Alexia
"Your Highness"
I looked forward, into the eyes of my language teacher.
"Can we finish early today? I'm not feeling well," I lied.
He nodded.
"Of course, we'll resume tomorrow," he said and I stood up, he bowed briefly, I looked at the corner where Anne and Linda always stayed to help with the lesson if anything was needed, but I knew it was a measure of the queen to avoid scandals, after all I chose not to have ladies of the court after me, I hated the idea that a woman or more would follow me day and night since I didn't like the forced idea preferring to feel alone and with that, hide my secrets.
Secrets.
Overwhelmed by the message I'd received the night before, I couldn't focus on the lesson, worrying too much and alertly walking down the corridors alone.
In the beginning I used to walk with two guards behind me, something I didn't even feel or notice properly during the day when I was used to the guards following Princess Charlotte.
Why were they so overprotective of Charlotte W I knew there wasn't much a princess could do outside the castle, but she needed to get to know her people just as kings did, so different was she from being kept in the castle all her life without ever leaving.
I missed the guards. After my real identity was leaked, they disappeared. Either Soraya and Acácio feared that I would be discovered by the guards and decided to leave me completely adrift in the kingdom, or they thought that if I died due to lack of protection, it would be one less problem to think about.
The truth is that if before I had been confident, now I was scared to death.
Being hated didn't affect me as much as that note from which I could hang my head without warning. Without knowing where I'd been hit, I was anxious and afraid as I looked at the smiling, admiring faces, hoping to find judgment, anger, mystery.
Something that would give me a clue as to who the person was who knew my identity.
I looked at a man in the corner, his countenance was different from the others, then I saw that he wasn't looking at me, but at a man who was coming towards him and whom he was greeting.
I sighed tiredly, I was going mad.
The women's hall had its door open, as every morning Soraya gathered with some of the noblemen's wives to drink tea and exchange gossip, this was the first day I had decided to enter her nest of snakes.
The eyes of the girl chatting stopped on me and Soraya followed them, I walked around the place and was soon pulled into one of the circles for a lively and distressing conversation.
"Tea?" One of them asked and although I was beginning to dislike tea, I accepted with a smile.
Soraya walked away, heading towards the library. She disappeared through the shelves, so I asked to be excused and went after her.
She was picking up a book from the huge bookshelf, I went into the same row as her and turning my back to her picked up a book and opened it.
"This is my place free from you, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't like the women of the court," Soraya said in a low voice.
"You can be sure that all I want is to see you first thing in the morning, but we have a problem" I said, flipping to another page of the book and looking around.
"Just say it, we've got a lot of prying ears here and they'll soon come after us"
I closed the book and turned to Soraya, approaching her ear I said:
"I received a mysterious note at dinner, does anyone know about me?"
Soraya turned abruptly and looked at me, startled.
"Just now you're telling me this," she said incredulously and angrily, "Don't do anything, I'll talk to Acácio, we need to find a way to expose you without losing the support of the nobles and generating a war with Torrem."
Soraya stormed off angrily, she was right, the exposure of my secret and the acceptance of the kings would cause a lot of discord among the nobles who wouldn't take kindly to a maid as a future queen, apart from the kings of Torrem whom I knew well and knew that Morgana would be the first to want war.
How could her daughter's maid have taken her place and married the Prince of Olimper? Morgana didn't care about Charlotte's truths and even less about my truths, Morgana was cruel and never treated me like a human being, I don't want to think about what she would do if she got her hands on me.
All of this was something I had to face up to, so after lunch I put all my effort into my grappling and sword fighting lessons, focusing on acting quickly in the midst of battle. I noticed that I was starting to think more about strategies that would get me out of death at times when I couldn't escape, and the only alternative was to lower myself, I could crawl if that would keep me alive.
By the time six o'clock came around, I was drenched in sweat, exhausted, I had given it my all.
"You've come a long way, Your Highness," said Martin and I smiled, still trying to catch my breath, sitting on the bench, my sword resting against the central fountain.
"My teacher is good," I said, complimenting him, and he smiled.
"See you tomorrow," he said.
"Yes," I said over my shoulder, watching him walk away calmly. I turned towards the fountain and, as I sometimes did to cool off before returning, I splashed water on my body, on my neck, my hair was something I needed to redo, but it still came back very disheveled, which became a persistent question between Linda and Anne, change and get ready for dinner, they wondered how my face looked without makeup and why my hair looked a bit messier, so I had learned to bring a small comb to redo my hair, powder and concealer to disguise it a little.
My lipstick was still intact and my cheeks were still rosy for more than an hour after spending the whole afternoon practicing.
I began to undo the braid I had made to train while the water gradually stopped, bringing back a wide view of my reflection, I saw when a man appeared behind me and using quick reflexes I launched myself away, falling, the sound of the sword hitting the concrete of the fountain, he spun it quickly and tried to hit me again and I spun, in desperation I tried to get up and fell again through the dress, I dragged myself away, it was all too fast, but when I looked at his face I understood.
"You" I said, why hadn't I thought of that?
The man who wore a mask on the day of my escape, he had been sent by Charlotte and managed to infiltrate the castle. Was he a spy, a nobleman, a soldier?
Quickly lowering his sword again, I threw dirt on his face, causing him to lower his sword and rub his face, I ran away picking up my sword, I doubted that it was ready for a real fight, so I ran away entering one of the corridors that I didn't even know, I saw a flight of stairs and with no other choice I went up.