This Princess is an Extra-Chapter 42: Hot Cakes

"Yes, yes... the audacity of him to come with a bouquet of roses at that," Talia muttered. She was peering through the tiny openings in the painting’s eyes, which allowed only a single-person view.

"But Princess... he’s actually quite handsome, not at all like Mary described." she continued.

"What? Look carefully, Talia."

"I’m sure, Princess... I’ve never seen anyone on par with him, except, of course, our Crown Prince. He really is a good-looking man. He has pale skin, a strong build, and his dark, forest-black hair only enhances his complexion."

"What?" Eli looked genuinely shocked. "Let me see." She quickly moved to take the spot where Talia had been standing moments before.

"W-What... what is he doing here?" Through the tiny holes, Eli could see Callisto’s friend walking toward the quarters’ door.

Hoping he would simply walk past, she kept watching but to her disappointment, the man stopped right in front of the door. She could see the man was about to open the doors.

"Oh sh*t!"

After hearing what Leo had said to him, the young Duke of Winterlake made his way toward the servants’ eating hall. Strangely, the area was completely deserted, not even the guards were present.

Just as he reached for the door to the servants’ eating hall, he heard a faint grinding sound behind him. Instinctively, he turned to look, "Your Highness?" he asked, eyes widening as he saw Eli suddenly standing there as if she came out of nowhere.

She hurried toward him, but before they could exchange a single word, another set of footsteps echoed from the turn of the corridor. "We need to hide," she whispered hurriedly, looking around in panic. Without waiting for his response, she grabbed his hand and pulled him, while the duke continued to hold a bewildered expression and followed Eli toward a nearby closet, as she quickly pulled the door open.

They squeezed themselves into the narrow closet together. "M–My gown!" Eli hissed in whispers, realizing part of her skirt was sticking out.

"Huh? Oh—yes," he whispered back and opened the door just enough and pulled the trailing fabric inside, tucking it in carefully before closing it again, leaving the door slightly ajar so they could see outside.

Inside the cramped utility closet they stood face-to-face, too close to each other while the faint scent of soap and old wood pressed around them. He leaned towards Eli and whispered in her ear. "Your Highness... what is—"

But Eli swiftly raised one hand to his mouth, covering it. They both quietly stared at each other for a while. "Shhhh!" She asked back for silence with her eyes to Callisto’s friend who was trying to wrap his head around on what was going on, and she got a nod back.

Only then did she pull her hand back and her emerald eyes became busy as she inspected and peeked through the narrow opening through which her eyes could see, while doing so, she didn’t notice how close she had moved to him and nor how it affected him with his gaze fixed entirely on her.

"He’s here!" she breathed. At last, the man she had been waiting for appeared and Callisto’s friend ignoring her closeness, also leaned forward to look through the gap.

"Lord Baldwin?" he whispered recognizing the man, which made Eli chance the obvious question to him, "Do you perhaps know him, my lord?"

"Yes... he is a minor lord of my homeland, Winterlake."

Her eyes followed Mr.Baldwin as he walked over to the other side of wall in the corridor toward the eating hall’s double door, then he opened them, slipped inside and closed the doors with a clicking sound.

As soon as he entered, the young duke noticed how Eli let put a sigh of relief and as she did that, he asked with his eyes probing. "Why must we hide ourselves from him, Princess?"

"As you stand here now, my lord, perhaps you should witness it with your own eyes." she suggested, lifting her emerald eyes to look up at him. Only then did she realize their proximity. His breath now touched her skin, that had Eli stand still without moving an inch and not breathing.

When a loose strand of her hair fell forward, brushing against her eye, the duke noticing it, his hand moved to push the strand of hair back gently behind her ear.

But before either of them could acknowledge to the sudden closeness or the touch, another set of faint murmur of voices echoed down the corridor, bringing their attention to snap back at the narrow gap.

