~Accidentally~

There was an issue with the tents that made Oris contemplate whether this whole competition was for the sake of filling the harem or for the sake of entertaining bored nobles.

This 'event' happened on the third and last day of the journey, at the fourth and last stop before they finally by extension the temporary palace, and by extension, the hunting grounds.

Her tent caught on fire.

She didn't really know what 'they' wanted to happen or why they had put all their scheming for the last day but she had come out it without burning her face off, or dying, so that was a plus.

"Mistress, are you okay?"

Oris shook her head, because okay wasn't being wrapped in a sooty tarp to smother all the smouldering bits of your clothes. And she wasn't meant to be okay. She was a damsel in distress watching flames eat away her living space.

She was meant to be terrified.

The trip had been mostly uneventful. Only Lady Ria and Lady Dianne lowered themselves to interact with her, and they did so only once, on the first day.

For the rest of the trip, Oris had been able to pretend that she had been the only one involved. She stayed in her carriage unless it was absolutely necessary to leave, and chose a tent far away from all the hubbub and women who tripped over air in order to accidentally swoon into the emperor's arms.

Unfortunately for them, he was just as scarce as she was, which was impressive seeing that his tent was in the center of the camp.

He was always off doing something and she was always in her tent trying to relearn embroidery. The girls stayed with her too. There was no time to even pretend to socialize when they had two dresses to complete.

And so the inevitable happened, rumors spread that the two most scarce individuals were being scarce together, which was of course, insane. But that didn't stop maids from accidentally stumbling into her tent hoping to catch her in the act of something. What started off as terrible espionage culminated in the eruption of her tent in a blaze of glory.

And of course, she had had to save herself.

On the morning of the second day, she developed the habit of finding pieces of wood and sharpening them, just in case. The tension in the air had been palpable even then, and she had done too good of a job making enemies the first day.

She also made sure that nothing of value was ever in the tent. Andrea never took off her locket and the dresses always stayed with the carriages. Keziah thought it was a pretty good move, limiting the possibility of injury to only something that could happen within the vicinity of the tent.

If she had been walking about, who knew when a boulder would fall from the sky and crush her to death?

The moment she smelled a whiff of smoke, she had been ready to act. The fire had spread quick and the tent's inflammable material embraced it with open arms. Even with all her sharpened stakes, it had taken a while to cut her way out of it, and by then Andrea's face had already been drenched with tears.

Keziah, the only one not even remotely worried, tossed a wet tarp over her the moment she came stumbling out of the carnage. "I didn't think they'd use fire."

Neither did Oris, because it was spreading and devouring other tents. If her tent had been at the center like most of the others, more than half of the camp would have burned down before the fire could be put out.

The soldiers went to work quickly, fetching water from the nearest source and trying to douse the flames, but if she had waited for them she would have been a burnt corpse by now.

"Mistress, everything is fine." Seline's red-rimmed eyes made her look more severe than usual, and by everything she meant the dresses and jewelry, because next to Keziah, she was the most objective.

While Mayree and Andrea patted her down for injuries, Oris laid her hand over Seline's clasped hands. The girl was holding her fingers so tightly that they looked pale and bloodless. "I'm fine too."

"By His Majesty's grace, I am unharmed," she added, for the women that had decided to gather around her.

Somehow, her gaze managed to land on Lady Rai, and the lady tipped her head forward in what Oris assumed was approval. Or was it recognition?

"Your hands," Mayree commanded, and she obediently turned them over.

Keziah shifted to block the view of the crowd and frowned for the first time since the fire started.

"It's not that bad," Oris said, "I can hardly feel anything."

She had done her best to protect herself, but at a point she needed to help the process along by ripping her tent apart with her fingers, all the while cursing the fact that weapons weren't allowed near the emperor.

She would have been out of there in seconds if she had had a dagger.

"How are you going to hold a bow?" Keziah hissed as she dragged her through the crowd, flanked by the other girls.

"A bow? It's likely that I'll have to use one then."

Unlike the maids of her competitors, Keziah was much better at gathering information, she also never said anything that wasn't completely certain.

She set Oris down on a log and started giving task to the others, quietly, because the crowd was slowly shifting back towards them.

"Mayree, we'll need gloves that match both outfits. They should be simple, elegant and look necessary enough that no one would suspect that that our mistress has been injured."

"Andrea, you need to help too. When we get to the palace, we shouldn't be the only people our mistress can count on. If they need to be bribed, don't. Only get those genuinely interested, and tell them nothing. They could be spies."

Andrea nodded, her expression somber. Mayree was staring at the ground, zoned-out as she thought of ways to seamlessly integrate gloves into her already completed designs.

