The Queen's Dirty Secrets

“Let go off me!” Gravier kept kicking and cursing at the maids whose mission was to get her washed up and dressed for her wedding. They were getting frustrated with her as she was kicking the water, getting them all wet and soapy. She was trying get out of the bath tab but their grip was very strong and her stand was slippery but she kept trying. They started dunking her head and body under water as a form of control—to show her that they were the ones in control of the situation.

“Get off me!!!”

“Hold her down, ladies!” the head maid cried. “Our lives depend on this, hold her down!”

Gravier had somehow gotten her on her feet again, she had managed to get one of her feet out and landed on the cold tiles. All together, they yanked her back and pushed her back into the water. Gravier fell in, hitting her head on the tub-rim. Her head slowly sank into the water. She was motionless now. They all paused, having seen the horrid incident. They were worried as to why she was unresponsive at that point.

Each one of the 3 maids were flustered and scared to reach into the water to bring her out. They all feared the worst. Their eyes wide spread and looking out to see what would happen next. The water started to turn red, it was blood.

AHH!

Each of them was shocked.

There came a knock at the door, followed by a man’s voice, “Are you, maids, done with the new Queen? The King awaits her on the isle, the wedding has begun.”

The ladies were quiet. They did not know what to say, each looked at the other hoping someone to would answer the door.

“Ladies? Did you hear me?”

“Oh, of course,” spoke the head maid. She was always the brave one among the 3 of them. “The queen-to-be shall be out soon. 2 more minutes will do.”

The guard at the door finally walked away. Now the ladies had pulled Gravier out of the water. They laid her naked body on the rug. Her head was bleeding uncontrollably. They tried to check for her breath but there was none, even her heart was dead silent. Now, they were very sure of what they had done.

They all started panicking. What to do? They kept gazing at each other. They were searching for hope in each other’s’ eyes.

“We are dead! We are dead if the king finds that we un-alive-d her! Gertrude, Bertha, we are dead!”

“Oh, come down, Merucia!” cried Gertrude, the head maid. “How can we possibly think with your hullaballoo?! Hush now, ladies.”

Little Merucia and Bertha were scared, they did not know what to do. They all looked up to Gertrude for advice. Gertrude was only 9 years older than them. On regular days, their age gap did not matter as they were very good friends. However, in days of strife, they looked up to her and she always pulled through. Gertrude saw their scared childlike eyes, and she remembered the sadness and pity she always felt for them. Gertrude knew that they had to report this crime and receive their punishment, but she also knew that this mistake would only lead them to execution. A painful, prolonged execution, because they had just taken the life of the nation’s queen. Even if they mentioned that it was a mistake, no-one would ever forgive them.

“No-one really knows this queen,” Gertrude said and the rest listened. “She was brought in as a princess from a far-off kingdom, all of her guards returned back to their kingdom. That means she is all alone in this Kingdom. No-one in this kingdom will know if it is not her…”

Merucia and Bertha were shocked. They believed that they understood what the head maid was saying and leading up to.

“Come, help me move her body.”

The two girls asked as each went for a leg, “Where are we moving it? We can’t go past that door, there’s too many guards.”

“We’ll have to hide it in here somewhere,” Gertrude looked around the bathing room. There seemed to be no viable place to hide the body.

The two girls were panicking again, “Oh, we’re doomed! We’re all doomed!”

“Hush, keep it quiet, girls. You might be heard!” she whispered sternly. Finally, she spotted the fireplace. “We’ll have to put her in there for now.” She pulled the hands and each of the girls held a leg and they managed to the fireplace. They tossed her over the black wood. They made sure to squeeze all of her limbs and make sure they were in place and intact.

They covered the body with a dirty brown blanket (to camouflage what was in there) they threw in more wood on top. The fire place looked abnormally stuffed and now they wanted to hide it. They started dragging the bath-tub and placed it there to hide the fireplace.

“I think this will do for now.” Said Gertrude, “We shall return and take her somewhere else. For now, we must prepare for the wedding.”

“But, Gertrude,” Merucia proclaimed, “we need a bride…”

“How could there be a wedding without a bride, Gertrude?”

“A bride, you say. Oh, we do have a bride.”

Merucia was still so clueless, “We must hire one. That is what you mean, isn’t it?” Merucia started putting on her coat, she was preparing to march out to go look for a suitable maiden who might like to replace Gravier. “Oh, it is such a short notice, but we have no choice. I will go find the best!”

“Ow, silly, Merucia…” Gertrude sneered, “You are the bride.”

Merucia was given no time to oppose, she found herself walking down the isle. Soft music played in the background. All the guests had risen to their feet to welcome her in. Her heart was pulsating almost as though it would pop out. She was very afraid that she might get caught. Surely there was someone in the crowd who knew the real Gravier and would point out that she was not Gravier.

Merucia kept her head down as she now stood with the King in fron