Title: The Lucky Unlucky Situation
Summary: Of all the things life could throw at you I'd say being slave to Prince Kheel himself is of the worst found luck. Mello/Matt
Chapter Three: Good Labor Builds Good Character Part1
"Matt! Please wake up!" I was in the in between state of consciousness and dream land and the annoying voice wasn't helping me fall back asleep at all.
"Mmmph." It was a pillow muffled reply but I figured it did its justice.
"Mello will wake up in 15 minutes." A cold hand shook my bare shoulder and I receded deeper into the warm blankets. Go away…
"This is for your well being…" A cold shock woke me up fully as my sweet warm blankets were pulled off of my body in a swift yank. My face flushed as I fumbled to cover my exposed crotch with a pillow cushion.
"Yes Near?" The emotionless servant's cheeks dusted pink before he shook his head and cleared his throat.
"I'll have one of the chamber maids take your measurements and order you a few sets of robes…but anyway you now have 14 minutes to alert the cooks of today's breakfast menu, pick out today's robes for the prince and run to the garden and select the flower to be put in the vase at the dining table." My eyes reciprocated a blank stare.
"A freshly picked sunflower makes the Prince's morning meal look much more exquisite." I wasn't going to argue with more of the blonde's idiotic logical reasoning so I shrugged and hopped out the bed and made my way to the door.
"Let me guess the kitchen is on the other side of the castle…" He nodded his head and gently placed a fresh set of robes in my hand.
"Please clothe yourself properly there are ladies walking around at this hour." I blushed again and nodded. I knew I felt a breeze…
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Sweat began to form on my forehead as I raced at top speed towards the kitchen. I hadn't bathed since yesterday and I felt disgusting. Delightful aromas ascended from behind the two cherry wood doors and I did a silent cheer. I burst through the two doors and frantically searched for a cook.
"Hey you, cook!" A tall man with inky black hair and dark grey eyes turned towards me with a beater loosely held between his fingers.
"Here's the menu for Prince Kheel's breakfast! I need scones, ham, eggs and a fresh squeezed orange juice ready within the next 10 minutes!" The man's eyes widened before he began whisking faster, the older man next to him setting down a morsel of black forest ham and slicing it into identical thin strips.
"What flavor of scone does he wish for, servant boy?" Oh crap that asshole forgot to mention the flavor.
"He didn't say..."
"Give him two of each! Whatever he doesn't eat will be our breakfast!" Now a whole line of cooks were hurriedly moving about the large kitchen cursing and crashing into each other comically. They work fast…
"Thank you!" I shouted over my shoulder as I made a beeline for the doors that led out into the garden. The bright morning sun attacked my retinas and I cringed. Once my pupils adjusted to the light I followed the grey stepping stones that winded throughout the garden and began the grand search for the yellow flower. Of course the sunflowers would have to be as far away from the damn entrance as possible. I made a short cut through a line of marigolds and tiger lilies and groaned in irritation. I was now sweaty, itchy and speckled with pollen. My red locks were plastered to my forehead from the perspiration and I felt ready to give up already. I yanked a decent looking sunflower from the earth ignoring the detachment of a few leaves from the harsh removal and raced back towards the entrance.
Great its day one and I'm already miserable. I stumbled up the spiral stair case and shoved past the double doors into the dining room. There was a blue tinted glass vase right in front of a platter of hot scones and a plate with eggs and ham. I wanted to spit in the food but I had a feeling he'd probably notice, stupid whiny bastard. I placed the flower into the vase just as the inky haired cook from before placed a glass of orange juice with a perfect wedge on the rim next to the plate. I sighed in relief then started up another run towards the Prince's bed chambers.
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"What does he want to wear!" decided upon a decent enough set of robes with a somewhat casual pair of brown leather sandals. So tired! I contemplated passing out on the floor but I was too sweaty and disgusting to even humor myself with the idea. The sleeping blonde stirred like clock work, his arms stretching from the too soft blankets, body twisting beneath the sheets. Those mocking pink lips parted into a small yawn and those blue eyes finally revealed themselves to the world.
"Good morning your highness did you sleep well?"
"Mmm yes." He looked at the covers expectantly and I gently peeled back the covers and he stepped out of his bed feet touching the floor one by one.
"I don't want a repeat of yesterday so I'll inform you before I'm stripped that you are to dress me." With that said he removed his bed robes and stood up in his standard "dress me" pose. I began dressing him. Oh now what! His nose wrinkled in disgust and he pushed me away.
"You reek!" Well that's how people typically smell after a yesterday bath and an early morning insane escapade around the whole damn castle. The prince was letting out a very ugly side of me that no one could have dreamed of me to posses. He finished dressing himself and distanced himself from my stink.
"I'll see myself to breakfast. You go to the servant bathing quarters and tell them to give you extra vial B and a deep head scrub, you smell like a dead rat!" I've smelled dead rats and I can assure him they smell much worse than me. I'm probably ranked first runner up if nothing else…
"Yes your highness…" My feet turned to leave.
"Don't waste too much time inside the bathing quarters… you have quite the schedule to attend to." With that he smirked and left. I should roll around in his damn blankets!
