay”.
“Go in, make yourself comfortable and freshen up. Then come down to the kitchen so you can refresh yourself, your uniforms would be sent to you like I said. Good luck”, and she turned to leave, taking the stairs.
“Thank you so much Miss, I appreciate”.
“It’s Prag, Rina”, she corrected descending the stairs.
Rina smiled and turned, looking at the long hallway she was about to take. She exhaled.
She began walking along, rolling her bags and checking out the doors as Prag had told her.
On each door, she found out that not only numbers were written, the names of the occupants were written as well.
“Jeez, I’m really gonna have fun here”, she said.
The place was damn quiet and it seems none of the maids were in their rooms at the moment, why not? They must be in their various call of duties, carrying them out.
Finally, she found her room.
‘RINA D’ was boldly written on it and above it, the number 15 was also written.
‘D’? What does it stand for? She thought. Then it dawned on her, it was the first letter of her surname.
She smiled as she inserted the key on the door lock, then turned the knob, it opened and dragging her bags along, she entered.
*
*
*
King Neel sat on the large sized bed in his bedroom watching his wife ranting in anger.
A medium sized white and royal blue paper in her hands.
That was the royal letter they just received from Kuru kingdom, a neighboring kingdom.
The letter arrived like thirty minutes ago, and since they had been out for a royal function, he and his wife were just seeing the letter.
“What is really Aarti’s problem? What?” Queen Arya shouted.
“Fine, what exactly in the letter is making you rant?” Neel asked, taking off his royal rings and signets.
“Are you trying to tell me that you are yet to read it?” She asked looking at him.
Neel sighed.
“She has the right to Arya”, he said.
“She what? She damn has no right to write us qualms Neel. How can she tell us that the bride I chose for my son can never be? Is it her son?”
“She has the right Arya, Aarti is my sister for crying out loud, and she can as well protect my son, her nephew”, he shouted, his fingers vibrating.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
“You call that protection? There you go again. And that is why Raghav and his sister so much like her and her family, you practically draw them to her, but the only children of my beloved late sister are hated by them. You cause this Neel, you do, gosh”, she placed her hands on her face, walking to and fro the large room.
Neel laughed.
“There you get it wrong. I did nothing, it’s Raghav and Prisha’s choices to mingle with the people they choose to. Despite you asking Aarti to stay away from our family, your children still love them, meanwhile Amaya and his sister are still not in their good books. Can you beat that?” He laughed again.
Arya glared at him in anger, her chest moving up and down, she was damn angry.
How dare Aarti write her such a letter? How dare she?
She is no longer part of their lives, she has been married away to the heir to the throne of the kingdom of Kuru, the Prince. What is still her concern with her own family?
Before she was taken away in marriage, she had practically bought the love of her children over, Raghav and Prisha loved her so much.
Even when she had gotten married and gave birth to her first baby girl, her children had taken her on a vacation to The Red Fort, New Delhi, together with the baby.
But they never got along with their cousins, her late sister’s children, most especially Raghav, he hated them.
This had gotten her jealous therefore, asking Aarti to stay away from them.
“Hmm”, she growled, fisting her left hand.
“Our children love your sister and child, but they hate mine”, she ranted. Neel sighed.
She growled again.
“How dare she?” She shouted.
“What is going on here?” A voice suddenly asked, they turned to the door and jeez, it was the Prince!