Chapter 21: Ugly collection

"Stop right there, Princess," came the devil's words that had her halt in her tracks, her face going pale at the realization.

"You know?" She turned around to look at him, her breath caught in her throat.

No wonder, he was nonchalant when she deduced that the Royal Family of Visteria was after her. He should have been shocked that how a maid knew about something like Archery manuals but he was not. And then, he was sure that she must have heard about witches. The normal subjects of a kingdom don't know about the existence of the witches or folklores about them. Such things are only recorded in the Royal Archives and are recounted to the descendants of a Royal Family.

"Know what, my dear moon?"

"T-That..." Esme stepped back as she gulped.

"That you are Princess Esmeray Reis?"Aleister quirked a brow.

Her feet constantly tapped on the fine wooden floor while she glanced at his face under the glow of the crackling fire from the fireplace, "How?"

"Does it matters?"

"Yes."

"To me, no!" He held her wrist and pulled her closer shortening the distance between them, "You will be working for me from today onwards," a small pause and a deep sigh from the man before he continued, "When I am happy, I might tell you how I recognized the little Princess of Nevesray."

"I am not working for you."

"You want to work with that gardener?" He stepped closer to her.

She blinked, "What?"

The man glanced at her uninterestedly.

Esme lowered her head as she glanced at his huge rough palm that had enveloped hers, his thumb grazed on the back of her palm with gentle strokes. "What...." She peeked at him through her dense lashes "...are you doing, My Lord?"

"Cleaning your dirty little hand," He spoke in disdain.

She glanced at her palm which did not have a hint of blemish on it, "It's clean now. I shall leave."

He let go of her hand, "I have not stopped you here."

She stood rooted to her spot as he looked into her eyes with something different in his gaze. Something that she could not comprehend.

"You're free to go," He turned around, his broad back was facing towards her.

But her feet seem to be not listening to her as they did not move a single inch.

"Are you that reluctant to part from me?" Aleister teased, his serious tone was replaced by his usual playful one.

It must have been her illusion. Esme shook her head and walked out of his room before he comes up with something else.

As she walked in the vast hallways, her mind wandered off to many things. Why would someone attack her?

And how did the Prince get to know about her identity? Has he known it all this while which is why he was keeping an eye on her?

"My My...."

Her footsteps came to a halt and she raised her head to look at the woman standing in front of her.

"...We almost bumped into each other," Liz tilted her head from the exquisite golden bangle that she was holding, "You were two steps away from breaking my precious. You could not have compensated for this even if you do gardening for your whole life."

Esme nodded, "My bad. I will be careful next time."

"There is going to be a next time?" Liz sighed, "Oh dear, you should be more careful when working for the Royal Family. If you stay in your dream world all day long, then you would offend someone one day."

"Thank you for your advice," Just as Esme was about to walk past her, Liz grabbed her wrist.

Esme glanced at her questioningly.

"You really are taking gardening too seriously," Liz laughed looking at her head.

Esme frowned in confusion.

"Anyways, Esmeray, I could not thank you enough for what you have done for me. I owe you a favor," Liz's words diverted Esme's attention, "That day, you served Prince Aleister in my..."

"It's fine. I just had to prepare the water and aromas for his bath and you don't owe me anything. Since you helped me get a job here, I paid your favor back now," Esme removed her hand from the woman's grip.

Liz nodded, "And I apologize for misbehaving with you the day you arrived here. I did not mean to call you a harlot..." She lowered her head, "I-It's just...you looked so beautiful and the man I-like was looking at you so out of a moment of envy, I said that...I did not mean to be rude."

Esme frowned but she eventually nodded, "Doesn't matter," Her tone remained aloof as usual. Looking at her disappointed expressions, she opened her mouth, "It will look good on you," She softened her tone as she spoke while pointing her chin towards the gold bangle in her hand.

Liz's disappointed expressions turned into an excited one, "It was given to me by Her Grace Duchess Flora. She was so impressed with the way I made her hair...." She paused, "You should leave gardening and serve the Royals too. Other than the head gardener, anyone else will not benefit from that job. You-"

"I shall leave now. My work for the day is over," Esme interrupted her as she turned around to leave.

All the way to her room along the servant quarters, she could feel everyone's gaze fixated on her. Without looking back at them, she stepped inside her room and closed the door behind her. Running her fingers through her long hair, she sat on her bed before letting out a soft sigh.

She paused when her fingers came across something inside her hair. She did not use any hairpiece which made her wonder what was stuck in her hair. She ran her fingers again inside her tresses and caught the thing which was trapped between them.

Her brows rose slightly as she unblinkingly stared at the blue rose in her hand. She did not have to think that hard to know who placed it in her hair but when he did it, it was certainly something to be thought about.

Esme fell back on the bed as she raised the flower towards the ceiling.

He called her ugly. He called this flower ugly. Then what was the need to pluck it and put it in her hair?

Was he making a collection out of ugly things?

"What kind of person are you? And what do you want from me...?" Her voice grew soft towards the end as the long day of exhaustion started taking over.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Auroraaa

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