Disclaimer: i don't own any fairytale bits that will come later but so far, i own everything

~*~

Chapter 1 – The New Girl

"Oh look, here's comes another slave," Princess Briana smirked to her friends, "Now we have someone new to play with."

Nineteen-year-old Prince David Liam of Annon looked at where Briana was pointing. There, in front of the castle was a carriage. Two women came out of it carrying large carpetbags and entered the castle. They looked like mother and daughter. The girl was quite young; perhaps it was because of her small build. She had straight black hair woven in a simple braid and was wearing commoner clothes.

"I wonder where she's working, in the kitchens or as a chamber maid," he remarked to his friends.

"We'll find out soon enough," said Lady Leila.

As Liam, as he preferred to be called, looked, the girl at the door turned toward his direction. His breath caught in his throat, she was very plain, yet beautiful. Not in the way that most of the court ladies were beautiful, but a there was a strange beauty about her that Liam couldn't place.

"Let's go and find out where she works," said Nick.

"No," Briana stood up daintily off the bench she was sitting and walked gracefully towards the castle. "Let's do it tomorrow. We'll let her settle in first before we 'play' with her. Besides, it's almost teatime."

Briana was beautiful and popular. Her gently wavy waist-length hair was the colour of shining straws in the sun, and not a strand was out of place. Her eyes were the colour of forget-me-nots. Her cheeks were rosy, and reminded Liam of a porcelain doll. She always wore silk dresses of bright colours and carried a fan or handkerchief with her. To top it off, she was the daughter of King Charming and Queen Rilia of Leithia. There were always admirers – Liam included – and young noble girls surrounding her.

Similarly, Liam was also blessed with good looks, with light brown hair streaked with blond and crystal blue eyes. He was the classic prince whom every girl wished to marry. He was too, always surrounded by admirers. Everyone said that he and Briana made the perfect couple. At first he was reluctant, now he accepted Briana and even started to like her.

Liam reluctantly followed Briana into the castle.

~*~

The next morning, Prince Liam wandered aimlessly around the castle. It was right before lunch and he had a break in his lessons. His friends, including Briana were still having their lessons. He had wanted to have classes with his friends, the children of nobles in the palace. But because he was a prince, he was privately tutored.

He wasn't watching where he was going and was startled by a surprised "Oh." He snapped back to reality and found himself staring at a girl in the scarlet and white servant uniform of Annon bent over pieces of scattered laundry. Her face was hidden from him.

"You should watch where you are going wench," said Liam before stepping around the girl. He used to help people when he knocked them down, but since Briana's arrival a year ago, he ceased to do that.

The girl looked up, "No, you should watch where you are going," she said hotly and stood up to face him. Liam realized with a start that the girl was the one who arrived yesterday. She was almost a head shorter than he was, but she had an intimidating aura about her, perhaps it was the fierce look she had in her dark brown eyes than bore into him.

Liam was taken back at first. Usually these servant girls were timid and shy, at least respectful. Then he was indignant, he was, after all, the prince. "Don't you know who I am?"

"No, and I don't care. All I care is that you help me gather the laundry."

"Well since you are new, I'll forgive you. I'm Prince David Liam," he said proudly.

To his surprise, the girl replied, "So? I don't care if you are the king of the world," then her tone softened, "Could you help me pick the laundry up?"

"Nope. You dropped the basket," he said, as he got ready to go, "I'm leaving."

"Stop," she said in a commanding tone and to Liam's surprise, he obeyed. "I dropped the laundry because you bumped into me!" The girl was just calming down, now she got mad again. "You come out of nowhere, crash into me, accuse me of not watching my way, insult me, and refuse to clean up the mess that you started. And you expect to just walk away?"

Liam sighed; he'd never met a girl like her before. In the end, he apologized and helped her with the laundry.

"What's your name?" he asked as he walked with her.

"Ann."

That's plain, thought Liam, but he didn't say it out loud. "Call me Liam," Ann nodded and they went their separate ways.

~*~

Ann was mopping the floor in the audience chamber after lunch. She and her mother just arrived the day before. She sighed and rested on her mop, it was the fifth home she had in her seventeen years.

"Hello there," a musical voice snapped her out of her thoughts. A group of well-dressed people about her age stood before her. Must be nobles, she thought. The speaker was a tall blonde wearing a powder blue dress and carrying a delicate fan. Her face was classic heart-shaped and her nose looked delicate. All in all, she was very beautiful. To the right of her, Ann noticed, was Prince Liam.

"Go on dear," the blonde turned daintily towards Liam, who almost reluctantly came forward.

"We uh," he turned to look at his friends, who nodded. He turned back to Ann, "We want to welcome you to the castle. Here," Liam handed Ann a tin cup containing a liquid. Ann took it slowly, unsure of what to do.

"Drink it, it's tradition that we welcome new members with the drink of royalty." Liam reassured her when he saw her hesitance.

Ann brought the cup to her lips, something didn't smell right. She looked into the clear liquid and saw that there was what looked suspiciously like dirt floating on top; there was something else that she couldn't identify. They don't mean well at all!

Ann pretended to take a sip while keeping an eye on Liam's friends' faces. There was tension as if they were waiting for something to happen. Yep, they are definitely up to no good.

With a swift and sure movement, Ann reached up over Liam's head and dumped the cold liquid right on top of his head. There was a moment of dead silence, and then Liam's friends burst out laughing.

"I'm not as naïve as you think, Your Highness," Ann said in a cold and mocking voice. She stuffed to cup into Liam, turned on her heals and walked away without looking back.

Liam stood there wet and cold. He watched her go, unable to make a sound. He didn't know what was worse: his friends laughing behind him at his embarrassment, or the angry and hurt look in Ann's eyes.

~*~

love it? hate it? review and let me know.
p.s. it's not really a close sequel to "white as snow? not really!" but more like a continued
story.