Lord Theodore's Favorite Ritual
Chapter 240: First Life, Alice (7)

Chapter 240: First Life, Alice (7)

"Dead or alive"

The words shook Alice’s heart but there was little she could do at that moment. She knew better than to challenge the king of Springton in the presence of his royal armies. At that moment, Albert was no father, only a king his people needed and she, a princess who follows.

Such were the ways of war. She had heard stories but was not too keen on the details. A lot of deaths were justified as being for the greater good but now, she was questioning it. Alice had looked right into the eyes of the enemy and did not see an ounce of animosity in them.

Only admiration, curiosity and aloneness?

Why? Alice mused.

Theodore had known from the start that she was Alice in disguise so why didn’t he do anything? It was as though he knew her before but that couldn’t be, the royalties of both kingdoms never had meetings involving the offsprings, so she believed they’d ever met, though he eyes told another story all together.

Alice suddenly felt the urge to know more about the current war they were fighting and whether any attempt had been made at peace. But not before a hot bathe.

"The water is ready my Lady" Harley announced just as Alice stepped out of the regal cloak she had draped.

"Thank you" she said and both ladies made their way to yet another room in her vast chambers.

The feel of the heat of the water upon her skin warmed her, it reminded her of Prince Theodore who had held her by the waist and looked into her eyes, of how warm she’d felt in his arms. Suddenly the liquid did not seem so hot anymore as her insides were burning with something fiercer.

Shame, want and attraction.

"Is it too hot?" Harley asked, confused at the sudden redness of her lady’s cheeks upon entering her bath.

Alice shook her head vigorously as if to shake the thoughts of Theodore away. "Oh, no no, it is just perfect" she breathed out.

The bathe commenced with water, scented oils and the soothing touches of a practiced maid. Alice closed her eyes, letting the pleasures only a royalty can enjoy sink in but she would soon find that closing her eyes was a mistake because her head instantly filled with images of a certain prince in disguise.

"Theodore" she breathed slowly.

Harley blinked. "Does he scare you, my lady?"

"No, he was too handsome to ever scare me"

"You mean Prince Theodore’s face?"

Silence descended so deafening that it shook Alice out of her hypnotic bathing feeling.

And then a splash was heard throughout the room as she tried to lift all her frame from the water, startled that she had spoken his name out loud and her maid had gotten wind of it. She talked about him to Harley, to someone else!

"Oh my!" Harley’s hand was in her mouth, seeing her lady react so violently to the question.

"Harley..." after taking a few deep breaths, Alice tried to reason with her maid who was the one now overreacting.

"He was the shadow in the woods!" Harley was still speaking through a mouth half closed with one hand "He saw you there" she pointed an accusatory index at Alice making her frown.

"Harley listen-" but Harley cut in.

"He could have harmed you" fear replacing shock, she quickly gathered Alice in a robe as she declared. "We should tell his majesty at once"

"No!" Alice screeched.

It came out louder than Alice had intended and it frightened Harley the more "I’m sorry Harley but you can not tell father anything" she warned.

Harley narrowed her eyes. "Why?" she had also regained some measure of composure but was still anxious about this all, her mind churning. "Is he threatening you? Did he say something?"

"No!" again it came out louder than she had hoped, "I honestly... I am unaware if he is the warrior prince or not and I can not bother the king with presumptions."

"They have to be facts first, Harley I think" she bothered on sounding reasonable but Harley was also intelligent.

"And what if he was Prince Theodore?" Harley was not letting this go so easily "What if he had harmed you?"

There was genuine concern in Harley’s brown eyes, not just one that a maid had for her masters, this caused Alice to smile. She was glad that the person she considered her closest friend was worried about her even though she had no reason to be.

"He did not hurt me Harley" Alice assured, smiling as she recounted their encounter "He instead saved me from falling" she recounted.

The expression on Harley’s face was hilarious and Alice could not help herself. She bursted out laughing and sank deep into the tub created for her bath. She hurriedly got back up.

It was getting rapidly cold.

"I will tell you everything Harley" she wrapped herself up and left for her bedroom, seated comfortable she finally told the maid, "But I need to be done with my night routine first,"

After she was done with her routine and was draped in her night dress with her hair freed and dried she started the tale of her day.

..."And that’s why I need to know more about the war" she concluded the tale of her adventures in the fields of Springton to her only friend and confidant.