A group of maids were seen leading a procession of newspaper editors and quick sketchers of both men and women with notebooks, charcoal sticks, and curious eyes. They were being shown around under special permission, tasked with reporting on the servants’ working conditions in the palace for that day.

"Now that you have toured the living quarters, kindly come this way, and I will lead your group through the next section of the floor." one of the maids announced politely.

Another maid, who seemed to be acting as the main guide, stepped forward as they reached the double doors. "And this is the hall where we servants partake our meals," she said proudly, laying her hand on the handle.

Finally, when she opened the doors, they all stood still flabbergasted by the display in front of them and a stretch of silence hovered amongst them. The area became so quite that even when someone dropped a pen, it was heard loud and clear all the way to where Eli and the duke stood.

Why?.....What’s happening? the duke wondered. The view of inside was blocked due to the crowd.

Then,

"Aaaaaahhh!!!" someone screamed so piercingly that the duke couldn’t help but flinch.

"Saints preserve us—my eyes!"

"Close the door! Close it!"

"Gods above—why is he naked?!"

Chaos erupted as few ladies stumbled back shielding their eyes, and three maids screamed in unison before desperately trying and failing to slam the doors shut. They where pushed aside by the eager reporters, who though where visibly disgusted, but refused to let such a bare story go untold.

"By the gods! What manner of indecency is this?!" exclaimed one reporter scribbling furiously in his notepad as his hand shook with a mix of shock and urgency.

"Isn’t that Lord Baldwin?!"

"Get every detail—this will sell out like hot cakes in the morning edition!" someone barked, shoving a sketcher forward to capture the scene.

"I bet he can make his..... you-know-what disappear just by breathing in and out," someone sneered from the back.

Meanwhile, Lord Baldwin stood in the middle of the room, with a fish-like expression, scrambling to shield his modesty with anything he could find.

"S-Stop it! Don’t you dare record this!" he shrieked, on the verge of tears, flailing as he tried to shield whatever he could of his body behind a nearby table and nearly collapsing in the process.

But his protests fell on deaf ears.

"Close the door! CLOSE THE—!" he almost lunged towards the door, but halted abruptly due to the piercing shriek erupting from the maids.

"Keep the doors open! Don’t you dare shut them! The light is perfect for drawing!" someone yelled.

Peeping from behind the closet, the duke looked utterly shocked at the mess.

Meanwhile, glancing downward, he saw Eli laughing heartily. Caught up in the excitement of the chaos before her, he beheld that she had her hand rested softly against his chest as she continued to peer out, and the sight made his cheeks warm with an unfamiliar heat.

*Thump! Thump!*

The duke’s eyes looked at her in mirth, and he admitted to himself that Eli looked even lovelier, adorned by the pure bliss.

Meanwhile, a few guards, alerted by the commotion, arrived and rescued Lord Baldwin from the humiliating situation. Eventually, the group of maids and editors were escorted out as well, leaving the space cleared of all the onlookers.

While the young duke beside Eli found himself staring, mesmerized, Eli spoke to him, "Shall we make our exit as well, my lord?"

"...."

"My lord?"

"Y-yes?"

"We should slip out now."

"Ah... forgive me. I was... lost in thought. After you, Princess." Hearing that, Eli stepped out of the closet followed closely by the duke. Her maids emerged next, gathering near her from behind the wall where they had been hiding.

"Princess! That was... terrific!" one maid exclaimed happily.

"Haa...yeah, everything worked out as planned."

"Oh my! It was utterly humiliating and truly unforgettable!"

"And ruthless!" the young lord remarked, the maids, caught off guard, straightened immediately and regained their composure.

Eli turned and replied, "He... received exactly what was coming to him." The uncertain answer left him with no choice but to continue asking,

"Why? Please mark my words, the consequences of humiliating a foreign noble will not be minor." His voice became even colder, almost harsh. Though he suspected she would not act without a cause, he was still the Duke of Winterlake. He could not, in good conscience, overlook such a matter.