44. I want to be alone.

The preparations for Arthur's late mother's remembrance had started and everyone in the palace were busy with the preparation in one way or the other. Winnifred also was not exempted from the preparations. Florence hadn't stopped using her to do harsh works with any opportunity she got, but Winnie was used to it already. She signed up for it anyways.

"You are to give the prince his royal robe and return here right away." Florence snapped at Winnifred as she dropped the well-ironed gold robe on the table in front of her. Then, Florence folded her arms and turned to look at Winnie once again. "I'm sure you haven't seen such expensive outfit before, so do not try anything funny by trying to steal or run away with it. You can ask around the fate that befell those that tried it."

Winnifred looked at her scornfully before picking up the robe on the table. "I am everything and could be anything more, but I'm not a thief. Get that in your skull." She glared at Florence as she said the last part of her sentence before storming away towards Arthur's room.

"She's still as arrogant as ever. She needs to be taught a lesson," Florence muttered to herself as she watched Winnifred walk out of her sight.

As Winnifred passed by the corners of the hall that led to Prince Arthur's room, she couldn't help but listen to all the gossips about her. She thought it would have died down a bit by then, but she was wrong. "They'll definitely continue to hate. Bunch of fools." She muttered as she reached Prince Arthur's room door.

She had forgotten that it was only right for her to knock before walking in, so she just turned the knob and stormed into his room without knocking or any prior notice. But instead of meeting her master and now lover, prince Arthur, she met his fiancé, Elena. Winnifred rolled her eyes in disgust at the sight of her.

Elena scoffed as she noticed the presence of Winnifred. She was expecting Prince before Winnifred walked in, and with the way she did not knock, she had thought it was him. "And why would you come into your master's room without knocking?" She asked her with raised eyebrows.

Winnie wanted to reply her that it wasn't her room either afterall, so she had no right to make a fuss about her barging in, but she resisted herself from saying or doing anything that would get her in trouble. Instead, she stated her mission there. "I was told to give this robe to the prince."

"So why are you still standing there? Drop it and leave." Elena ordered as she sat on Arthur's bed and folded her arms, staring intently at Winnifred like she was going to kill her with her eyes. Elena recalled her last experience with Arthur and how he had said no to her for the first time in several months only because of the slave standing in front of her at the moment. She felt more hatred towards Winnifred because of this, as she stared at her.

"Well, I'm not quite sure if it's fine to drop such an expensive piece of clothing with you, especially with the fact that you destroyed an expensive piece of clothing the first time we met." Winnifred replied her with a smirk on her face, trying to annoy her.

Recalling what had happened the day they met, Elena stormed out of the bed and was walking angrily towards Winnifred to grab the robe from her by herself when the door opened and Arthur happened and she stopped on her tracks.

Arthur noticed the tension in the room as she looked from Elena to Winnifred who was closer to him to the robe in her hands. He could already tell that she was told to give him the royal robe to be worn at his mother's remembrance ceremony the next day. Instead of asking them what was happening before he walked in like he normally would, he just turned to Winnifred. "I suppose that's for me?" He asked with an expressionless face.

"Uhm, yes. Floren… uh, the head of servants told me to give this to you as ordered by the king or something." Winnifred replied as she gave the robe to him.

He collected it from her without a word and walked into his room. Elena was about to go pet him but he spoke before she could even take any steps. "I'd like to be alone," he replied sternly.

Elena turned to face Winnifred who was standing in front of the door in the room. She was still waiting there in case Arthur still had any errand to send her. She had to wait for Arthur to dismiss her before she leaves his room. "I'm sure you're not deaf. He said you should excuse us. He wants to be—"

"Both of you. You're included, Elena." Arthur replied coldly as he dropped the robe on his bed without turning to face either of them.

"But I only just got—"

"Now, Elena." This time, Arthur turned to face her. His voice was not only stern, but so was the look on his face. "I want to be alone," he added. Elena got the cue immediately as his expression got her a bit scared. She nodded and stormed towards the door, pissed that what just happened was in the presence of Winnifred. This only made Winnifred chuckle that Elena was somehow put in her place.

As Elena stormed out of the room, Winnifred followed, but not after looking at Arthur's figure from the back one last time. He was withdrawn, which was different from the usual Arthur she knew. She concluded that it was because of his mother's remembrance ceremony coming up and that he was probably moody because he missed her. "It's not my business anyway," she said to herself as she returned to the servants' quarters.

The ceremony was not a new one for the people of the palace, but it was a new one for Winnifred as this was her first time attending a ceremony of that sort. It wasn't an exaggeration if she said she saw quite the most numerous number of gold attires for the first time in her life. She had never actually seen people wear outfits that were made form actual gold and being someone that was from a wealthy family from birth, she could recognize real gold when she saw it.

"Wow, this is just really much to take in." She said as her eyes moved from one royalty to another. The palace hall was filled with several royalties and each one of them came with a slave of theirs, with each of them carrying white flowers with them. "I guess that's sort of a tradition here." She was still taking in the environment when someone pushed her away from the way. She was about to give the person a piece of her heart when she turned to see that it was the princess, Alice.

"Yes? Do you have something to say?" Alice asked her with raised eyebrows. "Because I know you always have something to say."

Winnifred just stared at her scornfully and then rolled her eyes at her. "Motherfucker," she cursed her under her breath.

"What did you say?" Alice asked her curiously. She was damn sure Winnie had insulted her under her breath, but she could not fathom the exact words she had said.

Knowing that she definitely would not know the meaning of the word she had just called her, she decided to change it immediately. "Said your gown is a beautiful one," she lied.

"Of course, it is." Alice raised her head in pride and pushed Winnie out of her away once again as she walked further into the hall, which made Winnie scoff at her as she walked her go in.

The ceremony continued, but the other royals from their palace didn't forget to make sure to make Winnie's life a hell at any chance they got in the hell. They were at an advantage though, because her master was moody all through and he also seem nonchalant and uninterested about the whole ceremony happening, so she just accepted her fate and whatever the other royals made her do. After going through so much stress for the day, she returned to stay behind her master just like other slaves there. Alexander just sat there watching the whole event, he wanted to be anywhere except there, but he had to stay to fulfill all righteousness.