It must've been a miracle that they both made it back to the castle and inside without being caught by the guards. Both girls entered the queen's bedroom, out of breath and gasping for air.
"I don't think I ever have done something that spontaneously before in my life!" Alison said, falling on the bed.
"Maybe you should do spontaneous things more often." Emily said, sitting down on the bed next to her.
They hadn't even been in the room for more than two minutes when there was a firm knock on the door. Alison groaned and sat up, every muscle in her body ached.
"Speak." Alison commanded to the person on the other side of the door.
"Prince Noel requests to take you on a picnic on top of the hill... Without the company of your assistant." the man said on the other side of the door.
"Why must my assistant not come?" Alison asked, frowning.
"That is what Prince Noel requests."
"I will be ready in no less than an hour." Alison said, standing up and looking at her dirty dress.
"Uh, my queen, he requests that you are ready now-"
"Silence!" Alison snapped, cutting off the man. Silence is what followed Alison's order. "I will be out when I say I'll be out. I didn't think it was unclear who has the higher status around here." she spat cruelly.
"N-n-no, my queen. Certainly not. I will tell Prince Noel that you will be done soon." the man said, his voice trembling. Alison heard footsteps walk away from her door and she walked into the bathroom.
"I need to be free of all of this dirt." Alison said, ridding her body of all articles of clothing. She waited as Emily got everything ready, her eyes thoroughly interested in Alison's soups and bath, not her. Why wasn't Emily looking at her? Alison never noticed until now that Emily always kept her eyes on other things when washing Alison, and it bothered Alison. Was there something wrong with her body? Was there an imperfection that she needed to fix so that Emily would stare at her body?
"Are you going to get in or aren't you?" Emily asked.
Alison looked at Emily but got in without saying anything. Emily wets her hair and began to massage Alison's head, creating a lather with the soup in her hand.
"You know I never asked you how you are so good at massages." Alison said, almost moaning as she allowed her eyes to close.
"Working in the bakery just helped. Kneading dough all day contributed." Emily said casually. "Keep your eyes closed, I'm gonna rinse the soap out."
"Hold still." Emily said, as she finally fits Alison's crown on top of her head.
Alison, who was irritated with Emily, returned to her straight yet powerful facial expression. She kept wondering how Emily was able to look at her with minimal clothing on, but always cast her eyes away when Alison wasn't wearing any clothing. It almost infuriated her, but she had other things to worry about, like what Noel was up to having dinner on top of the hill.
When Alison parted ways with Emily and was swept towards the back exit of the castle towards the picturesque hill on the castle grounds with Noel, she pushed the festering thoughts of Emily to the back of her mind. Emily had Alison's mind going on a whirlwind, and even when she tried to, her mind refused to rest over the matter. Noel seemed to notice this, because he kept looking uncomfortably at Alison as they trekked up the hill. The picnic basket he was holding kept knocking into his leg, causing the contents of the picnic basket to shake.
They reached the top of the hill and Noel opened the blanket he took out of the picnic basket and spread it out. He held out his hand automatically and helped Alison sit down on the blanket, facing her towards the sun which was beginning to set. Noel sat down next to Alison and opened the picnic basket between them.
