“Urgh… what… what happened…?”

 

Elise finds herself stirring from a restless sleep, it feels like she had some kind of unusual dream, but already finds herself unable to recall the events. She looks around as she sits up and sees that she’s in her bed back at the servant’s quarters, how did she end up here again? She remembers talking with Tori before her emotions got the better of her, and then the princess carried her off… Did she pass out on the way here? She supposes she was in quite the state at the time.

 

It would appear that the rest has done her some good, though. She seems to have gotten control of her emotions again, and her heart rate is back around where it should be. That being said, the light coming in from the window suggests that it’s rather late in the afternoon, she’s already slept through most of the day! She quickly gets out of bed, hoping that she still has time to get most of her duties done for the day before someone finds out.

 

“Oh, you’re up.” Someone says as they enter the room.

 

Elise looks over, worried that it may already be too late and one of her superiors is here to reprimand her, but luckily it’s just Sara, one of her fellow maids.

 

“How are you feeling? Did your little nap help at all?” The blonde maid asks.

 

“Oh, good day, Sara.” Elise says, surprised to see someone else in the quarters at this time of day. “I do seem to be faring much better now, but I must ask, why are you here? Do you not have your daily duties to attend to?”

 

“This is my duty for today, princess’s orders. Now come on, looks like you’re in pretty good shape, so follow me.” Sara says as the turns to leave.

 

“O-Okay.” Elise says as she hurries to catch up.

 

Princess’s orders? What did she mean by that? Did Tori speak with her? What does Sara know? Surely she’s not in on the plan, right? These questions and more run through Elise’s mind as she follows her through to the servant’s kitchen, a comparatively small room containing the essential supplies needed for castle staff to feed themselves when they have the time to do so. Sara makes Elise sit down at the small table at the side of the room, but doesn’t take a seat herself just yet.

 

“C-Can I ask what we’re doing here?” Elise asks as Sara rummages around various parts of the room. She’s still not quite sure what’s going on here, it’s unusual for most of the other staff to strike up conversation with her, let alone take the time to check in on her like Sara did.

 

“Oh, you don’t remember?”

 

Remember what? Did something important happen? She definitely doesn’t recall seeing Sara at all since she left the quarters this morning.

 

“No… I can’t say I do…”

 

“Guess that makes sense, you seemed pretty out of it. I almost thought you were dead at first.” She places some bowls on the bench she’s standing in front of before continuing.

 

“So, it was my turn to clean up around here this morning, so I was in the middle of that when none other than the princess herself… what’s she calling herself now?”

 

“Tori.” Elise quietly answers. 

 

“Right, Princess Tori walks in with you in her arms, said you’d overworked yourself and needed some time to recover. Then she asks me to stay here and keep an eye on you until you wake up. I told her I had things to take care of in other parts of the castle, but she insisted, told me that if anyone had a problem with it they’d have to take it up with her.” Sara grabs a knife and starts cutting something at the desk. “Didn’t really want to push it, I’m sure you of all people have noticed but she’s way more intimidating up close, so I just agreed because I thought it would make her leave. Besides, I was basically being told to take a break and hang out here for most of the day, can’t exactly complain about that now, can I?”

 

Elise nods along as Sara talks, she’s still a little drowsy from just waking up and doesn’t feel like interjecting at the moment. None of what Sara’s saying rings a bell, but it’s good to know that Tori was looking out for her. She’s also glad she now knows the explanation Tori has come up with for why she was carrying her around in the state she was this morning, now she can make sure her own story lines up with it if anyone asks. But still, is Tori really all that intimidating? Maybe it’s just because she gets to see a side of the princess that no one else does, but if anything her transformation has only driven Elise’s admiration to even greater heights.

 

“You know, it was quite a sight, seeing the princess carry you in like that.” Sara finishes with the knife and starts plating whatever it is she’s been preparing over there. “I had half a mind to think there was something going on between the two of you, especially with how concerned she seemed to be when she came in.”

 

Elise’s heart almost stops. No no no, this is really bad! People really have started suspecting them! What is she going to-

 

“But then when we put you to bed she didn’t leave right away like I wanted her to. She sat me down and started asking me a bunch of questions first!”

 

Elise takes a breath. Okay, maybe things aren’t as dire as they seemed.

 

“What kinds of questions?” She asks.

