The Princess' Handmaiden

Chapter 14

TW

Mina couldn't remember what her life was like before 'She' arrived. One thing that she could never forget, however, was when 'She' arrived.

The princess excitedly hurried to the guest, before dipping her head politely. The woman immediately greeted her with a slap.

"You walk wrong. Straighten up." She ordered sternly, her red lips shaped (ironically) like a heart. Mina, being young, didn't properly understand. What she did know, was that her life would change forever.

🐧👑🐧

"Kiss your prince!" A nine year-old Sana giggled, holding up her sister's cat. Mina pecked the fluffy animal on the cheek, before realising a key issue.

"Mimi's not a prince. She's a girl." Mina looked up. "Does it matter?" She sniffled, and her pupils dilated as tears brimmed her eyes. "D-does that mean I'll never have a prince?"

"Of course it doesn't mean that! I guess you can kiss the princess too, right?"

"No, she can't." Ms Red Lips appeared behind Mina, firmly grabbing hold of the child's shoulder. As soon as she touched the young girl, Mina tensed up, fear building. "Mina, don't you think it's time for a little maths lesson? We can focus on counting."

Despite her small age, Mina already knew than the only things she would be counting were her bruises.

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"Circum...Um..." The eight year-old's tears were running down her face, and her hand was shaking violently.

"How many times have we been over this!?" Ms Red Lips shouted, tightening her grip on her small whip. "Circumference!"

Mina cried out when the tool was brought down on her already blistered and bleeding knuckles.

"It hurts..." The child sobbed, but not once did the handmaiden show any signs of compassion.

"This isn't working. Let's move onto writing." The woman sighed, putting a brush in Mina's hand. The poor girl's hands were trembling so much that she almost dropped it, which only earned her another sharp hit.

As the princess looked at the text, she found it hard to understand what it was saying. She kept messing up, and she kept getting punished for it.

"Are you stupid? Do you even know how to spell stupid? God, I pity that whore mother of yours."

Finally, after quite a while (and a lot of apologies) Mina grew exhausted.

"Can we please stop, Mistress?" That was what Ms Red Lips had ordered for Mina to call her. If she said anything even slightly different, she would receive more punishment.

"You want a break?" She scoffed, and Mina nodded hopefully. "Fine." The princess was about to release a string of thank yous, before she spoke again. "But that'll guarantee you a trip to the basement."

Mina pursed her lips together, frozen. 

"N-no..." She murmured, looking down at her paper. "Please don't..."

"It's your choice, Mina. Is the break really worth it?"

🐧👑🐧 

The next morning, Mina sleepily stumbled to the room where her ballet lessons took place. She didn't want to do it at all. By the end of her speaking and writing class, her knuckles were all smashed up. Even though Momo did what she could to treat her hand, she was still in excruciating pain.