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The servant bathing quarters weren't as impressive as the royal bathing quarters but they still beat my home's in luxury. It was a simple large barrel style basin filled with warm water and a few nameless extracts that had "healing properties". The lady who would assist me with my bath was a redhead just like me named Francesca. She instantly took a liking to me because I reminded her of her younger brother back at home. After greeting each other and exchanging background stories she asked me politely to undress myself.
It was awkward at first stripping in front of a lady but she came across to me as more motherly than lecherous so it was ok. The smell of soap tickled my nose as she gently scrubbed away the sweat and grime from my body. Her eyes were focused in a way that reminded me of my mother's when she would be in the middle of threading in a new pattern into a quilt. A smile split across my face as I remembered home. Before I knew it my body was squeaky clean and I could sit down into the basin again. My scalp was then rewarded with a deep massage cleansing, a warm rinse and a quick finger comb through.
"Your dry cloth is on that chair and please in the future do not become so caught up in meeting your master's needs that you neglect your own."As if on cue my stomach growled loudly resulting in Fran doing a dual eye roll and head shake as she left the room. I should probably should eat something.
I exited the bathing quarters fully washed and dressed and made my way over to the kitchen. I quickly gobbled down two raspberry scones and a break of cheese before making my way over to the dining hall.
The blonde was seated finishing off the remaining bits of breakfast when I made it by his side. He sipped his juice then smiled brightly at me.
"We'll start with the garden then move over to the animals and if your still moving by then, we'll move onto the royal bath then the kitchen. I hope you do a good mop cleaning I do like a shiny floor." I like how he's saying "we" like he's actually going to help.
"Cook, prepare me a pack lunch this is going to be a busy day!" The young prince announced as he made his way towards the entrance.
"Yes my lord!"
"Can I have one-" I was cut off.
"You'll eat after you're finished with everything!" With that he made his grand exit towards the garden. I now officially have a 40%chance of surviving today's chores. Growing up on a farm taught me one thing if nothing, labor plus lack of hydration and energy equals death. Well that's at least what my mom would tell me as she shoveled spinach down my throat and forced me to drink nearly half a barrel's worth of water a day.
"Here you go." The inky black haired cook from earlier handed me a small morsel of wrapped ham, bread and butter.
"If he sees this I'll be in trouble. I think I'll be fine until dinner." The last thing I wanted to do was anger the snobby prince any more and triple my already unjust amount of work.
"You'll be lucky to be finished before morning…" Thin fingers pressed the package into my hand then walked away but not before setting a large aluminum flask onto the table.
"Its water…" The mysterious cook was gone before I could openly express my gratitude. Well now I would have to fetch my satchel and bring it with me to hide the goods.
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Watering the plants was fairly easy, but horribly time consuming since I had to lug water from the well and distribute it evenly throughout the whole garden. More than halfway through the garden I tried to cheat and refill my bucket from the pond and the whiny prince caught me, kicked over the bucket and made me refill it. Then kneel down and wipe away the drops of water that sprinkled his toes through the sandals. Is it even natural to be this awful? I was on the last row of flowers when a voice rang out from across the garden.
"Tired yet farm boy?" I smirked this was a little tiresome but I've plowed for years, my arms were used to the lift.
"Don't dream on that just yet your highness." A chuckle followed that response on the blonde's part. It was late afternoon by the time I got finished with the garden.
Kheel castle had a total of 67 stables and 24 pens but luckily for me they only asked me to feed the animals not clean up after the sloppy bastards. The sun beat down mercilessly on my body as I wheel barrowed bags of grains to the chickens and bales of hay to the horses. Hay bales weren't that hard to distribute, in fact it was fun all I needed was a pitchfork and a bit of cynical laughter. What can I say the heat was getting to me? By the time I reached stable 47 my shirt was plastered to my body and the handle was slippery with sweat. I couldn't afford to take another swig of water with 20 other stables to get through after this one. My hands hastily discarded my shirt, the breeze quickly cooling the sweat around my body. Mmm that feels good... Too bad my head isn't cooling off. The warmth from the sun had my red locks hot, spreading misery to my forehead and back of my neck. I didn't realize I had closed my eyes until I opened them and was met with a blushing blonde prince. Please say I wasn't moaning quietly to myself…
"Your face is red, is the heat to much for you your highness?" I highly doubt it lazy bastard was in the shade the whole time. Which makes me wonder why he has so much free time…? Doesn't he have princely duties to take care of right now?
"Hello?" I waved my hand in his face and he innocently looked at me as if I'd caught him in the middle of something then shook his head and glared.
"I have to practice so I want the bathing quarters cleaned by the time I get back so attend to that before the kitchen and its floors." It was then that I noticed the quiver and bow arsenal on his back.
"You're a bowman?" I was impressed the prince did lift a finger when he wanted to.
"So you're observant. Don't die out here while I'm gone." With that he headed up the grassy hill which connected into a forest—once you went down and walked a few feet on ground level. The forest was so close to the stables that you could even hear the low trickle of a waterfall if you listened close enough.
"So you're saying you'd miss me!" I said in mock excitement to his retreating form.
"Don't dream on it." Once he disappeared behind the hill I dove into my bag and attacked my packed lunch as I chuckled lightly to myself.
Mello's POV cometh soon! It's crucial to the plot for him to come in later than sooner.
Review if you deem it worthy :]
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