Chapter Text
Why do men have to be so clueless?
Guinevere, the personal maidservant to the King's ward, scrubbed gently at Lady Morgana's dress when what she really wanted to do was beat it against the rocks at the bottom of the tub. Gwen —as her loved ones called her— had done the very thing her dear departed mum had told her to never do… she'd let a man kiss her.
The maidservant squeezed the water from the dress in an attempt to ease her distress and humiliation, and she huffed as she blew at a lock of hair that fell across her eyes. Gwen hadn't actually let him kiss her, she'd done much worse… she'd kissed him… full on the lips!
And what did he do? Absolutely nothing! The guy just went back to business as usual. Although, he did say it was more than fine with him that she'd kissed him. Maybe… maybe he did like her?
But then, why would he continue treating her as just a friend?
Damn Merlin and his adorable blue, clueless eyes and goofy grin!
Daddy wouldn't object to him courting her. After all, Merlin was the Prince's manservant and daddy knew that she had no intention of becoming the wife of a knight. She wanted her husband to live past the age of thirty, thank you very much!
Merlin was a high-ranking servant, the most dangerous thing he'd be doing was going on hunts with the Prince to pack or unpack the royal prat's things.
Laying the dress out with the rest of Morgana's clothes on the drying board in the sun, Gwen was startled at a loud yell and a crash behind her; she spun around to find Merlin sprawled on his stomach, with a basket of what was most likely the Prince's clothes rolling away, and her own basket in shambles under him.
"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry, I should have already put away that basket. Are you alright?" Gwen rushed to his side and looked down at him as he got to his knees.
"Ohhh, ow, yeah… yeah, I'm alright. I wasn't watching where I was going."
Gwen stepped back as he scrambled to his feet. She watched silently as Merlin hurriedly collected the few pieces of clothing that had fallen out of the basket, which had rolled to a stop a small distance away. He didn't look at her, and —noticing his red-tipped ears— Gwen crouched near her broken basket and began to scoop up the shards onto a larger piece to discard them.
By the time she'd finished clearing up the mess, Merlin was on the far side of the washing area. Usually, Gwen would remain for a bit to either help or chat with him, but his unnatural silence and the blatant way he ignored her said enough.
Without a word to him, she gathered up the now dried bedclothes from earlier that morning and returned to Morgana's chambers.
~~(*)~(*)~~
"Will that be all, my Lady?"
It had been a long and tiring day, and all Gwen wanted to do was get home. There was still much she had to do around the house before her father decided to leave work, but just being away from the castle would be a balm to her aching heart… and ego.
"Yes, Gwen, but you've been really quiet for most of the day… what's wrong?"
Gwen sighed and looked down at her clasped hands. Despite the King's numerous tongue-lashings, Morgana had always treated Gwen like a friend and the girl thought of the Lady in the same way. They’ve known each other since they were ten, therefore, there would be no dodging the issue.
Ensuring that Morgana's chamber door was closed, Gwen flopped onto the bed facing her seated friend.
"I did something stupid, Morgana, stupid, stupid stupid!"
Gwen sighed after her mini-rant, covered her face and peeked out of the space between her fingers to look into her friend's caring eyes. "I kissed Merlin."
With an unladylike shout of laughter and her eyes shining in delight, Morgana ran to her small breakfast table, picked up her full jug of wine and two goblets, shuffled back —with a demented grin— to the bed and poured them both a drink.
Morgana placed the jug on her nightstand, and handing Gwen a full goblet of the expensive red wine, she forced her face into one of great understanding and patience.
"Do tell."