Didn't create the characters or original storyline this fan-fiction is based on, the original content came from the Beauty and the Beast fairytale and Jun's masterpiece.

Chapter 14

If the castle was under the impression that the chaos from the earlier fiasco was the eye of the storm they were somewhat correct; however, the aftermath was the woman protesting loudly of the inhumanity of the knights' treatment towards her.

As though the eye of the storm wasn't bad enough the woman's outrage was in a whole other class of pandemonium. Whatever curse from some unknown source had descended upon the castle on this fateful day had not disappeared just yet.

Someone somewhere was probably laughing their head off mirthfully.

That mirthfulness had not been bestowed on the once free village girl, she went from a free woman to an imprisoned slave of sorts. Although she would probably be one of the most pampered slaves in existence judging from Miranda's haughty attitude and condescending gazes.

The woman screaming her head off paused momentarily to realize she looked a battered mess from her scrapple with the knights and Isla Yura earlier. But she couldn't find it within her to give a damn.

"Who in the hell do you think you are dragging me around the castle like some rag doll," objected the dark haired woman dragging her feet in an effort to halt her progression down the hall.

The knights remained quiet during the entire ordeal and quite frankly they both sounded entirely fed up with her attitude with the numerous times they sighed whenever she shot allegations of inhumanity in their direction. One of the men even commented on how they weren't paid enough to deal with these imbeciles.

The next round of insults was descriptions which involved everything but calling them a son of any god in existence. One of the knights was now titled "King Lard-Ass" much to his aggravation.

With their wise decision to ignore her complaints Lacie resorted to grumbling to herself out loud. "These bastards think they can get away with locking an innocent woman up? They've got another thing coming I can tell you that! These morons don't know what Lacie Baskerville of…the land of peasants is capable of!"

One of the knights finally decided to retort sarcastically, "The only thing you're capable of doing is making a ruckus at any given opportunity, for the love of my sanity please quiet down people are trying to sleep. I have never met such an asinine human such as you, what kind of prisoner tries to make more trouble for themselves when imprisoned so to speak?"

The woman scoffed, "Then me thinks this would be a perfect moment to voice my opinions louder!"

The hallway was made of stone and she loved how her voice ricocheted against the walls and crept down the hallway. Emerald banners were hung on the walls with a lantern placed in between each banner to guide servants down the dark hallway.

Despite the warmth emanating from the torches there was an eerie chilliness in the atmosphere that made Lacie feel like a foreboding fate would befall her.

The shadows creeping along the wall from their figures reminded Lacie of monsters that crept in the dark in her childhood nightmares. She longed for Oswald suddenly since he often chased the monsters away with his soothing presence. Luckily there was a carpet on the ground so people did not have to move across cold flooring.

Numerous doors were flung open as servants changing into their nightly attire poked their heads out to scrutinize what person was making such a commotion at this hour. An older gentleman inquired tastefully, though his face was puckered like he had sucked on a lemon, "Is everything alright?"

One knight tossed a hand dismissively before barking out in a rough voice, "Nothing to see here ladies and gentlemen, we just have a new servant who drank too much ale earlier while celebrating her acceptance as the new head servant."

"Acceptance? I don't recall accepting anything," Lacie growled.

"Thanks, nimrod," came the raspy response from the knight towards her right, "now we have something else for her to complain about."

A chorus of whispers followed the procession as people questioned who the strange looking woman was and why she was ushered down the hall in such a brusque manner.

The other knight shifted Lacie's arm to his other hand to slap the knight on the back of the head with his free one. When she tried to squirm away he tightened his grip and gave her a good shake. Both men were well over 6' feet tall and were built like mountains making it difficult to struggle out her predicament. Offering them food hadn't gone over well either. Bribery was one way to grate on their code of honor and nerve apparently. "Nice going idiot, now they're going to probe nonstop on her identity and incessantly ask about Miranda's displacement."

The 'idiot' shrugged, "They were bound to find out eventually when Miranda didn't come stalking out of her room due to the disturbance. It might be better for them to find out now instead of later."

The other knight grew silent as he contemplated this answer, "Guess you've got a point there."

