Chapter 7 Leaving Arthenis

• Ashina sat on her bed with her eyes fixated on one of the artworks hung on her wall. She paid no attention to it as her mind was far away. The atmosphere was full of gloom. Her hair was wet as she had just had a bath and her cheeks were wet as well as she had been crying. It was a terrible day. She was basically ending things with her one true love and getting forced to marry someone else. She knew nothing about prince Juan but for this she already hated him. She had never felt this much sadness and grief since the day her father died. She wished she didn't have to. She wished there was some other way but she had been shown that there was no other way. If she cared about her people and herself, she was going to have to do this. The decision had been made. She really was leaving for Scyta today to get acquainted with their prince. Her mind was all over the place. She had been drove crazy. Many thoughts ran through her mine. She wanted to pull her hair, scream her lungs out and roll on the floor in frustration like a psychopath. She knew those acts were going to change nothing so she settled for sitting and sobbing quietly.
• "My princess, the people are waiting outside. You should hurry up now, here's your gown." Ertha said as she approached the princess with a red gown. She dropped it on the bed, by the princess. Disturbed from her sad thoughts, Ashina turned her emotionless race to Ertha her favourite made. The corners of Ertha's lips were downturned and her eyes red. Her cheeks were stained with tears too. She had been crying as well, as all other maid that worked for the princess. The way they dragged their feet and put the princess's belongings together sluggish showed how unwilling they were to let her go. Besides Ashina being the kindest soul they had ever come across, she made sure they never overworked. In fact, Ashina barely ever made them work. With her absence they were going to be assigned to some noble who was probably going to be rude and make them work their lives away. That apart, it had come as a shock to them all when they heard the princess was going to be leaving for Scyta. Her plans Decker had also been put on hold.
• "Everyone one of you! Your reluctance to do any work is not nice in any manner! I know you don't want the princess to leave but well I don't either! This won't stop her from leaving! It's just you guys displaying sheer disobedience! It's not like she's being taken away from us forever! She will be back! Now get vibrant with your jobs! If the Queen finds out we are yet to get all her stuff packed, she might have our heads!!" Ertha said bravely to her lousy co-maids. Seeing how true Ertha's words were, they began to be more diligent. Ashina laid there and smiled at Ertha as she advised the other maids. She couldn't help but smile. At least something had cheered her up this terrible day. She thought Ertha had great leadership skills. She thought Ertha was fit to be Queen. The smile vanished when Ertha said the princess was going to be back. Ashina turned her head away and let it drop at the sound of that. The story that had been spilled was not so genuine. The council had left out the part about the princess getting married to the prince of Scyta, their reason being that the kingdom will go into a state of pandemonium. They were not going to accept losing their only child of royal blood to the Scytans their arch enemy.