The Servant With The Mark Of The Goddess

Drenched!

HANNAH'S POV

Today I am cleaning the room that Princess Aria will be sleeping. It has been lavishly furnished of course to look like a small heaven.

The other thing that should be obvious is I am under supervision. Kyla wouldn't let me be here alone. Because I could still or not do the work as best as is required.

She has been shouting instructions throughout the time, ordering me to repeat some areas that she thinks I have not achieved excellence.

My back was overworked yesterday. I also had to work two extra hours as a result of the punishment I was given for having touched the young Prince Henry and bumping into the handsome Prince Nathan.

At least I wasn't fired.

Carrying on with work today feels like torture. But like I said, I am counting down the days towards the end of the month when I will get my first pay and start planning a better life.

Kyla doesn't look all well today, emotionally. She is also not making any effort to hide her distress, so I imagine something huge is bothering her.

I am almost done with the last part she asked me to repeat. Problem is there isn't a break between these jobs. You finish one area only to be taken to begin cleaning another. I wonder if every servant is going through the same.

"My Father's sick." I hear Kyla's voice mutter.

I am not sure she actually did utter the words or it's me hallucinating. Yesterday I learned that though she doesn't like me, she sometimes feels like talking and doesn't mind that it's me listening.

"You say something?" I dare ask.

"My dad is sick with the disease." She repeats her earlier statement.

I don't know what to say. I don't know the right words to console her. Once one is infected with the disease, it is assumed that you will end up dead since there is no cure.

The only one that has been lucky to escape death is the little Prince Henry. Something happened when I touched him. Or maybe the Princess did actually heal him at the same moment I had my hand on him. Which is quite a coincidence.

"I wanted to bring him in here where Princess Aria is healing people. But the guards wouldn't let me." She adds in a doleful voice.

I look up and see her wipe a tear from her cheek with the sleeve of her dress.

"Where is he now?" I ask.

"At the gate with the other sick people waiting for Princess Aria to arrive and heal them. But the King now says no sick person will be allowed near the gate tomorrow because the Princess should only see the good things about our Kingdom when she arrives." She answers, a hint of anger in her voice.

If the Princess is the one we expect to heal them, then why should hide them from her? Because Nathan will want to betroth her and is afraid that the number of sick people in the Kingdom may disgust her?

"If I get the chance I will try and befriend Prince Aria. Maybe then I can get her to heal my father." Kyla says.

Somehow I doubt that plan would work. Befriending a Princess? How possible is that when your job is supervising servants?

"What if you talk to Prince Nathan? He could ask Princess Aria to heal my father. You're friends, right?" I ask.

They didn't seem exactly like friends. It was more like her doing her best to impress him and him looking not quite intrigued.

He however wasn't treating her like a disease like he treats me. So I am guessing begging him for him won't be very hard for her.

"Nathan doesn't do special treatments. He would only help when he can do the same for everyone else." She replies.

He isn't as kind as people say he is? Or is fairness another big virtue on his long list?

I finish recleaning the last part she had asked me to repeat and finally stands. "I am sorry about your father. I really don't know how to help." I say.

Her tone changes suddenly. "I didn't expect you to help. Grab the bucket and rug and follow me!"

She rises from her seat and walks out of the room. I hastily take the bucket and rug and run after her.

Rushing around with a bucket that is almost full of water is hard. I have to keep the liquid from spilling as I would have to dry it. Yet I can't let Kyla get too far because I don't know where she wants me to clean next.

"May I please ask that you slow down? It's hard to balance the water when running." I say when I get close to her. She is still walking fast.

"Keep up or go home. I saved you from being fired yesterday, remember?" She mutters angrily.

"Yeah, but I am working two extra hours. I am already sorry for what happened, you don't have to make me run with a bucket full of water." I protest. Which is a bad idea because she turns and glares at me.

"How would that bucket be heavy for you? You're fat enough to carry ten of them!" She snaps.

I didn't complain about the weight, it's an open bucket and it's common sense that the water would spill if I rush. I bet she can see it but she is distressed by her Father's condition and it's affecting her thinking.