Before the men could continue in their conversation they drew up to a large wooden door towards the end of the hallway. A sigil was hung on the door with the symbol of a lion fighting against a demon of some variation. Something nagged in the back of Lacie's mind this was probably hung up by Miranda to signify she was special in comparison to the other servants since their doors were bare and stripped of any notable differentially.

Leave it to snooty Miranda to still manage having an air of pomposity even when she was in another area of the castle.

While Lacie was lost in thought studying the sigil she failed to notice the door being swung open and she was abruptly shoved inside. Before she could gather her senses the door had already been slammed shut and she heard the unmistakable sound of a latch being locked from the outside.

The woman jumped up immediately and grabbed hold of the latch and tried to pry it open. She pulled and pulled to no avail.

When her struggles failed to produce results she proceeded to beat on the door crazily. "Let me out at once! I have done nothing wrong!"

She could hear voices jump outside the door and pressed her ear up against the wood where she determined it was the knights laughing. One of the men yelled back, "I beg to differ princess you've given me an earful tonight so consider this your just desserts!"

His friend hooted, "If you behave maybe we'll let you out early to get some cake for tea time tomorrow!"

Lacie began beating on the door with more vigor. "Just you two wait I'll make you sorry for locking me up!"

Her anger began to diminish as she heard the sounds of chortling fading down the hallway. She continued struggling in trying to figure out how to unlock the door with fruitless results.

She could feel her eyelids slowly drifting downwards as exhaustion kicked in from the day's events but she fought to keep them open.

Since the door wouldn't budge she ran to the stain glass window, marveling along the way on how the room itself was the length of her cottage, and looked down to see if she could escape that way. Her heart sunk as she realized the room was high above the ground by many feet. There wasn't enough fabric from the blanket to climb down and if she fell she could severely injure herself.

Frustration kicked in and she began pacing the room like a caged animal. She ran through every possible option of escape before realizing none of them would prove successful. Her only option that could work was slipping out when one of the knights came to escort her in the morning.

If there was one thing Lacie was good at it was sidetracking. Right now she didn't have the energy for an escape since she squandered all of it struggling against the door and window and mentally planning different escape routines.

The young woman barely had the energy to remain standing and eventually sunk to her knees to collapse against the bed. She refused to give her fellow workers the satisfaction of her obediently making herself content in Miranda's bed.

No matter how hard they tried to install the notion this was now her home Lacie was determined to prove them wrong. This room and this castle was not her home by her choosing. No, this was now her prison despite Break and the prince's claims.

Lacie snorted as she remembered the prince's name.

What kind of moron christens their child with one of the most generic names in existence?

Lacie rolled her knees up and hugged them closely trying to make herself comfortable it was going to be a long night. Resting her cheek against her knees she stared into the darkness and sulkily wondered if a jail cell would be more preferable than this false sense of security.

Any minute now the prince could change his mind and haul her to the dungeons just to ease his mind and not have to deal with her insolence for a third time.

Anger swelled in Lacie's heart as she recalled his grand entrance that saved her brother's life. While she felt she had repaid the debt by stopping Isla Yura's assassination attempt she now owed the prince another debt due to his kindness towards Oswald.

Closing her eyes Lacie questioned if she would continue having to repay the prince. Would she spend the entire year having to owe the prince as he granted Oswald the opportunity to follow his dream?

It just wasn't fair in her opinion. A small voice nagged about how she was being ungrateful but she tuned the voice of reason out to settle on her bitterness.

It's just not fair, she thought petulantly.

After minutes or hours, she couldn't determine which; she finally let sleep claim her at long last.

Elsewhere in the castle

The moment the shrieking woman had been dragged out of the room Jack collapsed back in his chair and slumped down forsaking etiquette. Nobody of esteem nobility was there to chastise or demean him for his lack grace.

Jack lifted his hand to drag it down his face.

If Miranda's look of pity stirred some mixture of turmoil within him, despite his look of indifference, Lacie's gaze of boiling resentment sent another form of emotion in him. He saw something noteworthy in those eyes that made him feel apprehensive.

Never before had he seen such loathing in a person he barely knew. A memory of someone dear to him gazing at him with disdain flooded his mind but he brushed the troubling memory away.

Best to leave the demons in the past just as Break had mentioned earlier.

Releasing a tired sigh, he threw an arm over his eyes and remarked, "What have I gotten myself into?"

