“No, that’s not…”

“Are you going against my orders?”

Evely was momentarily taken aback by her cold voice.  Usually, she was a simple and nice mistress to her, but sometimes, she showed off her position, like now.

It’s not that…

The princess pulled out some dresses from the closet while Evely sat there, feeling embarrassed and confused about what to do. Then, the princess tested out which dresses would look good on Evely, who was frozen. By the time three dresses were thrown away, Evely hastily picked one.

She hesitantly took off the maid’s uniform.

Eventually, with the princess’ help, she even dressed up with a corset and looked at the princess imploringly.

“I-it’s so uncomfortable and awkward…”

But the princess dragged Evely in front of the mirror, not bothered by her response. Then she opened her mouth, responding in a triumphant voice, “See, you look pretty, don’t you?” Evely, standing in front of the dressing table, carefully looked at her figure in the mirror. She was wearing a light blue dress. There was a huge ribbon embroidered on the neckline, exposing her collarbone. A white tulle skirt bloomed from the sky-blue fabric, as elegant as petals on a flower. The lace at the end of the sleeves and skirt hem fluttered whenever she moved. It looked and felt different from her rugged maid uniform. On touching them with her fingertips, it felt so soft, like it would slip from her fingers.

So that was how she looked like…

“……I look so pretty.”

Rose burst into laughter.

“Yes, you are pretty.”

Evely suddenly came to her senses, a blush covering her cheeks. She quickly tried to correct her words. “No, I didn’t mean that..”

“Rose.”

Evely and Rose glanced back at the same time when they heard a voice from outside the door. The only person in this house who could call the princess by her name was Alec.

A panicked Evely looked around for a place to hide in.

“It’s okay,” Rose replied calmly. “Yes. Come in.”

The door opened. Evely hurried to the corner and greeted her master with her head bowed deep. Alec’s eyes turned to Evely as he came inside, “I thought I’d have a cup of tea.”

The princess said in a light-hearted tone, as if it was nothing big. “I played a little prank on the maid.”

Evely was embarrassed by the situation and couldn’t even look up. Unlike the jovial princess, who said she had played a little prank, Alec’s gaze at her was quite passionate. His gaze was fixed on her stomach and exposed collarbone.

Maybe that was why she felt like she was suffocating. Every time she inhaled and exhaled unnaturally, her chest went up and down noticeably, and his keen eyes seemed to be reading all her small breaths. She felt thirsty under the subtle tension. She wanted to wipe off her sweat with the back of her hand, but she didn’t dare to act in front of him.

Rose led Alec to the table and his eyes turned to the princess. As a result, Evely, who sighed, went to one corner and wiped her swear.

“Thank you for caring every time.”

“It’s because I don’t want to be hated by my wife.” Rose burst into a good laugh when her cold-hearted way of speaking was brushed off quite deftly. It was a perfectly beautiful scene.

These days, it was said to be a trend among nobles to commission artists to paint… …and if one painter painted this scene now, Evely, a humble maid, thought that there would not be a single canvas that would match its beauty.

* * *

Evely, who was walking down the long hallway, suddenly stopped there. She stared at her reflection on the transparent window. She was dressed in a dull-colored maid’s uniform and had neatly combed hair without any stray strands.

Wearing a dress and fancy hair decor made her feel distant like she had a long time ago.

It was a short, sweet pleasure, like an exciting dream, like a cookie melting in your mouth. Evely forced up the corners of her lips, grasping her shoulders. “This much is enough.”

She took a step back and arrived at the end of the hall, knocking on the door. When she couldn’t hear anything, she called several times and tapped again, but she couldn’t hear anything. When she opened the door with a foreboding feeling, the room was empty.

It was a princess’ outing that now felt like a regular event, like a once-a-month cleaning. She let out a sigh. Alec took her when he came to the bedroom and didn’t find the princess. He didn’t look for the princess every night. He used to be away from home because he was busy with work. He stayed up late at night and fell asleep in a separate room, saying he didn’t want to wake up the sick princess. Even if the princess went out secretly, if he didn’t stop by the bedroom that day, nothing would have happened. So, ultimately, he and the princess had never slept together. Today too, he was…

“Oh, I knew he wouldn’t come in tonight.”

The princess used to go out at about the same time at night, if not exact. Evely quickly looked out of the window, judging that it would not have been long since she left. She could see something like a dress disappearing in the distance. There was no proof that the fuzzy silhouette was the princess, but Evely opened the door as if she was possessed. She needed to know where she was going.

Her master would not come here anyway, so she began to move diligently. She ran out of breath, but she couldn’t see the princess, let alone her dress. There were many guards, so she couldn’t have exited through the main gate of the castle, and the walls were too high to cross. Even if the princess was good at using her body, even an adult man could not have succeeded in something this difficult. Then the princess’ shoes came to my mind. There was a time when she picked up the princess’ shoes to clean, and found dirt stuck to them. She remembered wondering where the princess, who would only have used a carriage to visit places, had gone to get her shoes dirty.

“Then…”

Evely, who had been struggling, looked toward the wall with a look of wonder. Her gaze moved along the edge of a dim garden without a single light, at the corner of this vast, huge wall.

She shook her head, saying it was ridiculous, but Evely began to pry through the lower part of the wall. When dirt was on her hands and filled her nails, a small hole was drilled in the tightly blocked area.

In fact, this place was a hidden one used by maids secretly. It was not until more than a year after she had worked that Briana tipped her off. There were not many people who worked in this castle who knew about it, but the princess who just came into this house actually knew it?

“If you go out from here, there’s a forest…”

This road led to a dense forest. There was a road, but it was quite remote and dark, so it wasn’t used much.

When she saw the dark forest, she was afraid to go out, but no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t think of any other way, so she decided to widen the hole. Evely soon escaped through the hole. Her small body helped her in this situation. She walked on the forest path, looking around. The night was dark and the road was still. As soon as she  thought it would be better to go back because she couldn’t sense anything even after venturing deep, a low voice was heard in the wind.

“…Are you unwell?”

Whose voice is that?

Evely began to move in the direction of the voice she had just heard. Just in case someone saw her, she walked through the grass, and not on the road. And as she went past the bushes that covered her face, an incredible sight unfolded in front of her.

“Princess, you look so thin.”

“I only eat one and a half bowls of soup…”

Ah!

Evely couldn’t hide her surprise. She tightly covered her mouth with her hands in case she was found out. What was surprising wasn’t the princess’ words. Rather, it was the man in front of the princess. She couldn’t see his face closely, but he was tall and handsome at first glance. They were holding hands affectionately like lovers.

“I missed you. Just looking at the soup reminded me of you. That Leopold might be starving somewhere…”

“My Rose.”

Oh my lord.

Rose buried her face in the chest of the man who called her sweetly, while the man reached out and caressed the princess’ cheek. He was careful as if he were touching something very precious, but his face looked sad. Then the princess stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against the man’s lips. It was a short, concise kiss. The man quickly grabbed the blushing princess by the cheek and kissed her deeply.

The princess had a lover. That was why she went out to meet him at night every time. Evely staggered. Because of that, the grass shook and made a small sound. The princess looked towards Evely’s direction with anxious eyes. Nevertheless, the two shadows did not stay for long.