The Princess' Handmaiden

Chapter 18

"What do you want?" The man asked, his tone impatient.

"Can you please let my friend go?" Nayeon replied, showing a small smile. Her grin disappeared when he tightened his grip on Mina's arm, causing her to groan in pain.

"And why should I? Do you know who I am?"

"Actually, no I don't. Please enlighten me." The handmaiden said, her words dripping with irritation. She smirked when she found the man couldn't answer. "Just as I thought. You're no real noble, I mean, look at you!"

"You little-" He tried to hit her, but she slapped his hand down.

"Don't you dare touch me."

All through this, Mina was watching in horror. Nayeon was going to be punished, how could she possibly get away with that? Nayeon should have just let the man take her, and everything would have been better.

Nayeon seemed to be bored, so she pointed out into the distance.

"Your wife!"

"Huh? My-" The gullible man swivelled around, and even if it was just a tiny bit, his loosened hold of Mina's arm allowed Nayeon to pull her away. As they ran (well, as Nayeon ran and Mina was dragged with her) the princess wiped the tears streaming down her face. The pair only stopped when the man was out of sight.

Mina collapsed against a nearby tree, hugging her knees. She was completely tensed up, and looked traumatised. The handmaiden concluded that that that couldn't have been from that event, and Nayeon tilted her head, wondering what it was.

"Mina? Why did you follow him?" She asked, and Mina shrugged.

"I-I trusted him..." The princess whispered, hiccupping.

"Look, I understand that this is the second time you've been outside, but please don't follow shady old men." Nayeon said, her face mirroring worry and concern. "You've probably already noticed, but nobody stopped to help you. That's what it's like here. We're unmarried girls, it's dangerous to just wander off."

Mina looked down, and Nayeon wondered whether the princess could even see through her tears. Her handmaiden's eyes softened as she let out a breath.

"Do you want to go back now?" She asked, and the princess looked up at her.

"B-but the market isn't over yet? O-our deal..." She stammered, and Nayeon smiled softly.

"We don't have to go through with that if you don't want to. You tried your best."

However, Mina shook her head in determination.

"No. We can stay." She hurriedly wiped the tears from her face, embarrassed that she had been crying in the first place. "Why did you even save me?"

Nayeon was really confused. Did she hear that correctly?

"Excuse me? You do understand what he wanted to do to you, right?" Mina nodded. "And you're okay with that?"

Once again, Mina nodded.

"It's the 30th." The princess mentioned, and Nayeon rose her eyebrow, even more confused. Before she could ask about it, though, Mina asked another question.

"How did you hit him?"

"Hit him? I'd rather say 'block', but-" Nayeon was swiftly interrupted.

"How did you do it?"

"Uh, I rose my hand in the air and forcefully brought it down onto the back of his own?" The handmaiden made an attempt to explain something that she thought painfully obvious.

"How did you not get hurt? Punished?" Mina questioned, and Nayeon cocked her head to the side.

"What? What do you mea-"

"Never mind." Mina had a really bad habit of interrupting others. "But why? Why did you do that for me?"

"Because we're friends." Nayeon realised she needed to clarify when Mina simply blinked at her. "Friends take risks for each other. Did you not know that?"

Mina shook her head, her eyes wide. The handmaiden could find many reasons why she enjoyed her job. One, she got to see the princess. But, another reason almost just as important, was that this was her way of finding out how messed up the royal family really was.

"Surely someone's taken a risk for you before. What about when you're sick?" 

"I get locked in my room, and I'm not allowed to leave until I'm better." The princess sighed. "The only reason why I don't starve is because Momo secretly brings me food. But then again, that only happens when I'm really sick. For instance, if I'm coughing up blood, I get told it's not worth anyone's time."

Nayeon was clearly horrified.

"Uh, well, what about when you had trouble with your studies? It's not exactly taking a risk, but what happened then?" The handmaiden asked, trying to save the conversation, but Mina looked down.

"I'd rather not talk about that."

Nayeon decided to lighten the mood, by gesturing to somewhere.

"There's a couple over there who always sell pretty vases. We can go take a look!" She smirked, giggling lightly. "They like me, so we might get something for free."

Mina didn't understand how Nayeon was so good at cheering her up. It was like she knew her better than she knew herself. Actually, no, that was wrong. Mina knew something about herself that nobody else knew. Something that she'd kept a secret for years.

Mina was determined to not let Nayeon find out what a terrible person she was.

(I'm so sorry for these really short chapters! Hope you like them though!🩷)