Chapter 10 Chores and other problems
Marianna was dead tired. Since the early morning she had cleaned almost every room in the castle. And that was really hard work considering that the palace had about 42 of them and they were not small. Every muscle in Mariannas body arched from the slave labor. She had made 41 beds, cleaned 54 windows and dusted 125 furniture. Ok that was exaggerated, but for Marianna it seemed so much. Her arms felt like they weighted a ton, her legs were wobbly like jello and it seemed as a herd of really big animals stomped on her back all day. Never in her whole life she felt so bad like today. And the worst was, that it was only the beginning. After the cleaning she had to report to the laundry room to wash all the dirty clothes. That meant the rest of the day in a room full of steam and stuffy air. No that was not her idea of fun. Thank god she only had to do the chores for today and not the whole week. That would have been cruel. With that thought she went to the last room of the castle. A room she had tried to ignore. Rath own little empire. Carefully she opened the door to his room. She was pretty surprised about the appearance. The room was spare furnished. In the middle was a kingsized bed. The covers were dark blue. Next to it was a little nightstand. There lay a book about fight tactics and something that looked like a stunted plant. Marianna stepped closer in the room. At the end of the room there was a bureau with a lamp. And then there was a large bookcase with many books in it. Marianna took one of the books and eyed it interested. It seemed as Rath was a little bookworm. She didn´t know that he could read at all. She had to remember this, so that she could tease him about it sometimes. Carefully she put the book back in the rack. She was not here to snoop around but to clean. Therefore she made her way to the bed. The blanket felt really nice and after she shook it she realised it smelled like him. Just as she bent her whole body over the bed to straighten the corners she heard the familiar voice behind her.
" Now that´s a sight I could get used to", Rath stood at the doorframe in all his manhood. His arms were crossed infront of his chest and he wore is trademark smirk.
Marianna was so startled that she lost her balance and dropped with her face down in the fresh made bed. And because she tried to get rid of the disobendiently bedspread so fast she got tangled up in it. After a few minutes of fighting with the stubborn thing Marianna made it out alive from it. Now her hair stood in every direction, her clothes were lightly wrinkled and she noticed that she was blushing, again. Why did she have to blush everytime Rath was near. As if it was not bad enough without the embarrassed situations.
" If you wanted so badly in my bed why didn´t you say so?", Rath was completly turned on by the picture. Marianna in his bed. But in his fantasy she was always naked and not dressed. Maybe he could change that?
" Dream on, pally", Marianna could not believe him. Who did he think he was. He wasn´t that attractive. Ok, that was a lie. But he didn´t need to know that. " I´m only here to clean your room".
" Then don´t let me keep you", Rath loved it when he could Marianna all flustered. She was even more cuter when she was mad.
Marianna jumped to her feet and got back to work. She had to be fast now or she couldn´t keep her timeplan. She wanted to eat before she had to be in the laundry room. But there was only a slight problem. She felt watched. A look at the window and the reflection there confirmed her suspicion. Rath hadn´t left his place by the door.
" Do you have nothing better to do, besides bugging me?", Marianna was at the end of her patience. She didn´t understand why she was so a bitch every time Rath was in close proximity. Usually she was a nice person to be around, but not with him. He managed to bring out her bitchy side each time. She was like two persons in one.
Rath moved from his postion and went in her direction. " Nope. I don´t have something to do. Besides you´re so easy to tick off".
" Only if you´re near me", Marianna turned around and glared at Rath. He was so annoying sometimes, no, actually all the time. " That should tell you something".
" Yeah", Rath came closer and closer. He was like a predator who stalked his prey." It means you want me and you dream about me at night".
Marianna was not impressed with the direction the conversation took. And she didn´t like the look in Rath´s eyes. It made her inside quiver slightly. She tried to take a step backward, but she was stopped from the bed there. One step closer and she would fall on the bed again. That would not be a good idea. " In your dreams maybe".
" Well actually my dreams are pretty naughty, if you know what I mean", Rath raised his left eyebrow. He was so close to Marianna now, that he could smell her lust. She obviously wanted it too. But why did she struggle against it.
Marianna was slowly starting to get nervous. Rath was too close. His eyes were not amber anymore, but almost black. If she didn´t do something in the next few seconds, she knew that she wouldn´t get out for the next hours or so. No, she couldn´t let that happen, althrough it was really tempting. She knew it would be wrong to act on these feelings they had now. She pushed Rath out of her way and went to the door" Great. Now I have nightmares for the rest of the week".
" Where do think you´re going?", Rath couldn´t let her get away so easily. He hoped for a little something and she couldn´t let him stand there like an idiot.
" I have done my work here. Now I have to go to the laundry room, if you don´t mind", Marianna didn´t know how long she could resist him. He was so damn frustating and confusing.
" I do mind. My bed is a complete mess", Rath pointed to his covers which were all over the bed. Besides he didn´t mind seeing her bent over his bed again.
" That´s not my problem anymore. I have done my work", with that Marianna stepped out of the room and made her way to the laundry room.