 

“A lot of stuff about what it’s like to work here, how much we’re asked to do each day, whether we get any time off, anything we’d like to see changed around here, that sort of thing. I didn’t really get what was going on, but even if she wasn’t the princess it’s pretty hard to say no to her now compared to how she used to be, so I just went along with it. Get this though, one of the things I said is that it would be nice to have some better food around here, and like an hour or two after she left one of those guys that work for her showed up with a few baskets of these!”

 

Sara walks over and places two bowls of freshly sliced fruit salad on the table before taking a seat herself.

 

“Fresh fruit! When was the last time we got anything like that down here?”

 

“...I must admit, it’s been quite a while.” Elise replies, looking in awe at the meal in front of her. Elise’s unique position within the staff meant that Tori would often share some of her food with the maid when she got a chance to do so in private, but the princess’s extended absence has meant that it’s been years since she’s experienced anything of the sort.

 

“Yeah, exactly!”

 

“...Did you bring me over here just so you could serve this to me?” Elise asks as they both begin to eat. The idea that any of the other castle staff would be this nice to her is a very strange prospect.

 

“The princess told me to, said to make sure you got something to eat before heading out. That being said there was no way I wasn’t gonna take some of this for myself while I’m here, it reminds me too much of home.”

 

Ah, so that’s what it is. At least Tori’s doing what she can for her.

 

“But still, the fact that she’d get something like this for us servants is pretty unusual, yeah? Almost makes me think those two years on the road humbled her a bit, made her respect the little guy more, you know?”

 

“I believe I do, yes. I had gotten that impression myself.” Not that Tori had ever mistreated the staff in the past, of course. She was too timid to even talk to most of them half the time.

 

“Right, you’ve been helping her out a bunch already, makes sense that you would have picked up on it yourself. If that’s the case though, has she mentioned anything to you about how she got so… you know, big? I figure if there’s anyone she’d tell it’d be you considering how long you’ve worked for her.”

 

Of course. Sara isn’t just striking up conversation because Tori asked her to look after Elise, she’s trying to get information out of the girl so she can gossip with the other staff. Elise does her best to mask a sigh before she leans in close.

 

“You mustn’t speak of this to anyone else, okay?” Elise whispers, and Sara nods. “I wasn’t aware of this myself until she told me yesterday, but it’s to do with the late king.”

 

“Really? I thought he died just a year or two after the princess was born, does she even remember him?”

 

“Memories have nothing to do with it. You see, he did an excellent job of masking it, but apparently he suffered from…” she leans in even further, “lycanthropy.”

 

Sara gasps, her eyes wide with excitement. “Really!? Does that mean she’s also a… werewolf?”

 

“She doesn’t bear the curse, no. Apparently the condition isn’t hereditary, but the bearers do pass on some kind of special power which had laid dormant in the princess until after she had been kidnapped. She met a shaman during her training that helped draw it out, and used that inner strength to train her body to match, or so she says.”

 

“Oh my god, that makes so much sense! I mean look at how huge she got, of course there was a supernatural explanation!”

 

“Indeed, it was quite a surprise to me as well, but what other explanation could there be?” Elise says, wearing a fake smile. She’s almost shocked at how easily Sara is eating this up. Yes, Tori has developed a lot of muscle in just two years, but surely it isn’t that inconceivable that she simply worked hard enough to get there just through physical training, is it? Spending two years as a mercenary would have done a lot of the work even without extra training.

 

“But hey, werewolf or not, if she keeps making stuff like this happen,” Sara lifts her bowl. “She’s certainly got my support. I mean, if she’s already doing this sort of thing now, maybe she’s gonna work to make things nicer for people like us once she’s actually queen.”

 

“Mhm…” Elise doesn’t bother with a proper response, and the two continue to eat in silence until someone suddenly interrupts them.

 

“Ah, there you are.” A voice comes from the doorway. “I had heard a servant was unwell, so I thought I should stop by to deliver a blessing.”

 

The two of them look over to see a lady with a radiant smile wearing a habit. Her warm presence almost seems to light up the entire room, but the woman only serves to make Elise freeze up, dropping the fork she was using to eat.

 

It’s Sister Elizabeth. Archbishop Sammel’s right hand woman, and sitting member of the council.

 

“Now, which one of you would that be?”