I Love You, My Cursed Prince

Terrible news, cruel news, a hurricane ravished the area. In the Vantrim Castle, everything was fine. They were well above sea level, and the buildings and walls were ridiculously sturdy. Some communities, however, didn't fare very well, especially the ones closer to the shore.

When the storm had faded into nothing, Muriel went to Princess Arya and asked, "Is there anything we can do? Many people must have lost their homes to the floods. With such wealth at our disposal, certainly we can do something, correct?"

Princess Arya patted her cheek and said, "Of course we're going to do something. My son will fund a construction project for new homes for the displaced families. He'll also send food to them, and we won't be staying in the castle. We have to manage everything."

"Do you mean to say, you and I?" Muriel asked.

"Certainly so, Muriel," the princess said, "I'll look over the construction while you handle the distribution of food."

Muriel was slightly upset at the fact that her role had been decided before she knew there was even a role to begin with, but she put those feelings away because she wanted to help regardless.

Some days later, the two women put on plain gowns with bum rolls and narrower skirts. This was to keep their skirts less ċumbersome yet still soft like a flower bud. Then they went out to the construction site, which was just outside of the most damaged town in the area. Behind their carriage, there were more carriages that had been filled with people and food.

The food had been taken from an emergency supply in the castle. It turned out that your average castle owner tended to hoard food for situations like this. The rations consisted of pickled eggs, pickled vegetables, portable soups (which were dehydrated meat broths), cheeses, fermented beans, rice, and wheat. The wheat was meant to be used on site to bake bread in makeshift ovens. The rice was dry and was also meant to be prepared on site.

Several stalls, almost like buffets, had been arranged near the construction site. A group of men and women had been gathered together there and they all answered to Muriel. They called her, "Miss Devin," and they all seemed to understand that if they misbehaved then there would be trouble. A decent amount of armed guards had been hired by Prince Vidar to look after the food.