Rath rubbed his face with his right hand. That girl would be his death sometime. She was so damn sexy and annoying at once. Now he had to take a cold shower, AGAIN. Damn her.
Meanwhile Marianna tried everything to cover her flushed face. She couldn´t let on that something might have happened.With lightning speed she walked down to the basement of the castle, where the laundry room was. She was so deep in thoughts that she even forgot to eat. Earlier than expected she started her duty. The old lady showed her what she had to do the rest of the day. It was not so difficult and she would certainly get along. Besides if something should go wrong she had help.
The only negative side effect was the steam and the stuffy air. She could imagine how her hair would look after her work. It would stick to her face and look like she hadn´t washed it for a long time. Thank god she didn´t get the job of trimming the garden. The mud would have been in her nails for days. Not that she was afraid of dirty work, but there were things she didn´t need to experience. But the work was actually not that bad. After a few tries she got the hang of it. It was really easy and funny. She heard the most hilarious tales from the employees. They had something to say about every member of the royal family. The funniest were the stories of Zan and Rath. They were pretty wild when they were kids. They played tricks on their parents and messed up the whole castle. Poor Ava and Vilandra weren´t allowed to join them. In revenge to that the girls told their parent who done the pranks. Which led to two angry boys, because they were punished for their pranks. Marianna had to laugh about most of the stories. It was nice to hear something funny for a change. Her childhood was not so good. Sure she had friends and a family. But her father ignored her, her brother did everything to impress their father and her mother tried to avoid every contact with her husband. A really wonderful family. Her only true friend was Marius. He was always there for her and tried to make her laugh or dried her tears when she cried. He was the only bright spot in her life. And she didn´t have had the time to tell him that.
Suddenly a small hand waved in front of her face.
" Is everything alright with you?", Corly, a young attendant of the palace, tried to snap her out of her thoughts.
" Yeah, sorry", Marianna shook her head. She must have zoned out for a moment. " I was only thinking".
" Seems like it was not so happy", Corly was really nice. Her smile was contagiuous.
" It´s alright. It was a long time ago", Marianna didn´t want to think about it to much. It was in the past and it should stay there. Besides she couldn´t change anything anyhow.
" If you want to talk about it I´m a great listener", althrough Corly didn´t know Marianna that long she felt a connection with her. It was like they know each other for a long time. It didn´t matter that Marianna was a rich princess and she only a poor attendant.
" Thank you", Marianna was grateful. Corly seemed like a nice girl." So what should I do next?".
" The pile next to you", Corly pointed to the mountain of black shirts and black pants. " That are the clothes of Rath".
Marianna eyed the clothes really intensly. " Aha, Rath´s clothes. Very interesting", a plan formed in her little mind. She could pay him back for the incident earlier. He would think twice before he did something again after that.
Corly didn´t like the twinkle in Mariannas eyes. It looked really scary. But she had her own pile to do, therefore she couldn´t keep an eye on her all the time.
Marianna didn´t care that everybody could see what she wanted to do. They had their own work and wouldn´t bother her. Just as anyone was distracted she let all of Rath shirts shrunk two size smaller. Now the only person who could wear that was Ava or her. Rath wouldn´t fit in it anymore. After she was done with that she washed the shirts and the pants.
Later in the evening
Marianna and the royal family sat around the table. Everybody talked about the day and what happened. Ava and Isabel told their parents about their new dresses, Zan tried not to roll his eyes at that, Mael and King Salem talked about politics and Queen Lutecia and Abidale gossiped. From time to time somebody would look on his timer. They were all waiting for Rath. The dinner would get cold if he didn´t came soon. Suddenly they heard angry steps coming their way. It was really loud and really fast. Then the door flew forcefully open. Rath glared angry at his family. Until his eyes found the culprit.
" Marianna, what have you done to my shirts", he was pretty furious and he didn´t trie do hide it. He didn´t have prove, but he knew that she was guilty.
At the last part the whole family noticed the shirt Rath was wearing. It was to small for his size and covered only the upper half of his torso. You could see his belly button and a little bit more of that.
Ava and Vilandra burst out laughing at that picture. Zan hid his smile behind his hands. Mael and his wife tried to hide her laughter decently. Queen Lutecia couldn´t hold her laughter in and King Salem only grinned.
" I did nothing to your shirt´s", ok, that sounded not so innocent like she thought. But the picture was just too funny. " I only washed them, like I was told to".
" You let them shrink", Rath was on the brink to strangle Marianna. What should he wear now? He couldn´t go around shirtless.
" I did not. I´m sorry if the shirts shrunk. But that is not my fault", and he couldn´t prove it. Besides it was fixable. Althrough she didn´t mind seeing Rath topless.
For the first time Rath couldn´t find a remark. Filled with rage he stormed out of the dining room and made his way to his bedroom. Maybe he had to calm down, before he did something he regretted later, like to choke Marianna to death or something like that. But he would get his revenge. If not today then tomorrow.
TBC