Psycholor

The second Extra Chapter for this month, this one is also set in the middle of current events and provides a bit of background to Sasha.

Sasha von Strauss, Thirty-Four Years Old, 948

Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas. A name that will end up in the history books I am sure.

Such was the fate of a baron’s daughter rising to the position of queen.

They will not share the specifics, not that it matters for my job… But still, just what is going on with you?

My current charge, as well as my charge for the past several months, was to look after the sleeping girl presently lying on the bed in the room with me. Though, it might be more proper to call her the sleeping young lady now. Somehow, in these past several months she had visibly grown several years. If my eyes were accurate, four or five years total. Obviously, I had known there was something special about her as soon as I was informed who she was; no normal baron’s child would catch the eye of the prince.

But still, the third was always the shrewd one. He would not let some idle curiosity sway his intentions to this degree. Nor would he assign me to care for you unless he was completely serious.

The third prince was what one might charitably call, unique. That said, while his mannerisms and demeanor could be considered lacking, he was intelligent and calculating to a fault.

“Mhm…” The sound emanating from the bed nearby actually made my spine tingle.

She’s waking up!

As soon as I confirmed that Stahlia was beginning to stir, I hurried to send word to the prince.

I suppose I should let her sister and… the cat… know that she will wake up soon.

Those two were… complicated. On one hand, the human sister had been kidnapped at some point. The little pieces I had been able to gather through conversation and a maid’s prerogative of eavesdropping painted a bleak picture. If my conjecture was correct, that kidnapping had been on behalf of the kingdom itself and was more or less directly led to her being installed as Rupert’s fiancée.

Then there was the demi-human. At least, that is what Lord Gustav’s briefing had led me to believe. When the knights actually brought her in the presence of a second tail rather quickly became the topic of gossip in among the palace staff. Nobody seemed to know of a subspecies that had more than one tail, and yet here she was. Of course, this was not the reason that Rupert had picked this girl. Rather, it was just another mystery to throw on top of the pile.

But the fact that she keeps one of those around is… and she apparently considers it family…

Far be it from me to judge my charge’s tastes, questionable as they were. I was a professional and could separate my personal feelings from my job enough to be able to interact with this… ‘Felicity’ when I had to.

As luck would have it, it was Felicity that was present the exact moment that Stahlia woke up. Though, it did not take long for everyone else to meet her, as the girl wasted no time in making the rounds to introduce herself to those of her acquaintances that were staying in the palace. I suppose I should have expected it, given her rapid growth, but there was very little in the way of atrophy.

Though, watching her move around methodically working her way through the list of names, there was something… unsettling about it. Something with the air around her, the way she carried herself. Though I could not put a finger on it, something about this girl was disturbing.

She was a bit crude, but there was a method to her actions and it was plain as day that she meant well… Just that feeling that I could not shake.

“Those are my thoughts, such as they are.” It had now been a few days since Stahlia woke up, and Rupert had asked me my opinion on how she was doing, “Though, if I might make a suggestion?”

He tapped his fingers together from where he was sitting, “You may.”

“Rupert, you obviously care. At least as much as you are able; ask her yourself. Speaking as a woman, I can assure you that she would appreciate the gesture.”

Lord Gustav lightly covered his mouth to hide the smile he was no doubt making. As far as I was aware, I was probably the only person who could get away with calling Rupert without a title. That said, I only did it when there was a point to be made. In this case, he was being far to distant for his own good.

“You would not have tasked me with looking after her if you did not care, at least a little.”

The man in question waved his hand somewhat dismissively, “You are mistaken, I only picked you because circumstances demanded discretion and you are someone I can trust… Is there anything you can expand upon regarding her being, as you said, ‘crude’?”

“Fine, have it your way; she has manners and the effort she is putting in is clear. However, she is not up to the standard that will be demanded of her. From what I have been able to glean these past few days, she has developed a bit of a habit of expressing her intentions bluntly. Especially when interacting with Gustav, who is far too soft on her.”

“Tch.” Both Rupert and I ignored Gustav’s tongue click at being called out.

“In short, she shows promise, and I can see several things that might contribute to why you chose her, but I cannot for the life of me put it all together… If you would be more descriptive, I might be able to offer more insight.”

“Give it a rest Sasha. You should know better than to waste time asking… Let’s see, now that she is awake, Stahlia will need a new full-time attendant… I was thinking of placing you in this position; as my own former nursemaid, there are few I trust more than you.”

I could tell by his tone that he was far past thinking, and I was being informed of my new post. The subtle implications were clear as well; he wanted me to help her acclimate to her new station.

“Are you up to that task?”

“Yes yes, I’ll take the job. We both know you would give it to me anyway, besides; this gives me an excuse to see more of her sister. She is quite adorable.”

So began a multiple weeks-long miscommunication. As it turned out, Rupert had not meant for me to educate Stahlia to her new station. Rather, he really had meant that he trusted me to look after her in the most literal sense. Though I wish that she had not been so blunt when asking about it, and she turned right around and began to speak of classified information out in the hallway where any wandering noble might overhear. Fortunately, we were on our way back from her visit to the summit so the odds of that happening were rather slim, and Rupert managed to stop her before she said anything truly damning.

Even if he did not intend for me to be an educator, I do believe that it would be a good idea for me to offer a guiding hand here and there.

“May I have Lady Elienor?”

Rupert and everyone else froze for a moment before the former voiced what all of us were thinking.

“Explain.”

“Even if she is granted a stay of execution, she cannot go free given what her family has done. Though eccentric, she does have talent… Besides this, she is my friend. I would like to offer her the same deal that Ferris has. It strikes me that Sasha is quite overworked, being the only female member of my staff.”

Oh? What’s this now?

Too late, I realized that I had allowed my mask to slip and hurriedly moved to fix it. Though not before Stahlia noticed and displayed a small, satisfied grin.

It was not that I was overworked per se, though caring for a princess was a lot of work so having extra hands would not be unwelcome.

“On that subject, if it is possible, I would also like to employ Lucy and Frieda; my maids from when I was living with the Francois… I know that you do not want to stack up too many small contracts, but if we keep the terms between these three identical to what Ferris has, there should be no conflict.”

Lucy and Frieda…? Those would be the maids the Francois gave her. Having someone decently trained would be nice, assuming they can be properly vetted and secured… But a limited contract!? This is what I meant when I told Rupert you could be crude at times!

Fortunately for the sanity of everyone involved, she did drop the idea of the contracts after Rupert hinted that, socially,  they would not be a good idea. Then a short while later, she went and changed my opinion yet again.

“Sasha, please summon Sieg for me.”

“My lady? Are you sure?” Of course I was a bit surprised; up until now, she had been insisting on trying to dance around the man in question. While I understood her desire to avoid what she perceived as an abuse of power towards an acquaintance, such actions would not work in her favor.

“…Yes, I am certain. In the future as well, please do not dance around the topic as you did with this. I have much that I will need to learn if I am to cope with my new responsibilities. If you believe I should do something differently, say so straightly. Though, in the end whether or not to take your advice will remain my decision. Is that clear?”

Whatever Rupert had said or shown her earlier today, it had clearly had some effect. For the briefest moment, I caught a glimpse of a genuine ruler’s demeanor.

I can work with this, you might be a bit rough around the edges, but I’ll turn you into one of this kingdom’s jewels.