21. Practically Naked.
"Prince." The head of servants quickly greeted with her head bowed, she looked a little bit to her right and was shocked that the slave had not done the same thing, she expected Arthur to say something about it but it didn't seem like he even cared.
"I said what is the problem?"
"The new slave has refused to show any courtesy whatsoever, dear prince. She even dared to put her dirty self on your bed and spoke to me in a rude manner." She reported.
"I didn't remember asking you to clean my room yet though, so why are you even in my room, Florence? I'll overlook this stupidity of yours just for today, it's late already and I'm so tired, having gone through a journey that lasted almost two days. So change the sheets and get out of my room as soon as you can!" Arthur snapped and took a seat on one of the couches in his large room.
Winifred remained standing where she was as she watched the so called head of servants rush towards the bed to carry out the instruction given.
"And you! Stop standing around looking like a rag doll, if you haven't noticed yet, you're literally the only dirty thing in my room right now and it's triggering, get into the bath tub that has been prepared for you and scrub all of that hideous dirt off your body!" He turned to snap at Winifred too.
Winifred rushed into the bathroom and if she were to be honest ,the moment she had stepped on the warm tiles, the room took her breath away. It had the biggest tub she had ever seen, all made of crystal. The design of the whole bathroom was exquisite, and the dominating colors were golden and red, which gave off a feeling of warmth and safety. The tub faced the tall window on the right wall, and the roses which were floating on the water gave the whole room a very beautiful and rosy scent.
Winifred was quick to submerge herself in the hot water, the white, rose-scented bubbles rising up to her chin. She felt her body relax, all the aches in her legs and feet from running the other night being slowly soothed to a dull sensation she didn’t quite mind. After spending almost an hour in the tub till it went cold, she decided to wash herself thoroughly, drained the water and then got out of the tub after wrapping a towel around herself. She looked on the sink in the spacious bathroom and found a heavy ankle length white gown there, one which she was quick to put on, even without an underwear as non was provided.
When she finally summoned the courage to step out out of the bathroom and face her punishment for running away the previous night, all she met was Arthur's sleeping body on the large bed. She thought carefully about what she should do as she stared at the handsome man who was sleeping peacefully like a baby, she didn't understand if he wanted her to sleep on the rug at the foot of the bed, on one of the couches in the room or right beside him on the bed.
A quick thought came into her mind again, running away. What if this was the only chance she had to get away from whatever ill fate had in store for her. If the beast that bought her was right by saying the person who would really own her was dreadful, then she should waste no time nor opportunity she had in getting out while she could, she thought as she suddenly saw a bunch of keys laying on the fancy bedside drawer right next to Arthur.
She carefully picked up the bunch of keys that seemed to be her way to escape the hellhole she was brought in and just as she did, the beautiful man on the bed made grunting and moving sounds.
Winifred froze, standing still like she had just seen a ghost or wild animal. She heard another grunt followed by a groan as she looked at his back moving like he was changing positions. It was sure that he was waking up and Winifred's mind had completely shut down. She stood there, frozen in the middle of his room as she lost her ability to think while he kept rustling.
But soon, she was able to move, although, instead of her walking towards the main door of the room, she walked straight into the bathroom again and before she can even comprehend what’s happening, she had hopped into the bathtub and pulled the shower curtain shut. She was extremely thankful that the curtains was an opaque one that wasn't a see through as she plastered herself against the wall and pressed her free hand over her mouth since the other hand still had the bunch of keys which she tried to hold as tight as she could so as to avoid any sounds.
Soon, footsteps, coupled with more grunts began to approach her and to her horror, it was getting closer. It was soon obvious and certain that he was walking towards the bathroom.
'Why on earth did I think it would be a good idea to steal his keys and escape again? Why did I even think hiding inside his bathtub was a good idea when he was obviously going to look for me? I literally just made everything worse, how do I explain why I'm hiding in the bathtub with his keys in my hand?' Winifred kept thinking as she heard the bathroom door open and then a hiss. A distinct sound of something – a thick stream – hitting the ceramic, followed by a loud sigh.
He was peeing and it caused winifred to groan with disgust and then an eternity later, the flush of the toilet and the rush of the tap opening could be heard.
Winifred could swear that she heard the bathroom door open and close once again such that she was already jubilation at not being caught until she heard the curtains drawn in a twinkle of an eye only to reveal the same beast she had been trying so hard to run and hide from.
“What do you think you are doing?” he thundered.
His arm was stretched out wide, strangling the curtain with his grip, and for a few moments, all winifred could do was stare at his face. It was clenched tight, every little line, every taut muscle on display. His anger personified with his ticking jaw and gritted teeth. She knew that she was supposed to answer him but her tongue suddenly seemed locked up.
She found herself staring at his killer jaw, enticing skin and spiky, messy hair. Black eyes dripping with rage. And veins. His chest was massive and the curves of it made a tight valley that then changes into the ridges of his abdomen. She didn't know that she was staring way too much until she started to count his packs and realized that it was eight and not six, she proceeded to look down further, only to realize that he was wearing nothing but a bathrobe that wasn't even tied and left nothing to the imagination. The man was almost naked.
"Oh... my! Why... why is your bathrobe not tied? You are practically naked!" She screamed, covering her eyes like she had just seen what she should have never seen.