"W-what should I do?"

It was Seline, quiet as a mouse.

"Please go to the stream and get some water. It's important." Keziah smiled at her. "Thank you."

Seline's complexion brightened as she snatched a bucket from the ground, turned on her heels and left.

Oris watched it all happened in subdued awe. She had always thought that Mayree, being the oldest, was the head of the group, but it turned out that she was completely wrong.

Now it made sense why they were a group in the first place when all they had in common was their sex.

Mayree must have been proud, and rightfully so, as the oldest and only real maid there. Why did no one pick her to be their personal maid?

Andrea would have been angry, ashamed, or both. She was accused of a crime she didn't commit and forced to be a maid. She was a noble by blood, how could she know how to be a maid? Why would she?

Seline had been sold by her family, unlike Mayree and Andrea, there was no possibility of getting free. What motivation could she have to do her job properly?

Oris could imagine their first few months together, not talking to each other, wallowing in their miseries... Even if they were all friendly people, they had been grouped together with people who only reminded them of their pain.

Keziah was the reason why Oris had met a cohesive unit, not a bunch of maids who didn't give a damn about each other.

It was scary to think about how the girl had managed to turn a group of mismatched maids into the best of friends. For the first time since they had met, Oris tried to guess at who exactly she was.

What position can give her all the knowledge she had and the ability to tame Andrea?

A General's daughter?

"Mistress, they'll be coming any moment from now," the girl said. "Hide your hands casually, we'll keep them from getting too close."

Unsurprisingly, the first person to show herself was Lady Dianne, wrapped in silk from head to toe in what she must have thought was an exquisite comeback. "Ah, isn't this the Lady Of Inqa? Poor thing, getting caught in that fire. It must not have been seriously if you managed to keep your veil on."

"Lady Dianne, I insist that you keep your distance," Andrea snapped back, "my mistress is in shock and has no strength to entertain you."

"I was in no danger at all, of course my veil would remain on," Oris added. "It is a pity that my belongings were lost in the fire."

"What belongings can she possibly have?"

"Still keeping her veil on in circumstances like these, does she really think she is some sort of rare beauty?"

"Or rare ugly!"

"I'm sure she staged the first herself just to get attention," Lady Ria said, not even bothering to speak from behind a handkerchief like the others had. With one hand tucked underneath her arm, she fanned herself. "If you are all that jealous, start your own fires and see how many of you can become Empress. How about it?"

That quietened them down some.

"Lady Ria, I didn't know that you two were friends. You even knew that she set the fire herself!"

"Lady Dianne, since you are so sure she didn't set it, did you do it? You're even the first to check up on her, your friendship must be much deeper than that of mere acquaintances."

"That's right. Lady Dianne was the one who said we should all come and watch the show!"

"It makes sense that she was the one to start the fire."

"I saw the two of them conversing in the waiting hall. They seemed to be on friendly terms."

"We are not!" Dianne looked physically distressed. "I wouldn't be caught dead associating with that... that vermin. I saw the tent go up in flames when you all did, it has nothing to do with me."

"Yes! We were with Dianne when the flames started. No need to point fingers for the sake of gossip." Dianne's two cronies finally spoke up to defend her.

"Are you two daft? She doesn't have to do it personally. She could just send a servant. Or are you both in on it?"

Lady Ria snapped her fan shut and jabbed it in the direction of the person who had spoken. "Brilliant! We have a conspiracy."

As if on cue, screams sounded from the other tents that had been caught in the blaze and it was at that moment that Seline returned, having maneuvered around the women to reach Oris at the rear.

Andrea helped her out with the bucket. "What happened?"

"A lady was trapped in one of the tents," Seline whispered, a little out of breath. "She had been asleep when the fire started. It was confirmed by the soldiers just now that she and her attendant are dead. Her other maids got burnt badly trying to rescue them."

On hearing the news, Oris felt her blood freeze, but before she could say a word Keziah took her hands and plunged them into the bucket of cold water.

~

Again, this was slow going. I'm glad I managed to post it. It was supposed to go live yesterday but life eh?

Oh, did I tell you guys that I have a website where I do random stuff, post reviews and write short stories? If you guys want to check it out its www.bloodalphabets.com
Hahaha. I'm not advertising, lol. I'm just bored and Twitter has been banned in my country... Not that you guys ever contacted me on Twitter...

Oh well, I've also made it mission to prove that Wattpad books can be just as good as published books (I'm real tired of people calling it a fanfiction website), so if you guys have any Wattpad books you think are exquisite, feel free to recommend them to me! Okay? Yay.

Yes, a contestant has died... In the next chapter, Oris learns that she's not the first. Le Gasp.

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