As Mariana reached her home at the evening, she was surprised to see Veronica and her mother, Mrs. Carlton enjoying tea with her aunt Penny.
"There she is", her aunt said happily as she saw Mariana.
Mrs. Carlton kept her cup down on the table and stood up with a very wide smile. Coming to Mariana, the woman embraced her tightly. Mariana was confused as she held the woman in her arms and looked over her shoulder to her aunt who was merely busy sipping her tea.
"We were just talking about you, my dear", Mrs. Carlton said with a strange smile after pulling back from the hug and squeezing Mariana's hands.
"Good evening, Mrs. Carlton", Mariana gave her a confused smile.
Because she didn't understand what was going on. Pretty much just like her daughter, Mrs. Carlton changed her way to look at others according to their benefit. Veronica was still bearable but her mother gave such looks to people who she thought was useless that it lessens their confidence.
Now that she stood smiling in her house, Mariana wanted an answer.
"How come you are here?" Mariana asked with a forced smile when what she really wanted to ask was, 'How come you are here when you didn't even greet us on the streets since Veronica got a job in the mansion?'
"Oh, I just wanted to see how you all are doing. My Veronica said you met the princesssss", Mrs. Carlton said with wide eyes.
So this what it was about, Mariana thought with a sigh.
"Yes, Mrs. Carlton. Her Highness honoured us a chance to make a dress for her". She looked at aunt Penny who merely shrugged.
"Oh", Mrs. Carlton pulled Mariana towards the armchairs and sat back on her seat. "That's lovely. I always used to tell Veronica that our Marie will go a long way", she said on which her daughter blinked and then nodded.
There was not a chance in the world she would've said that. Atleast not happily, Mariana thought. She still remembered when she had rebuilt their shop. Mrs. Carlton looked at the new house as if she was spotting a jail filled with criminals who had hurt her badly.
'Jealously' was what Caelen had said then.
"Is there a party going on?" As if errupting from the thoughts, Caelen entered the house. Mariana smiled at him, grateful for he would be there to accompany her bear Mrs. Carlton.
He came amd stood beside her. "How was your day?"
"It was great", Mariana replied as she tried not to remember the warmest part of the day. Her measuring the king, touching him and smelling him.
Looking at everybody, Mariana cleared her throat. "Excuse me, I must go and freshen up".
She rushed up to her room and dropped her satchel, sitting at the edge of her bed. She closed her eyes with exhaustion, and them opened it immediately as she saw the pair of sapphire eyes staring back at her in the darkness.
Mariana had never felt that hot as she felt when she was near the king. His hard body emitted a very strange but sweet sensation that flowed right from his body to hers.
'Being that handsome must be a crime', Veronica had once said about the king and now Mariana realised how true it was. Being able to make a woman feel what Mariana was feeling during her work must be undoubtedly a crime.
She touched her cheek and found that they were hot just by thinking about him. It was absurd! Why should she feel this way when the king must've been absolutely unaffected.
Groaning, Mariana went to the washstand and splashed cold water over her hot face. She washed her arms and neck and after wiping them and stabilising herself, she descended back down to her sitting room.
Voilet and Caelen were now sitting on the floor and Caelen was helping her sister fix a broken toy house. Mariana went near her aunt and sat on the chair with the ladies. Her aunt poured her a cup of tea and Mariana recieved it. As she took a sip of the hot brew, she felt instantly fresh.
They were talking something about the king. Mariana rolled her eyes as she thought he was not going to leave her alone even here.
"What say, Marie, did you plan to sew for the king?" Veronica asked with a smirk and a raised brow.
Mariana was about to reply with a yes when she reaslised what B
Veronica must be referring to. The sexy negligee she had talked about the day they'd met in the shop.
"Oh yes. Marie will make clothes for both the king and the princess", her aunt Penny replied happily.
Mariana glanced at Veronica's way and her friend wriggled her eyebrows and they both started to giggle.
"What are you girls giggling about?" Aunt Penny asked with a confused frown.
"Of course they are thinking about the king, Penny", Mrs. Carlton said. "Veronica has told me how charming the king looked. Tall, broad, handsome face with a really amazing dressing sense".
Mariana thought though the king had a strange dressing sense, it did suit him. The plain shirts and loose trousers made him seem relaxed and intimidating at the same time.
Aunt Penny sighed. "I wish I was young again. We too, would've giggled over the king".
"What's stopping us now", Mrs. Carlton said and they all laughed.
Caelen looked at them with a smirk and aunt Penny chuckled. "We forgot we have a gentleman here. We must behave".
Caelen waved his hand. "No need to bother on my behalf, ladies". He then raised his eyebrows. "You too, must've giggled over the former king in your youth".
"King Arnold was also handsome but he was apparently different from his son", aunt Penny said wiping her glasses with her skirt.
"How so?" Mariana wanted to know for she had never heard much about king Arnold.
Mrs. Carlton began to say in a scary
way, "He was dangerous. Women in town were very fearful of him. He used to take many women to his bed forcefully and since he was the king, nobody could stop him".
Mariana listened seriously.
"Yes", aunt Penny said. "He didn't treat people in a very great way. More of a tyrant he was".
"I hope his son isn't like that", Caelen huffed as he applied glue to a wooden toy table.
As much as Mariana had seen of the king, he seemed very clever and strong. She couldn't say anything about kindness but he'd save her from those thugs. Which meant he had gotten rid of the thugs from the forest. Never had he made a cruel or inappropriate move towards her or tried to touch her. Teasing her was another matter. Even today, he didn't let her measure his lower body. Measuring his upper body was a professional thing. Many seamstresses does that as it was decent. Mariana thought he knew that she would be uncomfortable and so he'd summoned Mr. Roberts.
"No, I don't think so". Aunt Penny's voice brought Mariana out of her thoughts. "He has done a lot for the progress of our kingdom. He is very educated and seem sensible".
"Yes", Veronica joined the conversation. "Women in town are all crazy about him. There is no sign of fear for him in their eyes. My friends there says he even interacts playfully if any woman wants to talk with him".
"You know what they say, that the happiness and safety of women in the kingdom says a lot about it's king", aunt Penny said.
"Giving a responsibilty of making his clothes to us commoners also speaks a lot about his humbleness and intentions", Mariana interjected.