She will get angrier if I continue to argue with her. I will have to endure the cruelty for now.

I hold the bucket in front of me with both my hands and try to walk just as fast without spilling the water. Hope we get wherever she is taking me soon.

She is headed for the door at the end of the corridor. But it opens before we get there and I see my two sisters walk through it.

They look furious for some reason I don't know.

"Where the f**k have you been? We have been searching for you everywhere!" Lina screams at me, marching forward until we are only centimeters apart. Julian glowers at me as she comes to a stop beside her sister and best friend.

"Where is my necklace?" Julian yells the question.

Necklace? Why would she ask me about a necklace? I don't wear them.

"What necklace?" I ask. I really don't know what she is talking about. She however looks very pissed by my answer.

She marches forward angrily and I have to put down the bucket of water so I can step back.

"You stole my new necklace! You filthy thief, you thought I wouldn't know?!" She screams.

"Give it back or we will beat the hell out of your stupid head!" Lina threatens.

I wish I have the slightest idea of what they are talking about. I hate it when they shout, their voices are so high that everyone in the rooms near us must be hearing them.

"What exactly is wrong Ladies? I don't think it's necessary to yell so loud. We are in a palace, remember?" Kyla intervenes. But none of my pissed sisters is listening to her.

"I don't know what you people are talking about." I say.

Lina picks up the bucket of water I put down. I try to get away from her but it's too late. She hurls the contents of the bucket at me.

The coldness of the water makes me shudder. I hear Kyla scream out loud.

I am drenched! My hands and feet shake from the cold and shock.

Droplets of the water are dripping from both my hair and dress.

"Tell us where you're hiding my necklace or I will smash your big head!" Julian takes the empty bucket from Lina and attacks me, using it as a weapon.

I am angry enough to fight back. She may be my little sister, but I am not going to endure more of their attacks when I have done nothing to deserve it.

She attempts to hit me with the bucket on the head, I dodge and punch her on the face. She yelps out loud.

Lina seems to be seething with anger as she marches forward with her fists clenched.

She swings a blow which lands on my left cheek. I ignore the pain and punch her back. She stumbles back, clutches the side of her head. But Julian soon joins her and they both attack me.

I can punch harder than any girl, but I would need to be a warrior to fight two people at the same time. No matter how many punches I swing, I am receiving a lot more and it really hurts.

Someone suddenly pulls both away from me.

"What do you think you're doing?! Have you two lost your minds?" Mother screams at them, holding them back by their wrists.

Almost every single part of my upper body is in pain. I think Julian did scratch me on the face as well as I reach out and touch blood.

"She won't give us the necklace! I need it so I can wear it tomorrow." Julian squeaks.

"How do you know she has it?" Mother asks.

"You said she took it from Lina's room, remember?" Julian answers her.

"I said she could have taken it from your room since she is the one I sent there to collect the dirty plates." Mother collects.

She did send me this morning to Julian's room to pick up the dirty plates because the two sisters had dinner in her room. Julian was in Lina's room at the time I collected the plates and I didn't see any necklace.

"The necklace was in my room, not Julian's." Lina elaborates. "But it wasn't there when we came back from eating breakfast."

"Then Hannah didn't take it. You two must have displaced it somewhere in your room." Mother tells her. "You've beaten her up for nothing."

"Does it matter if anyone beats up a pig?!" Julian scoffs. She turns and walks away. Lina follows her after smirking at how awful I now look.

My dress is sticking to my body and dripping water to the floor. Tears sting my eyes as anger boils within me.

"I am sorry about this. Girls can be really aggressive when it comes to protecting their tools of beauty." Mother says to Kyla who stands away from me with a shocked expression.

She doesn't say a thing to me as she also follows her two beautiful daughters out of the corridor.

"I don't see how you can work anymore when you're wetting the floor. Go home." Kyla wears a frown as she speaks to me. "Remember Prince Nathan said you should not come here tomorrow." Kyla says before starting to walk away as well.