A chuckle responded to his question and the cheeky voice of Break declared, "Come my lord you have to admit this will provide us with some entertainment for the time being."

Poking an eye out from under his arm Jack confessed irritably, "You're enjoying this far too much to make me feel comfortable."

Break folded his hands, lifting them to rest his chin, and tilted his head mischievously to grant the prince a disturbing smile. "You act as though the girl will murder you in your sleep."

"On the contrary I expect her to kill me in my sleep."

"Lighten up, just think of this as an obstacle on your way to becoming king. All the great kings had to endure some trial to test their worth in order to ascend the throne. I believe the girl's impudence is your trial my lord."

When the prince gave him a blank look of disbelief, Break waved a hand, "It's also a challenge on determining your patience level when dealing with argumentative nobles in the future."

"How ironic would it be if my test in proving my worth is to avoid murder attempts by some girl who struck the prince just because she felt like it?"

Break shrugged, "It seems funny to me."

Jack dropped his arm to give his friend an inquisitive look. "Sometimes I question your sanity."

A cackle met his statement, "Trust me you're not the first."

"Nor will he be the last," a third voice chimed in.

The two men glanced over to the seat where a shell-shocked Reim sat like a schoolboy receiving a lecture from a teacher. Jack embarrassingly realized he had forgotten about the man since his attention had been focused on quarreling with the guest.

"Reim, you do realize you had permission to leave awhile ago right?" Jack stated in disbelief.

Reim swallowed awkwardly. "I was awaiting your order sire."

Releasing a tired sigh the prince said, "Reim you have my permission to retire to your room for the evening."

Reim slowly sat up like he expected the prince to dismiss his order and apprehensively tiptoed to the door. Glancing one last time over his shoulder to make certain it wasn't a jest Reim darted from the room.

"Timid little thing isn't he?" Break jest folding his arms across his chest.

"Indeed," Jack stretched his arms over his head, releasing a yawn. "This day has been one hellish ordeal after another. Not sure about you but my bed is calling out to me and I need to attend to its cries."

Break chuckled, "Can't say your reign has been a boring one thus far."

Jack granted Break a scowl that had the newly promoted knight doubled over laughing. "Deny all you want it's the truth master."

The prince blew a strand of hair, which had escaped from his braid, out of his face. "Please do me the kindness of shutting up."

"I live to serve your every desire," mocked Break as he turned to retire to his own room for the night.

Following morning

Lacie buried herself deeper into the soft feeling fabric beneath her head and curled her arms tighter around a lumpy item. Her knees weren't this comfy she knew from her holding onto them last night.

Even though her mind told her something wasn't right she found she couldn't care. All she wanted to do was sleep the day away.

For once her mind didn't argue against the concept.

However, someone else disagreed with her plan to rest.

The room had been covered in darkness when the sounds of someone pulling curtains open with a screech as clamps scraped across a bar startled Lacie and then the bright light made the woman jerk awake.

Lacie struggled out from whatever was holding her down to stare at the intruder. Her heart was pounding against her chest as she pondered if Isla Yura had returned to inflict harm on her.

Luckily a petite female with large brown eyes and brunette hair replaced the strange looking deformed man. The woman was absolutely adorable in comparison to the monstrous executioner.

The woman sent Lacie a warm, charming smile. Her voice was soothing as she asked in a somewhat motherly voice, "Good morning, hope I didn't startle you."

Sitting further up Lacie rubbed her sore eyes, "No, you're fine, I was just scared that Isla Yura had returned to-"

Glancing down Lacie found why she felt so comfortable. Apparently she forsake her commitment to combat the prince's orders anyway possible and had managed to slip under the covers to relax on the bed despite her complaints the night before. Her mind tried to recall when exactly she had done this.

Her uneasiness doubled when she looked down to find herself in a white-laced, modest nightgown. Clenching the blanket to her chin Lacie gave the woman a wide-eyed look as she squeaked, "Who changed me out of my dress last night?"

"Pardon?" the petite woman queried innocently.

"My dress," Lacie looked underneath the blanket like she expected herself to be naked now, a silly thought but she felt exposed. "When I fell asleep last night I was wearing my dress now I'm wearing…this?"

The woman continued to stare at her with confusion before placing a hand over her mouth to snicker. Lacie continued, "Also who put me to bed I fell asleep on the floor?"