"What if it was a trick?" Harley spoke calmer now, "What if he wants to use you to get to the king? Conrad says things like that could happen. It is all part of a strategy in war" she quoted her enemy, making Alice narrow her eyes but before she would comment Harley continued.. "I mean I know, Conrad is a good for nothing, and a whore mongering fool that the king should dispose of but maybe he knows," Harley spoke the words impervious to how ugly Alice’s face became,

Alice sighed as she completed for Harley, "Secondly, it did not seem that was what the prince wanted" her eyes carrying a far away look.

"But you do not know that. He will not exactly tell you of his plans my lady" Harley argued "And Ser Conrad is a respected and valuable member of the Springton forces and his majesty does not seem to think he is a fool"

"You are hopeless Harley" Alice sighed in annoyance "Hopeless"

That was only met with a roll of an eye, Harley knew that Alice believed she secretly admired the knight but she was sure she didn’t. Alice opened her mouth to say more but remembered how she acted back in the fields with the stranger which she now presumes to be the prince.

She climbed into bed with a frown. "But I feel that was not why he rescued me" Alice spoke out of the blue prompting Harley to raise a brow as Alice continued, "There was a kind of sincerity in those blue eyes of his. I could not find any trace of malice or deception in there only... adoration"

"Adoration?" Harley scoffed. "Then maybe he was not the Prince" she believed, "Maybe it had only been a kind village boy, the prince i have heard about will only have hostility to give"

Alice sat up right with a deepening frown, "You do not think it was the prince?" she felt sad at that possibility for some reason "Just because he saved me and not out of falsehood or treachery?"

"Yes" Harley was blunt. "My lady this is war" she suddenly sounded two decades older than her actual age, "Kings do many terrible things to win it and soldiers do the same to stay alive"

"I know but..." Alice found that she had no words to retort that.

"If it was some farm boy at the streets, then he must have his reasons for not wanting to reveal himself and get a good reward for saving the princess" Harley said "If I were the one, I would ask to be a duchess" her silly wishful thinking made Alice shake her head and when Harley started to make her impression of the ladies of higher society Alice began to laugh, this always brought laughter to Alice. The maid held on her floral skirt pretending it was a robe of fine silk as she danced and hummed but she was more like a dancer instead of a duchess barking orders.

Alice wondered if her father would ever ask her for one wish, she would surely make her friend a duchess then but now, all she could do was hope and encourage the maid with a dream.

"You will make a more elegant duchess than those pretentious ogres around my father’s court" her words.

"Thank you my Lady. I try" Harley beamed and then without warning "But if it were the prince..." she trailed off when the mood suddenly changed and both ladies could feel it.

Alice took a defensive shift back on her bed while Harley raised her chin up like the royals do when they were about to make a speech or command an audience.

Alice wanted the topic about the prince to be kept quiet in her presence to not cause trouble for her and possibly him.

"He must have a reason he saved you and not revealed himself" Harley said the words then called for strength from within her to speak another, "For him to risk his freedom or life like this, then he must have a plan" and then for the killing blow, "one that involves you" she pointed her index at Alice.

Both of them felt silent for a moment. None daring to speak as they took in the gravity of the situation. She knew her father was a prideful man and was not one to back down but what if his enemies cornered him, with her as bait but Theodore he...

The silence lingered till it got uncomfortable and when she could no longer take it anymore, Harley blurted once more "We should tell his highness!"

"Tell me what?"

Speak of the devil.

Alice sprang out of bed, her hair in disarray as she regarded her father stepping into her chambers, "Father I..." Alice noted her mistake "Your majesty..." she curtsied.

"It’s okay" King Albert said, eyeing the maid suspiciously, "What should you tell me?" he posed his question to Alice,

"That I wish the war ends soon" Alice blurted without thinking. Her father gave her time to steady herself and she did "I wish that everything should go back to the way it was. We should be celebrating the new spring and not making plans of war" sincerity bled into the last of her sentence.

"It would all be over soon my dearest" her father said before inching closer and grabbing her cheek, "Springton would win this war over Firseria" he assured her.

She stealthily drew away from her father with a smile, "So what brings you here?"

"Leave us" from the king was all Harley needed to hear before she scurried out the door.

The door slammed against them, the king could finally sighed before going to kiss Alice on the forehead. "Your mother asked to see you," he announced.

"Oh" Alice sighed. Thoughts of Prince Theodore had prevented her from thinking about her sick mother.

What a daughter she was. "How is she, father?"

"Getting worse" he replied plainly, his jaw clenching, "I came to bring you to her"