Chapter 93
Chapter 93 All that gossip.
A set of uniforms and food were left by their doors when William checked in the morning. Doris sleepily
got ready in her own and pulled her hair up into a high pony tail on her head. It was just a thick dress that
went to her ankles and an apron. Absolutely hideous, but warm enough and that was all that really
mattered to her. He didn’t say much to her as they ate-or when he left to find where he was to be
dressed in a grey button down and trousers. Doris followed the small map on her letter and felt
goosebumps line her arms. This ce gave her the creeps. It was all gray and felt hollow. She passed
people but they paid no mind to her as if she was just a part of the wall decor. She was used to that back
in the pce, but it felt strange here. In the daylight, she could see all the imperfections she missed
when they first came. Cracks along the floors and walls, she wondered when thest time Enzo had
seen this ce. Did he know it looked like this? Or was there not much for him to do about that? She
found it hard to believe he wouldn’t want to at least put a little more care in the ce he ruled over. “Are
you Isabelle?” A small voice said, halting her steps down the hall. Doris looked over to see a young girl
poking her head out of arge door. Doris nodded. “Perfect,e with me. I’m Millie.” The girl looked a
bit younger than Doris, but she didn’t act like it. It was as if only her voice gave away the truth with how
mature she wanted to appear. “This is where you’ll be stationed.” The girl led her to a table with a line of
empty bottles and onerge full one. “There’s nothing to it, you just read the paper set with each bottle
and fill the number of pills in each one. After you fill a batch, make sure all thebels are correct before
you carry the basket over to the finished area.” Doris took a seat at the table and nced around at the
other girls who were busy with their own bottles. They looked tired and worn, but notpletely
unhappy.” Please make sure to check thebels, that’s the most important part. We can’t have the wrong
medicinebeled, ever. A mistake like that could turn fatal.” Doris nodded. “Okay, seems easy enough to
remember.” “If you think you can work longer than the training hour, be my guest. We have thousands of
bottles that always need to be filled. I’lle check on your work before you finish the first basket.” The
girl nodded and turned away to walk through the room. An older woman with bright red hair leaned
towards Doris once the girl was out of earshot. “Don’t worry, she looks younger than she is.” Doris
turned, a bit surprised but eager to earn friends already. They seemed friendly enough, it was even
better if they liked to talk “Oh? How old is she?” “She’s 22, believe it or not.” The womanughed, her
eyes never left the bottles. “No! I thought she was 16.” Doris nced at the girl who was already in
another conversation across the room.
“Everyone thinks that. She can get really mean just to prove a point and remind us that she’s in charge.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “I’m Beck, by the way.” Doris smiled. “I’m Isabelle, lovely to meet you.” “We
were excited to get another girl down here! It’s been a while but we heard news yesterday you were
coming with your husband.” Another girl sighed loudly and leaned towards them. “Is he handsome? All
the men here are like toads.” Doris blushed a little. “I-I mean, yes.” “Mia! Don’t ask her if her husband is
handsome! Of course he is to her, she doesn’t need you drooling over him.” Beck rolled her eyes. Doris
took the minute to read over her note before she started to count the pills and bottle them. “He brought
his cousin, too.” Doris offered quietly. The girls giggled at the idea. “How far did you travel from?” Mia
asked. Doris chewed on her lip. She knew that to gain their trust she had to give them answers instead
of shutting them out. The more talkative they were, the more likely they would tell her things that they
thought were harmless to a girl like her. “Oh, we used to live in a small vige near the pce. It was
always so horrible therepared to the rest.” Beck gasped. “Oh! Did you hear that the prince from that
pce is in the north?” “Really?” Doris said, shocked. “I hadn’t heard! We’ve been traveling nonstop—
which prince is it?” “Oh, I think it was the William one. I really don’t know which is which but I’ve heard
he’s been an animal to the rogues and many are trying to stop him. Did you ever see any of the princes
where you lived?” Mia asked. Doris swallowed as she continued bottling the pills. “How strange… but no,
I never saw any of them. They barely came into the viges, if ever.” Doris said. “Isn’t it so strange? It’s a
shame you never got to see him. There’s been so much gossip in the past few days because of that man
but no one has even caught him yet! We’re all trying to guess what he looks like.” Doris sat up a little.
“Gossip?” She nced around and leaned closer to the two girls. “I’ve been in a carriage for days with
two men that barely talk,” The girls’ eyes widened in pity. “Oh, you poor thing. I couldn’t imagine going
days without a good conversation! Men are the worst when ites to that.” Beck rolled her eyes at the
thought. “Well, the things I heard wouldst us days to talk about.” Sheughed. Doris’s hand tightened
around the bottle she was holding. Sheughed with them and nced at Millie to make sure she wasn’t
heading near them yet. “How long have you two been here?” Doris asked causally. She didn’t want to
seem too eager. If William was as quiet as he normally was, it was up to her and Patrick to get some sort
of answers out of these people. “Mia and I came around the same time about a year ago—almost two
years.” Beck smiled. “We both got moved down here from mixing which was a terrible job. Our arms felt
like jelly at the end of the day!” Doris smiled as theyughed together. She suddenly missed Beth and
wished she was here—but at the same time she was d she wasn’t. There was so much to see and do,
but none of it was worth the risk when it came to death. “Oh, you know what I heard yesterday about the
prince?” Mia lowered her voice, Doris leaned closer. “I heard he killed one of the men that was sent to
assassinate him. He somehow found him and hunted him down, they found his body in the woods the
next day.” Doris did her best to look appalled. “Oh my… how gruesome.” “Yeah, the other two think
they’re next. They’ve been bbing to everyone to watch their backs but there’s no way he woulde
here.” Beck filled in. “Did the rogue leader send them after him? I heard the princes were dangerous
men.” Doris said with wide eyes as if she couldn’t believe the sort of gossip she was hearing. She did the
same face often with Beth whenever she told her something risky. “Oh no! Lord Enzo has been ordering
them to stop but apparently someone from his own pce has offered arge bounty on his head—“
“Girls! You’re paid to work, not talk.” Millie scolded. Doris quickly started filling the bottles again and felt a
deep sense of annoyance raise inside her. If she had only gotten a few more minutes, she might have
been told more crucial things. Her mind grasped on to what she had been told-and she knew instantly
who had put a bounty on William’s head. The Luna Queen. It had to be. She was the only one aware of
where they were going besides his family, and she was the only one Doris suspected. The two girls
return to lighter gossip after an hour about people she had never met. Doris engaged just as much as
she had with the William gossip, even though she knew it wouldn’t leave her mind. They saw her as a girl
just like them and confided in her instantly. She was a girl like them, she was a maid who had met
hundreds of maids before that always did the same thing when they saw her-even if they never saw her
again. She supposed she just had a face they trusted. After Doris realized they had nothing else to offer,
she waved over Millie. “Done already?” Millie took her sweet time looking over every single bottle before
she nodded in approval. “Good, tomorrow you’ll have your first full day. Work starts mid morning, don’t be
late.”Content provided by N?velDrama.Org.