"Don't fret Lacie, I changed your outfit during the night to take to the wash, you woke up briefly during the process and was a willing participant if not a sleepy one," the woman laughed. "Your clothes were a mess and I doubted you wanted to sleep in a dirty dress coated in sweat and other stains."

Lacie chuckled awkwardly. "Guess your right, umm?"

"Whoops, forgot to mention, my name is Sharon," the woman announced enthusiastically placing a hand against her chest. "I'm one of the healers sent to check on you. Hope you don't mind I checked your body over for injuries."

When Lacie's eyes bulged out of her head Sharon raised a hand, "Don't worry your undergarments were on the entire time. The only areas I checked were your arms, legs, and head. From what I can tell you have no injuries needing further examinations so that's one positive note."

The exhausted young woman nodded her head awkwardly unsure of what to say to Sharon's unnecessary check over. She didn't want to seem ungrateful but being knocked out while a stranger examined her for wounds didn't exactly fill her with comfort.

"Thank you, Sharon, for your hospitality," Lacie chose instead, rolling her shoulders to loosen the stiffness from her position on the floor earlier in the night, "was this before I got into bed?"

"Oh no sweetie, you were already in bed when I came to check on you," Sharon smiled.

Sharon's statement disturbed Lacie.

Lacie placed her hands against her forehead mumbling to herself, "When did this happen? I don't recall getting into bed."

Sharon shrugged flipping her ponytail off her shoulder, "Who knows, but I will say you were snuggled up in the blankets like you had never slept in a bed before."

The woman who looked slightly older than Lacie by a few years added with humor, "Your scream fest must have been more exhausting than you thought. The servants kept grumbling about how they kept getting woken up by shouts in the middle of the night."

Lacie curled a strand of hair around her finger biting her lip also in the process. Great, she managed to make a few new enemies possibly last night.

The appointed head servant thought back to her uncomfortable bed in her shared cottage. The only thing comforting about her nights was the quilt used which her mother had knitted. Guess she was relieved and so fatigued the bed looked awfully comfortable so she forsake rationality in her tired state.

"Sorry for the interrogation my mind's a wreck after yesterday's events."

"I understand, not many people go through the trauma you encountered," Sharon smiled, "actually the reason for my visit is to see if you wanted breakfast."

Rolling her knees up to rest her arms on, Lacie contemplated the thought of devouring food before shaking her head, the thought of food made her feel nauseous. A strange change in the hunger she usually felt. "Not now, my body desires sleep more than nutrition at the moment."

Nodding her head, Sharon closed the curtains. "The servants are typically awake by this hour when the sun first rises to begin their chores but I think you've earned a few hours of sleep. Rest to regain your strength since you'll be with us for awhile."

Even though Sharon's words were meant to be comforting they brought on a whole new foray of troubling thoughts. Lacie hugged her knees all the tighter as realization dawned on her that she was now a prisoner.

In a few hours she would check on Oswald but for now she didn't want to wake him. Oswald had been put on bed rest Sharon told her before exiting. He had managed to hold down food and drink water so his starved state had started to disappear. More time was necessary for him to return normal.

Sharon opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Before she closed the door she offered Lacie a small smile. "Don't worry sweetie, everything will be alright in the end, you'll see. You're in safe hands here."

And with that she closed the door leaving Lacie alone in the darkness with her troubling thoughts.

Elsewhere in the castle

After meeting the woman who had stirred a thousand rumors within the household Sharon retreated to the girl's sibling to check on his wounds. After scurrying through the corridors Sharon managed to reach the room. Checking both ways to make certain prying eyes wouldn't sneak a peek at her patient she opened the door and sneaked into the dark room.

Holding the bundle of bandages against her chest she hurried to the wounded man's side to change the bloody bindings. She was pleased to find the wounds weren't bleeding quite as profusely as the last night. Breathing a sigh of relief she brought the basin of warm water towards Oswald's sleeping figure and began cleaning some of the dirt from his wounds.

Placing a warm cloth on his forehead she changed the bindings while marveling how Oswald didn't stir from his slumber once. The man needed to eat but just like his sibling sleep seemed more necessary at this current time.

