In the aftermath of the Autumn Festival, Cassie must face the wrath of her peers, but perhaps even more frightening, she must face Prince Coleman again. Fortunately, Cassie has a cute butler on her side...and a few new friends.
My heart pounded nervously as I stood outside of Missus Lucille's office door. She had requested that I come and speak with her, and it was the last thing I had to do before my weekend of freedom began. For whatever reason, the woman somewhat terrified me. I opened the door and stepped into the pristine office—clean and practical like its owner.
"Miss Carmichael," the lady herself said. She sat straight in her wooden chair behind a spotless mahogany desk with a piercing stare and her hands clasped together in her lap. It was hard to believe that this woman was Luke's aunt.
"Missus Lucille," I answered, dropping a respectful nod. "You asked to see me?"
"I did. I have been told by multiple sources that you have gone about threatening your fellow employees."
I grimaced. "Who said that?" I asked.
"I'm sure you can figure that out, Miss Carmichael, as you were the one to do the threatening. Now, as the Prince's personal maid, you are superior in rank to that of the other maids, but that does not give you the power to threaten their job security. That behavior is absolutely inappropriate."
I released an angry breath. "Did they tell you why I got upset with them?" I snapped.
"They mentioned that were teasing you, which was also inappropriate behavior and to which they have already been chastised. But despite their rude attitude, you cannot—"
"Oh, so they told you all about the crude insinuations that they drew between me and Prince Coleman? How they were claiming I got to be Queen Maiden because he knocked me up?" I demanded, feeling a heat rising in my chest. Missus Lucille rose a curious eyebrow. "Even though Queen Klara herself said that I wasn't chosen for any reason like that, even though she said that people shouldn't draw such allegations, they all did it anyways! And you know what? Luke is the one that told Prince Coleman what happened, not me. And the Prince wasn't pleased that people were making up rumors like that about him.
"You know, I probably shouldn't have threatened their jobs, okay? You made a fair point. But they also shouldn't keep making up false and insulting rumors about their Prince, especially when Queen Klara specifically said that they shouldn't. Prince Coleman wasn't happy about it, and I'm guessing Queen Klara would be even more upset. The Prince was the one who told me to tell him if people were still talking smack about him so that he could fire them if needs be. So sure, maybe I went too far but so did they!"
When I finished my speech, we were encompassed with an uncomfortable silence. Missus Lucille stared at me carefully, and I didn't know what to make of it.
"What allegations were thrown around, exactly?" she finally asked coolly.
I looked down at my hands—still darned with my red acrylic nails from the week prior. I didn't really want to even say the allegations because they were embarrassing and made me angry, but I took a deep breath and started rattling them off. "Well, everyone is certain that I'm sleeping with the Prince, which I'm not. Some say that I might be pregnant with his child. Others think that I was also intimate with Prince Nikolas, which is also untrue. They think that I either blackmailed or slept my way to get the coveted Queen Maiden position."
"I see. Who exactly were perpetrating these rumors?"
"Um, there was Raven, Isabella, but mostly people I don't really know. I could try to figure out their names..."
Yeah, I'm a snitch. I don't care.
"That's alright," Missus Lucille said. "I am glad that you brought this to my attention, though I wish you had spoken to me first rather than threaten the jobs of other servants."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Honestly, things have gotten way out of control," Missus Lucille sighed. "Well, Miss Carmichael, have a good evening. You are dismissed."
I curtseyed and eagerly left the room.
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The next evening was my date with Luke. It was going to be our first date since we had talked Sunday night.
'Let's go out.' I'd said. I remembered his eyes swelling up like balloons and his face splitting into a gorgeous grin.
"Alright," he beamed. "Then—then let's go on a date. A-a proper one, without my friends or anyone. Um, does this weekend work for you?"
"Yep. I'm free all weekend."
"Great. Well, I work during the day but let's go somewhere Saturday night. How about dinner?"
"That sounds good."
"It, uh, it might have to be a late one, because of work. Is 20:00 too late for you?"
"Nope, that's perfect. It's a plan."
At the time, I had been in a rush to kick Luke out before he looked at my disgusting pringle-wallowing self too carefully and decided he didn't want to go on a date with a hobo. Now, as I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, I tore off my eighth outfit in frustration and threw it into a crumpled heap like the rest of my clothing options.
"What to wear?" I hummed to myself as I rifled through my closet. I finally settled on a classic little black dress with long sleeves and a skirt that just kissed my knees and I paired the ensemble with gold dangly earrings. By the time I had finished my hair and makeup, it was 7:45 and I was starving. I'd skipped dinner at the palace in favor of the one I was about to have, but 8:00pm suddenly felt very late to wait for a meal. I considered snacking on my last canister of pringles, but I decided against it.
I watched to door somewhat expectantly for the next fifteen minutes, and to my great alarm by 8:01 Luke still hadn't shown up.
"Am I being stood up?!" I cried. "No, it's only one minute past. I'm sure it's fine."
8:15. Still no Luke.
I opened the can of Pringles and texted him asking if we were still on for the date.
8:20. STILL NO LUKE and no response! By this point the Pringles were almost gone.
8:23. At last a freaking text!
Luke ❤: I apologize I am running late! I'm about to get changed and I'll head over to your room soon.
I sprung up from my bed and brushed off the Pringle crumbs from my dress. I reapplied my perfume, grabbed my purse and coat, and made my way up to the second floor outside of Luke's bedroom. I leaned against the wall opposite to his door, and when he finally stepped out, he looked rather surprised.
I must admit, I was peeved that he was late, but Luke looked good. He had changed into a nice tailored navy blue suit paired with a pale blue tie, and it was a good—nay, a great look for him.
"Cassie!" He sounded surprised.
"Hi Luke," I answered. "I, um, I figured I'd just meet you here. And, um, you look good."
"Thanks. You do too," he grinned. "And, I'm sorry I'm late. I got caught up in an unexpected meeting."
