The steam house wasn't what Nilana expected it to be.
It surpassed the levels of her expectations. She thought there would be fewer people with less crowd and less sound. A place that could be a sanctuary for bathing.
Yet it growled of half-naked women laughing at each other's jokes, gossiping forming a circle of groups around the pools, weeping; those women complained how they caught their husbands cheating or how they were divorced or how their husbands died or, most unnecessarily, how their husbands weren't good in bedroom. Right beside the weeping group, there were happily married women bragging how good their husbands are to them, whose husband brought whom the most expensive gift there is, and the competition went on...
It was 11 am, and all of them gathered in one place. Most of the married women's reasons to come here so early were to wash away the stains they acquired from their husbands from last night before they start for the day. Nilana cringed a bit before focusing elsewhere.
In her village, no matter how small their cottage was, each 5 cottages' women had their own small bathhouse, which they could access whenever they wanted to. Being almost three days away from her home made her miss it. Dear heavens, she missed her home badly.
"Hey!" A distant female voice brought her back to reality. Nilana narrowed her eyes to see a woman sitting far away from her as the woman sat at the extreme corner of the bathhouse.
She took big steps towards the woman who was beckoning her, holding the hem of her cream-colored towel which was provided by the bathhouse.
The woman had a set of striking cerulean blue eyes and wavy locks of brown hair. She sat in such a corner where all the unmarried young women gathered together. She smiled toothily as Nilana approached her. Her smile, bright and traced with the words 'save me'.
"You're a new face here," the blue-eyed girl said as she patted the vacant space next to her, indicating for her to sit. "Yes," Nilana confidently sat down beside her on the ceramic stools, a bit hesitant internally. "I am-" she started to introduce herself but abruptly got interrupted by the blue-eyed girl.
"Let's skip the formalities." She uttered quickly as she leaned onto Nilana just to whisper right in her ears, "Do you have a carriage with you?"
"Uh- yes...?"
"Good, because I don't have one." The girl stood immediately, holding Nilana's non-injured arms. "I've found my sister here ladies, we will be heading home now."
"Your sister looks nothing alike." One of the women commented. Another smacked her shoulder before saying, "We will see you both next time. Goodbye Lady Sylvia." And with that, they bid her farewell.
So the lady had a name. It was Sylvia.
Before Nilana knew it, they were already in the dressing room. Sylvia was busy wearing her cerulean gown while she struggled to fix her white cotehardie.
The brown-haired Sylvia was done wearing her gown and looked at Nilana, struggling. So she decided to give her a hand.
"You sure have a carriage with you, Miss?" she asked while putting up the back buttons.
"It is Nilana," she replied, "And I do have a carriage with me. But I must ask you what do you want to do with it."
"Such a lovely name that you have Nilana," Sylvia smiled sly, "And do what else, escape from this madhouse of course!"
They strolled down the hall and went to the entrance, where all the shoes of the ladies were stacked together in different cabinets. And most of them were lying on the wooden floor, piled up together. Sylvia quickly went inside the sea of shoes, finding her own one.
That is when it struck Nilana that she was the one without anything to wear on her feet.
"I don't have any shoes to wear." She said.
Sylvia's blue eyes set on her. Excitement flowed. "Better." She stated as she picked up a random pair of black shoes from the pile and threw them on Nilana's way.
"They must be your size, hurry! Wear them!" She commanded while putting on her white low heels.
"But this is stealing!" Nilana protested, her eyes widened with shock.
Sylvia stole a glance at her before smirking at her. "Isn't that the essence of life itself? To live, to laugh, to escape, to steal moments of joy, and to revel in the thrill of having fun!"
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at the foreign royalty residential space, Prince Dylan Amadeus sang his favorite song on top of his lungs as he wrapped a towel around his hips after getting off his ceramic tub. Making his way to the bedroom of his enormous chambers, his song didn't flatter a bit.
It completely came to a pitching end when he spotted Ian sitting on his divan, reading the newly arrived newspaper. "What on earth-" He was spooked. "How dare you trespass into a chamber of the royalty and lounge like you own the place!" He dramatically stated while taking his clothes from his bed.
He went behind his barricade made of finest bamboo, was dressing himself while he dramatically shouted, "Now that you've discovered a lady in your company, how do you intend to explain your intrusion into a half-naked man's quarters? It hardly seems proper."
"Cut the nonsense, Dylan." Ian stood up from the divan, folding the newspaper.
"That is no way of talking to your prince, Knight Ian."
"You're no prince to me. Neither I am your knight."
"Not anymore," Dylan smiled as he corrected him and got out of his barricade. He was now clothed in the finest doublet made of gold silk, velvet hose, and a brown silk robe representing his Kingdom.
Diverting the subject, Ian stated in a cold tone, "And she is not my mistress. Neither do I plan on making her one."
Dylan raised a skeptical brow.
Ignoring him, Ian continued. "Our paths crossed quite by chance, an unfortunate and coincidental meeting. She was on the brink of death, and at that moment, my sense of humanity compelled me to offer assistance. It's as simple as that. And now that she has nowhere else to turn, I've chosen to extend my help further, out of sheer pity."
Dylan laughed sarcastically sitting on the divan. He poured tea for himself from the centre table as he looked at Ian. "Don't you find it rather ironic? An assassin who prowls the night, slaughtering the lives of royals, now finding himself nursing and saving a woman solely out of pity." Sipping his tea, he continued,
"Whence did this newfound sense of pity arise, Ian? I must admit, it's somewhat unbelievable to me. Where did your dormant humanity resurface? I had thought you were devoid of emotion, driven solely by vengeance."
"That a question I've been asking myself for two days straight, Dylan. So do not pester me further by pressing into this more."