After checking him over to make certain he wasn't feverish she clutched the bandages under one arm and quietly snuck out.

Sharon had just turned around when she met face-to-face with the prince himself. The prince has a scowl on his face that rose the hair on the back of Sharon's neck.

She managed to collect herself but felt disgusted with how weak her voice sounded when she stammered, "Mercy sake's your highness you scared the devil out of me!"

Her response was meant to loosen the constricting atmosphere but the prince looked beyond ticked.

"Where is the guest?" he spit out curling his lip back.

Blinking in confusion Sharon said apprehensively, "The poor girl looked downright exhausted so I allowed her the privilege of a few extra hours of sleep just for today. I think her nerves are shocked from yesterday's events."

After her statement, Jack's face softened in disbelief. "She's still in her room?"

Disguising her shock at the turn in his emotions, Sharon said, "Yes, she hasn't made any attempts to escape after last night's scream fest surprisingly. I think Lacie's too tired to plan a route in escaping. Plus her brother's here, we all know she wouldn't abandon him."

Jack looked up as though registering her comment. After a few minutes of examining the information he offered, "It makes sense, those two are stuck at the hip it seems."

Sharon chuckled, "Never has a statement rang truer than that."

Jack scratched the back of his head, "Guess I don't have to send a search party after all."

With that Jack turned around to begin stalking off when Sharon remembered something.

"Lacie seemed overly confused on finding herself tucked into bed, the girl couldn't recall crawling in."

The prince's shoulders went rigid and Sharon thought amusingly, Caught you.

"Did you lend a hand in helping our guest into bed?"

The prince laughed sheepishly which further supported her suspicions. "The woman has a vendetta against me so why would I do something like that?" He stilled before turning to cast a suspicious glance her way. "What made you think I was the one who did it?"

Sharon smiled cunningly. Her little bird (coworker) who heard footsteps in the middle of the night and decided to sneak a peek was actually telling the truth. Later on, Sharon would give her little birdie some extra treats at dinner for providing her with this entertaining gossip.

"Let's just say a little birdie told me," Sharon practically sang.

The prince's sullen silence proved the birdie's gossip was the truth even more. Finally, Sharon lamented over troubling the prince but she just had to know. "From the stories I heard the two of you despise each other so why the momentary kindness?"

After a pregnant silence followed her question Sharon was about to walk off and continue her duties when the Jack spoke up, although bitterly. "Lacie's a smart woman and I was certain she had probably found a way to sneak off by then. I decided to pay a little visit and found her cramped up against the bed with one of the most defeated postures I had ever seen."

Jack rubbed his chin and looked away from Sharon's curious eyes. "I was going to leave her there but found my conscience would not allow me to leave a woman in mourning there to suffer. The knights on duty told me how she claimed she was a prisoner and had lost her freedom."

He chuckled, "Guess you can say I felt regret from how things turned out and decided to grant her a tiny token of kindness. I've felt similar feelings when I was give the responsibility of overseeing this castle, personally I don't wish to celebrate someone else's despair in feeling trapped."

Sharon remained silent when Jack threatened, "Tell anyone about this and I'll tell the cooks to not serve you tea for a month."

The heck did he just say to me, thought an incensed Sharon.

Her face heated up at his threat but her anger dissipated when a smile formed on his face. It was a carefree smile that brought up memories of a time when he used to be less brooding. Nowadays he locked himself in his room almost like he hated being alive.

It felt like years had passed since she last saw him smile in a genuine way.

Sharon paused as a thought registered in her mind. Just what was the new servant doing to change the prince's demeanor for the better?

Author's note- This was a filler chapter but I wanted to illustrate how Jack's decision on making Lacie a servant was going to bring a transformation of sorts to the castle. Although not much happened I think this chapter was needed to display how Lacie's going to play a role in stirring up trouble within the household. Perhaps for the better since everyone seemed down due to the prince's moping.

It was fun writing from Sharon's perspective on her views of the two protagonists. I wish to show change and development in all the characters but sometimes it's good to have an outside character observe how changes are happening without their direct influence. (I did sort of copy a part from the Disney movie when Sharon took the role of the wardrobe in comforting Lacie- listen the opportunity was too perfect!).

Anyways please review or Jack's going to return to brooding ways (kidding!). Thanks for the support dear readers!