Puppets and Puppeteers

Chapter V - Perceptions

"Naava", Master Sybil called me, "Every night, have a maid and a butler stand on the door of their room; and every morning have them report to me".

"Of course, milady". Since she asked me directly, I took the first night. I imagined the master was suspicious about them, but after staying there for a while I felt my face hurting from the blush. Are those two animals? How they can keep doing that for so long? Do I really need to stay here? And why does this room have so bad sound insulation? Zayan, the butler I chose to stay the first night with me, was so red that he looked like a tomato. I mouthed to him I'm sorry.

In the next morning, Master Sybil summoned me to her quarters. It was early, but she was drinking some bourbon while looking through the window as the maids trained.

"Tell me, Naava, how was your night?", she said without taking her eyes from the window. "Were our guests comfortable?"

"Yes, very", I said, blushing.

"I hope they were very... active".

"Yes, they were". As I said this, she smiled.

"Tell the servants to prepare our things. We'll be moving in three days. And send someone to the Conwenna county house to gather the princess' things. And have a different maid and butler every night standing outside of their room".

"Yes, milady".

Three days later, we moved into a new house that belonged to the prince who was previously our guest. The house was beautifully furnished, and everything looked really expensive. The King left his servants there, but Master Sybil told me we should dispense them all. They were not trustworthy, and might be spies. I had to agree with her decision; from the moment we arrived I felt a bad vibe coming from them. Nevertheless, she kept them for a week in the house while adapting and had one of them standing every night beside the prince's room. I could only wonder what she wanted by that. However, one day, when I went to the market it finally hit me.

The people had recently found out that the third prince moved in into the royal family's summer mansion and the rumors were spreading. Most of the things were bad. The prince was paraplegic and, although he used to be a great general, he was now regarded as useless. Many said he was impotent and would never produce an heir. That he lost all his masculinity after the war. As I overheard someone badmouthing him, someone else started to defend him.

"A friend of mine is a friend of someone who works in the mansion, and he said that him and his wife do it all night. That he is a beast in bed". A girl in red dress said.

"Seriously? They say that, although the prince is crippled, he's still really handsome". The girl in orange who was previously badmouthing him answered.

"Yeah... His wife is lucky". A girl in green complemented, laughing.

The vision the villagers had of the prince was quickly changing and it was all thanks to Master Sybil.

The time passed and we got used to our life in the royal mansion. A new training ground was built and a new master was invited to train us. She was the princess's aunt, who soon moved in with us. The princess would also come to train with us. The training was more rigorous and we had to practice with a bigger variety of weapons. The prince brought his own arsenal and ordered a few more to be delivered. He and the princess would constantly practice alone; the movements and the magic they used was advanced. Although I'm at a master level, there was many unknown spells. The prince said the only way they could accept her as his legs was if she mastered the Thousand Swords movement. I'm not sure of what that means, but it seems to be something important.

"They have been able to delay the nomination for another month". The prince told Master Sybil during a private meeting. We have been in the mansion for five weeks and they would have frequent reunions like this. When the princess, the prince and Master Sybil gathered to talk, they would close the door and only the servants Master Sybil regarded as trustworthy could enter. At the moment, that was me, Helena and Itzal. "That gives us a little more time. I got in contact with some friends from the army. The news has already spread and that enraged the Second General. He still hasn't gotten in contact, so we don't know his thoughts exactly. But we expect to receive an invitation soon. Persok Vilhjálmur has the fame of being an impulsive man, and who doesn't like to be provoked. He will do something soon".